Published: Thursday, 13th November, 2008 09:00
New parish centre off the ground.
By Annabel Williams
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Digging in: St Barnabas Reverend, Derek Chandler, and Vince Holden, managing director of Creative Construction and Design, the building contractor, cutting the ground to start the building.
WORK to build a new parish centre for Emmer Green has started at St Barnabas Church.
The first turf was cut by Reverend Derek Chandler and now the diggers have moved in to start construction, meaning the centre, when completed, can stay open all week, not just on Sundays, and welcome all kinds of community groups.
Vision of the future: How the parish centre will look.
The St Barnabas Road centre will provide new features including a more welcoming entrance and meeting area, a dedicated prayer room and a kitchen and serving area.
Music, drama and audio-visual facilities are included and the extension will also create extra room in the main church to help large congregations feel more comfortable.
An appeal to raise the money for the project and for improvements to the existing church hall started in June 2004, and thanks to the community’s generosity at a series of events, only £37,450 from the total £350,000 budget is needed.
Building work is expected to be finished by the end of next May.
Robin Kent, churchwarden and fundraiser said: “The new centre is not just being built to meet the needs of the current and future generations of churchgoers but also because St. Barnabas stands at the very heart of the Emmer Green community and wants to be visible and welcoming to all.
“We are all very excited that the building work is about to start.
“We still have some final fundraising to do but we are confident that the remaining money will be raised in time to complete the project.”
The next fundraising event at the church is a Christmas concert by South Berks Concert Band on Saturday, December 13, at 7.30pm.
Tickets, £10, are available from Douglas Rae on 0118 947 0195 or Alison Wood on 0118 946 2517.
See www.saintbarnabas.org.uk
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