Westchurch: The First 25 Years - Published History

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Our early history is now in a book. Many of our people have contributed to its writing (acknowledged in the Preface copied below) and it was ably groomed for publishing by Nigel and Janet Perry. Thanks to you all. And thanks be to God.

And, thanks be to God. It was a great journey. The book is a great read for any who have been on our journey. It'll interest anyone connected with Westchurch people and will surely explain some of our 'strange ways', e.g. to new-comers.

The Contents pages are in  Westchurch History p1-7.pdf  (290kB) and here's what the Preface says:

"When Westchurch began planning to celebrate their 25th year it was decided to publish a history. This book does not purport to be a complete and authoritative history of Westchurch but will provide, we hope, sufficient information for those who are a part of the community today, and in the future, to make sense of what we are through an understanding of where we have come from.

The first section introduces Westchurch through a narrative presentation of its principles, derived from discussions in 1992 between Philip Pattemore, a relative newcomer, and Michael Mayes, a founding member. This concludes with the 1998 Elders Vision for Westchurch.

Albert Wildbore, who had been a founding member and elder, offered to write a history for the years he had been part of the congregation. Naturally the account is from his point of view, but we owe a real debt to him for the work he has put in to maintaining and working from the documents of Westchurch and for the very detailed history he has written, which gives an account of Westchurch from its founding until the end of 1996 when Albert and his family left. In addition, he has provided several appendices which must have taken a great deal of time to compile and for which we are very grateful. Without his work over the years, much knowledge of the founding vision, concerns and practices of the church would be lost.

Finally several people were asked to write briefly about current aspects of Westchurch to give a snapshot of what was happening in the years since 1996 until the Westchurch Reunion held Labour Weekend, 20-21 October 2006.

The committee would like to thank the following contributors: Lawrence Allpress, John George, Margaret Harrison, Michael Mayes, Jill Meikle, Philip Pattemore, Lynley Read, Katherine Stewart and Albert Wildbore.

The Westchurch 25th Reunion Planning Committee
August 2008"
Westchurch: The First 25 Years

Copyright © 2010 Westchurch
Published by Westchurch, PO Box 31-090, Christchurch, New Zealand
Printed by The Caxton Press, Christchurch, New Zealand
ISBN: 978-0-473-16803-2