God spare us from trendy vicars

[Nigel Watts]

My best memory is of the patter of plimsolls as the boys ran around the Yard first thing in the morning, do they still do that?

Not sure they do. My son is a day boy but boarding is so cushy these day that compulsory early moring runs seem unlikely. Little Dean's Yard is still much used for practicing football. Westminster practically invented the game and never switched to the more hearty Rugby. My son however prefers to play Eton fives.

 

[Feltwell]

I too love the interior of churches, even if the pews are often only Victorian, but - I'd rather see the building being used than just standing there to host the occasional marriage and funeral, plus a few OAP's for the Sunday service.

Yes the changes need to be done with thought, but generally are we not just seeing the latest change in a long line of changes? So much of what people see and think of as "original" is no such thing.

I happen to live next to a church - and in this case the pews are original, as the whole church is Victorian. It's a fairly standard story - small market town has a central church, then suddenly along came the railways and with them an explosion in building work. Many houses go up, of all types - church is now too small, so they build a nice big 1100 seater on the outskirts of the town.

Fast forward 150 years, dwindling congregation means that the central church is rarely full, let alone the big "new" one further out. So it sits empty, apart from the occasional marriage or funeral that needs the greater capacity.

Plans are now in place to change "my" church and create a space more useable by the community as a whole, and frankly I'm glad. We've already had to fight off a developer who wanted to buy the old vicarage (now offices), knock it down and turn it into flats. At least this way the church is getting some funds, the roof will be fixed, and all the local community groups will have somewhere near to go. I'm happy to sacrifice some pews in order to see the building repaired and once more being used. In our case an area of original pews is being kept.

Rant over!


On a lighter note - once we took my wife's very elderly great Uncle back to a church where he used to be the warden. They too had made changes - which he didn't like - but the Vicar showed us that they had retained some of the, as he put it, original pews. "Original?" pipes up Uncle. "They're not original. I made those as an apprentice joiner in 1920!"

 

[judrop]

Whilst I understand the preference for maintaining church interiors , with pews , and indeed identify with and support it, I believe they were , for the most part, built as "open" spaces , without any fixed seating, this came in a little later when they were "modernised". Hey Ho !

 

[Louis Henry]

Right on Feltwell, as a church-loving atheist I would love to see the buildings once more the heart of the community but to do so would require quite extensive interior alterations, and getting the balance between quality improvements and preserving original features is so difficult.

 

[Nigel Watts]

Plans are now in place to change "my" church and create a space more useable by the community as a whole, and frankly I'm glad.

I'm sorry but this is far too happy clappy and PC for me. A church should be a place of contemplation, of mystery, of awe, of possibilty of connection with the Divine not some dreary multi purpose community hall. Better that our churches fall into poetic decay than succumb to wooly dumbed down modern notions.

 

[Feltwell]

I'm sorry but this is far too happy clappy and PC for me. A church should be a place of contemplation, of mystery, of awe, of possibilty of connection with the Divine not some dreary multi purpose community hall. Better that our churches fall into poetic decay than succumb to wooly dumbed down modern notions.

Happy clappy and PC ? Well, maybe - but at least the building will survive. "Poetic decay" sounds far too idealistic to me - decay is just that, why try to dress it up as something noble?

 

[JoceAndChris]

Come on Feltwell - bet you like a nice romantic ruin as much as anyone.

I remember when we switched our salsa venue from the Town Hall in Chiswick to the Catholic Church - it was never the same after that. You always felt that you might end up consumed in the fires of hell after those dances - I stopped going!

 

[Feltwell]

Come on Feltwell - bet you like a nice romantic ruin as much as anyone.

Well, they must have something to be said for them, Mrs F tells me she married one! :wink:

 

[Flyfisher]

I would liken it to the Duke of Devonshire ripping out the interior of Chatsworth House then saying it was no business of the public who only visit occasionally to tell him what to do.

Yes, I understand the sentiment but am slightly uncomfortable about self-appointed heritage lovers deciding that someone elses property is of particular (and utterly subjective) value to the nation's heritage and then start telling them what they can and can't do with it while offering very little in return. On the other hand, I entirely agree it is important to protect such properties, which is probably why I feel slightly uncomfortable about having some sympathy for the Duke's position in that (hopefully fictional!) example.