Address and Contact Information
Bede Way, Peterlee SR8 1AD
Superintendent Minister: Reverend Beverly Hollings
Services
Services are held on the first and third Sundays of each month.
At 6pm on Sunday, Cafe Church
Church Plan – September to November 2026
Church Activities
Monday
10.30am Bible Study
1pm Alzheimers Choir (third Monday of the month)
6pm – 6.45pm Judo Club for Juniors (6-15 years old)
6.50pm – 8pm Judo Club (16 years old and over)
Tuesday
9.30am – 12 noon Drug and Alcohol Recovery Service for Women
Wednesday
2pm – 4pm Craft Companion Cafe
Thursday
10am – 12 noon Coffee Morning
Drop in for a coffee and chat. There is no charge, although voluntary donations are welcome. If you enjoy crafts, bring along your knitting, cross-stitch, colouring or another project and spend time in the company of others. Everyone is welcome.
12 noon – 1.30pm Weekly Warmer (Lunch)
Friday
8am Slimming World
9.30am Slimming World
11am Slimming World
Weddings
To book a wedding please contact the Minister or the Circuit Administrator.
Baptisms
Baptisms are available, by arrangement. Please contact the Minister or the Circuit Administrator.
Photographs of Recent Events
Easter Sunday
Food being grown at the church, and being used in the preparation of food in our kitchen
Service by visiting Preacher – Rev. Susan Richardson
Brief History
Peterlee was created as a new town in 1948 to offer a modern alternative to cramped colliery housing. It was named in honour of the mining leader and Methodist preacher, Peter Lee, as was the church. Plans for Peter Lee Memorial Methodist Church were drawn up before work had even begun on the first house in Peterlee.
Methodism in Peterlee began with the launch of a Sunday School in December 1952, when youngsters visited the homes of William Whitehouse and Joseph Minhinnett for Bible lessons. Services for adults followed after Peterlee Development Corporation opened the Yoden Road Common Room for weekly worship. The life of the church was growing steadily.
Almost ten years of hard work and fundraising followed, and building work began in 1957. “There is no doubt that Peter Lee was a giant among men” said Reverend John Crawford, Chairman of the Sunderland and Durham Methodist District, in 1957. “It is therefore singularly appropriate that one of the shrines of religion in the town which bears his name should be one where the Methodism he loved is established”. All of the hard work eventually paid off, and on 18 January 1958 Peter Lee Memorial Methodist Church opened.
In the early days of Peter Lee Memorial Methodist Church, more than 200 children were enrolled in the Sunday School and 137 adults regularly attended services. In 1958, the church catered for all sorts, with a Children’s Cinema Club, a Girls’ Life Brigade, a Teenagers’ Tea Club, a Youth Club, a Young Mothers’ Club, a Womens’ Meeting and the Regnal League.
The church’s social life was clearly active, and so was its spiritual life. A Prayer Meeting was held before Sunday services, and the church felt alive. The first few years were a time of great hope. As the town rapidly expanded around the church, the number of worshippers also grew.
In 1960, the Queen also gave her blessing to the church when she visited the town during an official tour of the area. Membership had reached well over 300 by the early 1960’s. However, numbers declined later in the decade, as they did in churches across the country at the time.
Despite some difficulties, the future of Peter Lee Memorial Methodist Church is much brighter today. The church remains at the heart of community life.