Westminster College, a resource centre for learning for the United Reformed Church (URC), welcomed more than 20 URC pioneers of new expressions of church to the first of three events aimed at sharing best practice and ideas.

The morning of 9 February 1945 started off much like any other at Presbyterian Church House, Tavistock Place, London.

Staff arrived at their desks for a busy day of work and by the afternoon, colleagues, delegates, ministers and lay people from across the country gathered for a conference with the newly formed British Council of Churches’ Department of International Friendship.

When the conference had finished, the Revd William Thorburn Elmslie, General Secretary of the Presbyterian Church of England, made his way to another appointment – a church extension committee meeting which was also being held in the building, now the central office for the United Reformed Church (URC).

He never made it.

Is your church doing something amazing in the community? If so, tells us and win up to £2,000!

For more than a decade the United Reformed Church (URC), supported by Congregational Insurance, has run the Community Project Awards. The scheme recognises innovative community projects taking place in URC-connected churches.