PSA

An article in the series on Notable Primitive Methodist Churches in from the 1924 Aldersgate Magazine deals with Abertillery Primitive Methodist chapel and lauds the role of music and performance in its life.  The article goes on: “It is this temperament and influence that makes P.S.A. so popular, a popularity maintained for over fourteen years. The best artistes are sought and the crowd responds. It is never without Bible reading and Gospel address. The school numbers about three hundred scholars, and the P.S.A., which is regarded as part and parcel of the school, five hundred members.” Read the full article here.

But the article did not explain what PSA is; thanks to Ted Royle and other friends at Englesea Brook Museum for shedding some light. :

PSA = Pleasant Sunday Afternoon, which was an attempt to reach men who did not usually frequent Sunday worship. Details about it can be found in many standard works – e.g K. S. Inglis, Churches and the Working Classes, pp. 79-85 (with useful references for further information). There was also in some places a PMA (Pleasant Monday Afternoon) for women!

The Pleasant Sunday Afternoon (P.S.A.) movement was founded in the mid 1870s by John Blackham, a linen draper from West Bromwich, who was a deacon at the West Bromwich Ebenezer Congregational Church.  Its focus was how to increase chapel and church attendances and especially how to regain the interest of those who had previously attended Church Sunday Schools but had since stopped. The tag line was All ye are brethren.

Not aligned with a particular denomination, some PSAs were active in Primitive Methodist chapels

Do you have further information about PSA?  Is it part of your family story?  Please share in the comments below.