A Short History of Independent Methodism

At our meeting of the Friends of George Street on Thursday evening we covered a range of topics whilst sorting out how the group could help Take 27 with content to go into a short video being incorporated into our interpretation material.
We talked through the time periods we needed to include, the characters required, age groups etc.
Locations were discussed, particularly for the opening shots, where Julian Baum wanted to have a view over Oldham town centre from the surrounding countryside.
As we talked about the chapel itself the idea of trying to show a congregation inside the chapel threw up interesting problems, particularly about clothing, hair styles and hats (or no hats) and the colour scheme within the chapel at different periods. We were interested to see if other chapels had also had a blue colour scheme at some time - like we have seen at George Street and at our visit to Goodshaw Chapel.
The difference between Independent Methodism and other forms of Methodism came up. If you want to read up about this, a pamphlet published in 1905 is now available to download from the internet. Click on the link below and choose the option suitable for you.




A Short History of Independent Methodism : a Souvenir of the Hundredth Annual Meeting of the Independent Methodist Churches.

The General Committee of the Independent Methodist Churches "decided upon the issue of the present volume and entrusted its preparation to George Hunter, James Vickers, and Arthur Mounfield.

The Oldham District is covered in pages 95 to 103.

A more recent book about Independent Methodism has been written by John Dolan.
Retail price is £25