Arthur Ray Featherstone

What is your name?

Arthur Ray Featherstone.

I’m a senior youth worker, running the Sheerness County Youth Centre on the Isle of Sheppey. I’ve been doing that since 1961, when I joined as a member. Because I was a Youth Worker there we often were connected with many other youth projects on the island so I would pop along to the Methodist Youth Clubs, the café youth clubs, the Trinity Youth Club. Now the Trinity Church which was in the Broadway, they had a youth club and they managed to get, I don’t know how, whether it’s connected at all, the dockyard church to run their youth club. I can’t remember how many nights a week it was, I think it was probably two or three and it was a rather strange building to run it in, very big and obviously you’ve got the main area and there was a sort of gallery, though my mind doesn’t give me a clear picture of what it was like but I think, for example, you may have to go upstairs to play pool and downstairs to play table tennis. I remember they used to have music there and they may even have held a few discos there but it was just another youth facility on the island. So I actually went in the church when it was still intact. There, was a window over there so there was no damage to it. It did look like a church but it was virtually cleaned out of most of the things like pews and the altar there obviously and I didn’t really spend a lot of time there.

I suppose I used to visit there about once every two months to see how they were getting on but it was a very thriving youth club.

Apart from that, I don’t think I’ve got much more information. I’m trying to even think whether, I think we even went through the main doors where the pillars are, to the new centre so it wasn’t the side door. I know it was used later as a boxing club and other things before it was finally made redundant. Sad thing really is that all the time using the old building there was a lot more chance of it not being wrecked.

When they bought that building was when the damage started to happen because there were no regular people going there so while the youth club boxing was there, as far as I know, the building was in perfectly good condition, so it’s rather sad I’m actually sort of connected in some way.

I do go to all the AGMs held by Will Paling who is now heading up the restoration of the church so I’m very interested in it. But I’m afraid that’s really all I’ve got to say.

Do you remember that the church burned down?

Right, okay, yes, I do. As far as I knew it was taken over by a contractor, I don’t know what he would do but then I did hear the news that it was on fire and obviously the newspapers reported it which said there was extensive damage and I understand after that the contractor started to dismantle the stairways and things like that but then they were stopped. I think often that does happen, contractors buy a building and they don’t realise what they can and can’t do in it. So a lot of the damage that we found there was of course the fire. I’m not sure but I think there have been two fires there. I can’t remember, someone else might be able to tell you that. I think there was one fire then I think there was an extensive fire. Then in between all that the contractors started removing stairways and things and they were stopped so if you go in there you will see a stairway that’s been chopped about a lot and it’s rather sad really.

“I know it was used later as a boxing club and other things before it was finally made redundant.”

If you have your own memories of the dockyard church – as a church, a social club or as it is now, we’d love to hear from you. We're also keen to build an image archive by making copies of photographs and memorabilia of the church.

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