(John 14:6)
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The congregation of the Parish church is now made up of those who enjoy our stimulating but quieter and structured worship, those who have younger children involved with our mid-week and older children with Sunday morning activities. Many have got to know the church through their weddings or the sympathetic pastoral contacts of our clergy and lay pastoral assistants met when preparing for baptisms or meeting the other spiritual needs of the now large population of our area.
Using land donated by the developer of the Merley estate the church then built The Lantern on Sopwith Crescent in the centre of the Merley and took on a curate. As growth continued in both the Parish Church and The Lantern the Bearwood estate was added in the 1980’s and the process was repeated again with the construction of St Barnabas Church in Bearwood which opened in 1982. Several families relocated to Bearwood to provide the base of the new congregation led by lay people and non-stipendiary clergy.
With the conversion of the large Wimborne estate at Canford to Canford School in 1923 and the sale of much associated land, this part of North Poole was left rural with a small local population. In the 1970’s however the Merley estate was developed and the congregation, which had until then numbered below a dozen, started to grow. By 1975, under the leadership of John Collins, the church was almost full and attracting members from a wide area, but many from the new housing nearby.
By kind permission of Tony Stimpson
Over recent years both churches have grown and each church now has a stipendiary vicar living in a local vicarage among their congregations.
In 1990 the need for modern meeting and catering facilities was met with the construction of the Canford Magna centre along side the rectory.
By the mid 1990’s the demand for specialist services and activities for our young people led to the appointment of a full time youth worker and conversion in 2000 of the old Village School in Canford Magna village to a purpose-built youth centre, The Pulse. This was expanded with a new wing in 2005.