The Rood Screen is the wooden structure with a Cross and statues on it. The current project hopes to achieve three things: (1) strengthening the Screen by inserting a lot of steel in to it. It was found to be falling over in 2010 and temporary braces needed to be added; (2) improving the beauty of the Church by removing bits from the screen which are neither structurally important nor beautiful so that more of the Stained Glass windows in the Chancel can be seen by us in the main part of the Church; (3) creating space which means the altar can be raised up to Chancel level and will be more visible during Masses.
The Rood Screen was added in 1921 in part as a memorial to those who died in World War I. All the elements associated with Remembrance Sunday will be retained in this project. By the 1940s the minutes of the Church Council show the Rood Screen wasn’t working well and cut the Church in two. Plans started being formed to remove parts of it. Eighty years later, we’re finally achieving that.
So far we have £55,000 and it is going to cost £75,000. Our thanks to the Number One Trust for giving £15,000 towards this project. All the permissions have been given, the scaffolding is up and we’re ready to go! Many people are struggling financially at this time and the Church is affected by rising utility bills too. If you find yourself able to help, you can do so using this link to our Churchdesk giving page. Thank you for all you give.
This money covers inserting the large steel structure, extending the stone step, removing parts of the wooden structure and creating new decorative elements for the Rood where needed. A lot of professional advice has been needed and this too is expensive. The computer generated image of how it should look is below.
