St James the Great
Shirley, West Midlands
St James’s dates from 1832 and, together with St John’s Tidbury Green and Christ the King in Widney Junior School, serves the Parish of Shirley.
The church was built in 1937 in a traditional format with solid oak wooden pews, choir stalls and a matching oak pulpit. The choir stalls were removed in 1993 to open up the chancel area. Until now it has only been used for church services and the occasional concert because of the inflexibility of the pews. There are beautiful stained glass windows in both the north and south transepts and an attractive rose window at the end of the chancel. Solihull Methodist Church is a growing church serving the local community with just over 300 members and more than 1,000 people a month attending activities on the premises. The church is there for the benefit of others, shown by the fact that over 48 groups, both church and community, currently meet in the church hall which is now at capacity.