SPRING Building Project
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St Peter’s Church is currently closed for major refurbishment.
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The church is investing in, and raising funds to support the future use of the space for generations to come.
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The beautiful, flexible space will benefit the whole city.
Why is the church closed?
The church fell into disrepair during the latter part of the 19th century. It was then that Lord Grimthorpe, who restored parts of St Albans Abbey, decided to also restore St Peter’s church at his own expense. Sadly, the Victorian concrete floor is crumbling and more importantly it’s impermeability is forcing moisture up into the main pillars of the church and destroying them.
The church is currently closed for the work to be completed to replace the ugly and destructive concrete floor with beautiful York Stone which will not only look much better but importantly will house modern, energy efficient underfloor heating and allow the floor to “breath” and protect the integrity of the pillars.
Chair Sponsorship Opportunity
We are delighted to announce the launch of our chair sponsorship scheme. Each sponsored chair can have a plaque in memory of a loved one or to denote an individual or community group. You can sponsor a chair for a donation of £250. Application forms with details are here. This is an opportunity to support our SPRING building project fundraising target of £150,000.
Fundraising
To complete the next stage of our project we need to raise additional funds to cover the £150k fundraising gap we have.
Thank you to those who have donated and helped us reach £45k. We are very grateful for this support. If you would like more information about this project or ways to donate please contact our stewardship officer Peter Court. You can also donate with Easyfundraising using this QR code.
Church on the Move
While the building work takes place we will be worshiping with Marlborough Road Methodist Church, which is in Marlborough Road St Albans at 10.30am. We will hold our 8am communion service every Sunday in the Octagon and also have a midweek communion service at 11am every Tuesday in the Octagon. Evensong is led by St Peter's ministry team and choir and takes place at 5pm at Marlborough Road Methodist Church every Sunday. You can read more details about this here.
Time Capsule
On Monday 26 February at 2pm a Time Capsule box was buried under the floor at St Peter’s. Two pupils from Alban City School wrote pieces reflecting a day in their lives along with information from some of the long standing members of our congregation.
A mobile phone, coins, orders of service, plans for the current church building work and photos as well as a newspaper, and various other items we hope will be of interest when the box is dug up (hopefully not for 100 years or more).
On top of the buried box we will place a York stone engraved with 2024.
What's happening
As part of our building project called SPRING (St Peter's Reworked: Inspiring New Growth), we have already updated our toilets, vestries and Octagon room and kitchen. The next stage of the reordering project (known as Phase 1C) is works to the Nave, Aisles and Chancel including new floor construction, removal of pews and replacement with chairs, alterations to the heating and electrical system, new kitchenette and storage facilities, and alterations to the inner south doors and south porch.
The faculty for the next stage of the work to replace the concrete floor and replace the pews with chairs has been granted and we started work on 31 July. We also plan to replace the temporary wooden high altar step with stone/marble to match the existing floor.
Below you can find documents in relation to these plans.
Kitchenette and Servery Joinery
Statement of Significance June 21
Statement of Need September 21
Reopening
The church is due to reopen in spring 2024, and with the removal of the Victorian pews, it will be a beautiful, flexible space, one of the biggest community spaces in St Albans. In addition to a stunning space for worship it will also be available for private hire for weddings functions and events.
Bulletin
You can read more about our building project in our latest bulletin available here.
Please pray for this significant project and all the work and fund raising still to do.
St Peter's Vicar Rev Mark Dearnley talks about the building project.
Watch the video here.
