We are almost there! After 19 months of work on the site ‘practical completion’ is expected to happen before the end of January – this is the point at which the church ceases to be a building site under the control of Buxton and becomes once again the responsibility of the parish.
Before that the main item to be completed is the new west entrance and porch, plus fitting of new locks and CCTV cameras and finishing the installation of the new audio-visual systems. There will also be further fine-tuning of the lighting and heating systems, and training for those who will need to use them.
There will still be ongoing works after the completion date – snagging of any defects, further landscaping, fitting out of the building with new furniture and so on, so we are still some way from having a fully functioning All Saints church, but this is a major step forward in the progress of the project.
We are very grateful to Buxton, who opened up the site and made it possible for us to hold services on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, albeit with limited numbers and temporary furniture. It was very special for the All Saints community to be able to come together in the church for the first time at Christmas since 2014.