Our History
The Methodist Church has a proven track record of targeting its resources and efforts on improving community life and meeting a variety of needs of individual persons living in urban and inner-city areas who experience social deprivation. During the last two centuries, the Methodist Church has been at the heart of numerous nationally acclaimed initiatives; these have included 140 years of working in partnership with Action for Children (formerly NCH (National Children’s Home)), a major national charity which has been a leader in the development and care of children in residential setting as well as through the provision of community-based support services. A second example has been the work of the Methodist Homes for the Aged (MHA), a major provider of not-for-profit care homes, housing and support services for older people; offering a range of services throughout the UK to meet the differing needs of individuals in later life.
You may be interested to know that Aston Villa Football Club were founded in 1874, formed by members of the Villa Cross Wesleyan Chapel (Methodists). They have played at their home ground, Villa Park, since 1897. Aston Villa were one of the founder members of the Football League in 1888.
In addition to these national initiatives, the Methodist Church, through its network of City Centre Missions and Town Centre Churches has been a key player in the development of local community services and initiatives, seeking, where possible, to work in partnership with existing voluntary or community groups.
Wesley Methodist Church 291 High Street West Bromwich is located in the centre of the town and is therefore an ideal centre for involvement with the local community. It is a Methodist Heritage site.
In 2010 Wesley Methodist Church 291 High Street West Bromwich took the decision that it wanted to be more involved with the local community and to do this it was necessary for the building to be improved therefore 291 Community Association Ltd was registered to enable the funding to be raised. This being a limited company by guarantee.
The objective of the 291 Community Association Ltd (now CIO) is to provide facilities for recreation and other leisure-time occupation in the interests of social welfare for the public at large including, but not exclusively, residents of the borough of Sandwell, principally in the area of West Bromwich.
A number of upgrading and refurbishment projects were carried out bringing the building to a suitable standard to allow the premises to be used by the Community. This was funded by grants, fund raising and the reserves of Wesley Church.
291communityassociationcio.co.uk 