CLERGY LETTER FOR

OCTOBER 2010

Canon Toby Marchand writes....

THE TIME HAS COME!

The long wait is over. The time has come for the opening of the Windhill Churches Centre. On 23^rd of this month the Anglican Bishop Alan Smith of St Albans and the Roman Catholic Bishop George Stack of the Archdiocese of Westminster will jointly open and bless the Centre in Bishop’s Stortford. The ceremony is due to take place at 12 noon, and is open to anyone to attend. It will consist of a gathering of all guests outside, followed by the cutting of the ribbon across the front doors. Everyone will then proceed inside to one of the Halls where speeches and thanks will be given. The two Bishops will then bless the Halls. After that champagne and nibbles will be served from the two kitchens and guests will be invited to wander all over the building to examine it for themselves. The event will conclude with the unveiling of the Stained Glass Panel designed by Anthony Cleyndert, and the releasing of celebratory balloons from the open space in front of the building.

Downstairs there is a foyer with a stained glass feature, two Halls, two Kitchens, an Office for the Anglican clergy, and shared toilet facilities. Upstairs there are meeting rooms for each church, an Office for the Roman Catholic clergy, and more shared toilet facilities. The meetings rooms have been designed with screens to allow two smaller rooms or one larger room to be used. There is a lift that will take a disabled person from outside the building to the ground floor, and from the ground floor to the first floor.

The access to the Centre will be either through the car park of Pelly’s the solicitors or from the churchyard of St Michael’s, through a gate in the wall. There is no parking facility, so vehicular access is restricted to drop-offs and to emergency vehicles only. The most common way to access the building will be to walk through the churchyard, and enter under a covered cloister way. 

The Opening marks the end of a long journey. Ideas for a Centre were in the air at St Michael’s up to 18 years ago. When I was interviewed for the post of Vicar of St Michael’s in 1994 one of the questions put to me and the other candidates was about our attitude to the building of a Parish Centre, which was high on the Parish’s own agenda.

The Architect, Stephen Morgan, of SHMG Architects in Oundle, was commissioned to draw up plans. The first site chosen was at the south west end of the Church in the churchyard burial ground. After much planning and discussion the proposal was dropped. It was intimated that the plan would not receive Planning Approval because of the sensitivity of the location.

Undaunted, Mr Morgan drew up a new plan, siting the building opposite the Church Street Doctor’s Surgery and making use of the indentation in the churchyard wall that is there. That proposal looked good for a long time. An archaeological dig was commissioned and every possible requirement was met. The East Herts District Council went against the advice of its own planning officers (who recommended acceptance) and the project was rejected. The PCC took advice from Counsel and lodged an Appeal. The Appeal was eventually heard after a long delay, and was rejected.

By this time the Church had spent a very considerable sum of money on the whole project and had nothing to show for it. It was decided that no further progress was possible. Then two things happened to change the picture entirely. First, two members of the Town Council approached the Church with a proposal for selling piece of land behind the Old Monastery which was owned by the Council and used for Car Parking. In exchange they asked for the sale to them of the Apton Road Day Centre (owned by St Michael’s Church), initially with a view to development, but subsequently, as it has turned out, to be used by the Council for service to the elderly in the Community as it has been all along. Secondly, the Church received a very substantial sum of money from the estate of the late Maxwell Charnley. Mr Charnely was a solicitor in the town, whose father had been a Reader at St Michael’s and whose mother was a regular member right up to her death. Maxwell occasionally attended St Michael’s, and had appeared in many local amateur dramatic productions with members of the church, notably in the magnificent Son-et-Lumiere production of the history of Bishop’s Stortford. This was the brainchild of Hugh Joscelyne and was staged at St Michael’s in March 1995.

With both a location and some money available the Church commissioned the long-suffering Mr Morgan to draw up another design for a Church Centre. Planning permission was sought for the new project and was obtained. Then a new development. The Roman Catholic Church of St Joseph and the English Martyrs in Windhill enquired whether it was possible to consider a joint project. Their Hall in Apton Road had reached the end of its useful life and they were looking to relocate. The site obtained by St Michael’s was just in the right place for them. But such a collaboration would be something unheard of in ecumenical relations in this, or indeed most, areas of the country.

The reaction of St Michael’s was favourable. Mr Morgan started again! This time his design was for two Halls in one building, with Meeting Rooms, Kitchens and Offices for each church community, joint Foyer and toilet facilities, and a joint heating system. The project took off. Cadmans, a building firm from Colchester with wide experience and an excellent reputation were engaged, along with Barker and Associates, a Project Management firm from Manuden.  Building work began in the Autumn of 2009 and was completed at the end of August 2010.

Now it is up to us to realise the dream and make the project successful. All the signs are good. We look forward to welcoming many people, from the church communities, and from the town at large, to our outstanding building. May the mission of the Church, to build up its members and to serve the community in which it is set, be given huge encouragement from the achievements of all who have worked so hard to make the project happen. The time has come!

Toby Marchand