Our Post-Fire Recovery
Hello all. Here we will post information about our recovery from the fire that gutted the church in January 2023. This will hopefully be a window into our rebirth and show that we continue to function and thrive, even under such stressful circumstances.
6th December
Lots has been happening to retrieve and catalogue the architectural pieces in the debris. We've also done a huge amount of work on making the building safe - removing roof trusses and starting to cap the tops of the walls to protect them against weather damage. Please have a look at our Youtube channel (click here) for some videos as well as the photo gallery on this page.
13th July 2023
It looks like nothing much is going on but we have been beavering away in the background!
Soon we will be carrying out consultations to involve the local community as well as the congregation in the 'visioning' process. This will tell us more about how we are needed in the community, what we want from our church and will ultimately inform us as we draw up plans to rebuild.
As you can see from the diagrams at the right, we have also been working on getting the hall refurbished. We have been reassured that we will be ready to move our worship into the hall at the beginning of September. We will also be able to rent out the space to get some much needed income to help with the rebuild and to continue enabling God's mission here.
If you have any questions please do ask someone on the Steering Group: Mthr Kate (vicar@stmarks.london), Jim Stidham, David Harrison or Mark Kennedy. They will be more than happy to give you all the details you could possibly desire!
7th April 2023
If visiting the Vicarage or walking past St Mark's, you will notice that the goose-grey hoarding has been erected - this is one of the steps to keep the church premises secure.
We have been blessed with great generosity during this Holy Week and we express our gratitude to those who have donated generously to St Mark's.
PINES AND NEEDLES - GARDEN MESH - the company that sold Christmas trees outside St Mark's in December 2022, generously donated and installed green mesh to make the ground safer and to help stop the foot traffic wearing down the grass - less mud, less slippery (but you still need to take care as it is an uneven lawn). There are now mesh paths leading to the Pod which now
has a mesh flooring. The Pod is back in use! We are extremely grateful to Ibrahim at Pines & Needles for arranging and to Sean, Vasile and Marius for installing on Tuesday morning and in time for Easter Sunday.
CHARLES FARRIS - VOTIVE STAND - Since 1845 Charles Farris have been supplying UK made Altar candles to the church. We thank them for this beautiful votive stand.
ST JOHN'S WOOD CHURCH - FONT - We are very grateful for the loan of a lovely wooden font from St John's Wood Church.
There plaque with an inscription: "In memory of BEN DAVIES, Mus Doc. Member of this Church for 50 years and Elder from 1924-1945 and of Clara Elizabeth his wife."
Photos have been added to the gallery below.
THE SPECTATOR MAGAZINE: FEATURE ON ST MARK'S - Christopher Howse of the Spectator has written a wonderful piece on St Mark's: The surprising beauty of Mass in a burnt-out church | The Spectator
10th March 2023
As you would expect, there continues to be a lot of activity around rebuilding St Mark's. We are still in the first stage, which is securing and stabilising the building and preparing the Church Hall for reopening.
The walls are fairly secure, but there is concern that the gables could be unsettled in very high winds without a roof to support them. The design for the scaffolding has been completed, and we hope to see it going up fairly soon. They will start with the East Gable so the Hall can be used safely. The design allows for external support only, which means that no scaffolding is required in the Chancel. This prevents the risk of damage to our beautiful Chancel floor and any other things that can be preserved inside the building.
The Conservator has already had a first visit and care will be taken to preserve anything possible, including stained glass fragments. We are grateful to the team of professionals supporting us, and the care they are taking to protect and preserve the building and remaining artefacts.
In the next few weeks, you will see a 10 foot hoarding going up around the Church - in a lovely shade of Goosewing Grey. We will be looking at ways to use the wall space in an attractive and meaningful manner.
If you were at Church last week, you will have noticed that heat has returned to the school room where we are having tea and coffee. Thanks to David for getting the gas man to help us out there. Once we have the East Gable secure, and we make a few necessary repairs to the Hall, it will be ready for use again. We are moving as fast as possible, but it's unlikely to be before Easter.
This week saw the first Recovery Group meeting, which was very productive and positive. We will be meeting weekly in order to take quick decisions on behalf of the PCC in order to keep things moving as efficiently as possible. The Group consists of the Vicar, Roger Bloomfield, David Harrison, Mark Kennedy, and Jim Stidham. As this Group is primarily operational, a separate group will be formed to consider vision and mission, and will be chaired by the Vicar.
On the financial side, we are grateful for the support we have been receiving from the church community and the wider community. Along with the insurance, it has kept us going through this challenging time.
Jim Stidham - Treasurer
w/c 12th February 2023
Note from the Vicar
I want to share a little bit of optimism this week. It's been a fantastic week of getting up and carrying on.
On Sunday evening, Dan and the Live@StMark's team pulled off an amazing feat with a full scale orchestral concert in a new venue. It was well attended and, quite frankly, marvellous! On Tuesday evening, David and I, with our compere Vix, took our comedy gig 'Have I Got Pews for You' to a neighbouring church for a fantastic night of laughter.
Both of these are heartening examples of people pulling together and making things happen. St Mark's is unstoppable!
We really can keep the mission and ministry going. We can keep worshipping. And we can keep loving each other. As long as we do all of these things, St Mark's will grow through this dreadful period and God's love will continue to be known in NW8.
The NW gable of the church of the church has been made secure with scaffolding, so you can enter the vicarage garden safely through the usual route. The marquee has been erected in the garden so we will be protected from the elements during the Sunday service, until the hall is declared safe to use.
Last Wednesday, the SMHT PCC (Parochial Church Council) met with its insurers, Ecclesiastical Insurance, who gave advice on how the PCC move forward to rebuild the church and there will be further information on this in the next and future newsletters.
At the moment, the priority is to make the church safe and secure. This will be done with scaffolding to secure the gable walls and three metre hoarding around the church perimeter. It is hoped that the remaining gables will be shored up by March.
Rachmaninoff Music Academy Piano
One of the treasures destroyed by the fire was a beautiful Fazioli piano, which belonged to our friends at the Rachmaninoff Music Academy, who frequently performed in the church.
If you wish to send a donation to help them fundraise you can do so here.
Local Community Support
The support from our local community has been overwhelming and we can't thank you all enough.
Bake Sale at the American School London - we've had a long relationship with ASL and we are so grateful for the incredible amount they raised - a whopping £1,016.76. We will put that right to use for all the things that we use in serving the congregation and the community, and lost in the fire - from hymnals to teapots! Thanks to Eliza. Steve and Robert and Heather, Max and Hannah for all your hard work.
The money is very welcome, but even more important is the support that inspires us to rebuild St Mark's in order to serve the community for the next 175 years and beyond.
We were left a letter by a local child, which left us all quite teary!
