there will be book & card sale, craft sale, cakes and preserves sale.
Adequate FREE parking in the Civic Centre Car Park behind the Law Courts -
Christchurch Road / Stoke Abott Road
Admission £3.00 at the Door
Please contact the Church Wardens on 01903-239982 or 260092 for latest details of services and events.
Visitors are warmly welcome
Morning Service on 3rd Sunday of every month, and Holy Communion on 5th Sunday of the month will be from the
1662 Book of Common Prayer.
Every Tuesday from 10am until 12 noon, Christ Church is open for prayer, fellowship and refreshments.
Every Saturday at 10am there is a Prayer Fellowship in the Organ Vestry.
Tuesday 20th April 10am - 12 noon
Christ Church, Worthing
Church open for private prayer, fellowship and refreshments
Thursday 22nd April 2.30pm - 4pm
Christ Church, Worthing
Church open
Friday 23rd April 12 noon
Christ Church, Worthing
A service for St. George's Day conducted by the Vicar
Saturday 24th April 10am
Organ Vestry, Christ Church, Worthing
Weekly Prayer Meeting
Sunday 25th April 10.30am
Christ Church, Worthing
The 4th Sunday of Easter
Morning Prayer, conducted by the Vicar
Southend Choral Society - 4th October 2009
Fresh from performing in Alfriston the previous day, where the choir helped to raise over £400 towards the church roof
fund, Southend Choral Society appeared at Christ Church on Sunday afternoon to reprise their performance of the night
before. A select audience was delighted with their firm grip on Vivaldi's RV 589, better known simply as,
the Vivaldi Gloria. The soprano duet, Laudamus te, was ably sung by Cathryn
Maulkin (singing first soprano) with Carol Payne (singing second soprano). Particularly delightful were the Domine
Deus, Agnus Dei, where Carol Payne's rich contralto alternated with the choir, and the wonderful Qui sedes
ad dexteram Patris, again featuring Carol. In the latter, Carol's voice contrasted beautifully with the
excellent 1892 J.J. Binns
organ, removed from its original Rochdale Baillie Street Methodist Church location and rebuilt at Christ Church by Percy
Daniel & Company in 1967. The organ was played fluently by Southend Choral Society's organist, Ray Maulkin.
Continuing without an interval, we were presented with Faurè's Requiem. With the excellent contralto section
supporting the sopranos in the Sanctus and the tenors in the Agnus Dei, confidence grew
throughout the work. Cathryn Maulkin's Pie Jesu, and baritone Roger Floyd's Libera me were
very pleasing. Perhaps the sopranos failed to soar above the semi-quaver triples of the organ accompaniment in the
final In Paradisum, but, nevertheless, an appreciative audience offered up a standing ovation.
Report from Jeff
Big Breakfast - 6th September 2009
Lionel Whatley (Parish Vicar), Henry Olonga & Peter Bottomley
Hot breakfast of sausage, eggs, tomato & bacon was served with coffee and/or tea to some 45 diners. Food
served from 8 am until 9:30 am...Henry Olonga conducted the Parish Service from 10 am.
This was a magnificent Parish event...the day finished with an excellent concert of Henry singing at an
evening concert at Holy Trinity church.
Report from Ken
Thomas Heywood Plays a Storm - 23rd July 2009
The Celebrity Organ Concert given by Thomas Heywood on Thursday evening.
Many and varied were the encouraging comments made by the enraptured audience at the end. Thomas and Simone are certainly
a charming couple, wearing their accomplishments very lightly. Many CDs were sold to be enjoyed at home by those
remembering the live performance made so vivid by the use of the big screen. Thanks to all those who helped with
refreshments etc. and in so many other ways with the preparations for this event. Our members certainly worked very
hard to make the evening something very special indeed.
Report from Ralph
Summer Fair - 4th July 2009
On a morning which alternated from overcast and threatening rain to gloriously grilling sunshine, enthusiastic members
of the congregation started to arrive at 8am to put up the bunting, fetch out the tables and prepare all the stalls for
the Summer Fair.
While stall-holders laid out their wares and the Worthing Silver Band migrated around the Church Yard in search of the
ideal combination of shade and potential rain protection, the organisers completed several laps of the Church, dispensing
notices, price tickets, advice and essentially, strategic quantities of Blu-Tack. If only we had thought to sponsor them
per lap, how much more money might we have raised?
Promptly, at 10 O'Clock, the opening ceremony commenced. The inspiring words of wit and wisdom would have been reported,
had your correspondent not had to rush back to serve the crowd congregating around the plant and produce stall eagerly
eyeing up early horticultural bargains.
East of plants and produce, from the Choir vestry steps, Bric-a-Brac was brokered. Opposite, the tombola was being
played fluently by our Organist and Choir Master. Attractive stationery stayed not stationary by the South gate, as all who
entered there were ambushed and pressed into a sale. On the North side of the Church,
cakes and preserves, handicrafts, books, greetings cards and a play area were installed. By the West door, videos,
cassettes and miscellania vied with the children's stall for the pennies of paying punters, while those who had navigated
by the sequence of arrows labelled "Refreshments" and had successfully backtracked to the West Door with beverage in hand,
were serenaded by the Worthing Silver Band.
Thus, to the melodious strains of show tunes from Les Miserables, in a Church Yard long unused to being bedecked with the
fluttering flags of brightly coloured bunting, the hordes of Worthing emptied their purses, and it is to be hoped that
many who passed will no longer think of Christ Church as the location of a convenient twitten running from the western end
of Ambrose Place into Grafton Road. Indeed, for at least one Worthing taxi driver, Christ Church the Church has now been
placed firmly on the map as distinctly separate from Christ Church the Road, although he may now be remembering his
Mother's warnings about the dangers of venturing South of the railway line.
Thank you to everyone who supplied items, helped set up and take down, manned stalls or just came along and supported
us on the day.
Christ Church Worthing is located in a square of roads, surrounded by Portland Road to the East, Humphrys Road to the
South, Grafton Road to the West and Grosvenor Road to the North. There is pay-station parking for up to two hours on three
sides of the church, and paid parking available in Stoke Abbot Road, two hundred yards away.
The church yard has gates on all four sides. The main entrance is on the West side, in Grafton Road, however, there are
also entrances on the North and South sides, providing access from Grosvenor Road and Humphrys Road, respectively.
Rail access is via Worthing Station, a 15 minute walk away via Railway Approach, Teville Road, Christ Church Road, across
Richmond Road and into either Grafton Road or Portland Road. Frequent buses run from Worthing Staion into the Town Centre,
terminating at Worthing Pier. Bus numbers 1, 5, 6, 6A, 7, 10 and 23(Suns) traverse this route and the stop by the Post
Office in Chapel Road is a 2-3 minute walk from the Church, with the return bus stop outside the Town Hall a similar distance
away.
For bus access to the church from East or West, the number 700 Stagecoach stops in Richmond Road, a 2-3 minute walk away.
The Venerable Lionel Whatley (Vicar) and his wife Susan
Deacon Reverend Howard Schnaar and his wife Deidre
Kate Hayward (Children, Youth and Family Missioner)
The Organ(s) of Christ Church
The present organ, installed in 1970, is a splendid three-manual instrument giving much enjoyment and satisfaction
(and not just to the organist!).
Originally, it is thought that the installation of a small instrument in the tower, the details of which are not known,
may have coincided with the formation of the Parish in 1855. A larger
instrument of three manuals by Bryceson Brothers of
London was installed in 1865, also in the west gallery within the tower. This organ was moved to the new organ chamber north
of the chancel in 1893 when the west gallery was removed and structural under-pinning work to the tower carried out.
By the end of World War II this organ was in serious need of rebuilding and the campaign to raise money included the
amusing poster, which even appeared on the buses: “Said Vicar Scutt to Organist Bown, ‘Christ Church organ's falling
down . .’ ” Unfortunately it seemed impossible to raise the sum needed to rebuild the instrument and it was decided to
purchase a Compton Electrone and to replace the pipe organ. This was done in 1951. This electronic organ was in use until
succeeded in 1970.
Due to the deterioration of the Electrone and the need for constant repair, in 1966 the senior choir members made a
collection among themselves and handed £5 to the Treasurer to inaugurate an Organ Fund. A few months later it was learned
that Alexander J. Chisholm had left a bequest in memory of his wife (who had died in 1962) for the provision of a three
manual pipe organ. This bequest amounted to almost half of the eventual sum required.
The organ, which was originally built
by J.J.Binns of Leeds
in 1892 for Baillie Street Methodist Church in Rochdale, was
obtained in 1967 through Percy Daniel & Co. Ltd., who had heard of the instrument being for sale due to impending demolition
of the church, and was eventually rebuilt by them, with some additions and a new console, and installed in 1970. It is sited
in the south transept gallery with a detached console on the north side of the chancel. (A record of its original
specification and siting in Baillie Street Methodist is held.)
CHRIST CHURCH and its burial ground between Grafton and Portland roads were consecrated in 1843, mainly to supply the want of
church accommodation for the poor. The church was at first regarded as a chapel of ease to Broadwater, whose rector in 1849
required the officiating minister to take the town under his spiritual care. The rector of Broadwater remained the patron
in 1974. A parish was assigned out of Broadwater in 1855, and a perpetual curate licensed. The cure became a vicarage
in 1868. With help from Queen Anne's Bounty a house for the incumbent was built in Westbrooke by 1859. In 1975 the vicarage was
in Shakespeare Road.
In 1851 c. 380 attended the morning and evening services. In 1865 400 sittings were ordinarily let besides 42 seats in the
chancel at the height of the season. In 1884 there were two Sunday services and an afternoon service for the children, but the
congregation had been reduced, partly by the building of Holy Trinity church. In 1976 the church was described as the parish
church of Worthing. A mission hall holding 100 was recorded in 1903, and services were held there thrice weekly in 1910.
Christ Church was built by subscription between 1840 and 1843. The original design by John Elliott of Chichester was
apparently altered by the curate of St. Paul's, as a result of strong criticism by the Cambridge Camden Society, and there
were disputes between Elliott, the curate, and the rector of Broadwater who had given the site. The church, the first example
of the Gothic Revival in Worthing, is of flint with brick dressings, and originally consisted of a chancel, aisled nave,
transepts, west tower, and vestry. Galleries were built in the transepts in 1865-6, and the church was restored and improved
in 1876. In 1894 the chancel arch was re-designed and other alterations were made. The church was again restored in 1908.
For some years before 1814 the wife of the rector of Broadwater ran a Sunday school for girls. A girls' day
school opened under her patronage in 1815 was also supported by the Revd. W. Davison and had c. 160
girls in 1818. It had become a National school by c. 1823. It stood at the corner of North Street and
Chapel Road in 1824 when needlework and occasionally straw-plaiting were taught. In 1833 the school had 84
pupils and was supported by subscriptions and weekly payments. There were 69 pupils c. 1847 and 130
by 1859 when the building had become inadequate. The school appears to have occupied the Chapel Street infants'
school for a short time before being replaced by the Worthing Church of England girls' and infants'
school.
Two infants' schools were started in 1815, mainly through the efforts of the Revd. W. Davison, and were claimed to be
among the earliest in England. By 1818 each had c. 40 children, both were National schools by 1825,
and one at least was at first on the site later occupied by the girls' National school. The two schools
were on separate sites in 1833, when they were supported by subscriptions and weekly payments. A building for
one of the schools was erected on the east side of Chapel Street, later Portland Road, c. 1840, and in 1845
the other was in Chapel Road. About 1847 the Chapel Road school had 182 children, and the Chapel Street school
130. The Chapel Street school appears to have been absorbed into the Christchurch girls' and infants' school,
and in 1853 the Chapel Road school was rebuilt as the Davison infant school as a memorial to the Revd. W.
Davison (d. 1852). The Davison school's average attendance was 120 in 1862 when there was also a winter evening school.
It became a girls' and infants' school in the late 1870s, with an average attendance of 260 in 1893.
The infants were transferred to the Sussex Road council school c. 1907.
The Church Middle Class, later Christ Church, boys' school, recorded from c. 1862, occupied the building of the
former Chapel Street National infants' school. (fn. 38) It first received an annual grant in 1875-6 when it had 43
pupils. Average attendance was 209 in 1887 and 238 in 1893.
The Worthing Church, later Christ Church, National girls' and infants' schools were housed in 1860 in an elaborate
new Gothic building south of Christ Church which was paid for mainly by subscriptions. There were 115 girls and 170
infants in 1872 when the schools were supported by voluntary contributions and school pence. An annual grant
was first received in 1873-4 when the average attendance was c. 200, as it was in 1893. Amid some
controversy the Christ Church schools were transferred to the school board c. 1901 and were amalgamated as the Christ
Church board school. The boys' department was closed in 1926, and by 1932 the school had become a
junior mixed and infant school which had an average attendance of 152 in 1938. The school closed in 1942 when
the children were transferred to the Holy Trinity, Heene, and Sussex Road schools. In 1977 the school buildings
of 1860 were used as a furniture store and the former boys' school was the Christ Church church hall.
The Workman's Reading Room or Institute in Montague Street was founded before 1859 by the incumbent of Christ Church,
providing coffee, books, newspapers, lectures, and music. In 1904 it moved to a new site in Buckingham
Road near by, and in 1925 changed its name to the Working Men's Club and Institute. It survived in 1977.
Between 1856 and 1862 the incumbent of Christ Church edited a monthly periodical, the Worthing Messenger and
Workmen's Friend, which was supported by subscriptions and circulated free among the poor.
This is a work in progress... We hope to build up a list, with a brief biography for each, of as many of the
people who have played a key role in the life of Christ Church since its consecration.
Incumbents
Ven. Lionel Whatley
The Ven. Lionel Whatley is the current Rector of the benefice of WORTHING Holy Trinity with Christ Church
in the rural deanery of Worthing and the Archdeaconry of Chichester.
Rev. Philip Walton
Rev. Wilfred Crittle
The Rev. Wilfred Crittle was a missionary working in Burma before later becoming Vicar of Worthing at
Christ Church.
A box of files belonging to him is held at Brimingham University, as cited
here
Author of "Burma, Land of Many Tongues", London: Bible Churchman's Missionary Society, 1948 35 pp.
(Field Survey No. 5). Story of work from 1924-1946 by an evangelical society of the Church of England.
Rev. Scutt
Rev. William Augustus Doherty
Rev. William Bridger Ferris
Vicar of Christ Church between 1898 and 1924, and prebendiary of Chichester. He died, aged 80,
on 21st April, 1931. His friends erected a memorial in Christ Church "as a tribute to his faithful and
fruitful ministry".
1864-1891 Rev. Francis Cruse, 1824-1891
Francis was born on 4th January 1823 in Warminster, Wiltshire. He was baptised on 1st January 1824 at St Lawrence,
Warminster, along with his sister Frances Ann, who is probably his twin. Francis was the son of Jeremiah CRUSE
(1781-1861) and Elizabeth KNIGHT (1783-1840) and the grandson of Jeremiah Cruse (1758-1819) the land surveyor.
Francis went to St Edmund Hall, Oxford University, where he matriculated on 5th March 1846 aged 23. He was
awarded a BA in 1851. He took up a position as a curate in Earlstoke, Wiltshire, in 1851 and was ordained as a
deacon later that same year in the Diocese of Salisbury. The following year he was ordained as a priest. From
1852 to 1856 Francis served as the curate of Great Warley in Essex. In 1853 he married Charlotte Augusta Brace in
Bath. In 1856 he moved to London to become the curate of the parish of St Jude in Southwark, where he remained
until 1864 when he was appointed as the vicar of Christ Church, Worthing, Sussex. Francis was awarded an MA from
Oxford University in 1875. Presumably inspired by his studies Francis wrote a book in 1879 entitled A Few Facts
and Testimonies Touching on Ritualism which was written under the pseudonym "Oxoniensis".
Charles was Vicar of Worthing and the incumbent at Christ Church from 1891 until his death on February 14th, 1898.
He was a popular pastor, in whose memory the congregation erected a memorial
Wardens
B.F. French - Warden in 1898
L.W. Wiber - Warden in 1898
Organists and Assistant Organists
Ralph V. Waters
G. Long
William Binstead
William was Organist & Choirmaster from 1918 until his death on 19th August 1938
Buried Here
Monuments in Christ Church, Worthing
Please also refer to Gallery section which has some photographs of monuments inside the church.
Reference Materials Relating to Christ Church Worthing
Prints listed in Worthing Museum Catalogue
Picken, Thomas d1870
View of Christ Church, Worthing, c1840
Lithograph H.21cm W.31.1cm
Inscr: T Picken Lith
Sussex Room Collection. [Acc No 1973/402]
View of Christ Church, Worthing, c1840 (Approved design)
Lithograph H.21cm W.31.2cm
Inscr: T Picken Lith
Presented by Robert Elleray of Worthing Library. [Acc No 1978/93]
Artists Unknown
1973/457
Worthing/Lancing General Views, c1840s-60s
15 line engravings in a single mount
Views include: Royal Baths, Clarkes Bazaar, Christ Church, Park Crescent, Sea House Hotel,
South Street, Augusta House, New Place
All H.50.8cm W.37.5cm
Sussex Room Collection.
1973/583 General Views of Worthing
15 views in single mount: The Pier, The Miller's Tomb, The Esplanade, Heene Terrace, Assembly Rooms, Heene Parade,
Christ Church, St. Botolphs Church, West Beach, Marine Hotel, Brunswick Terrace, Marine Parade,
Broadwater Church
Line engravings
All H.50.8cm W.37.7cm
Sussex Room Collection.
Postcard of Christ Church, Worthing, Sussex with Edward M. Wrench's notes on reverse. (23-25 May, p.78-79.)
Wr D 54/15 no date
Clippings from Newspapers and Magazines
Near the end of her life, Mrs Elizabeth Crawford contributed to the building of Christ Church, at the west end of Ambrose
Place, but she died before its completion and was laid to rest in Broadwater Church in October, 1841.
ALBERT ... Roberts, developed a love for music at a young age when he and his brothers, Leslie, Ron, Derek, Roy and Maurice,
were choristers at Christ Church in Worthing.
They went on to great success with their group, featuring on the television shows Top Town in 1957 and
Opportunity Knocks in 1976.
To advertise your local event in this space call 264409
Christ Church, Worthing
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, Henry Olonga & Peter Bottomley.jpg)
The Venerable Lionel Whatley (Vicar) and his wife Susan
Deacon Reverend Howard Schnaar and his wife Deidre
Kate Hayward (Children, Youth and Family Missioner)