September 2019 Update

Contractors arrived on site as agreed on 16th September and have already demolished the air raid shelter. The work will continue for a total period of 34 weeks. The construction work will be phased as follows;

  • Phase 1 – Pre-school toilets, washroom, and play area. Renewal of newly configured fire exit. This means that the existing car park will have a restricted number of parking spaces
  • Phase 2 – Link welcome area. This will concentrate on the Link area and mean that the garden area will be screened off and access to the worship area will be either via the front church door by the organ console or rear doors of the church

It is hoped that following phase 2, phase 3 will continue seamlessly to complete the improvements and disabled lift platform access to the first floor. This includes re-surfacing of the car park and lined spaces.

A vision morning has helped the church to consider ways in which a fully operational café in the Link area will aid the churches desire to continue to improve its presence and availability to the local community. Always guided by our strapline “Loving God, Loving people.”

Alongside the construction work two additional groups continue to look at more detailed aspects of turning these visions into reality.

There is the Operations team who will look to develop a 5-10 year business plan for the church going forward and the legal requirements for partnership arrangements required to operate a partnership to run the café in the Link area.

The Link team will work on bringing together the ideas from the vision day into a vision statement for the café. They will also work to bring back to church council a proposal for the design, layout and future use of the café and Link area for the advancement of the church’s aim to serve its local community.

These are exciting times and a realization of a great effort by a lot of different people committed to achieve what we set out to do.

More than just a building project, Connect is the church’s commitment to improve facilities and community partnerships (Connect strapline 2018)