This opposition was probably the reason why it wasn’t until 17 years after the arrival of the army in the town that it opened its citadel in Moulsham Street. This had a main hall and was built to accommodate 350 people, but also had a young people’s hall for a further 200. 150 sat down for the opening celebratory meal in 1902. The Chelmsford branch established a lodging house and a mission. In the early 1890s it invited the inmates of the Model and Kettle lodging houses in Moulsham, as well as a number of those who lived in the town’s yards, to an annual ‘knife and fork’ tea. By the early twentieth century the opposition to the army in the town had largely dissipated and when General Booth came to the town in 1905 he was met by Mayor Councillor Gepp and treated to a dinner at the Corn Exchange presided over by Carne Rasch. In 1936 the Salvation Army celebrated its Silver Jubilee in the town with around 300 members. Eight years previously it had built a hall on the Boarded Barns estate in the northern part of the town. A number of its followers were conscientious objectors during the Second War. Most went into nonmilitary occupations, but one Salvation Army insurance agent refused to be conscripted and was given three months imprisonment. In 2009 the organisation became slightly controversial again when it opened its new buildings in Baddow Road which, although the modern design received plaudits in the architectural world, divided the townsfolk of Chelmsford to say the least! The church was constructed entirely from laminated pinewood and made in Austria before being transported by a convoy of low loaders and slotted together by a giant crane. In 2011 the organisation celebrated its 125th anniversary in the borough. Nick Simmons Smith, a composer, who is a resident in the US but who was born in Chelmsford, wrote a piece Chelmsford 125 to commemorate the event. Next issue: The second article next month looks at church buildings in the Chelmsford area in the last 140 years.
Chelmsford Twinning Partnership Well, Christmas is over for another year and I hope you have all had a good time. It has been very busy on the Twinning front; we had a number of members travel to Backnang for the Weihnachtsmarkt, a wonderful Christmas market in our twin town. We also sent a plethora of Christmas goods to Backnang to sell to the locals who come back to our stand each year to buy English goods and practise their English. It also stretches our members to practise their German. There is hot gluhwein to drink and tasty rotwurst sausages to keep us warm as the weather at this time of year in Germany can be very cold. However, it’s a great fun event and well worth a visit at this festive time of year. The following weekend we had a number of German visitors over to the Cathedral Christmas Fayre. They had a stand at the fayre selling German wine, spirits and beer. They also brought chocolate and pretzel tasters and various Partnerschaft goods which they gave away to willing visitors to the event. Seven students from the Gynasium School in Backnang came to visit Chelmsford Community Radio at Moulsham Mill and Boswell’s School. They are all participating in a radio link and the Backnang students were interviewing visitors about their Christmas favourite things for their future radio programme in Backnang. A great initiative. The next Twinning event will be our Annual New Year Meal on the 24th January. This year it will be held at the Lantern House restaurant in Brookfield Road. If you are interested in meeting members of the partnership, please get in touch by calling 07798 687 046. We have several social events throughout the year including a quiz and a themed bingo evening, as well as meetings with other Twinning groups in Essex and Suffolk.
out more from our website: chelmsfordtwinningassociation.co.uk. Also look out for news of anniversary celebrations in Chelmsford in April 2020. If you have previously been involved in twinning, either individually or with a group, school or organisation, please get in touch by emailing: towntwinning@freenetname.co.uk. We would love to hear from you and to see you at one of our anniversary events.
View both our magazines at www.issuu.com/itsyourmedia
2020 will be the 30th anniversary of Chelmsford Twinning with Backnang and the 20th anniversary of Twinning with Annonay. Find
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