Our Story
St Andrew’s story begins back in 1928 when a group of people, mainly Scots or people with Scottish roots, began to meet for services in the Walton Playhouse. They were led by a retired Presbyterian Minister, Revd. Hugh Macluskie and funds were raised to buy our site on Hersham Road. Building quickly began with the intention that the church hall would be built first so that church life could develop and that services would be held there, instead of the Playhouse, whilst a “proper church” was built alongside. The foundation stone was laid 
in 1931, bearing the Latin motto of the Presbyterian Church, “Nec Tamen Consumebatur” (and yet it was not consumed) taken from the Old Testament story of Moses and the Burning Bush.
As the 1930s wore on and it became increasingly obvious that war might come so plans to build a new worship area were abandoned which means that what we have today is rather different from what was first imagined. Today’s worship area is the original hall and gradually other buildings have been added to include a hall in 1957 and a new hall entrance and meeting rooms in the 1980s. Most recently the entrance to the worship area has been significantly altered and the area we call “The Gateway” was created.
Originally St Andrew’s was part of the Presbyterian Church of England, a denomination which no longer exists today because in 1972, in common with virtually all congregations of the Presbyterian Church we united with The Congregational Church of England and Wales to form, “The United Reformed Church”. This is the 5th largest main-stream denomination in the UK.
St Andrew’s story is not really about buildings though. It’s about faith and about people and about how people have come together in Jesus’ name to worship and to show something of God’s love in action in the world today. Over the years we have been so lucky to have had many wonderful Christians as part of our family. They have all left their mark, some more obvious than others. Many pieces of furniture and other equipment have small plaques on them which tell of how people saw that we needed something and generously gave it. Everyone has given something to St Andrew’s though because over the years our walls have been soaked with prayers and with praise and have been the home of so many different occasions; some happy and some sad.
That’s why St Andrew’s story is not really about bricks and buildings and about what was built when and by whom. It’s a story about people and faith and worship. That’s what we’ve always been about and that’s what we’re still about today.