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Newsletter > Full Archive > Columns 22 Columns NUMBER 22 • spring 2004 Progress report on the restoration
The amount of work going on inside Christ Church recently has been tremendous. The scaffolding which had filled the church since the beginning of the year has now been dismantled and the great changes can be seen. The nave floor is being laid with Purbeck stone slabs cut from St Aldheim’s Quarry at Worth Matravers in Dorset. In February the Friends launched an appeal for the stone slabs: contributors are able to make a personal dedication and this will be recorded in a special hand written book. We have had an overwhelming response to this appeal and would like to thank all of you who have supported it so generously. The dedications cover a large span of Christ Church’s history from acknowledgements of early Huguenot and Spitalfields ancestors to present day celebratory dedications to babies born within the last year. Supporters should, by now, have received an appeal leaflet. If you have not and would like one, please ring the Friends’ office or visit our web site. As well as the beautiful stone floor the other most striking element of work to be seen presently is the new panelling to the rear walls of the galleries which is nearly complete on both sides. The oak panelled gallery fronts are being fixed to their frames and at the same time the aisle ceilings are being plastered. Finally, the wainscotting to the walls below the galleries and around the column bases will be fitted. The elaborately carved oak brackets which will support the gallery balustrades are being carved by Gonzalez & Harms near Chard. The eleven new brackets are finished and they are currently repairing the twenty-seven surviving brackets. A historical note on their numbering is on page 4. Less visible, but extremely important for the use of the building, are the staircases and vestries at the east end which are being rebuilt with new floors installed at gallery level. When the church reopens, the congregation will return to the main church for services. Christ Church will also be a valuable resource as a public venue, ensuring the financial viability of the building. We are planning a refurbishment of the crypt to support this. We are, finally, on the home stretch for the finish of the restoration
of the interior. As we reach the end of the contract and look forward
to Christ Church being reopened, it is clear that there are items
outside the scope of the main building contract which may have to
be left out if we cannot fund them. These include essential work
to the pulpit and original font, the cleaning of the monuments,
acoustic screens to the central arches at the west end and five
hundred and fifty new stacking chairs. These will cost £120,000;
if you can help in any way, however modestly, it will be greatly
appreciated. In Memory of Eric C. Elstob The response to Eric’s request for donations in his memory to be given to the restoration of Christ Church has been considerable. We are very grateful to those people who have made gifts in his memory and we are hoping to identify a fitting part of the church to dedicate to him. The Friends arranged to ring the bells of Spitalfields on the day
of Eric Elstob’s memorial service on 5 February. They rang
Grandsire Triples for nearly an hour. Dates for your diary London Open House Hawksmoor London Churches Bus tour Buy a chair for Christ Church A wide variety of events will be held at Christ Church, from services to concerts and lectures, all requiring different seating arrangements. Christ Church Spitalfields has followed the example of St Paul’s, Salisbury and Ely Cathedrals and has chosen the Howe 40/4 stacking chair. The chairs work well with the architecture, are comfortable, durable and readily portable and will serve the needs of the building. They stack up to 40 high and are stored on trolleys, so they are the ideal choice for a large space which sometimes needs lots of chairs and sometimes needs none. What you can do to help: You can buy a chair online right now. We are very grateful for the generous support of all donors. Fill the gap - the Christ Church floor appeal We have had a wonderful response to this appeal and have, to date, raised over £20,000 in donations from individuals. Together with tax relief from the Inland Revenue Gift Aid scheme and Lottery Funding this will be amplified to provide £100,000 worth of paving stones. We have acknowledged all donations individually and donors have had the opportunity to make a dedication for their paving stone in a specially commissioned handwritten book which will commemorate the restoration. We would like to thank you warmly – it has made a real difference! The appeal is still running and if you would like to pay for a stone and make a dedication, please contact the Friends’ office or do it online right now. Thank you The campaign to restore Christ Church relies on the support of many people. The Friends would like to thank law firm Ashurst Morris Crisp for generously providing an office; for printing this edition of columns and other printed material. Thank you to our volunteers who come and help both in the office and at special events. We are particularly grateful to Fiona Ligonnet, Gill Hernon and Christopher Woodward who provide reliable and regular back up in the office throughout the year Back up support The Friends Office is run with a small number of staff in order to keep our overhead costs to a minimum .If you would like to get involved with the Friends in a practical way, and you could spare a few hours of your time, why not come and help us? Volunteers London Open House Weekend Postage
Personal Column The Friends are pleased to announce that there is a new incumbent at Christ Church Spitalfields. Andy Rider together with his wife Carol and their family, moved into the Rectory at No.2 Fournier Street in November last year. He has been licensed by the Bishop of Stepney as Priest-in-Charge. We warmly welcome his arrival and wish him well in a time of great change and exciting prospects at Christ Church. Columns invited him to provide this short biography. Andy grew up in Sussex, during his school days he captained the rugby team, sang in the choir and was a key member of both the swimming and athletics squads. He left school at 17 to work as a lifeguard at the local swimming pool. At the age of 19, Andy became a Christian, and shortly afterwards began to follow God’s call upon his life; first as a psychiatric nurse, then working for Barnardos in a children’s home before training for ministry in the Church of England. Since ordination Andy has worked in churches in the Medway towns and central London, he has also been chaplain to a Special Care baby unit and the New London Theatre. Andy, with his wife Carol and their three children moved to Spitalfields last November from the West End where he had been on the staff of All Souls Langham Place as the ‘Clubhouse Vicar’ for the last ten years. Whilst leading the Clubhouse Andy and the youth work team launched one of the first Christian mentoring schemes in the country working with teenagers at risk of social exclusion. He also oversaw a building refurbishment programme for which he did a sponsored parachute jump! Alongside his work at Christ Church Andy has involvement with a couple of charities working with ex offenders and the homeless, in his spare time he enjoys cooking, gardening, travelling and going to the cinema. He did not wildly enjoy training for the London Marathon which he ran this year (in 5 hours and 17 minutes) to raise money for a Christian counselling service.
The curious numbering of the carved brackets for Christ Church As regular supporters and readers of Columns are aware,
very little in the way of the original drawings and plans for Christ
Church have survived. Much of the evidence for the restoration of
Christ Church has been painstakingly pieced together by close examination
of the original accounts, the restoration in 1822 and physical evidence
from the building itself. Over the years curiosities have arisen
some which eventually become clear and others which remain still
to be solved. One such has arisen over the brackets to the galleries
which the reader might find interesting: If you would like to support the restoration please go to the support us page for more details. Current edition | Back Issues | Get Columns emailed to you |
