Drew Family Diaries

I have struggled to find a definitive list of the locations of Methodist conference, so I have constructed one as best as I am able. I am interested in this because of various references to the Conference in the diaries and related documents. The list covers the period from 1932 to 2022.

Year	Location	Evidence source
1932	Royal Albert Hall, London	26
1933	London	29
1934	Leicester	30
1935	Bristol	32
1936	Newcastle-upon-Tyne	33
1937	Bradford	31
1938	Hull	25
1939	Liverpool	34
1940	Sheffield	35
1941	Leeds	36
1942	Manchester	37
1943	Birmingham	38
1944	Leeds	39
1945	Nottingham	40
1946	London	41
1947	Newcastle	42
1948	Bristol	43
1949	Liverpool	44
1950	Bradford	45
1951	Sheffield	46
1952	Preston	24
1953	Birmingham	47
1954	London	28
1955	Manchester	28
1956	Leeds	1
1957	Nottingham	1
1958	Newcastle-upon-Tyne	1
1959	Bristol	1
1960	Liverpool	1
1961	Bradford	1
1962	Stoke-on-Trent	1
1963	Preston	1
1964	Sheffield	1
1965	Plymouth	23
1966	Wolverhampton	1
1967	Middlesbrough	1
1968	London	1
1969	Birmingham	1
1970	Manchester	1
1971	Harrogate	1
1972	Nottingham	1
1973	Newcastle-upon-Tyne	1
1974	Bristol	1
1975	Liverpool	1
1976	Preston	1
1977	Hull	1
1978	Bradford	48
1979	London	28
1980	Sheffield	1
1981	Norwich	1
1982	Plymouth	1
1983	Middlesbrough	1
1984	Wolverhampton	1
1985	Birmingham	1
1986	Stoke-on-Trent	1
1987	Portsmouth	1
1988	London	1
1989	Leicester	1
1990	Cardiff	1
1991	Bolton	1
1992	Newcastle-upon-Tyne	1
1993	Derby	21
1994	Leeds	1
1995	Bristol	1
1996	Blackpool	1
1997	London	28
1998	Scarborough	20
1999	Southport	1
2000	Huddersfield	28
2001	Ipswich	19
2002	Wolverhampton	1
2003	Llandudno	18
2004	Loughborough	16
2005	Torquay	17
2006	Edinburgh	16
2007	Details not yet identified
2008	Scarborough	15
2009	Wolverhampton	14
2010	Portsmouth	13
2011	Southport	12
2012	Plymouth	11
2013	Westminster Central Hall, London	10
2014	Birmingham	9
2015	Southport	8
2016	Westminster Central Hall, London	7
2017	Birmingham	6
2018	Nottingham	5
2019	Birmingham	4
2020	Online (scheduled for Telford)	3 4
2021	Birmingham	2
2022	Telford	27

The Conference meets, usually in late June or early July, and traditionally this was in different parts of the connexion each year, with the representatives being offered hospitality in the homes of members in the host District(s). Latterly, for reasons of practicality and availability, many representatives began to use hotel accommodation. In 2004 the Conference met for the first time fully residentially, at Loughborough University, and in 2006 met for the first time in Scotland. (The Primitive Methodist Conference had met in Edinburgh in 1895.) Recent practice is to choose a venue with appropriate conference facilities and to use centrally organized accommodation, and circulation around the connexion and links with host Districts have thus been significantly reduced.

In her book(let) “I Remember” (p55), Edith Searson recalled that the 1947 Methodist Conference was held in Nottingham. “In 1947 the Methodist Conference was held at Nottingham. We were privileged to entertain a delegate, the Rev. D. Edward Langton, from Nantwich, Cheshire. He had to go to the Albert Hall each day, involving either a bus or train journey. What I remember about Rev. Langton was his great concern about his son who was a prisoner of war in Japan. He told me something of the terrible conditions his son was living under. Shortly after Rev. Langton had returned home after the conference had ended he wrote to tell me that his son had died, as did many prisoners of war in Japan, from lack of food and disease. It must have been difficult for him to attend the conference knowing his son was suffering in this way. My admiration for two heroes.” Given this story, I had some doubts that the conference she was describing was in 1947 as I don’t think there were still Allied prisoners in Japan then. I checked and it seems she may have been mistaken about dates and may have been referring to the 1945 conference which was held in Nottingham.

The son was called James Willis Langton. Willis was the maiden name of his mother, Helen Mary. He had been born in 1922 and was a gunner with the Royal Artillery. He was taken prisoner by the Japanese in 1942 and he died in June 1945. He is buried in Yokohama War Cemetery.