Service Times:
Sunday 10:30am at Harvey Street Youth And Community Centre.
History
Oswaldtwistle was once a thriving industrial town with over 20 cotton mills, associated industries and coal mining. Traditionally, half the women of the town also worked in the mills. The flip side was the smoke pollution from chimneys and overcrowded and unsanitary housing. Socially, Church attendance was high, but alcoholism was a major problem.
The Christian Institute was formed as a result of the conversion of a mill owner and subsequent meetings held in his mill and homes. The original site was a Methodist chapel on John Street where the emphases of the Mission were preaching the gospel, teaching the scriptures and being a viable alternative to the working men’s clubs. There was a thriving work amongst children and a Band of Hope. The Christian Institute, together with other non–conformist Churches in Oswaldtwistle, helped form the Oswaldtwistle Temperance Association. The Church ran a soup kitchen during the depression years and the Second World War and continued with the children’s work and Band of Hope. There were regular walks of witness through the town and a well–organised social calendar.
The town remained dependant on one major industry (cotton) until the depression of the 1930’s. The cotton industry gave to the town the bulk of its industrial, residential and civic buildings, as well as its leaders and employment for its population. There has been a major decline since that time and today there remains just one mill specialising in damask and a town “with a tale to tell”. But all this has left a legacy of unemployment, depression and deprivation, which the town is still struggling to overcome. Decaying mills, crumbling chimney stacks and rows of terraced houses bear witness to the town’s industrial past.
