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There
are many stereotypes
surrounding The Salvation Army, and many people do not know that we
are, first and foremost, a Christian Church whose message is based on
the Bible. The stereotypes such as helping
the poor, and brass
bands
are
true, but do not tell the whole story. Everything we do is an
expression of our love for Jesus Christ, and as a result an expression
of our love for Norwich.
The
Salvation Army was founded in
1865 by William Booth, a Methodist minister, who saw that the church of
the day was having little impact on the poor in society. He set out not
only to preach the Good News of Jesus to them, but also to care for
their physical needs such as food & shelter.
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Corps
Officers
Majors Denis & Olive Lomax
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143
years on and The Salvation Army, a growing
movement, is at work in over
110 countries. Here in Norwich there are
2 Salvation Army 'Corps' (churches), and Norwich
Citadel
is one of them, located in the heart of the city. Our
Corps Officers are Majors
Denis & Olive Lomax.
Week
by week at Norwich Citadel there are many
activities taking place. On a
Sunday we meet twice for lively and joyful worship services. We have a coffee lounge
which is open every weekday to the public. We also run a Day
Care Centre for the elderly.
You can find out more about our work by navigating the website via the site map.
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| The History of Norwich Citadel |
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Salvation Army, part of the Christian Church, was founded in the East
End of London by William Booth in 1865. It commenced in Norwich on 6th
August 1882. The Old Skating Rink at St Giles Street was where it all
began. This is now 'Country and Eastern' that you can access from
Bethel Street. |
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Joseph Mann was an early convert to The Salvation
Army who kept a diary from the commencement of the movement in Norwich:
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"During the autumn and winter of 1981 the old Rink got
into a bad state of repair, it was no uncommon thing when it rained for
someone to open an umbrella to keep the rain off which fell from the
roof, in fact the water poured in in torrents in places. It
seemed
that the owners of the Rink wanted the Salvation Army to put the place
in repair, but according to the agreement the owners were to keep the
outside in repair, while the salvation Army were held responsible for
the inside repairs, both inside and outside got into a very bad state
of neglect. Headquarters started negotiations for the
purchase of the
Old Rink, but the owners asked such a high price for the building
thatHeadquarters thought they were being imposed upon"
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The Salvation Army were forced to look for
suitable
land to build a new 'barracks'. In 1892 our present site, which was
then an old cycle repair yard, was purchased for £1,500 and
the
'Citadel' built to specification for the sum of £2,500.
Joseph Mann's
diary records that the cycle repair yard had been forced to close by a
petition gathered by the residents of St Giles Street. They were
unhappy with the pollution and noise created by the business. However,
it is also recorded that when they learned that the land had been
purchased by The Salvation Army they were equally horrified and sought
to raise another petition!
In 1974 The Salvation Army purchased the then
Mortimer's
Hotel, which is the front of our building. This created space for:
- Our first Day Centre for the elderly,
- A purpose-built hall for young people,
- Administration offices.
Mortimer's Hotel was built in 1858 in the place of
an old coaching inn.
In the early 1900's it had been known as the Opera House Hotel,
probably because it was used by many of the performers at the old
Hippodrome Musical Hall Theatre, situated where the St Giles Car Park
is now.
The founder of the Salvation Army, William Booth,
believed very much in
'practical Christianity' and the welfare of those in need is the
motivation of our movement. The struggle to overcome poverty,
deprivation, homelessness and sinfulness was viewed by him as a 'fight'
and an Army was the ideal organisation to deal with this.
Today, The Salvation Army in St Giles Street
continues to be a busy
city centre church, with around 300 members. We meet each Sunday for
worship at 10.30am and 6pm and run a full programme of worship meetings
and activities for young
and old during the week.
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