CHURCH OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD

 

Affectionately known as the ‘tin hut’

 

1936 - 1967

The Church of the Good shepherd was opened by the Bishop of Lewes on 8th November 1936 after it had been donated by the Vicar of the Good Shepherd, Brighton.

 

The plot of land for the church was purchased for £100.00 in 1935-36 by Father Holmes who was vicar of St. Nicolas.

 

The church was originally a cook house and mess room at the Military Camp at Shoreham Airport and had become surplus after the Great War.  It was dismantled and re-erected as a temporary building in Dyke Road, as the Church of the Good Shepherd.  Work started in 1935-36 building a permanent Church of the Good Shepherd in Dyke Road, Brighton on the site where the tin hut was standing.

 

Father Holmes heard that the ‘tin hut’ was to be dumped and he offered to remove it from Dyke Road to Mile Oak. Father Holmes gave the site and Brighton Good Shepherd PCC gave the building.

 

The church came complete with Vestments, Alter Frontals and a Great War Chaplin’s Chalice. The church was originally filled with 16 rather uncomfortable pews.  When All Saints Church in Brighton closed in the late 1950’s 16 better quality and more comfortable pews from there were scrounged and adapted to fit the ‘tin hut’.

 

When it was being erected in Mile Oak it blew down in a gale and work had to recommence.

 

Many of you will remember the Beetle Drives, Whist Drives, Dances, Socials etc. After the war. Also Cubs, Scouts, Brownies and Girl Guides all held in the church hall.

 

Another memory which may be best forgotten were the delightful toilets and store in the garden at the rear of the church.