Western Way Chapel History
We have now celebrated over 40 years of God’s worship and work at Western Way Chapel. Previously, the building had served the Great Western Railway as an engine goods shed for 78 years before becoming a victim of the ‘Beeching Axe’ in 1962/63. It remained derelict for a number of years before the Trustees of Dymock Mission Hall purchased it in 1969/70 and built it into the present chapel in 1973.
The Mission Hall (which still stands along the Leominster Road) had been built and opened in 1921 by Christians who had supported the missioner John Coates of the Ross Carriage and Caravan Mission in his outreach missions in Dymock. Converts from these, along with local Christians from Ross (Henry Street Gospel Hall) and Gorsley (Baptist Chapel) started meeting in the Rifle Hall attached to the Beauchamp Arms at Dymock before the Mission Hall was erected.
It is appropriate that between 2014 and 2018, as people marked 100 years since the 1st World War, and all the heartache and loss of life that it brought, we should think of the folk who in those war years found New Life in Jesus, through the good news of Jesus shared with the people of Dymock by his servant John Coates.
‘Furtherance of the Christian Faith’ remains of paramount importance – and is a declaration of trust in the conveyance relating to the purchase of the former railway land.
Like John Coates did a hundred years ago, we seek to share the Good News of Jesus by word and deeds to the people of Dymock in the 21st Century.
The chapel was registered with the Charity Commission in December 2011, and its Charity Number is 1144956.
Victor Newman - 2014