Thames (NZ): The Church of Christ, Thames

The Church of Christ has always had a special place in our family, with my Grandmother being a faithful member during her life in Thames.

It was great to find a history of the church online:
The Thames Church of Christ Life & Advent held its first meeting in the Oddfellows Lodge Hall, in Richmond Street on Sunday 23rd July, 1882 and later worshipped in the former Munster Hotel on the corner of Pollen and Richmond Streets—diagonally opposite the Brian Boru Hotel. In 1922 it moved to Sealey Street and in 1978 moved again to its present home in Parawai Road, opposite Reservoir Road. (Further info and full article - click here)

Above 75th Anniversary from the above source
Below: 1947 view of the church, Sealey Street Thames

The details of the first meeting in the Pollen Street Lecture Hall (old Munster Hotel) can be found online at Paperspast. This was on 9 November 1884. Two hundred and thirty people attended the service, with numbers boosted for the later public address. The evening consisted of singing and addresses. Names mentioned were: the Chairman (Mr E. R. Taylor), Messrs White, Steed (Thames), Wilcox, Walker, Cropp (Thames), Carr, Aldridge, and Squirrell. Mrs Adlam provided the excellent tea. The Auckland visitors were very impressed with the hall, and the irony that it was once a hotel.

Thames Star 8 November 1894

The church is now located at Parawai Road, Thames. The old site in Sealey Street is at the back of the Imperial Hotel - Mitre10 garden centre.

Further information:
The Treasury at Thames has copies of some of the early Church Records