Zion United Church

Extracts from book "Frampton Cotterell Male Voice Choir 1925 - 2008" by Raymond Holland

In the combined villages of Frampton Cotterell and Coalpit Heath there are two anglican churches - St Peters', Frampton Cotterell, and St Saviour's. Coalpit Heath. There were also  three Methodist churches, Wesley (Wesleyan), Bethel (United Methodist) and Hebron (Primitive Methodist) who remained as individual churches when they became part of the Methodist Church in 1932. There was also a Congregational Chapel (Zion) in Woodend Road. In 1968 they united as a Methodist/Congregational Church as Zion United Church using the premises at the Congregational Church. Later when most congregational churches in the country joined with other churches to become the United Reformed Church Zion became Zion United Church (Methodist/URC). There was also a Salvation Army Hall in Clyde Road and a Gospel Hall in the villages.

In nearby Watley's End there were two more Methodist churches, Salem and Ebenezer.

There was a strike at the colliery at Coalpit Heath in 1921 eight of the strikers, Harry Cordy, Percivel Cook, Charles Dando, Redvers Dando, Sidney Francombe, Oliver Dutfield, Reginal Russell and Hubert Tovey approached Mark Dutfield to conduct a newly formed choir. The first concert was in the Council School, Frampton Cotterell, under the chairmanship of Mr Arthur Alsop. The first rehearsals were held at Hebron Methodist Church. In 1923 Mark Dutfield died and many of the original seventy members of the choir moved away from the village. In 1925 some of the remaining members invited Charles Smith to be the conductor. He accepted and a new male voice choir was formed with a membership of forty. It was called the Frampton Cotterell Male Voice Choir. The president was Horace Benson and the pianist was Hubert Tovey.