St Nicholas Restoration

Great news !!

We have just completed the first stage of work at the church, and the building is now secure and protected from the elements.

I have also managed to get confirmation that now that the contractors have left the premises, we may once again allow free access to the churchyard OUTSIDE the fencing compound.

I am so sorry that these last few months have been such a trial for so many of you, but thank you for your patience and understanding. We have had some concrete steps put in, with handrails, to help people climb the bank onto the level churchyard, and to minimize the danger of slipping down the bank if the grass is wet. Please be careful.

We are also able to offer supervised access to the cremation plots – these will have to be limited times only, and those visiting the plots will have to wear protective hats (which we can provide).

The times are as follows, and will be posted on the fencing and on the website.

Sunday afternoons : 2.30 - 4.30pm
Wednesday evenings : 6.30 – 8.00pm

We shall start this on Sunday July 20th

As the church will now be hidden from sight behind its protective sheeting until the rebuilding is complete, the church gathered there to remember, and to thank God for the memories invested in the old building.

I offer the prayer we used below, for those who would like it – it is a prayer for us as a church and a community, as so many of us have shared important parts of our lives here:

Almighty God,
Thank you for the times of joy and celebration we have spent here,
for the times we have met you;
for the times you have touched us and warmed us with you Spirit;
for the times you have healed us and spoken into our hearts.
Lord this is our spiritual home – broken and spoiled
You know how our hearts are broken for our loss – for things and memories that will never be reclaimed. But you are a God who makes all things new.

Amen

Rev Martin Green

The Royal Naval Association Male Voice Choir, in combination with the Karousels Ladies’ Choir is staging a concert at St. Nicholas Church, Warwick on Saturday 27th September, in aid of the Restoration Fund.

The event will start at 7.30pm, and tickets - priced at £5 - will be available in early August from Vic Gardner on 01926-422958.

Four more photographs have been added to the archive, showing the protective roof in place. Photos are courtesy of D Holdstock. They can be viewed here.

In addition to the improved design, we have also now incorporated photo galleries into the site.

We would welcome any photographs of the Church Pre-fire, during The Fire and of the Restoration Effort.

All photographs will be credited to the photographer, but will be available in the public domain so their copyright can not be assured. If you are happy for your photographs to be used, please email them to admin@stnicholasrestoration.com.

Many thanks.

Dear Friends

The first news is that this coming week the church will be covered by a plastic protective cover, surrounding the scaffolding frame. A clever roof will be put on as well which will allow future contractors to remove sections when they need to crane materials inside.

This will complete the first stage of making the building safe, and will be the last time the church will be seen until the new restoration and rebuilding is complete.

The second piece of news is that the Bishop of Warwick has asked me to stay on to help oversee this reconstruction work – which is a great relief ! He is currently working out the details of my new licence, but at least we know that we shan’t have to move again until this work is complete.

As our attention moves into the next stage of work, we have been able to appoint an architect from a firm in London who are specialists in restoring and re-ordering churches. We are very excited, as their track record is stunningly good – they are currently completing the £36m restoration of St Martins in the Fields (the church overlooking Trafalgar Sq), and have worked on some other significant national treasures, including the Tower of London, Wells cathedral, and Leeds Castle, to name but a few. So we shall be in excellent hands !

As a thorough survey begins on the walls and tower, we shall soon discover how much of the stonework has been irreparably damaged and will need to be replaced. This will be the next stage of the work, and when contractors will return to the site. This work will need the approval of the Diocesan authorities and English Heritage, who are due to visit the church in July.

We are also working through details of various elements of the church fabric that have been lost so that the Insurance Company can cover these fairly. We have discovered that the East window was not a Kempe window (Kempe was a prolific and high quality stained glass window designer in the 19^th century). We had been led to believe that we had one of his works, but sadly this is not the case. However, the artist who made our Millennium window is on the case, and has come up with some suggestions of other makers.

Once the current contractors have left the site, we will hopefully be able to open the churchyard again for visitors, but on a supervised basis only. We are having some temporary steps put in from the path so that no-one slips on the grass, and on our next bulletin, I will publish times when someone will be there to open the churchyard to any visitors. We will also be able to open the cremation area at the same time. This will be a great relief to many, though there will still be some inaccessible graves within the fencing. These are fully protected underneath the scaffolding.

Thank you once again for your understanding and support. As we move into a more exciting and creative phase of work, we give great thanks to God that everyone working on the Church has been kept safe, and has provided us with such a sensitive and careful service.