KHPC Fabric Team

I heard some very exciting news today, but, right now I have to go out and do something else so this post will have to wait a little. For now just think! some more stained glass is going to be fixed! A gift! Wow!

Why can't we use the Sanctuary tomorrow? I don't know how many different people asked me that question? I do know that I was happy with my Risk Assessment, which was beefed up for today's Service, I didn't need to consider the weather today (Thank Goodness) and with many more people in the Church than our normal weekly visitors on a Saturday afternoon, I did need to consider what we'd do if the rains poured down or a gale blew up. So ------ As the place has been cleaned up and unless there is a vast change overnight, then we'll conduct Sunday Worship in the Sanctuary tomorrow. What a weekend this is turning out to be. More wonderful Music from our Choir and Organist Iain Galbraith----Hopefully the rest of us will be able to sing out as well. BUT ------- Please remember this is an exception, and that the Church is still officially a building site and that I did happen to notice where the chap in charge of our Contractors decided to sit during the Service!

The Teacher Memorial Window was re-dedicated today, lots of friends and neighbours came and the sun shone as well.-------A Good Day? More a Great Day! The entire event showed what teamwork can do, and the Team Worked well. Everyone had their bit to do and all did their bit------well! Even the building had its part to play, allowing many new friends to discover just what a marvelous performance space it is. How many of those at the Service today didn't swallow hard when the Last Post was played ? I sincerely hope that we can hear Mark play the trumpet in the Sanctuary again.

The clean-up team have been in this week! Many thanks to them---they know who they are! The Sanctuary is looking much cleaner and shinier now. Final clean-up on Friday! We are all looking forward to the Service on Saturday which Alastair Cherry will conduct, lots of people have said they are able to come and the weather forecast is favourable. One little word, the Church is still technically a Building Site, So please pay heed to the advice of the Stewards and remain on the permitted side of any roped-off areas. Hard Hats will not be neccessary.

So we hit the deck running this week, First task on Monday Morning was a meeting with the Lead Architect and the Contractors to re-cap where we were when all work was put on hold and also to sort out the tidying up "Our Building Site" The Repair work at KH was originally organised around Church Life, and that will continue, the Congregation and all of the Hall Users will continue to meet in the Hall while the Contractors will carry on working upstairs in the Sanctuary. This is not the normal way of carrying out one of these major projects, I do like to think that perhaps we at KH blazed a trail. I think there is nothing worse than a Community building all wrapped up in scaffold and portacabins while the the Community who use it get lost in the busy-ness of the work. We are all in this together and hopefully we can all compromise as and when neccesary.

The date proposed for the start of work is the 18th May as by then the paperwork should be finalised with HS and HLF. The plan is for a 20 week contract not including the Fair and September weekend! So the Official Completion date has to be in November. If there is any movement this side of November then that is a bonus. The Plan is to start with Truss 6 and then move to 4 and 5 and then move onto the ones in the Chancel area, so at present there are no plans to cut through into the Hall, which is a good thing. The Hall will be able to be used the way it has been for the foreseeable future. So a start has been made, including the wording of the 10 year maintenance plan which we need to submit to HS and HLF. ----Nothing changes--- gutters, roof and downpipes!!

Now we can fix the roof! Now we can prevent more water ingress and de-stabilisation. Now I can phone our Architect and tell him that we don't have to put the Contractors on hold -----again! Now I can perhaps sleep easier? Or maybe not, there is still a lot to do. We firstly have the Re-dedication Service for the Teacher Window, and we need to clean up the Sanctuary. All hands on deck. Dusting, mopping and vacuuming and maybe just a bit of polish? Lots to do----busy, busy, busy! Will update later.

Walking and Working in a Garden can be so therapeutic, good for both Body and the Soul. As the sight and scent of new blossom lifts your spirits, it seems somehow right that the first sight of Jesus on that Easter Morning long ago was in a Garden. Happy Easter!

So, following a successful run of Holy Week Services, we are once again waiting; waiting to get back into the Church proper and waiting to hear the Good News. It may be a while yet, but we are ever hopeful. Perhaps some things are going right for us as my Passion Flower and Easter Cactus have both decided to flower ------- at the right time. There was a slight glitch last week as we had to mop up the floors upstairs following last Friday's heavy rain, also the early April winds had dislodged some slates. Alas! the perils of not being able to fix the roof when we need to. However I magically managed to find someone willing to deal with the immediate problem on Saturday afternoon and our "Favourite Steeplejacks" were able to finish a proper patching repair on Monday Morning. So now it's full steam ahead for the Teacher Window Re-dedication Service on Saturday 25th April at 11am. Watch this space! Also we have had an 'Access Audit' carried out and we gained...