For Seamen & The Poor - 15 February 2015

Just east of the Gosport Shopping Precinct (previous pictures), on South Street, Gosport, stands the Waterside Community Church. The building, now serving various disadvantaged groups, is on the site of the former Bethel Mission which was replaced in 1969. I am a little puzzled by the second line of the inscription on the original stone which perhaps refers to a date.

Etymological note: the word 'Bethel' occurs quite widely and I was motivated to look it up. Bethel or beth-El means 'house of God'. Although the origin is Hebrew, the word became popular as a name for religious meeting houses among some Protestant denominations.

200_2_P1020939