By 1930 the Rev. Douglas Robson, Rector of Emmanuel, asked his congregation for help in reaching out to the people of Shelthorpe to help them to establish a place of worship near their homes.

This need was initially met by establishing The Shelthorpe Mission Hall in the old Isolation Hospital. Services were held once a week. The land for the new Church Hall, situated in Park Road, was purchased from the council by the Parish of Emmanuel. The foundation stone was laid by the Bishop of Leicester (Dr. Cyril Bardsley) in a ceremony on Saturday 18 December 1937. A procession to the new Church Hall was formed at the Shelthorpe Mission Room. After the singing of the hymn, 'The Church's One Foundation', the Bishop said prayers and laid the foundation stone, saying, 'I declare this stone well and truly laid.' He went on to say, 'I am most thankful that this needed mission room will soon be built. It is needed for services and in my mind, most important of all, needed for Sunday school. It would be a tragedy for the children of this district to grow up without the special religious training which is given in the Sunday school.'

The opening and dedication of the Shelthorpe Church Hall took place on Saturday 7th May 1938. The Bishop of Leicester dedicated the Hall with the words, 'In the faith of Jesus Christ, we dedicate this Church Hall as the Mission of the Good Shepherd, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost'. The principle room of the building is 45 feet long. One end is divided off by a pointed chancel arch forming a Sanctuary with an Altar. Blue velvet curtains used to be drawn across the entrance to the Sanctuary when the building was used for secular purposes. The decorative scheme generally consisted of cream ceilings and walls with shell grey dados and a bright blue dividing line. In the Sanctuary the ceiling was blue with no dada. In addition to the principal room there were two cloak rooms placed near the entrance and there was also a small kitchen. The bell was at one time used at Victoria Street Girls School.

Women's Friendly Society (now The Wednesday Friendly)
Of course there was still plenty left to do. No history of The Good Shepherd would be complete without mention of the hard work and dedication of The Women's Friendly Society. This group was formed in 1932 by Mrs Angrave. It was for the women on the new estate who had moved from their previous homes. They quickly determined that they wanted their own church and set about fund raising. From their formation, The Women's Friendly Society held Whist Drives, Social Events and Jumble Sales. Their work also included the sale of handicrafts and hire of their piano for wedding parties. The building was completed with the help of a mortgage from The Loughborough Permanent Building Society. This was repaid by early 1949 and a service of Thanksgiving marked the occasion.

Organ
An extraordinary meeting of the Church Council was convened after the Sunday service on 23 September 1945. The secretary reported the offer by the Misses Clarke to present the two manual pipe organ installed at 'The Gables', Forest Road. This offer was accepted and after refurbishment by Messrs E Wragg & Son of Nottingham was dedicated by the Bishop on 24 February 1946. Following a visit by the Diocesan Advisor in the mid eighties it was decided to replace this organ. It was felt that it took up too much space and was too expensive to repair. A second hand electric organ was obtained on a trial basis. The new organ was generally liked but of course the problem of funding persisted. This was solved when David Procopides offered to buy the new organ in memory of Irene Procopides. That organ was itself replaced in 2000, and donated to Sacred Heart RC Church (just down Park Rd).

Church Hall
By the late fifties a need was felt for a building that could house the many social events. The council sought quotes and the contract for a 25 feet by 50 feet 'Citizen' model wooden building was awarded to Harlow Bros. of Long Whatton at a cost of £1182. The now established pattern of fund raising began and was successful enough to pay £800 on completion, the rest being paid at six monthly intervals over two years. The church hall was dedicated and opened by the Lord Bishop of Leicester on 9 October 1959, A fire in the early hours of 4 Dec 1994 destroyed the outbuildings and the rear of the hall. Although fully insured it was decided to spend extra money and extend the hall rearwards to allow for proper storage space. The fund raising came to an early end after a very generous donation was received from the Helen Cope Trust.

Vicarage
A house on Outwoods Drive became the parsonage for the Priest in Charge, until, the Parish of Emmanuel acquired 401 Park Road. This was on the understanding that The Good Shepherd would pay the rates and contribute to the mortgage as much as possible. The Rev Skepper found 401 Park Road unsuitable and lived in a caravan until November 1971. The new vicarage was at the Moat Farm development now known as Bramcote Road. The Rev Clay pro- vided his own house in Howe Road. Following a fire at the Methodist Church on Parklands Drive the church was not rebuilt, The land was developed for private housing, which is the site of the present vicarage acquired in 1995.

Wedding licence and Consecration
In a growing area, it was a blow to the congregation that the many new couples could not get married at The Good Shepherd. A licence to conduct weddings was obtained on 18 October 1966 and the first couple married on 10 March 1967. The occasion was marked by the presentation to the newly weds of an inscribed New English Bible. The Good Shepherd was now only lacking its own parish and vicar. The priest was supplied from Emmanuel and the church was still in the Emmanuel parish. The Parish of Shelthorpe was established 30 May 1969. The name was changed again on the 2 October 1979 when the church was consecrated. The name was changed to The Good Shepherd, Loughborough, to reflect that the church was in an expanding area of the town and did not just represent the geographical area of Shelthorpe.

Expansion of the building
The attendance at the church in the late sixties encouraged the vicar to think of extension and many plans were put forward. As time went on it became clear that rapid inflation had put the building of a new church out of reach. After much discussion a plan was adopted that leaves the building much as it is today. A new porch was added and two vestries at the rear. The entrance area was made into the vestibule and the altar area changed to include two smaller arches. The walled garden was built by the parishioners. The coke boiler that had survived the fuel shortage of the post war era finally succumbed and was replaced by a gas model, which, of course, no longer needed stoking. This work was all finished by March 1978. A group was formed in October 1992 at the behest of the church council. This group was formed to explore the possibilities of purchasing a piece of land belonging to 13 Howe Road. Brian Roy offered to draw up expansion plans using this land. The details were presented and involved building a new hall on the offered land, parking where the existing hall is and a right-angled extension to the church. After a meeting by the council on 1 June 1993 it was decided not to proceed. The matter was brought to life again when, in September 1994, an offer was made to purchase the land by a parishioner, for the Good Shepherd. This offer was accepted and following lengthy legal proceedings the land came into the Good Shepherd's hands late in 1996.

The future would see the land being put into use probably following Brian Roy's original plan to increase the car parking. In a little over sixty years the world has gone full circle with the effect that the congregation want to 'outreach' to all the new homes in the parish. This time it will probably be by providing not a new church but by providing car parking to enable the parish to worship at The Good Shepherd.

Curates of Emmanuel Parish:
1938 E C Parker
1943 A N Ware
1947 R A Drake-Brockman
1953 E A N Smith
1956 J Cowperthwaite
1959 W D M Sturdy
1962 K H Wayne
1966 C J Twycross

Parish of Shelthorpe from 1969:
1971 Vicar  R Skepper

Parish of The Good Shepherd from 1980:
1982 Vicar  C J Dobbin;   Curates: R Semeonoff, S Chantry
1990 Vicar  P H Clay;   Curates: R J Stretton, R J Whitley,   Readers: J M Ferris, B Clark
1996 Vicar  K Mlemeta;  Curate: R J Whitley,  Readers: J M Ferris, B Clark
2000 Vicar  E R Whitley;  Curate: R. J Whitley;  Readers: J M Ferris, K Schad