LAUNCH OF THE INTERNAL RE-ORDERING OF ST. NICOLAS CHURCH

One of my chosen charities is the Re-ordering of the interior of St Nicolas Church and I was therefore very pleased to be able to host a reception at 6p.m. on 30 October in the Council Chamber to launch the project. In front of an invited audience mainly from the local business and other organisations within the Newbury community, I chaired a panel consisting of the Reverend David Stone, the Rector of St Nicolas Church, Andy Moore, a member of the Reordering Team, and the Rt Reverend John Pritchard, the Bishop of Oxford. I said that the purpose of the briefing was to give everyone the background to the project, what it entailed, where and how we intended to get support and to fund it. I gave a brief history of the Church and emphasised that the site had been the centre of Christian worship for over 900 years, and the existing church dated back to the 16th century, was one of the oldest buildings in the town, was a Grade 1 Listed Building and a significant part of the Town’s heritage. Andy Moore then gave a briefing on what the Reordering would include: to enhance the seating arrangements, to install under-floor heating, to improve the sound, lighting and vision and to clean up some of the interior fabric of the building. Some work was also needed on the organ. David Stone stated that consultation with the congregation had been ongoing and it was generally concluded that the majority were in favour of the scheme and made some useful and constructive comments which would be included. He emphasised the benefits both to regular church goers and to the community at large when the project was completed. Bishop John then spoke of other re-ordering schemes in which he had been involved and wished that the re-ordering would be used more by the community, which was one of the main aims of the scheme. At the end of the briefing session, there were a number of questions put to the panel and I then closed the briefing session and invited everyone to help themselves to the buffet. During the informal discussions afterwards, it was clear that there was a general level of support although there were no firm promises. I believe that once a next period of planning had been completed and in particular the recruitment of a Fundraiser, the launch would begin a new and vitally important and exciting phase of the project. I wish it well and I look forward to playing some part in the implementation phase