In 1887, when Fuller Baptist was without a minister, two Town Missionary Leaders were appointed. These were Mr & Mrs G Boyden. Their work was mainly around a hall in Tanners Lane.
In 1892, the new minister of Fuller, the Rev Thomas Phillips, felt the need to extend the mission work to the north end of the town, around Oakley Street. Open air services were held at nearby Sackville Street, with a brass band, lead by Fred Smith. Sunday evening worship was held in Ellen Butler’s cottage in Sackville St.
In January 1893 land between Oakley Street and Rockingham Road was purchased (which is the site of today’s
church). A ‘Tin Hut’ was purchased in September 1893 and opened in October that year.
The work started with a ready-made congregation of over 200 and a Sunday School of 100. The main service at that time was on Sunday evenings.
The Reverend Frederick Lusty became an assistant Minister to Fuller Baptist Church with responsibilities to the Oakley Street Mission, as it was then called. In effect, the first minister of the Mission and Rockingham Road Baptist Church.
Sometime before the first world war a brickbuilt suite of rooms were added to the Oakley Street frontage which today serve as meeting rooms and a church lounge. It boasts a small kitchen.
The next major step in the history of this Church came in 1926/27 when, under the ministry of the Rev Charles Ellis, the current church building was built and opened (see below). Initially it was to be for the Sunday School, and to be later extended over what is now the car park, with a large Worship Building. However, with the advent of the World War II in 1939, funds were never enough to do this. The layout of the building today retains the style of a main school hall with 10 small anterooms leading off for teaching.
It wasn’t until 1945 that the ‘Oakley Street Mission’ became a self-supporting church in its own right under the ministry of Rev Keith Hobson who was minister from 1943 to 1949. Up to this time all members of the mission were in
effect members of the Fuller Baptist Church with communion services and baptisms held at Fuller.
In the 1960’s the old Tin Hut was replaced with the current hall and later linked to the main building.
Roger Griffith
Photo Credit: Tony Smith, ‘20th Century Kettering. A Book for the Millennium’, p21
Saturday, 11 September 1926 was a red-letter day for local Baptists when the stone-laying ceremony for the new Rockingham Road School Chapel took place. The building, part of the Fuller Mission in Oakley Street, cost £8,000 and a number of stones were laid by Oakley Street organisations, including the Sunday School, both the Young Men's and Young Women's Bible classes and the Mission Band. Former Fuller pastor, the Revd Thomas Phillips is seen giving his address to the large gathering of ministers, deacons, elders, Sunday School teachers and other church members. After the ceremony there was a tea in the Rockingham Road council schools, followed by an evening meeting chaired by the Reverend Ewan Williams. The building underwent major renovations, including the replacement of the roof and front entrance, in 1996. The £150,000 cost was raised by the 130-strong congregation.
Tony Smith