A forgotten flat-pack building shipped from Scandinavia in the 1940s to replace a church which was flattened in an air raid has been found just six miles from its original location.
Management of the Danish Church in Hull had lost track of the whereabouts of the structure which was made of timber from Finland, shipped from Denmark in 1947, and erected close to the site of the original Skt Nikolaj Danish Seamen’s Church.
But Charlotte Theill, manager of the current church and its Nordic House community and cultural arm, found it after she was invited to the 70th celebrations of Preston Community Hall.
Charlotte said: “We were aware of the newspaper stories from 1947 of a replacement church being packed in boxes and freighted over from Copenhagen on the DFDS ship ‘Hebe’ but none of the people here now had the faintest idea of where it went after that.
“It was a big surprise to find out it’s just a few miles down the road, and we’re looking forward very much to attending another 70th anniversary celebration for one of our churches!”
The first church was built in May 1871 on the corner of Ferensway and Osborne Street in Hull and took a direct hit on the eve of its 70th anniversary. Nobody was injured but the building was destroyed.
The Hebe arrived with the boxed new church in 1947, it was consecrated the following year and it served the congregation well until the opening in 1954 of the current church, which was the scene of a 70th anniversary celebration two years ago.
Parish records show that the congregation in Preston became aware of the availability of the old wooden church as they explored ideas for a new hall.
They paid £500 for the building, £1,427 for the builders to construct it and £200 for architects. It still has the original brick footings and frontage. Fixtures and fittings included chairs for £82, ten tables for £11 and curtains for £19. An immediate addition was a 24ft extension, added at a cost of £1,245 after a painstaking search to find wood locally which matched the main building.
Revenue came in from charges for events – £2 for weddings, £1 for whist drives and “any other use”, plus five shillings for the cleaner.
Richard Thorp, a trustee of the hall and fabric officer for All Saints Church, said: “When it was bought the decision was made to extend it so the brickwork would have been done at the same time. Bricks were scarce and were rationed so they may have come from the old Hedon brickworks.”
Jan Atkins, treasurer of the hall, told how the building was modernised in 2010, surviving suggestions that its time was up. She said: “There was an option to tear it down but it belongs to the church, not the diocese. To knock it down and rebuild would have cost £250,000 and we’d have had to get a mortgage. Other places nearby did that but we didn’t want to.”
A plaque in memory of John Myers, who died last year and, as a pillar of the community was very much involved in the refurbishment, will be unveiled at the celebration on Saturday 20th June.
Other activities will include an afternoon tea by the Women’s Institute, various games and activities, and a display telling the story of the village hall over the years. Music will be provided Spitfire Sam, a Holderness-based musician who performs nationwide as established folk singer Sam Martyn and whose alter-ego was inspired by such legends as Vera Lynn and Ella Fitzgerald.
Patricia Ferguson, chair and secretary of the hall and Parochial Church Council secretary, said: “Attendance at the hall depends on the events that are on. We get about 40 or 50 for the occasional charity quiz nights.
“We had a fundraiser for someone who did a humanitarian trip to Peru. We have sessions for yoga, Pilates, Brownies, Young Farmers, Alzheimer’s Society, a walking group uses it once a month, Young at Heart for the over 50s. It’s a busy place now.
“As far as we know someone saw the building advertised for sale just over 70 years ago and decided it was a good deal. It’s still a valuable asset and we have invited Charlotte to come along because the Danish Church is where it started. We hope it will still be going strong in another 70 years.”
Charlotte added: “It’s wonderful to see that the hall is still here and is so busy. We know from launching our Nordic House cultural and community concept six years ago that it is important to keep diversifying and finding new uses for our facilities.”