Salvation Army

The Salvation Army's Island Bay Corps (church) served the Island Bay community for more than 80 years, untill its closure in June 2005. Church and social services continue to be provided from the Army's Newtown centres.

The Salvation Army started services in the Island Bay community in 1923, meeting at the New Quality Picture Theatre in Humber Street. Cadets from The Salvation Army Officer Training College ran the services 'under great difficulties' because of the lack of a dedicated building.

A small hall was built in Clyde Street and opened before 'a fine crowd of people' in April of the following year. The hall was declared open 'for the glory of God and the salvation of the people' and its first service was filled to capacity. This represented the official constitution of the Island Bay group as a Corps. The site proved to be too low-lying, so several years later a larger wooden hall was constructed on The Parade by building contractors and enthusiastic Salvationists Envoy Craven and Envoy Colley. Opened on a bitterly cold day on 30 April 1927, with "a typical 'southerly buster' prevailing (and) intermittent rain and hail storms", the hall could seat up to 250 people and had anterooms for the band and Corps Officer (officer in charge). A contemporary description noted: "The new hall stands fully exposed to the public view, while the beautifying scheme adopted and applied to its frontage and surroundings impart ... an attractive and picturesque appearance."

This was a time of considerable population growth and housing construction in Wellington and other parts of the country. Reflecting this "increased responsibility and opportunity', new Salvation Army halls were dedicated in Miramar and Lower Hutt in the same week as the Island Bay hall opened. The old hall was moved to Karori, to meet the demands from another rapidly expanding Wellington suburb.

A June 1927 report notes that "there is manifestly present in the (Island Bay) Corps an atmosphere of freshness and a looking forward to a bright future". In the decades that followed, the Corps provided a focal point in the Island Bay community for social services and religious devotion.

A former Corps member Brigadier Ivy Cresswell moved to Island Bay in the mid1930's and served as the Island Bay Corps organist for many years. Both her parents were Salvation Army officers and in the early 1930's, she had followed their footsteps and became an officer. Brigadier Cresswell earned an MA degree, was an accomplished Latin and French scholar and qualified as a school teacher. She did editorial work for The Salvation Army magazine War Cry for more than a quarter of a century, including 24 years editing the youth pages. Her pen name, "Cousin Tui", was widely recognized both here and abroad. She also spent 10 years on missionary service in Kenya. Brigadier Cresswell died in 1974, after giving a lifetime of service to The Salvation Army. Her work lives on. A series of articles the Brigadier wrote in the early 1970's, entitled "Canoe on the River" - about The Salvation Army's work with Maori in Whanganui in the late 19th century - is to be published as part of a book later this year.