Proposed church alterations

Thank you to everyone who came to the church council/general church meeting where we looked at and discussed the suggested plans for the development of the church buildings.

The main agreements were as follows.

The pipe organ will be kept, we hope to be able to use it more.

The dais (raised area at the front) will be reduced in extent.

The inside porch area will be removed and replaced by a small porch to the outside.

The buildings will be joined together with a new entrance area, stairs and platform lift to get from hall level to church level.

We also hope this will include a small meeting room.

The footpath to the left of the church will be improved.

The stage in the hall will be removed to make a storage area for the tables and chairs, leaving the body of the hall clear.

Level disabled access will be provided to the hall with a roadway, turning point for cars and the minibus and perhaps two disabled parking spaces.

We have chosen Smith and Roper as the architects to take this forward and will be meeting with them regularly.

Exactly how the buildings are joined together depends on what is possible taking into account the many drains there are and the sewage holding tank.

At the same time we will be doing what we can to make the buildings more environmentally friendly and less costly to run e.g. looking at insulation under the floor in church, double or secondary glazed windows, air source heat pump etc.

We have money from the sale of Hackney and Darley Hillside but anticipate that we will need more than that to cover the whole cost of everything we would like to do to make the buildings fit for purpose well into the future. We will probably have a gift day or fund raising events. However, if you would like to give now please give donations to Edward and ask for them to go in the Development Fund