All Saints' Church set for a makeover in its 150th year.
Securing All Saints for another generation:
This January we see the culmination of several years of work to plan, fund and initiate works to refurbish the interior of All Saints' Church. Following Alan's arrival in 2020, plans were set for a 5-year maintenance project that would see the parish address the significant deferred maintenance problems it had and begin to lean forward into projects that would secure the future of the building and church plan for the years ahead. This is an important part of the responsibility of the worshipping community, with the blessing of buildings and plant being a generational gift that we are challenged to hand on to new iteration of our community.
This plan has seen as address the following:
The painting of the exterior of All Saints Church
The reroofing of All Saints' Church
The repainting of the Parish Hall
The renovation of the Parish Kitchen
The full renovation of the interior of the Taradale Vicarage
The removal of the asbestos fence around the vicarage
The repainting of St Peter's Hall
Collectively, these projects have come at a significant cost of approximately $450,000 - and with additional reserve set aside for a further $200,000 worth of work to renovate the church and develop the area behind All Saints in partnership with the Napier Toy Library. This funding has been from an assortment of areas. Some of it has been fundraising, some the result of grants and donations, and others the release of capital funds from the sale of St Thomas' church in 2023. It reflects an intentional investment in the plant of All Saints as an essential centre for Anglican mission in the decades to come. It is also reflective of the dynamic that as we face a more challenging environment of belonging and funding, now is the best time to address these large projects or we may face a future where we do not have the resources to do so. The work we are doing will mean the funding we reserve each year for maintenance projects will meet the majority of demand for the years ahead.
Refurbishing All Saints:
In January we will see the beginning of a refurbishment project on the interior of All Saints' Church. This will be in stages, with the large portion of major works completed in the January period and smaller projects completed in the following months.
January will see two particular works undertaken.
The first is the full repaint of the interior of All Saints' Church. This will be from ceiling to skirting and see the space be painted predominantly white. While in the first instances this will be quite a change and quite stark, as additional projects around lighting are undertaken it will provide the backdrop for the use of colour to flood the ceiling and spaces with both liturgical and warming colours and add a huge capacity for variety. It will also help the space be better suited to gatherings such as concerts and performances, given artists a greater level of control as to the feel of the space.
Alongside the painting, the church will also be recarpeted - in fact the whole complex at All Saints will be recarpeted. While the carpet in different spaces is in different levels of need and repair, the variety of colours and styles adds to the lack of integration across the complex which has been a key area of attention in the past few years as we have improved signage and movement for those who are new or visiting the church. The carpet will be replaced by carpet tiles. While this is less plush than traditional carpet, it is hard wearing, easy to replace pieces that becomes stained or damaged and provides a setting for flexibility. This will aid in our wider ministry as the spaces and halls around All Saints are now heavily used, we will need to use the church space for youth group gatherings and other events in the future. The intention is to create a more flexible space that will allow for a wider variety of gatherings, events and concerts to be held in All Saints.
Looking Ahead
In the months following this work, we are committing to the installation of a new lighting system which will replace the current combination of lights with LED, including a series of colour wash LED which will allow us to create different contexts for different seasons of the church year and events. To add to this, we will also be installing blinds in the church and church foyer to help control the light levels and manage heat during summer and cold during winter.
Alongside this, the speakers and sound system will be renewed and renovated, addressing the numerous bugs in the system from several iterations of upgrade over the years, and hiding the cabling more effectively so that it minimises the visual impact. An exciting part of this will also be the movement of the sound desk to a more discrete location, so that computer screens are not the first thing you see as you enter the church.
The desire to minimise the impact and presence of technology, while also maintaining the necessary items to keep contemporary gatherings and concerts possible is a big driver in this project. We are aiming to restore some measure of the dignity of the space to its historic form by hiding the 'black' highlights of speakers and screens. Some of this will be achieved by having smaller and more discrete items, while on other occasions it will be moveable technology.
Another element of our consideration has been heating and cooling. While the price dynamic of new systems has prevented us from taking complete steps, there is a general recognition that some kind of cooling system is needed in All Saints. Particularly as the busyness of Puketapu Road means that to open windows creates a distinct traffic noise impact on the gatherings we hold. This may be resolved by the installation of fans in the ceiling, or the installation of air conditioning units. In either case, much will be determined by the level of funding that remains after the work we have planned.
Toy Library works
Alongside the refurbishment of the interior of All Saints, we are also exploring development in the back of the complex where the octagon, shed and what was the youth room exit. Initial plans are to develop a community space here, with the building of a large deck to level out surfaces and create a space for outside dining and gatherings. This will be added to with the building of a 120sqm shed by the Napier Toy Library, which will allow them to vacate the shed and youth room, returning them to our use. The shed will be painted white and the roof red to tie it in with the other buildings, and the space inside will be converted to a youth space that they will have access to through the week. The current toy library room will likely become a board room for meetings and staff gatherings. As the team in the parish grows, this is a huge need as space is becoming a premium.
Keeping you up to date
Over the past few months, we have unfortunately not been able to hold as many of our usual forum meetings where these matters and progress would have been discussed. For some, this work will be coming as a surprise, for others it is the product of many years of conversations and thought. The primary message is that this work is now moving from maintenance to ensure stability, to refurbishment to allow for future use and gatherings. We are now looking ahead to what another generation of the church may need so that as the community of the future is formed and grows, we can hand on to them all that they need to succeed. This generational blessing is a core part of the challenge of the church at this point in history. Not only the question of how we grow and develop the people who will lead the future church, but how we can create space and plants that will foster life and not place a burden around the necks of a ministry that will be, across the board, less well-resourced that it has been for many generations in the New Zealand church.
We will gather for meetings through late January and onwards as we look to future projects and celebrating the 150th year of ministry and mission from the plant at All Saints.
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