Norwood’s Pentecostal Church celebrated its 50th anniversary this past weekend with a special day of festivities including a worship service, a “catered and potluck” lunch and an afternoon of games and activities. A packed house of worshippers welcomed back former Norwood Pentecostal Pastor Ron Hughes as the guest speaker. Guests were encouraged to bring along a side dish to accompany the pulled pork lunch. The party continued into the afternoon with a bouncy castle, axe throwing, a softball game and more. The less adventurous enjoyed the collection of mementos on display and a rousing game of Norwood Pentecostal Trivia.

Fifty years for a church really does not seem that long; that is because these festivities were celebrating the congregations five decades in the present building and not the actual years that the faith has had a following in the community. If they were celebrating the latter they would actually be marking the 100th anniversary.         

The beginning of Norwood’s Pentecostal Church goes back to 1926 when a preacher by the name of Gordie Phillips came from the Trenton area to Centre Dummer to hold services. Several Norwood residents went to take part in these services. Followers from this area continued to travel to Centre Dummer for several years for worship until August 1934 when sufficient numbers in Norwood made it feasible to start having tent services in the village. They located their tent on the northeast corner of Spring and Colborne streets with the services being led by two pastors: a Miss Delphine Spring and a Mrs. Iva Cassement. The tent was used for about a month until the........

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