On Sunday, June 2, Thorold residents will get to time travel to the 1800s, as the Friends of Beaverdams Church are organizing a heritage church service.
“We’re going to have a saddlebag preacher,” explains Donna Cowan, in an interview with ThoroldToday. “In the olden days, when the Methodist Church was first formed, they didn't have their own minister. So basically what they had was a saddlebag preacher that would go around to maybe two or three churches in a Sunday.”
The Friends of the Beaverdams Church are a group of dedicated Thorold residents that have restored the heritage site on Marlatts Road to its former glory, so it can now serve as a community centre.
During the heritage church service, the Friends group wants to recreate the 1800s as faithfully as possible.
“We're going to reenact it,” Cowan says. “The ushers and so on will be dressed in heritage costumes from the 1800s and we're going to have an old-fashioned minstrel to play along for the hymns. It'll be like an old-time church service that they would have up there in the 1800s.”
Even though it’s a religious service, Cowan stresses that “everybody’s welcome, it’s non-denominational.”
“it gives the community an opportunity if they're interested in the heritage aspect, or if they just want to come and enjoy the old-time hymns,” she says. “It’s a community thing and we're focusing on the heritage part of it but I think it'll be fun. It's a chance for people to see the interior.”
The service will also give the Friends of Beaverdams a chance to show off their new seating.
“We just had a chair campaign for event chairs and we raised the funds for a hundred chairs so we've got a lot of seating,” Cowan says. “We’re looking forward to that as well.”
Cowan is hoping that the sun will be out so that people can make a beautiful afternoon out of it.
“I’m hoping that'll be a good day because then people can peruse the cemetery and have a look around at what we've done,” she says.
The heritage church service will take place at Beaverdams Church on Marlatts Rd, on Sunday, June 2, at 2 p.m.
