'Sad farewell' as Neil Street Uniting Church to close after 162 years

The last service will "be a bit like a funeral" according to church secretary and treasurer Laurenne Robertson as they pay tribute to those who built and have served the church over the years.

"It's a sad day ... and (the service will be) based on a funeral. We're here to say goodbye and to celebrate what has been."

Five generations of Ms Robertson's family have attended Neil Street church stretching back to the late 1800s right through to her son, who will do a reading in the final service.

And she's not the only member of the congregation who can trace their involvement in the historic church back four or more generations.

"It's just been a wonderful family-oriented church going back 162 years," she said.

Many of Ms Robertson's childhood memories are tied up with the church - Sunday school, picnics, social gatherings, fairs, friends and more.

The church was also a community hub, hosting many clubs, sports, music and social events.

But over the years its congregation and the numbers at its weekly Sunday service have dwindled while maintenance and insurance costs have skyrocketed.

Ms Robertson said Uniting Church management had told her it was a case of "too many buildings, not enough people".

Before COVID the church averaged around 40 people at its Sunday service but since restrictions eased the number most weeks has halved.

"It's an older congregation so a lot just haven't returned and some have gone in to care but numbers are dropping and that's part of the reason (for closure)," she said.

And mid-last year when a "huge" insurance invoice arrived and the congregation sought advice from Uniting Church management, they came back with a decision to close the church.

"We had the funds and could have gone another couple of years ... but (closure) was inevitable though it probably came a bit too early."

The Uniting Church plans to sell the Neil Street site, on the corner of Macarthur Street, which is actually home to three churches.

The first church was built in 1861 after demands from Cornish and Welsh settlers who resided around Soldiers Hill.

"They held their services in the open air, preached from a tree stump. They took their children to Sunday School at the early Lydiard Street Wesleyan Church a mile away, but in winter found it hard to cross the muddy Gnarr Creek where the railway station now stands," Ms Robertson wrote in a history of the church.

"They wanted their own Neil St Wesleyan Church on Soldiers Hill."

Within a few years the church congregation had grown so much the original church was too small, and a larger church, next to the original building, was constructed over four months opening on March 3, 1867.

The current large Gothic-style church, also home to an 1874 Fincham & Hobday pipe organ, was built and opened in 1892 with a three-week celebration including nine church services, many reunions and choral recitals.

The future of the organ is unknown.

The current church also features 15 ornate stained glass windows, many of which were donated by families involved with the church.

On Sunday, worshippers from the Skipton Street and Brown Hill Uniting Churches will close their churches and join with the Neil Street congregation in their last service, after which a morning tea will be held where many stories are sure to be told.

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"I remember Sunday School anniversaries when they built a platform in the hall and you had 200 or 300 kids all packed up on the platform, and three services. For me personally, one year a got a new coat, the next year a new dress and they had to last for two years," Ms Robertson said.

The church was also a community hub, hosting many clubs, sports, music and social events.

The Sunday School closed just under 10 years ago when there were 24 children coming, down from a peak in the early 1900s when there were 530 students and 40 teachers.

"It was a big social thing. All day Sunday your whole life revolved around church but that's all changed with 24 hour shopping and kids sport and those two things have probably (contributed to) closing a lot of churches," Ms Robertson said.

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