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Wesley Centre Memories > Roy Coggon

“I’ve got my Cradle Roll Certificate date 9th November 1941 so my involvement with the Chapel goes back a long way. My first memories are from about 4 years old when I used to go to the Sunday school there. That was before the church hall was built so the classes were held in the back room of the Chapel.

I remember many Sunday School anniversaries. They used to build a raised platform up in front of the organ and all the children would stand as a group to have our photograph taken. There used to be such a lot of us go then and they were a big occasion.

I’ve got photos of one of the Sunday School queens being crowned and my sister Joyce is one of the attendants. She later went on to be queen.

When the church hall was opened in 1954 Joyce presented a bouquet of flowers to the dignitaries who performed the ceremony. I remember Father David Ingham was there, and Pastor Jinx who played a big role in getting the hall built, he’s moved on to Bridlington now.

We used to go on the Whit walk every year too. The Sunday school queen would go round on a float which sounds more glamorous than it was. The photo I’ve got shows it was a Butlers flat back coal lorry!

The Friday night youth club was the best in town and was really popular. We all used to pay our subs and there was never any trouble or bother. If you went to the youth club you were strongly encouraged to go to the Sunday service and at least 90% of us did. Running a good youth club must have been their way of keeping attendance up!

During the summer after the Sunday evening service a crowd of us often used to walk down to Roache Abbey and back through the woods. Then we’d have refreshments in the church hall before heading home. There were a few courting couples amongst us but it was all quite innocent and I didn’t have much luck with girls back then because I had to wear glasses from young!

I didn’t mind being the centre of attention though. In the 1950’s I was part of a skiffle group and we used to rehearse in the room behind the stage in the church hall. In 1958 we had a fundraising week for Hungarian refugees and we got our picture in the Advertiser for playing in a concert. Joyce Harper also sang “to know him is to love him” while I played the piano. There was a jive marathon too and a bedstead race from Wickersley to Maltby with men dressed as women and vice versa.

In later years I used to go to Maltby amateur operatics rehearsals in the church hall. The room is very close to the size of the stage at Rotherham Civic Theatre so it was an ideal venue for us. They rehearse outside of Maltby now so I really hope they come back when the building refurbishment is complete.”

Roy Coggon
Maltby Resident

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