Mersea City Hall is more than just a building and Beach Club is more than just fun on the beach. Both are Mersea institutions. Andrew French and Lesley Board came to our Fish and Chip supper to tell us how they both came into being.
A Historical Snapshot of Mersea City Hall
The hall dates back to 1930 when it was built by two maiden Christian ladies who lived in Seaview Avenue, the Misses Plummer. They had been holding a women's meeting once a week in Riverside House next door to West Mersea Yacht Club, and the interest in Bible reading and hymns, together with the unique personality of these two ladies, resulted in the venue becoming too small. The Misses Plummer decided to search for a site in the area to build a suitable hall. A few years earlier, in The Lane, a public house called the Old Ship Inn had been demolished. This was bought, the site cleared, and the biggest hall possible was built. The Old City Hall came into being; the ladies went there to drink in the Word of God, and also, of course, cups of tea.
Having such a convenient place for worship and preaching, quite a distance from the other churches on the Island, the ladies decided to run a Sunday evening service, and they invited preachers from the Assembly Hall and other churches. By the late forties the younger and surviving Miss Plummer, being too old and frail to continue running the Old City Hall, handed it over to four local Christians with no conditions, except a request to maintain the services as far as possible. This the Trustees have done, and for many years there was a mid-week children's service as well as the Sunday evening, and the Women's Meeting. The evening service still continues, the few older people frequently augmented by ten or so children and teenagers.
The history above is based on an article by the late Peter French in Mersea Island Society Mistral magazine in 1990 and is taken from the Mersea Museum website.
Old City Hall needs to raise money to keep the building in good condition and bring it up to modern standards. You can donate via Mersea Island Society here:
Mersea Beach Club
The origins of Beach Club go back a hundred years or more with local Christians getting together to share the love Jesus with children during a week of activities on Mersea beach. There is talk of a photograph originating from the Assembly Hall of people in Victorian dress on the beach at Seaview Avenue with chillren sitting and listening so maybe even before World War I the seeds of today's Beach Club were sown. Certainly after the first World War a regular annual "Sunshine Corner" as it was called back then took place and at some point moved to the present site at the lower end of Empress Avenue.
The mission organisations, Childrens Special Service Mission, ran Beach Club with the help of local Christians between the first and second World Wars and maybe a year or two following that. CSSM then moved on to pastures new at Clacton and local Christians carried on the outreach headed up by various individuals. Andrew French inherited the leadership around 2002 from his father. He formed a committee called "Beach Club Steering Group" from individuals from the various Churches on the island, and sometimes from the mainland too.
The ethos of Beach Club remains to make known the Christian message found in the Bible of God's love and that of his son, Jesus. We seek to do this in an interesting and fun way with crafts, games and Bible stories, songs, food and much more besides. This is even more important now as some of the children have never heard of the Bible stories that the majority of us grew up with.
Obviously, the format has changed over the years. Children used to just congregate to enjoy the fun without the need for paperwork! Nowadays this is not possible and we need risk assessments, registration, coucil permission etc. The number of volunteers is decreasing (a problem that affects many voluntary organisations). Last year this resulted in a decision to change the format from classes (needing more volunteers) to a more general systm that requires parents to remain and be responsible for their children's welfare. However, it worked very well and famlies generally preferred being able to keep their children together regardless of age. We registered about 200 children over the week with an age range of 0-16.
Beach Club is lucky to have such willing volunteers, some of whom have been there for many years. It is also lovely that it is a joint mission from all the local churches working together. The majority of families attending are local but we do have some from the main and even some who plan their holidays on Mersea to coincide with Beach Club so they can attend.
The club is completely free to attend although donations are never refused. We are supported financially by local churches, Christian organisations and the local council as well as doing fundraising activities throughout the year. The children receive a t-shiret and there are free refreshments avaialble. There is a barbeque for the older age group (11+) and the volunteers on the Thursday evening. We end with a picnic for all on the Friday.
Beach Club will run from 28th July to 1st August in 2025 and the theme this year is the Wild West.
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