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Brookfield Unitarian Church, Gorton

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Brookfield Unitarian Church, Gorton

Brookfield Church is a Unitarian Church in Gorton. Founded in 1871, services are held the second Sunday of the month at 10am and as advertised.

Available for weddings, funerals, naming ceremonies, baptisms.

08/06/2026

On Sunday 14 June Brookfield Church will celebrate all things Beyer, Peacock!

Beyer Peacock & Co of Gorton was one of Britain's greatest locomotive building companies, famous around the world for the quality of its engineering and its unique Beyer-Garratt articulated locomotive.

To mark the 60th anniversary of the closure of Beyer, Peacock, as well as the 150th anniversary of the death of Charles Beyer, Brookfield will host a special Service of Thanksgiving at 10am, followed by a short Service of Commemoration at the Peacock Mausoleum at 11.00am.

After taking a break for refreshments, at 1.0pm there will be a series of talks about Beyer Peacock and its people. Dr Michael Bailey MBE will talk about the history and significance of Beyer Peacock & Co; Anthony Dawson FSA Scot will speak about Charles Beyer and his significance as an engineer and as a member of the LGBT community. Finally, joining us from Sweden will be Robert Harpai from the Swedish Railway Museum who will speak about Beyer's 'soul mate' Gustav Stieler and his role in British, French, and Swedish Railway History.

The events are free, but donations to the upkeep of the Church are welcome!

We look forwards to welcoming you to Brookfield on Sunday!

05/05/2026

Our Service on Sunday is all about Bells and Bell Ringing.

We will take part in the 'Bell Sunday' Celebrations held accross the country to give thanks for Saint Dunstan (the Patron Saint of Bell Ringers) and for the bells in our tower which have rung out accross Gorton since 1871.

There will be readings from the Bible, a poem by Lord Tennyson, as well as a chance to sing hymns, pray or meditate and listen to our wonderful bells.

There will be tea, coffee and other refreshments after the service.

The hymns will be:

'Let Bells Peal Forth' (tune: 'Woodlands' (Tell Out my Soul!))
'Dear Lord and Father of Mankind'
'New Every Morning is the Love'
'Ye Holy Angels Bright'

And the vesper will be the Pax Dei.

19/04/2026

Members of our congregation had a wonderful time at Bury on the East Lancashire Railway riding on the special Pride Train. The train is organised to help raise funds for Bury Pride, and this year celebrated the life of Charles Beyer (1813-1876) who was a German immigrant who co-founded Beyer, Peacock & Co in Gorton. Brookfield Church, of course, was built by Richard Peacock and many members of staff are buried at Brookfield.

Beyer was also a q***r man - very likely in a relationship with the Swedish Engineer Theodore Gustav Stieler. Their letters in the Swedish Railway Museum show they were more than just good friends!

It was the first of a series of National Events to mark the life of Charles Beyer and we will be holding our own event at Brookfield in June :-) A special 'Head Board' was made for the event, and a bouqeut of rainbow coloured roses was presented by Brookfield Church in memory of Charles. We think they look splendid!

A wonderful, joyous event.

18/04/2026

Tomorrow members of our congregation wil be going to Bury to ride on the Pride Train on the East Lancashire Railway!

We're going because this year Charles Beyer, one half of Beyer, Peacock & Co of Gorton is being celebrated as one of five nationally important LGBTQ+ History Icons 🏳️‍🌈

Beyer was a German immigrant who arrived in Manchester in the 1830s with little money and less English and faced a lot of discrimination for being German, but together with Richard Peacock - who built Brookfield Church and its School - founded Beyer, Peacock & Co.

Beyer was likely in a relationship with a Swedish Engineer called Gustva Stieler, and their letters survive in the Swedish Railway Museum (in English and German!). He was also a man of deep faith and built several Churches in Gorton and endowed what is today the University of Manchester.

Beyer died in 1876 so we're also marking 150 years since he died. He was a remarkable man, who could have been much happier had he lived in different times.

At Brookfield Church we believe everyone is made in the likeness of God and has that of God within them.

12/04/2026

Thank you to everyone who came to our service today! We thought about Easter, about resurrection and how faith and doubt are both needed. We heard readings from the Gospel of John and Sir Terry Pratchett.

We enjoyed chocolate eggs, great coffee, cake, and good fellowship.

It was delightful, as ever, to have the bell rungs - they make such a joyous sound!

Talking of bells, our May service will be about Saint Dunstan, an English Saint who was alive in the Saxon Period and was Archbishop of Canterbury. He is the Patron Saint of Bellringers (amongst other things) so we will take the time to think about Dunstan, about Bell Ringing, and what our bells mean to us and our community. There even may be certificates being presented!

As ever, all are truly welcome! 🏳️‍🌈

10/04/2026

In our Sunday Service we will think about faith, doubt and hope as expressed in the Easter mystery.

We will hear readings from the Gospel of John, and from the author Terry Pratchett. There will be an opportunity for prayer and medication, as well as to light a candle.

Our hymns will be:

161 Thou whose love has given us birth Alleluia!
164 The Light Along the Ages.
166 Jesus died but Christ has triumphed
56 Love Divine.

There will be an opportunity for tea, coffee, and fellowship after the service.

All are truly welcome

03/04/2026

Today we mark Good Friday, when we remember the death of Jesus.

Jesus, like other political prisoners was arrested, tried, and sentenced on trumped-up charges.

His death is a reminder that standing up to Empire can be dangerous.
That speaking truth to power can be dangerous.
That love can be sacrificial.
A reminder of the 'dangerous selflessness' spoken of by Dr Luther King.

Jesus didn’t come to change God’s mind about us – by sacrificing himself to make things better between us and God. It's not about a transactional relationship about death and suffering. Instead, he came to show us what God is really like, and what’s been on God’s mind from the very start of creation: Love.

Jesus died not because God needed him to. He died because we keep choosing violence. We keep choosing power and fear over love, justice, and mercy. The world rejected perfect love and put it on trial and nailed it to the cross.

The cross wasn’t some cosmic pay-off, rather it was Jesus stepping into the worst of human behaviour, the worst of human suffering and standing by us. And in doing so he said I am here. I am with you. I will never leave you. It means God knows what it's like to be human. God cries with us when we mourn; celebrates with us in times of happiness; dances with joy with us; and knows what it is to suffer, and to die.

It means God is with us in the best of times, and the worst of times. Jesus' death isn't about wrath, it's about transformation: About being moved by Christ’s death at the hands of the powers that be, to want to change our own lives and our own world.

And this is why in Unitarian & Free Christian churches we have an empty cross. The cross is a powerful symbol, and a challenge, and a reminder. A symbol of sacrifice - a sacrifice made by Christ, made by others, and that which we may be called to make. A challenge to be Christ-like in all we do and say and think. And a reminder of the enduring power of love.

06/03/2026

In our service on Sunday we will be thinking about Spring and about Lent - about waiting, about life, and all those things which we do which can disconnet us from ourselves and each other.

There will be readings from the Gospel of Luke and from the authors H G Wells and Terry Pratchett.

We will sing hymns from 'Hymns of Faith & Freedom'

'Immortal, Invisible, God alone wise'
'Be Thou My Vision'
'Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God'
'Forward through the Ages.'

Our vesper will be the Pax Dei.

There will be a chance to listen, to sing hymns, to light candles, pray and reflect. As well as share delicious, cake, coffee and other refreshments.

All are truly welcome.🏳️‍🌈

05/02/2026

Because Valentine's Day is coming up, our Service on Sunday will be about Love.

Not the hallmark card type of love, the gushy, smushy, hollywood kind, but the real fierce love of a momma bear for her cubs.

We will think about Saints Valentine and Dwynwen (the two patron saints of love), hear words from Jesus and from St Paul, and think about the different types of love there are.

Our hymns will be: "God is love, by him upholden"; "Let Love Be Real"; "Come Down O Love Divine" and "Love Divine". The vesper will be "Spirit of Life."

11/01/2026

Thank you to everyone who came to our Epiphany Service today - despite the cold and the wet! We thought about the Three Kings/Magi/Wise men, and their journey. How they left their own culture and comfort zones. How they travelled not knowing where it would lead them and found God in the most unexpected of places, and in the most ordinary of people. So we too should expect to be led to seek God, the Divine, in new places, but also to see God in ourselves and in each other.

Special thanks to Connell and Alexandra for giving our readings - and the Congregation for joining with the 'Wows'. :-) Very Panto (he's behind you....oh no he isn't).

Thanks, too, to the Bellringers for making such a joyful sound: it's always so wonderful to hear our bells, especially before the service.

Our service in February will be about Love.

Address

Hyde Road
Manchester
M187

Website

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