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JCR-UK
is a genealogical and historical website covering all Jewish communities and
congregations throughout the British Isles and Gibraltar, both past and present.
NOTE: We are not the official website of this
community or any of its congregations.
The website of the present congregation can be reached
by clicking on the congregation's logo below.
Town of Swindon
Swindon is a large town in the west of England.
In 1974, the then municipal borough of Swindon was merged with
adjoining areas to form the local government district of
Thamesdown, still within the county of Wiltshire. It
subsequently changed its name to the borough of Swindon and became a unitary
authority in 1998.
Swindon Jewish Community
The Jewish
community was originally formed by evacuees during the Second World War. The
original congregation, the Swindon Hebrew Congregation, was disbanded in the 1960s.
A new congregation, the Swindon Jewish Community, was formed in
the 1980s, which was initially Orthodox, but subsequently affiliated to the
Reform Movement. In the 1950s, there was a dedicated synagogue at the Yatesbury
RAF station, some 20 miles from Swindon.
The Jewish Congregations in and around Swindon
Original Congregation
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Congregation Data |
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Name: |
Swindon Hebrew Congregation |
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Address: |
30 Havelock Street, Swindon (from about 1948
until about 1980), previously 25 Croft Road, Swindon(ii) |
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Date Founded: |
1941, initially by World War II evacuees.(iii) |
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Current Status: |
In 1983, the congregation was re-formed,
emerging as the current congregation (see below), as the
original congregation had been dispersed.(iv) |
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Ritual: |
Ashkenazi Orthodox. |
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Affiliation: |
None. |
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Ministers: |
None listed. |
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Lay Officers:(v) |
President c.1946-c.1947
- S. Mostyn c.1947-c.1949
- J. Lewis c.1949-c.1956
- S. Mostyn Hon. Secretary c.1946-c.1979-
Len Jacobs
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Treasurer c.1946-c.1947
- P.T. Rister c.1947-c.1948
- N. Dean c.1948-c.1949
- B. Goldberg c.1949-c.1956
- S. Solomon |
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Membership Data: |
National Reports and Surveys(vi)
1977 - 16 male (or household) members and 5
female members |
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Notes & Sources (↵
returns to text above)
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Present Congregation
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Congregation Data |
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Name: |
Swindon Jewish Community(x) |
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Former or Alternative Names: |
Swindon Reform Jewish Community
Mid-Wiltshire Jewish Community(xi) |
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Address: |
No communal building, services are run in a variety of venues including members’ homes, with a regular Saturday morning service held in a local
community hall.(xii)
For a short time, in 1989, the Congregation had its own synagogue premises,
consisting of a large room over shops in Victoria Road, Swindon, which was rented from
a member of the congregation who owned one of the shops.(xiii) |
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Current Status: |
Active. |
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Date Founded: |
In 1983, when the congregation was re-formed, as
the original congregation of evacuees had been dispersed(xv) |
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Ritual: |
Reform (formerly Ashkenazi Orthodox until about 1986)(xvi) |
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Affiliation: |
A developing community (later an associated community) of
the
Movement
for Reform Judaism (formerly known as the Reform Synagogues of Great
Britain) since about 1986, the congregation being initially affiliated
to Maidenhead Synagogue
(Reform).(xvi) |
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Website: |
http://swindonjewishcommunity.org.uk |
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Ministers: |
Rabbi Sybil Sheridan -
visiting part-time minister from about 1986 until about 1992. (The
only person to be appointed as minister of the Congregation.)(xvii) |
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Membership Data |
National Reports and Surveys(xviii)
1983 - 30 male (or household) members and an estimated 30 female members
1990 - 29 members (comprising 20 households, 5 individual male and 4 individual female members)
1996 - 21 members (comprising 11 households, 5 individual male and 5 individual female members)
2001 - 25 members (comprising 15 households, 5 individual male and 5 individual female members)
2010 & 2016 - listed as having under 50 members (by household)
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Charitable Status: |
The congregation was a registered charity (no.
296761), registered on 16 July 1987and was removed from the
register on 9 January 2002, being a "Voluntary removal".(xix) |
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Notes &
Sources (↵
returns to text above)
|
Yatesbury RAF Station
Yatesbury, a village some 20 miles to
the southwest of Swindon, was home to an important RAF station and training
centre, from 1936 until 1965.
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Congregation Data |
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Name: |
Yatesbury RAF Station Synagogue |
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Formation: |
The synagogue at the Yatesbury station, which
doubled as a Jewish club room, was consecrated in May 1952.(xxv) |
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Chaplain: |
In the 1950s,
Rabbi Isaac Newman,
Jewish chaplain to the RAF, paid monthly visits to Yatesbury to meet the Jewish
servicemen stationed there.(xxvi). |
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Closure: |
Date uncertain, although the synagogue was still functioning in 1959.(xxvii)
The RAF station closed in 1965. |
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Registration District (BDM): |
Wiltshire, since
1 April 2008(xxviii)
-
Link to Register Office Website
In 1974, Yatesbury became part of the local government district of North Wiltshire, the council for which was abolished in 2009, when Wiltshire (covering the whole county except Swindon) became a unitary authority. |
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Notes & Sources (↵
returns to text above)
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On-line Articles and Other Material
relating to the Swindon Jewish Community
on Congregation's Website
|
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Swindon Community Records (excluding Yatesbury) |
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Registration District (BMD): |
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Swindon Jewish Cemetery Information
There
is now a consecrated Jewish section within the municipal
Whitworth Road Cemetery, Whitworth Road,
Moredon, Swindon.
Previously, the
closest Jewish cemeteries
were in Cheltenham,
Gloucester and
Bristol.
For further information, see
IAJGS Cemetery Project - Swindon.
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Swindon Jewish Population
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1948 |
70 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1947) |
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1949 |
40 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1950) |
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1951 |
30 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1952) |
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1953 |
24 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1954) |
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1961 |
22 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1962) |
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1964 |
45 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1965) |
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1961 |
22 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1962) |
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1964 |
47 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1965) |
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1966 |
30 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1967) |
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1983 |
20 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1984) |
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1984 |
26 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1985) |
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1985 |
35 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1986) |
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1986 |
80 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1987) |
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1993 |
72 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1994) |
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2003 |
125 |
(The Jewish Year Book 2004) |
List of Reform Judaism Congregations
List of
Synagogues at RAF Stations
Jewish Congregations in
Wiltshire
Jewish Communities of England home page
Page created: 18 April 2005
Consolidation of Swindon community
and congregation pages
and data significantly expanded: 9 July 2017
Page most recently amended:
14 August 2024
Research by David Shulman (with Yatesbury data
from Steven Jaffe)
Formatting by David Shulman
Explanation of Terms |
About JCR-UK |
JCR-UK home page
Contact JCR-UK Webmaster:
jcr-ukwebmaster@jgsgb.org.uk
(Note: This is to contact JCR-UK, not the above Congregation)
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