The suggestion to reorder the interior of St. Mary’s was first made over 20 years ago. It has long been recognised that the current interior works against the church’s primary purposes of worship and mission. Now after many years of discussion with the church authorities and conservation bodies, the project is nearing the stage where the works can be started.
The latest plans for the building interior are shown in Fig 1 and Fig 2. They show the existing West End gallery moving forward and expanded to create space for an improved welcome area, an enlarged kitchen facility, a new meeting/teaching area and toilet facilities, including disabled. The current pews will be moved from the nave floor and sited onto the new extended balcony area. Flexible seating will be introduced into the nave. The current uneven floor will be re-laid with matching stones. The church leadership believes the plans will provide for improved worship for all ages, increased flexibility to use the building for mission focussed activities, whilst also being fair to the historical fabric of the building. It is an exciting time in the life of the church as we look to improve the building for future generations as they gather to worship Jesus Christ.
Figure 1 - Proposed new interior showing an exmaple seat layout
Figure 2 - Proposed new view of the west end showing the extended gallery
Why is this being done?
Over the last few years there has been a sizeable growth in the congregation, particularly in the number of families that have started to attend.
The plans will better cater for the increase in numbers, allowing more people to see past the pillars and engage with what is happening. They will allow the congregation to be flexible in its worship and they will provide for better facilities in order to reach out in its mission to the local community.
Timescales
In October 2008 a faculty was granted for a decision ‘in principle’ in favour of removing the pews and their replacement by chairs. The West End works had already been agreed to in principle by the various authorities and conservation bodies. The detailed plans are currently going through the process to be agreed, after which time a faculty covering the entire works in detail will be applied for by. It is expected this part of the process to be completed by the end of 2009.
Once the faculty has been received the works can proceed when there is sufficient money to do so. The estimated cost of the total reordering projected, which included a new nave roof, was £330,000. The new nave roof was completed in April 2009 and now the estimated cost for the building interior is £230,000.
St. Mary’s has already held a gift day in June 2009, which raised in the order of £50,000. Together with several grants being received together with other monies, the total money in Fabric Fund available for the reordering project is £74,000 as of the end of October 2009.
If you are interested in supporting this project financially please speak to our treasurer Elaine Hooper at elaine.abel@rolton.com |
