The little church that has stood the test of time

FIFTY  years ago it was a Methodist church and now it is a Uniting Church but thankfully little about the building has changed.

Methodist Church in Avon Rd at Dee Why c1964. Courtesy Warringah Library

FIFTY  years ago it was a Methodist church and now it is a Uniting Church but thankfully little about the building has changed.

The church, on the north-eastern corner of Avon Rd and Howard Ave, Dee Why, was built in the 1930s as a Methodist church.

On June 22, 1977, the Uniting Church in Australia was formed as a union of three churches: the Congregational Union of Australia, the Methodist Church of Australasia and the Presbyterian Church of Australia.

The Dee Why church is now called the Cecil Gribble Tongan Congregation Uniting Church.

The Cecil Gribble Tongan Congregation Uniting Church on the corner of Howard Ave and Avon Rd for Friday Flashback. Picture: Braden Fastier

The first Methodist service held at Dee Why was at the home of Mr and Mrs Broadbent on November 25, 1917.

The foundation stone of the church was laid on Saturday, ­January 15, 1921.

The church was officially opened just four months later on ­Saturday, April 9.

The picture of the then-Methodist Church, taken in 1964, features in the 2016 Road Safety Calendar produced by Warringah, Pittwater, Manly, Hornsby, Ku-ring-gai, Lane Cove, North Sydney, Ryde and Willoughby councils.

The calendar offers old images from each council mixed with new images, some of them superimposed.

The Methodist Church in Howard Ave, which is the oldest church in Dee Why, is featured in the July section of the free calendar, which ­offers useful road safety ­advice for all drivers.

Anyone wanting a copy of the calendar can contact Warringah, Pittwater or Manly council but stocks are limited.