Our History

OUR HISTORY

OUR HISTORY


Wimbledon Spiritualist Church ­– a family affair.


Their motto is, 'what we can give, not what we can get'

A spirit message by way of an ouija board was all that Richard Arthur Bush needed to set up a regular meeting place for Spiritualists in and around south west London’s Wimbledon.


On Wednesday December 17, 1913, at a public meeting in St George’s House, Alwyne Road, Wimbledon, ‘The Wimbledon Spiritualist Mission’ began its journey.  For a number of years the Mission held meetings in hired premises, but in 1923 a building site was purchased at 134-136 Hartfield Road, and the completed building was formally opened on December 16, 1925 by the Reverend George Vale Owen.


On March 3, 1926, members voted to change the name from ‘Mission’ to ‘Church’. During the Second World War, the greater part of the church was destroyed during bombing raids, but the remainder was given temporary repairs and continued to be used.

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Wimbledon

Following restoration and an extension, the church was formally re-opened in 1953, in the presence of representatives from the Spiritualists’ National Union and the Greater World Christian Spiritualist Association.  This deceptively spacious building still stands proud today.


The list of well-known mediums who have worked on the platform reads like a Who’s Who of Spiritualist history; Leslie Flint, Gordon Higginson, Albert Best, Doris Stokes, Jessie Nason, Robin Stevens and Doris Collins, to name just a few.


There are reminders of the church’s esteemed visitors, past and present, in the photographs and press cuttings that adorn the walls in the large foyer, which also houses the refreshment bar, church shop and reading rooms.


The church is affiliated to United Spiritualists, and is recognised as a Progressive Spiritualist church – but all denominations are warmly welcomed. It has previously been affiliated to the Spiritualists’ National Union and the Greater World Christian Spiritualist Association.