This plate was rescued from a local dismissed Methodist Church, probably York Road Methodist Church or Whittingham Avenue Methodist Church.

This plate, donated to the museum very recently, was the object that pushed us to consider and evaluate the way in which the local faiths and beliefs were represented within the museum collection in the past. The donor asked us if the collection had many objects representing the local Methodist communities. We were very perplexed to find almost no objects related to local Methodist Churches and congregations even if historically they are one of the largest religious communities in the area.

This sparked a desire to form deeper links with the local faith and belief communities and led to the formation of the Southend Faith and Belief Network. The network is formed by members of the local community, Southend Museums and colleagues from Southend-on-Sea Borough Council.

Southend Museums Service
Photos by Tessa Hallmann