Everything is set for the celebration tomorrow of the 150 th Anniversary of the Somerset Methodist Church.The church is the second oldest in the West End, next to St. James Anglican Parish Church. Pastor of the church, Rev Mrs Lynette Rayner, said the observance will get underway with the Somerset Brigade Band leading a short march of members for the service beginning at 4pm.The church has a rich history about Somerset in particular and its elders and their offspring have had a disproportionate impact nationally over the years, after having been rooted in its Sunday School and given social and cultural outlets only otherwise available in the lodges and friendly societies.It has been the good fortune of this columnist to have known personally, going back more than 80 years, many of those stalwart Somerset Methodists; and to have been inspired by their boast that “What Somerset did ‘today’ the rest of Bermuda followed tomorrow”. Among them were the Beans, Swans, Ratterays, Ibles, Gibsons and Cholmondoleys just to name a few.That history has been brilliantly researched and chronicled in a celebration book by Oda A Mallory, sub-titled: “Freedom, Foresight, Fortitude.” Oda is famous for her decades hosting the Living Memories weekly radio programme.Congregations from the beginning were racially integrated, and the record shows how the Church was a direct result of the way the early Methodist ministers had treated black people; Ministers such as Rev George Whitefield and Rev John Stephenson. Oda noted: “Although those ministers only stayed for short periods, while here they embraced the slaves, taught them to read the Bible, gave them a sense of purpose and hope and preached thought-provoking sermons.”The Church for those “blacks” was more than a place to worship. In addition to learning to read and writem they learned decorum, parliamentary procedure and unique methods of supporting the church. “One ingenious idea was to use the proceeds from the sale of eggs laid on Sundays (the Lord’s Day as it was referred to then) to defray Church expenses!”The ‘Chapel’ as the Somerset Methodist Church is known to this day, “became the ‘Big Sister’ to new churches” noted Oda in her book. Names of some of its stalwarts are recognised as being instrumental in the launch of other institutions, such as the Annual Somerset-St.George’s Cup Match (among them the Canns and Hanseys); Sandys Secondary School and Somerset Brigade Band.Although the congregations of the early Somerset Methodists were racially integrated, somewhere along the line, ‘dis-integration’ or racism occurred. It caused the withdrawal of Charles (Roach) Ratteray, one of the original trustees of the church. (I discovered from independent research on other matters); and a direct result was the gifting to Allen Temple AME Church of property on which its edifice now stands, as well as the old Ratteray homestead overlooking Sound View Road.The foregoing is just a sidebar, leading me to underscore that Oda Mallory’s maiden name was ‘Ratteray’. In the introduction to her brilliant 150th Anniversary book, she reveals how the history of the Somerset Methodist Church was handwritten by Mr. Leonard C. Simmons, a member of the Church from childhood, who eventually became the Church Superintendent, serving more than 35 years.In her profile of Mr Simmons, Oda states: “His handwritten notes showed astuteness, impeccable penmanship, and a delightful grasp of the English language. His trade was carpentry, which he mastered and shared with his son. He was a man of God who personified the old cliché that a person should “walk” the walk and “talk the talk”.Mr Simmons wrote for the Bermuda Recorder, the now defunct black-owned newspaper under the pseudonym “Jottings from Somerset”. Born in 1889, he died in 1978. His two children, Albert and Clara Williams, who meticulously preserved his files and made them available to Oda Mallory, in all likelihood, will be at the celebration tomorrow.Others following in the footsteps of those early trustees and pioneers unquestionably will be Pastor Lynette Rayner. She is a paternal descendant of the Ible Clan.Also the Associate Pastor Karl Pringle, grandson of Cynthia Pringle and great-grandson of Alexander (Chapel Alex) Swan and his wife Maria Swan.Another great grandson of “Chapel Alex” and Maria Swan will be the guest preacher. He is the Rev Dr Charles Swan, BA, MDiv,ThM, BEd. Dr Swan was raised at Grace Methodist Church on the North Shore, Pembroke.It was there he was encouraged to enter the Ministry. He resides in Canada. Early in his career, he was minister in charge of Somerset Methodist Church.Also expected to attend tomorrow’s observance is the Premier, the Hon Paula Cox. We noticed in passing that one of the participants in a 1935 concert at Somerset Methodist was a C Eugene Cox, who gave a recitation. He was the Premier’s father.Also in that 1935 concert was Izola Cholmondoley, who rendered a solo. Izola (now Harvey), incidentally, was one of the initiators of the 1959 Theatre Boycott that resulted in desegregation of official segregation in public places in Bermuda.