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The splendid altar in Victorian times |
Church restoration may go ahead ‘at your service’
Vicar spurred on by how crumbling building will look after
£750,000 refit
THE congregation of a crumbling church once championed by Sir John Betjeman could be plunged into chaos when work starts on its belated restoration.
The vicar at the Church of Our Lady in St John’s Wood has admitted he does not know how they will cope when the builders move in to the church which gets around 1,400 worshippers in its pews every Sunday.
The work, including the relocation of the organ, levelling of the church floor and repainting the 170-year-old columns, is expected to start at the beginning of next year but, as of yet, there is no contingency plan in place.
Under current scheduling the church holds two services every day.
Father Allen Morris said the work would not force them out of the church. He said: “We will muddle through somehow – it’s certainly going to make services a bit more interesting.
At one point we thought we were going to have to leave but now I think we’ll be OK.
Of course it makes me anxious, but the work won’t be going on around people on a Sunday and we will just have to fit it in around our services in the week.”
He has floated the idea of erecting giant screens to hide scaffolding that will be used during painting of the interior – some of which hasn’t seen a lick of paint since the stones were laid in 1833.
Father Morris added: “I am spurred on by how the church will look when its finished. We’ve been raising money for this work for 10 years and it’s an honour that I will be the man to finally see some action.
“At the moment disabled access is poor, the sound quality is terrible and flakes of paint are falling on people’s heads.”
In the 1970s, and in the face of widespread opposition from the congregation Sir John Betjeman visited the church in Lodge Road to support a move to strip the building of its Victorian trappings and restore it to its more sober Georgian décor. The irony of the great defender of Victorian architecture eschewing his usual cast-iron convictions was not lost on Father Morris. He said he hoped to follow in the great man’s footsteps.
He said: “There is an obvious irony there but it was definitely done for the better. What we are doing is carrying on from this. It is part of the community and our heritage and we must do all we can to preserve that.”
The work is estimated to cost around £750,000. So far the church has raised around £550,00 and is hoping to make up the deficit in time for work to start in the new year. |
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