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Re-ordering of St George's Chapel Project

13th April Update

The re-ordering of the village war memorial chapel of St. George, in the Parish Church, is now almost complete.

The plans were to make the chapel a more welcoming sacred space with increased flexibility for its use. The project had a favourable response from both the Royal British Legion and church members; it was dedicated as the village war memorial in June 1921.

St Georges Chapel Photo Courtesy of Ron Hegarty

St Georges Chapel Photo Courtesy of Ron Hegarty

Photo and Text Courtesy of Ron Hegarty

The chapel is in constant use for daily morning and evening prayer, for the mid-week Eucharist celebrations, meditations and vigils. The cost of the refurbishment has been met in part by legacies and donations - and even £1000 prize money received from a national competition by All Saints Ringers when they celebrated St. George's Day in an unusual place, in the bell chamber.

Pews have been removed, the floor levelled and carpeted, separate heating and chairs have been accommodated. It is intended to renew lighting in the chapel as part of an overall scheme for the church.

16th February Update
It is anticipated that, subject to weather conditions allowing completion of their other contracts, the builders hope to start work on Monday, 16th February.
St. George's Chapel

The organ will be covered in plastic sheeting as it was for the West End Project. It is anticipated that work will take 3 to 4 weeks, during which time the Chapel will be a building site and therefore will not be accessible for reasons of Health and Safety.

There will also be some work in the South Aisle involving the installation of an electricity supply from the main electrical intake in the cupboard by the West Door. If you visit the church during weekdays please be aware that works may be ongoing and keep well clear of any scaffolding, ladders, work areas, etc.

The planned re-ordering of St George's Chapel, All Saints, Staplehurst

People in church and the village will know that for many years there has been an idea that one day our side chapel (St. George's chapel) would be made into a more welcoming sacred space with increased flexibility for its use. The idea has generally received a favourable response from both the Royal British Legion and church members.

Although many members of our church have probably never sat in it, it is a special place for those who meet there regularly every day of the year.

It holds our village war memorial.
It is used for daily morning and evening prayer and our mid week Eucharists.
It is used for meditations and vigils.
It is where we reserve the Sacrament in the aumbry on the wall.
It is bounded by the screen against which is our prayer board and votive candle stand, both much used by daily visitors to the church.

Long ago, during the time of our Reader Ken Mackay, talk was that we would re-order this chapel. I know Ken's funeral collection in the year 2000 was put to this end. Since then we have had generous donations, a legacy and even Kevin's win with the bell ringers for celebrating St George's day in an unusual place, so our refurbishment fund stood at £7,600.

Our plans are simply to

Remove the pews.
Make the floor all the same level and carpet it.
Equip the chapel with separate heating and chairs.
Curtain around the screen with double sided curtains which will add to its warmth and privacy but can be drawn back when needed.

It is intended that the lighting of the chapel should be considered as part of the whole church lighting scheme already underway.

George Denny, our architect, has drawn up plans. It looks as if we will need around £12,000 to complete the project so we were looking for £4,400 above what we had already set aside.

On October 25th the J.S.Newlyn Charity Trust very generously agreed to donate £4,400 towards the project, for which we are extremely grateful.

Of course the £12,000 was a rough estimate and we have not costed carpet, curtains and chairs yet, but it looks as if our funds can now cover all work which needs to be done.

We shall be looking to the PCC for its approval of the project in November so that we can apply for a Faculty and, we hope, get the work underway in the spring.

Robin Oakley, Project Leader