QUESTION – Will All Saints Church be rebuilt?
ANSWER – Yes it most certainly will, and it will be better than ever.
QUESTION – Will it look like it did before?
ANSWER – Yes it will. From Church Road it will look much as it always did. Inside, the structure of the church will be substantially as it always was.
QUESTION – What will look different?
ANSWER – On the north side (Behind the church, where the churchyard is) we hope to build a new lady chapel, vestry, meeting rooms, and other facilities, with a cloister and separate entrance in order to provide facilities for prayer, reflection, small meetings – even some larger gatherings, which will we hope honour God and serve our community. We also plan to improve access to the church by restoring the west end entrance and porch that were there when the church was first built.
QUESTION – What about the font, pulpit, monuments, etc
ANSWER – The new All Saints will have all of these things. The old font was so badly damaged it will need to be replaced. The pulpit and monument can be repaired. Decisions will have to be made about when and how to repair these in a way that means the new church is fit for purpose for many years to come, rather than simply reproducing what was there before. –
QUESTION – How long will all this take?
ANSWER – It will probably not be completed until the latter half of 2020.
QUESTION – Why is it taking so long?
ANSWER – From the beginning we were determined to bring something positive and good out of the tragedy that was the fire. We want the church to serve God and our community for many years to come and we want the new church to be the best it can be. None of us anticipated that it would take so long to clear, make safe, make plans, consult, appoint architects and other experts, produce a mountain of necessary paperwork and obtain the necessary permissions – all before a brick is placed! Others who have been through this experience tell us that actually we are moving quite quickly!
QUESTION – What is happening now?
ANSWER – We are working with our architects and the church community on the fine detail of the plans for rebuilding. We are working with our insurers on how much it will cost and how much they will give us to pay for it. We are making plans for fund raising, which will almost certainly be necessary if we are to get the building we need. We are working with the diocese and others to get the permissions we will need to embark on the project. Things are now moving very quickly.
QUESTION – How much will it cost?
ANSWER – We don’t know, because we still don’t have the final plans and costings. The church was fully insured and so most of the money will be paid for by insurance. The extra features we want to build will have to be paid for by making savings elsewhere, and/or from fundraising. The community of Fleet and others have already donated over £70,000 to the project without our having asked, so we are confident that money will be there to complete the project.
QUESTION – When can we see the plans?
ANSWER – The options we have been exploring up to now have been published on our website. New, more detailed plans will be available by the Spring, and will be widely publicised then.
Revd Mark Hayton, Vicar