During the month of August there was a great deal of progress – the internal painting is now finished except for the Rose window surround, the works to the Chancel outside are complete and the work on the ceiling of the Chancel inside is also vey near to completion which means that the remaining scaffolding inside the church will be taken down by the end of the first week of September. All future requirements for scaffolding will be done by a moveable tower.
The work to create the West door is taking place and once the delivery of special bricks has happened – hopefully by the end of the second week in September – the building of the porch will begin.
The tiled floor has been laid in the Nave and will continue into the Chancel once the scaffold has been taken away. A large proportion of the tiles are the original ones that have been painstakingly cleaned by hand individually but inevitably there were many that were damaged by the fire and falling masonry so will be replaced with new ones that will match in with the old ones.
The Rose window is nearing completion and will be fitted during the week beginning 10th October – after which the paintwork around this area will be finally completed. The pulpit is being rebuilt having been dismantled brick by brick and taken to Cliveden workshop for restoration.
Because of numbers of different reasons there is still likely that there will be a further period of delay but it is still hoped that we will be able to hold our first service around Christmas time – but that is by no means definite. All the drainage has mostly been completed.
We are now actively sourcing new chairs – there has been s series of them in the Prayer Room in the FPCC which have been tried and tested by many and a final choice will be made shortly. Also we are looking at all the Chancel area furniture – Altar, lectern, credence table etc. and hoping along with the chairs that people will offer to either fully or partly sponsor a piece of furniture. A piano is also being looked at with a view to replacing the one that sadly was burnt. The digital organ is also being sought. Some of the items may not be ready for inclusion in the church on day 1 but hopefully by Easter we will be fully refurbished inside and out.