Mow Cop Meeting Warm-up

The outline of the ruined castle on the top of Mow Cop formed the backdrop for an open-air meeting attended by a congregation of 150 which was held as an early 'warm-up' for the planned celebrations to take place in 2007 marking 200 years of Primitive Methodism.

On 31 May 1807, a crowd of 2 000 people met on this same site and out of that gathering Primitive Methodism was born. The Rev. Dr. Stephen Hatcher, of the Englesea Brook chapel and museum, said that he hoped another 2000 would meet in 2007 to mark the occasion.

There is a suggestion that the Sunday nearest to 31 May in the year 2007 should be designated as an open-air Sunday— an official name for the day is still being sought— and every Methodist congregation be urged on that day to go outside its premises and conduct at least one service in the open air.

The year 2007 also marks the tercentenary of the birth of Charles Wesley, giving Methodist congregations everywhere the opportunity when they take to the open air to sing some of the great writers' best-loved hymns.

Methodist Recorder, 17 June 2004

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© Fulwood Methodist Church 16:13:10 Wednesday, 26 October 2005