On the left is a picture of our hall as it was after the old vestry had been dismantled by the congregation and before the start of renovations. A single room with a high
ceiling, the hall had many limitations. In addition a sagging floor,damp on the north wall and a poor state of
decoration meant that expensive renovation was urgently required. A number of plans for improving the hall had been
considered over the years including removing the roof and then replacing it after interior renovations
had been completed but all had been rejected on grounds of cost. God however moves in mysterious ways and so it
was that whilst a meeting of the Congregational Board was discussing the hall, Stuart Hardy our fabric convenor found himself staring at the floor and had a brainwave. He realised that the hall had a suspended timber floor with unutilised
space beneath. So rather than raise the roof could we lower the floor to create enough space for two stories within
the shell of the existing building? Meetings with architect David Aslett confirmed the viability of this idea and
plans were drawn up for presentation to the Board and then the congregation.
The green light was given and plans were put out to tender. The responses were frightening and more than we could reasonably afford. So the sharp pencil was brought out and a number of things on our wish list were removed to bring the price to a more realistic level. The revised costs were then put to the congregation who again approved and we were off. Work started on 14th August 2007 when Rihoys squeezed a mini-digger through the door with an inch to spare on each side and excavation commenced. On the right is a picture of work on the excavation.
Ninety tons of soil were removed from beneath the
original floor and all of this was taken by whellbarrow via the narrow outside passageway alongside the church where
it was loaded onto a skip. All the steel for the project was brought through the next door neighbour's garden and
passed through an upstairs window where it was bolted together to support the new floor.
The picture on the left shows work at this stage.
Scaffolding was then erected inside the building and further steel girders were positioned to support the roof. Finally the old A-frames were removed. On the right is a picture of work on the upper level showing some of the roof support beams. The project involved lowering the downstairs floor by three feet. The new solid floor comprises layers of screed, insulation and concrete to a depth of nine inches.
There is a walkway around the hall at the level of the original floor under which are large areas for storage. (picture on left) A staircase leads to the upstairs room. The kitchen which has been completely refurbished and re-tiled remains in its original position. (centre picture) and there is a rectangular window on the north wall downstairs. (picture at right) Electrical wiring has been renewed throughout and the original gas heaters have been replaced by electric ones.
Six large velux lights have transformed the upstairs space which now provides a very large additional room with huge under-eaves storage space.
A stained glass design in memory of the late John Spittal is part of the new upstairs window (shown on the left); a project undertaken by John's family.
A picture taken from the other end of this room towards the staircase is shown to the right.
Decoration throughout was carried out by the congregation and the whole project was completed on St. Andrew's day.
When rewiring the building, arrangements were made to use it as a disaster recovery suite. This means that a business suffering sudden severe damage could temporarily re-locate to our hall where computers could be installed at short notice.
The whole project was carried out at a cost of £125,000 and the generosity of the congregation cannot be overstated. Our builders, archtects, engineers and electricians have done a great job and have produced a result which will stand us in good stead for many years to come.
The hall was re-dedicated during morning service on Sunday 20th Jannuary 2008.