The Parish Church of St George the Martyr, Waterlooville

Well don’t we look clean and beautiful!  

Since the last magazine St. George’s Church has been refurbished -

• raised safety cords at the front of the choir gallery

• specially cut and installed safety glass on the stairs into the gallery

• cleaned and dusted statues and pictures

• re-wired lights for the icons and in the side aisles

• and of course, the most obvious part of the works -

• the complete repainting of the Church itself together with the Lady Chapel, vestries and lobbies.

Wow! What a huge amount of work has been done, and is still being done, to manage the upheaval and to get the Church cleaned and ready for Sonja and Chris’s marriage at the start of August. H & S Decorators Ltd, together with the Churchwardens, have done a great job and thanks to them. Massive thanks also to you for helping with the different tasks around the Church and for being patient when arriving at services only to find the Church upside down! The works of the first phase will be officially opened on Sunday October 13th when our new Archdeacon, the Ven. Joanne Grenfell, has been invited to preach at the Parish Eucharist.

There’s still more to do over the next few months and into 2014 however. It’s hoped phase 2 will include:

• the repainting of the Church floor

• the cleaning and polishing of the pews

• a new light to be fitted above the icon next to the gallery stairs

• the total cleaning  and refurbishment of the organ.  

This is something the organ builders have been recommending for a little while, but sensibly it’s had to wait until the Church redecorations are complete. Now the task is to select the best time of year to do the work, which will involve the organ being dismantled, with some parts cleaned on site and others taken away to the builders’ workshops in Southsea. The hope is that the work will be finished in time for the Waterlooville Music Festival 2014 when an opening organ recital will mark its return to use.

Huge thanks must be expressed to those whose contributions and donations to St. George’s Church have made all this work possible. Much of it is in memory of past Church members: Lillian Marland, Jean Brice, Marina Walford, Ruby Bullock, Joe Greenwell, Edwin Sheppard and Madeline Lennon. All these people, and others who have supported the refurbishment, will be remembered at the service in October.

Fr. Mike

Summer Edition 2013

From the Parish Priest