My church is ready to mark its 150th year in fine style

IT has been my privilege to be the vicar of Christ Church Portsdown, on the border of Widley and Cosham, for over 16 years. I am the 12th vicar of this church, dating back to 1874.

In the latter half of the 19th century, much of what is now known as Widley was owned by John Deverell. Mr Deverell lived at Purbrook Park House, the building which now forms part of Purbrook Park School.

Deverell was given permission to build a church near to the top of Portsdown

Hill, initially for the spiritual wellbeing of the soldiers stationed at Fort Purbrook and Fort Widley. The land was donated by the War Department, but Deverell agreed to pay the £5,000 cost of construction. Although the building was completed in 1871, it was not consecrated for full use until 1874, so this year we are celebrating 150 years of serving the surrounding community.

To mark this landmark we have a series of events, starting with a talk by local historian, Andrew Perrin.

This will take place on Friday 15th March, at 7.30pm in the church hall.

Entrance is free and you are welcome to bring your own drinks and snacks. Tea and coffee will be available.

On Saturday 13th July, the church will be open all day.

There will be children’s activities in the morning and displays from local groups and pictures from the church’s history on show.

Tea and cake will be available all day. We are still collecting pictures of past events so, if you have any you can share, please do get in touch via our website on www.christchurchportsdown.org.

Then on Sunday 8th September at 11am we will have a service of thanksgiving led by the Bishop of Portsmouth.

We have a few other events planned and the regular life of the church continues, including our annual procession to the top of Portsdown Hill on Good Friday (10am on March 29), and a service marking Christ Church’s special link with the events around D Day at 11am on Sunday 9th June.

Christ Church Portsdown is a friendly, evangelical, Church of England church who have been serving the Widley, Purbrook and Cosham area on the edge of Portsmouth since 1874. Our services are a relaxed mix of contemporary and traditional worship, to which all are welcome.

Everybody is welcome. Find out more on www.christchurchportsdown.org