In 1935 Sutton Coldfield Methodist Church had since 1888 occupied a prominent position on the Parade at the top of the former Newhall Street (almost opposite today's Woolworth store).  In 1926 the Sunday School had moved to South Parade to occupy modem and spacious buildings. The seven minute walk between Church and Sunday School was an accepted but unwelcome feature of Church life. Sutton was a borough in Warwickshire at the time and among the councillors and other influential worthies in the town an idea began to float.  When, therefore, the Trustees received a letter from the Mayor asking if they would consider selling the church in the Parade for use as a Public Library, they were favourably disposed towards the plan.  The Mayor's letter of course unleashed a flurry of meetings, committees, ad hoc discussions and .. ,gossip.  The latter led to a very rare event; a joint meeting between the Trustees and the Leaders Meeting.  The leaders actually thanked the Trustees for organising this opportunity for joint discussion; a sign perhaps of the awe in which the Trustees were held at the time.  The sum of £10,000 was mentioned and after a long meeting a vote was taken..  The proposal was to accept the offer to sell the Church and to alter the Hall in South Parade to a proper church. 24 were in favour, 1 against, with 2 neutral. But during the next few weeks the Trustees had further thoughts, and viewing the land next to the Schoolrooms came to the conclusion that a new church could be built.  The idea took hold of the congregation's imagination and from then on everyone concentrated on the great opportunity which now seemed possible.  But they had, forgotten the District Valuer; he priced the Church in the Parade at " £7500 A blow to Methodist hopes, but one not taken lightly.  The summer of 1935 was busy with discussion on budgets and urgent representations to the Council hopefully to find other sources of finance to make up the difference.  Unfortunately in September a letter arrived from the Town Clerk to say that the funds available for the purchase totalled £6700. More meetings--surely the Council had other sources of money?  The Trustees were inclined to accept when the offer eventually rose to £7000, but a joint meeting of Trustees and Leaders flatly rejected this .. The Church Treasurer was authorised to accept not less than £7200 to exclude the memorial windows, the organ, choir stalls, the pulpit and some other fittings.  More meetings; then the Council agreed and possession fixed at January 1st 1936. So what is the next step for any self respecting Methodist Church ? A Building Sub Committee of course., and one which makes far reaching decisions quickly.  This committee certainly did that, for in the course of a week or two they had asked two architects to produce preliminary schemes, and made many decisions about the building.  They were going to have a caretakers house built nearby; there were to be no lavatories for the congregation; a vaulted roof was required; seating for 350 plus choir, and later on the so important details--what sort of seats, how will the church be heated?, (but no one thought about connecting the Church and the Sunday School---that waited until the 1980's for a decision ) .. The two architects who were briefed, a Mr Moss and a Mr White, produced their draft schemes; Mr Moss suggested a building parallel to the road but Mr White's design was at right angles to South Parade .. A compromise was reached and they agreed to work together using Mr White's exterior and siting with the interior suggested by Mr Moss .. They were given five days in december1935 to produce working drawings. Enquiries went out to five builders and on January 6th 1936 the contract was awarded to the firm of G.T.Stephens subject to a completion date of 22 August. Estimated costs were: Contract to build         £5575 Professional fees            330 Organ Installing                80 Seating                           200 Total       £6185 Provision was made in the original plan for a boiler room and coke store under the organ pipes and the choir vestry with piped heating in the Church.  However the water table at the time proved an insuperable problem when the early excavations began to fill, and thick concrete walls began to bulge.  The Trustees abandoned hot water and turned to under the pew electric heating, efficiently installed by the Electricity Dept. of the Council. Much time was spent on the form of seating to be used .. It was 1936.-- should we not be comfortable in Church?  Upholstered settee type seats were favoured but proved too costly, as did cinema type tip up seats.  So the seats we know today were ordered, a safe compromise.  What about hassocks - do Methodists need them?  The triple stained glass window from the old Church was to be installed, the Sunday School and young people offered a 'modem' window for one of the transepts (we can see what children wore in 1936) and the While family commissioned a designer to provide a window in the other transept. More decisions were made; over the outer door a bust of John Wesley was suggested, but rejected in favour of a symbolic stone carving .. Sadly no-one today knows what it means .. There was to be no stone laying, just a plaque in the porch. And umbrella stands at the end of each pew?--certainly not. All had been going well until the 27th of July, when the architects reported that due to bad weather the August opening date could not be met.  All the notables who had already been invited were hurriedly contacted and to everyone's' relief all could make the new date of October 17th. In the meantime the congregation continued to worship in Wesley Hall and busied themselves with fund raising to bolster the Building Fund. On the great ~day, Saturday October 17th 1936, Mrs F,W.Rushbrooke (her family was one of the founders of Methodism in Sutton) turned the key and the dignitaries from far and wide swept in, gazing around with pleasure at this beautiful church.  The service started at 4p.m. and was followed at 5,15p.m. by a tea in Wesley Hall given by another benefactor, Mrs G.E.Lowe.  This event was remarkable because 425 people sat down, not all of them surely in the Hall   On the Sunday there were three services .. In the afternoon the new windows were dedicated before a packed congregation of children and parents. Two weeks later the only subject of conversation was the Draught, It whistled up the central aisle chilling the worshippers on both sides.  By November a box like structure  had been built in the porch around the central swing doors to form a sort of air lock with doors at the sides. "It will spoil the porch" wrote the builder, and it did, but it remained in place for over 40 years. The War came, with services held in the afternoon until a generous member paid for blackout screens.  And over the years changes have altered the original building to some degree but not the basic structure.  In the 6O.'s the Wesley hall again was put into use for worship when the planked Church floor was taken up and replaced with iroko blocks. over several weeks .. In the 70's the organ console on the left side of the chancel was moved to the opposite transept and brought up to date, hiding the organist permanently. In 1980, after years of schemes stillborn because of lack of funds (and sometimes because nobody liked them), the Link between the Church and the schoolrooms was built with the assistance of the J. Arthur Rank Trust.  As the main doors to the Church were now only used for funerals and weddings, the draught 'box' was removed and the porch opened up. The Link not only provided all weather access to the rest of the Church buildings, (for the 'new' after service coffee and tea) but also the space for welcome teams. But the biggest change was in 1986.  The communion rail at the time extended across the chancel in front of the windows, allowing about 12 people at a time to receive the Sacrament  This was at a time when the Invitation to communion was given after a service and those who wished to leave did so. When the communion was incorporated into the normal service many more people took part.  To enable up to 30 people at a time to participate the chancel was completely altered.  The choir stalls were removed and the floor was raised by one step, and a new three part moveable Communion rail with kneelers introduced.  Green carpet replaced the blue, the pulpit was moved to the opposite (organ pipe) side with a lectern replacing it, and the stone font was moved to a space by the vestry door.   But where was the choir to sit?  After much discussion, the choir found a home by the organ in the transept. In 1952 the tower was hit by lightening, and had a new conductor fitted.  In the 90s it began to resound with bells at weddings; recorded or course, but nevertheless welcome on special occasions.  A white cross was added to the tower front in 2001, but otherwise the Church remains as it was; a tribute to the far seeing Trustees of 1936. Alfred Hancox.