In 1960 Storrington was described as a "Methodist Wilderness." Although it had the non-denominational Storrington Chapel, Methodists living in the village had to travel to Ashington, Steyning or Worthing to worship in their own particular way.
Things were set to change, however, with the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. R. E. Thornton, who, legend has it, had chosen Storrington for their retirement by sticking a pin in the map. A chance meeting at the bacon counter in a shop in the Square, made Mrs. Thornton aware of the existence of other Methodists in the village and the idea of forming a Storrington "society" was born. On 7th October 1960, the first meeting was held in the Thornton's house. Eleven people attended and it was recorded as "the first meeting of the Storrington Methodist Fellowship". Taking the bull by the horns, they decided there and then to hold regular meetings in members' homes and plan for a long-term future. A collection was taken which raised two shillings (10p), hardly a large sum, even in those days. This was put on one side, to be kept "for the time when, it was hoped, it would be necessary to book a hall".
The most important and ambitious development was the decision to hold the first public service on the following Easter Sunday. At first, the small billiard room behind the village hall was booked. It was thought to be quite large enough for a congregation of twenty-one. But with a large amount of advertising, it seemed likely that more would attend and so, the large hall was booked instead. In the event, faith and hope were justified by a packed hall.
Before that first Easter Sunday service, ministers had come from Worthing or Shoreham to give communion and lead worship. In the congregation on that morning, however, was the man who was to be instrumental in shaping Trinity's future, the Rev. J. Morris Bold MC. Although he had taken a back seat during the years he had been in Storrington, there is no doubt that when younger he had been a dynamic character. Now, despite initial reluctance to take on a hard and demanding workload, he could not resist the challenge and came out of his well deserved retirement to become honorary minister to the new church.
The first real step towards building the church took place on October 2nd 1961, when Mr. Gough presented a financial statement to the quarterly Church Council. This showed a balance of £145.2s.6d. of which £100 was invested as the start of a building fund. It was an enormously ambitious project for such a small group of people. Property and land values in the Storrington area were not anything like as high as they are today, of course, but there was no way they could hope to succeed without large injections of capital from outside sources.
As far back as May 1961 the search had begun for a plot of land in the centre of the village, but nothing had been found. Then, in February 1962, the site in Thakeham Road became available. It was not seen as ideal at first, since it was further out than was really desirable. On the other hand, the area round about was being developed and there was no place of worship close for the future residents. No one in 1962 foresaw the huge expansion of car ownership which made these considerations almost irrelevant.
Various anonymous donations began to come in. The largest of these was the promise of shares worth around £1,000, which would come to Storrington if a church was actually built. In October 1962 a committee was authorised to try to buy the site on Thakeham Road for a sum not exceeding £2,500. In the event £2,475 was paid. As the church was now intending to establish itself in Thakeham Road, members felt it would be sensible to hold services closer to this end of the village, rather than continuing in the village hall. Sullington had recently built a new parish hall and community centre and since this was available on Sunday mornings, services began to be held there, starting on 4th November 1962. The first baptism took place in 1962 and in 1966 one of the original Sunday School children, Marilyn Tebbut, was received into membership, an important moment in the life of the church.
Meanwhile, money was being raised for the building fund and the stone-laying took place on 3rd October 1966. It was now decided that the new church should have a proper name. Since several of the members had fond memories of churches named Trinity, this was the name chosen. The opening of the new church was planned for Saturday March 4th 1967 although sadly on January 12th the Rev Morris Bold, who had been such an inspiration and mainstay during the years of planning, was taken ill with a serious heart attack and died in Midhurst Cottage Hospital. He could have had no idea, however of the furore which would be caused by one of his last, characteristic actions - inviting Dr David Cashman, the Roman Catholic bishop of Arundel and Brighton, to preach on the first Sunday in the new church.
An organisation known as the Protestant Truth Society felt so strongly that inviting Dr Cashman was "a betrayal of Methodism and Protestantism", that they decided to stage a demonstration outside the church. As the opening ceremony was taking place on Saturday March 4th, they marched through the village and past the entrance to the church, waving banners and singing, escorted by police. Local residents seem to have been unimpressed and most of the demonstrators appeared to have come down from London. Dr. Cashman said "they were an imported group who specialise in this sort of demonstration". In his opinion, they were "elements which are rapidly dying out". Meanwhile the opening was proceeding without interference. At 3:30 pm the Rev. C. Pattison knocked on the doors and Mrs. Jessie Bold, Morris Bold's widow, unlocked them from the inside and switched on the lights. As the first hymn was sung the Rev. J. Allan Fletcher dedicated the church and the Rev. Robin Cooper thanked everyone who had made "this day, this great day", possible. 200 people packed the church, which was designed to hold 140, and an overflow of 100 heard the service relayed over loudspeakers to a marquee at the back. Afterwards there was tea in the Village Hall and a Songs of Praise service and on the following day, when Dr. David Cashman preached, there were no disturbances.
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