End of era as church forced to close

An historic 100-year-old Black Country church is being forced to close due to falling numbers of worshippers and spiralling maintenance costs.

Vicar Street Methodist Church, Dudley, made famous by peace campaigner and mountain climber Bert Bissell, will hold its last Sunday service on August 31, before closing its doors for good.

The church dates back to 1902. The Young Men's Bible Class, now renamed the Vicar Street Bible Class, and started by Mr Bissell in 1925, will continue at Dixons Green Methodist Church.

The decision to close comes just seven years after the church was saved from the bulldozers after plans to build a new shopping park in the centre of Dudley were altered. It was feared a compulsory purchase order would be placed on the building to make way for the planned development between King Street and the Dudley Southern Bypass.

Members today said the decision to close the church had not been taken lightly.

Worshippers are expected to split up and go to either Dixons Green Methodist Church in Hall Street or Central Hall Methodist Church in Wolverhampton Street.

Alan Wedge, aged 74, has attended the church since January 1948. He said: "The number of people in the congregation has been falling steadily and there are now probably just eight or nine people every week for the Sunday morning service and an average of 15 for the Bible class in the afternoon.

"Currently the boundary wall needs replacing and there is a lot of electrical work to be done which we estimate would cost around £20,000. It is very sad as it is the end of an era but this decision hasn't been taken lightly."

Mr Bissell, who died in 1998 aged 96, was a former probation officer.

He made annual pilgrimages to Ben Nevis, with the first climb on VJ Day in 1945 when he and boys from the Bible class made the trek and built a peace cairn on the top.