BUILDING WORK BEGINS TO IMPROVE FACILITIES AT TEDDINGTON CHURCH
Work has started at St Mary with St Alban Church in Teddington as part of a new £1.6m building project to add two much-needed toilets, a community space, a small kitchen and improved facilities.
The first phase of the work is nearly complete – the demolition of the old choir vestry and the laying of the footprint for the base of the new building
The parish has had to undertake a number of archaeological surveys because the work is taking place in a closed churchyard and to comply with civic and ecclesiastical planning consents. No graves have been disturbed.
The second phase is the construction of the superstructure of the extension, the installation of ground-source heat pumps and all other utilities.
The third phase will be the connection of old and new with adaptation of a current window into a new door.
This requires the relocation of a stained-glass window which will replace a plain-glass one.
This phase will also bring with it a new digital organ that replaces the old and decrepit pipe organ now discontinued in the church, and the eventual redecoration of the whole church.
Father David Cloake told Teddington Town: “The purpose behind the development, eventually costing a total of £1.6m, include honouring the considerable heritage that Teddington enjoys is to provide appropriate hospitality to the many who use the church across the year for services, funerals, marriages and baptisms who cannot access basic facilities, and to create a space where our younger members can enjoy church life without having to cross Ferry Road.
“The project has been dreamed about since we returned St Mary with St Alban as the parish church in 1976, and is funded by the considerable generosity of the local community, worshipping members of the parish, generous legacies, and grants – though we still have money to raise in order for Phase 3 to happen.”
You can read more about the project and how to support it here: Facilities for all – Teddington Parish