Building for the Future
...building works complete
What we have done
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Replaced our ancient and ineffective heating system with a modern and much more efficient system. It has already shown that it is capable of making the church warm even on the coldest days.
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Provided high quality, stackable chairs to replace our fixed pews. This will enable us to change how we use the space to suit the service or event and make many more activities possible.
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Installed ramps to provide safe and step-free access from the church to both the chancel and communion rail and the Church Room and toilets.
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Built two permanently fixed kneeler racks to store and display our millennium kneelers. These cannot be stored on the backs of our stackable chairs.
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Moving the font closer to the door from the tower.
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Retained two pews and pew fronts either side of the entrance from the tower. These contain carved panels that are thought to be Jacobean.
Our thanks to those who have made this possible
A substantial proportion of the funding for the project has come from the St Nicolas Vision Fund and from legacies. We are also very grateful to individuals for their very generous donations. Our thanks are also due to the following bodies without whose grants the work would not have been possible:
The Friends of St Nicolas
Marshalls Charity
Benefact Trust (formerly AllChurches Trust)
Garfield Weston Foundation
Beatrice Laing Trust
The changes in pictures
The font has been carefully dismantled and rebuilt close to the main door in from the tower. This is where it should be as baptism is about joining the church. It will also free up space in the middle of the church.
The bottom tiers of the old font have been dispensed with to lower its height. That will make it safer and easier to use. It will also enable children who gather round the font during baptisms to see what is going on - part of making the church more accessible to all.
The ramp beside the organ has already been well used. It enables those who find steps difficult or impossible to get from the church to the Church Room and the toilets much more easily. It also makes it much easier to wheel the tea and coffee trolley into the church!
The new heating system has already proved its worth in the recent very cold snap. The church has been properly warm - something that the old system just could not manage.
The Victorian pews have now gone. The photo shows some of the longer pews awaiting collection in the churchyard.
Taking the pews out has revealed the space and splendour of our mediaeval church
The new chairs are now in use and we are experimenting with how best to use them. The church now looks much brighter and lighter.
The floor has been repaired, sanded and lacquered. The chancel step has also been extended both to provide more room on the platform and to enable a ramp to be built so that those who find steps difficult can get to the communion rail more easily and safely.
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Two new kneeler racks have been installed - one each side of the church. They really show off the kneelers well and make them easily accessible.
We are retaining two of the pews and two pew fronts either side of the door in from the tower. These contain carved panels that are believed to date from around 1600 and pre-date the Georgian box pews that the Victorians took out.
