Parish and Church Profile: Eastcote and its Environment
Eastcote is a leafy suburb on London’s north-west edge, in the borough of
Hillingdon. Originally a small village, it developed in the 1930’s as the Metropolitan
line was extended. It retains strong elements of a village with the cricket pitch,
village pub and community feel; but it is unmistakably metropolitan with its
central parade of shops and restaurants, two large secondary schools, ethnic mix
and work pattern.
The Parish Community
The population is around 23,000; largely white British with 10% being Indian and
Hindu. Many residents work in central London or further afield and unemployment
is well below that of London and the UK; however, the 2011 census showed 13% of
children in Eastcote are classed as living in poverty. Housing is 75% owner occupied;
most is 1930’s semi-detached, the rest being mainly maisonettes and flats built in
the 1970’s and 2000’s.
Church, Land and Buildings
The building is a 1930’s construction in good order set in two acres of grounds which
also hold the hall and rooms, the parish centre, the scout hut and a small piece of
woodland. After a review of premises, we have a good baseline from which to
proceed, with the completion of the parish Mission Action Plan.
The Church
We represent a range of social backgrounds
and ethnic diversity, with a wide age range.
The electoral roll stands at 290; in worship, the
Sunday 8 am averages 25 adults and the
10 am, 95 adults and 30 children. Under-
represented are the teens and twenties. We are
an open Anglo-Catholic tradition, using
Common Worship flexibly; musically we are
starting to include modern writers and a music
group has developed as we have developed a
once a month All Age Saturday evening
Eucharist. We have an active and varied
programme across the church. Many are involved in the Cursillo movement; we’ve been a pilot church in the diocese exploring how we enable people to be Ambassadors for Christ; and we have also run successful nurture courses for a number of years, the last two being Alpha.
