Norton Methodist Church and Community Centre Letchworth Garden City 
Centenary 1908-2008
March 8th, 2008 Norton Methodist Church turned 100. To celebrate, we had an open day on the Saturday with displays and memorabilia exploring the history of Norton, Gipsy Smith and displays of the groups who use the Community Centre. There were refreshments available and crafts for the children.
The church displayed photographs spanning the beginnings of ‘the Mission’ at the bottom of Cashio Lane to the present day. We also were very pleased to be able to hear Gipsy Smith singing one of his mission songs that was recorded quite some years ago. There was a PowerPoint slide show running throughout the day showing photos of the early beginnings to the present day.
The Toddlers Group displayed photos of the children and parents enjoying their time at the Toddlers and had a colouring picture of the original church logo as their craft.
Jr. Church made a lovely collage in the shape of a cross which has on it pictures and drawings from the children of the history of the church. Also included are pictures of the children and former and present Jr. Church teachers. It will remain in the church. Anyone who missed it on the day can still come and have a look at the celebration cross. The children who attended the open day made covenant boxes with the Jr. Church teachers.
We had a special drawing of the church fire done by one of our gifted congregation members Janet Spicer. We do thank her for her artistic interpretation of that event.
A prayer board was up for people who wished to pray about those things that were on their hearts and was used in the Sunday morning worship.
Methodist Homes – Trembaths put up a display, which not only had information about Methodist Homes, but also some wonderful photos of the residents on outings and special events at the home.
Friends of Udobo displayed photos of the children as well as information about the school and how people can get involved in supporting this outreach programme.
In the Community Centre, several of the groups put up displays. The MS Society had large variety of information booklets ranging from what is MS to how to cope with MS. The National Childbirth Trust displayed variety of information about the trust and information for new-to-be moms. The Letchworth Arcadians put up a display of photos from the past 40 or so years. They also had a good selection of costumes on display. Third Letchworth Rainbows displayed photos of the Rainbows out and about and making crafts. They also had information on Girl Guiding. Children were invited to make Rainbow plates as their craft.
Everyone looked forward to the weekend’s events and they went tremendously well. We were busy up until 1pm. Then about 2pm it picked up again until 4pm when it was time to get ready for our morning service. We had two photographers at the event: one for the Comet newspaper and the other from the Heritage Foundation.
It was a wonderful experience for everyone to hear and share memories of their church life to old and new friends. On Sunday we celebrated our 100 years through worship with Rev. David Woodward, who was a former minister at Norton. The morning service was themed: ‘ The house of God’. The displays were used as a focus point for the prayers.
The evening service with Central Choir was wonderful had a special guest appearance by non other than Gipsy Smith giving us one of his two minute talks. Rev. Woodward theme was ‘As the clay is in the potter’s hand so are you in my hand’. He took the Methodist Church Mission statement and went through it illustrating to us how things have changed and are going to change within the church and not to be afraid of those changes that take place in church which are making it relevant to the people of today. 
It was a great experience to meet Rev. David Woodward and his wife Kathy. They are both full of enthusiasm and have a deep love and commitment for the Lord. Special thanks goes out to all those who contributed with photographs and special memories and those who worked hard in the kitchen making tea, coffee, cakes and cream teas.
I would like to give a great big thank you to Audrey, Sylvia and Jean. Each contributed extra time and used their gifts to help make this day a success. I would also like to say that Myrle‘s idea of putting the photos up on the trestle table legs with cardboard was a brilliant idea; I just wished that she did not get hurt in the process of getting the cardboard and hope she is completely healed from her injuries.
Most of all I would like to thank all those who attended both the open day and the services on Sunday and who sent Anniversary cards. You really made the day a fabulous success.
The following was a prayer that was written by Audrey especially for the day:
Thank you Father for your faithfulness to us over the past 100 years. May your spirit guide us in the future so that we will keep faithful to you.
Amen
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