RESIDENTS and visitors are being invited to join the 150th anniversary celebrations next week for the Avenue Methodist Church, in Minehead.

The church is organising an exhibition of documents, photographs, and written memories as well as a small selection of memorabilia.

It wants to hear from anybody who has anything they can contribute to the anniversary exhibition.

The origins of the Methodist church date from services held in various homes in the early 1800s, as well as outdoor preaching.

A society was formed in 1811 to meet in a house in Court Place, Bampton Street, and later members transferred in 1850 to chapel a chapel built in Alcombe.

Attempts to find land on which to build were finally successful by 1874, with permission from the Luttrell Estate to use a site on Station Road, now called The Avenue.

It was timely, as it was the same year in which the railway arrived in Minehead, bringing visitors and traders to the town.

The completion of the first stage of the building came in 1876, with the larger part of the church being added 10 years later.

The anniversary exhibition will be in the Church Lounge and is open to the public from 2.30 pm to 4.30 pm on Sunday, May 24, and from 10.30 am to 4 pm on Bank Holiday Monday, May 25, with refreshments available.

On the Sunday morning there will be a celebration service at 10.30 am which will be taken by the Rev Andrew Vidamour, one of the church’s previous ministers, followed by a lunch in the hall.

A spokesperson said: “Please join with us in celebrating a very special anniversary.”

The founder of the Methodist Church, John Wesley, twice visited Minehead, in 1744 and 1745, before making the sea crossing to South Wales.