Our History

Building God’s Church...

St Francis’ Church is part of the Horley Team Ministry in the Diocese of Southwark in the Church of England. The two other churches in the team are St Bartholomew’s Church and St Wilfrid’s Church. The civil parish of Horley is in Surrey but the ecclesiastical parish extends into West Sussex and its boundary cuts across the runway of Gatwick Airport.

The church was built between April and October 1958 and was dedicated on 11 October 1958 by the Area Bishop. One local newspaper opened its account of the dedication as follows:

“To the strains of Handel's Water Music played in organ-like tone by the Horley Town Band the dedication of the new Hall-Church in Balcombe Road Horley was performed in the presence of a capacity congregation.

The ceremony, enhanced by the background beauty of the simple gold and red reredos and the magnificent display of chrysanthemums was followed with intense interest by a cross-section of communal life in Horley represented in the congregation."

The Bishop said that the building and dedication of the Church gave great pleasure to the whole diocese which was thankful for all the work which had been done to bring the project to fruition.

The seed of the project was sown 1936 when the parish began to consider building a place of worship in East Horley. In 1946 the vicar and lay representatives held a meeting with the diocese to discuss what was possible. But no progress of substance was made until 1957 when the present site was purchased and donated to the parish by Mr and Mrs FD Edwards.

The site for the church was cleared by volunteers. A notice board was needed to advertise the site of the new church but the project was to be self-funding and at that stage no money had been raised. During a storm one night a tree on the site was blown down; a local farmer loaned a chain saw; the tree was cut into logs and sold and the proceeds paid for the board.

The first turf was cut on 28 September 1957 (slide 1) when a “Great Michaelmas Fayre” was held at the site. It was part of St Francis week in the parish and marked the beginning of the building project. The following day a cross was carried in procession from the Parish Church and erected on the site of the new church (slide 2). The Cross was made from two pieces of timber from a 400 year old thatched barn from the north of Horley. It is now fixed to the east wall of the church.

On four evenings from Sunday to Wednesday in the following week the mediaeval morality play, "Everyman" was performed. On the Thursday there was a parish day of prayer. On Friday St Francis Day was celebrated. In his sermon at the Festival evensong the Bishop paid tribute to the energy and enthusiasm shown by the parish in tackling the tasks of obtaining a site, getting plans drawn up and raising money for the church. He expressed the hope that by the grace of God the Hall-Church and the priest’s house would be completed as quickly as possible.

A building fund was set up to raise money to build the church. The fundraising was a community effort. Every Saturday for three months in an empty shop in the town centre, a rota of people collected contributions from members of the public. Darts competitions in local public houses raised funds. Empty sweet tubes were given to children to be returned filled with the old octagonal 3d pieces. Many local shops displayed collecting boxes.

The Bishop returned to the parish to lay the foundation stone of the church on 26 April 1958 (slide 3). By that stage the clergy house had been built thanks to a further generous gift from the Edwards family and work began on building the church in June 1958. The church and hall was constructed from standard factory sections to provide a dual purpose building with a dividing screen. The building also included a meeting room on the south side of the church known as the "Burke room” in memory of Daisy Burke who started Sunday school classes in her own home for the children of East Horley.

Fundraising continued as the church was being built (slides 4 and 5). There was a further appeal week in 19-26 July 1958. The leaflet produced to support the appeal explains the use of the term "Hall-Church". The building would comprise the consecrated St Francis’ Church and, separated from it by a removable partition, a Hall 60 feet long and 30 feet wide.

A tender for the whole project was accepted for £12,169 but the building of the vestries on the north side of the church was postponed so that central heating and the other more essential rooms could be provided. These economies saved £1069. A grant of £4000 was received from the Church Commissioners who lent another £4000 to be repaid in six years through covenanted gifts. The sum of £7,280 had been raised locally. The appeal week raised a further £820 for the building and £957 for furniture.

The work was just completed in time for the planned dedication (slide 6). The font arrived on the day and was being French polished an hour before the service was due to begin. On the following day Sunday 12 October 1958 the first services were held on. The aim was to build a congregation from the East Horley without affecting the congregation of the Parish Church. This was achieved. Within a short time St Francis Church also had it own Cub Pack, Scout Troop, Brownies and Girl Guides. A Church choir was formed and there were several youth groups, a women's fellowship and an old peoples’ afternoon club.

In 1960 the church was presented with a 100 year old two manual Gray and Dawson pipe organ housed in the organ chamber which was part of the additional vestry rooms constructed in 1961 on the north side of the church. These rooms were dedicated on 27 April 1961. The pipe organ was replaced by a “Norwich” two manual electronic organ dedicated in September 1966 and now replaced by a Johannes Viscount 220 organ sited in the choir in the main body of the church. The organ chamber was used as a small meeting room and more recently as the All Saints Chapel dedicated to the memory of Harry and Dorothy Luck. Before the church was built Harry started Sunday School classes and led evening worship at Balcombe Road School. After it was built he served as a Reader until his death in 1976.

The reredos described in the newspaper article when the church was dedicated was a criss-cross wooden design and became known affectionately to the congregation as "the wine rack". The design fell out of favour and in 1980 the church committee decided that it should be removed and re-placed by a simple wooden cross.

Building God’s People...

The church flourished and grew in the 1960s and 1970s. It celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1984. At this stage the church was still a daughter church within the parish but in 1985 it became a church within the newly created Horley Team Ministry. The 1980s and 1990s saw a fall in the numbers in the congregation. In 2001 the parish was informed by the diocese that the stipendiary clergy allocated to the parish would be reduced from three to two.

The Parochial Church Council when considering the future of the parish proposed in September 2001 that St Francis’ Church be closed. This was opposed by the St Francis’ church committee and it was agreed that St Francis’ Church would run as a "semi independent, self financing church" within the parish. The threat of closure and the challenge of running itself sparked new life into the church and the small congregation sought to respond to the challenge of God’s words to St Francis: “Look around you, Francis, my Church is in disrepair, go and repair it”. Within months numbers increased and work started to repair and redecorate the building and generally to modernise the facilities.

In 2003 when the Team Rector’s term of office came to an end, the Bishop of Southwark suspended the Presentation to the Benefice pending a resolution of how the parish should be structured: whether the team ministry should continue or be amended. In 2006 a new team ministry structure was put in place with each of the three Anglican churches in the parish having its own District Church Council and churchwardens.

Further necessary structural work has been carried out at the church. The roof has been replaced. The original windows were taken out and double glazed windows installed. The oil boiler has been replaced by a gas boiler. A statue of St Francis was acquired and now stands in the church gardens (slides 8 and 12). The church is continuing to improve its building and the facilities: (recent pictures of the church, slides7, 9,10 and 11). The current plans are to purchase new chairs for the church and to restructure the vestries to provide a more flexible space for meetings and worship.

In 2008 St Francis Church celebrated its 50th anniversary. The church looks forward to continuing its work as part of the Christian community in Horley. Our vision for St Francis Church is taken from the call St Francis received from God to rebuild his church. We express our aim as "Building God's Church, Building God's People".

We value both our Anglican heritage and the fact that we are part of a diverse Christian community in Horley. We aspire to be an open, inclusive community welcoming members from any church or non-church background. We attempt to draw the best from the various traditions of the Anglican Church, basing ourselves firmly on the historic truths of the Christian faith revealed in Scripture and summarised in the Creeds. We try to guide and not dictate the response to God and to be a friendly and welcoming community providing a spiritual home for all our members. Our aim is to continue building God’s Church and building His People.