In Reids Flat they have only the church and the school left and appreciate the help given to maintain them.

The first church built in Reids Flat was during the 1880’s.

This was a community church being used for meetings as well as Anglican and Methodist religious services.

It was a wattle and daub building with an iron roof and later became the school building.

It then became evident that a new church was needed.

The present day Union Church is a weatherboard building erected in 1907 by Garry Murphy.

The finance for the church was raised “by the community, for the community” through such activities as sports days, picnics, dances and balls.

The church was used at this time by Anglican and Methodist congregations and in 1993 the first Catholic Mass was given there after the closure of the Catholic Church (1911-1983) thus making it truly a Union church.

The first child was baptised there in 1907 and the latest one in 2010, and in 2009 a group of Reids Flat teenagers was confirmed there.

It is also used for funerals of the local populace.

Over the years the church has been maintained by its community.

In the 1990’s the locals once again banded together to paint and repair the church.

There are photographs of that fun-filled couple of days hanging in the church now, showing how a community can combine to maintain what is important to it.

At that time Lis Webster provided local families with a variety of patchwork fabrics to embroider or applique something which depicted their family.

These were then joined to make two large wall-hangings to decorate the front wall behind the alter.

Hilda and Barbara Chown also provided a framed piece of delicate embroidery.

Despite these beautifications the interior of the church remained in need of a coat of paint.

Over the last few years the church was again in need of maintenance, but evident that due to years of drought and an ever decreasing and ageing population, their ability to carry out this task was also decreasing.

A quote was obtained for the job from Aaron Morrissey and an application for a Community Grant from Bendigo Bank was lodged.

To the delight of the Reids Flat communitythe application was successful.

It was with great eagerness that they awaited Aaron’s arrival to complete the necessary repairs and to paint the outer walls and the roof.

Before he began, luckily, Reids Flat was flooded, with water passing through the church to a depth of about half a metre leaving a trail of mud and silt.

The repair and paint job was completed in August this year and a Communion Service followed on Sunday, October 30 to celebrate the occasion.

The community of Reids Flat would like to thank the Bendigo Bank and its Community Enterprise Foundation for making the outside restoration of our church possible.

They acknowledge their understanding and commitment to the needs of the communties in which they are based.

Thanks too to Helen lloyd for information here from her book ‘Reids Flat: On the banks of the Lachlan’.