Our Mission: To be God's people, relying on the power of the Holy Spirit,
expressing the love of Jesus through worship and service,
and encouraging others to meet God.

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A Brief History of Hatfield Road Methodist Church

It was in 1893 that open air meetings, organised by Herbert Read, a young Mission Leader working on behalf of the Home Mission Convention of the Methodist Church, were first held in the Fleetville area of St Albans.  The following year, on 1^st August 1894, the Hatfield Road Methodist Society began holding services in its new indoor home, an old shoe factory on the corner of Cavendish Road.  A year later, Herbert’s sister, Gertrude Read, opened a Sunday School and, before long, there were clubs, social evenings, a string band and a choir, all ensuring that the Church and its members made a real impact on the local community.

Continuing industrial development in the area meant that the local population was increasing and the old shoe factory was soon outgrown.  An iron building was put up on a small site in Hatfield Road and opened in March 1898.  However, by the early 1900s, this was already inadequate and, in 1906, a new ‘tin tabernacle’ church was opened for worship on the current site, followed by a brick-built church in 1929.  That church building is now the large hall, having been superseded in its use by the current modern church building erected in 1986, itself extended in the early 1990s.

Throughout its history, the Hatfield Road Methodist Church family has been active in children’s and youth work, in fellowship and social activity, in music and drama, in pastoral support and prayer and in worship, bible study and mission.