This page of our parish website is dedicated to giving you a glimpse of what has been happening within our two parishes.
This page has lots of photographs and information about the works at St Thomas's to replace the roof and recent internal refurbishments!
This page has lots of photographs and information about the works at St Thomas's to replace the roof and recent internal refurbishments!
Sunday 1st november 2020What a joy to celebrate Holy Mass at St Thomas's for the first time since March! The church was full and it looks truly remarkable.
More photographs have now been added! |
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FRIDAY 23rd October 2020Sorry there haven't been many updates recently on the works at St Thomas's. The building works are now complete and the church is almost ready to reopen. The Risk Assessment has been completed and sent to our insurers. The furniture is all back and the Altar has cloths and candles on it again.
We will reopen St Thomas of Canterbury, Tettenhall for Holy Mass at 11.15 a.m. on Sunday 1st November 2020! Please be aware that there is a very limited capacity - only 50 individual seats! For information about returning to Holy Mass and what to expect, please visit this page of our website. |
The photographs this week are intentionally teasing!
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Friday 25th September 2020Another busy week at St Thomas's this week. The new internal doors are currently being installed - so hopefully it will be a bit less draughty at the back of the church! They are also much safer for children.
The new wiring for the sound system has been installed ready for the final works once the new carpet has been laid. The Organ was serviced and cleaned on Monday, and our organist has already been in to test it out! The most exciting thing that has happened this week (well, the Parish Priest thinks so anyway) is that the Crucifix and Tabernacle have finally arrived back from being restored. They look very (very!) impressive! In the next few weeks, the new carpet will be laid. The church can then be made COVID safe in preparation for a grand reopening. |
FRIDAY 18th September 2020A lot has been happening at St Thomas's since the last news post. The Parquet floor has now been re-laid. This has now been sanded and re-polished - it looks spectacular!
Now that this has been completed, the new carpet can be laid and this will take place in the coming weeks. In the coming week, the Organ will be reinstalled and serviced. Improvements to the Sound System will also happen. And...very excitingly...the new refurbished Crucifix and Tabernacle will return! |
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Friday 28th August 2020It has been a slightly quieter week at St Thomas this week, as we are waiting for the floor to dry out before the Parquet blocks are relaid. The blocks that were removed at the beginning of July have now been sanded to remove the old bitumen adhesive - these are now in church to become acclimatised before being relaid.
The lighting technician and electrician were in this week finishing off the new lighting. They have also installed a new light to illuminate the cross in the tower. The old one was big enough to light most of Tettenhall! |
FRIDAY 21st august 2020The sanctuary floor is now complete. The Parquet flooring continues to be a bit of a nightmare, but the builders are working on this, and assure me that 'all will be well'. The decorators have finished apart from the touching up at the end. The lighting engineer is in next week to finish installing the new lighting. The electrician will be in shortly to finish off installing the new sockets and light switches.
The Tabernacle and Crucifix are now booked in to be reinstalled in the church. The service for the organ has been booked. The sound technician is waiting to come back to install some new wiring for the sound system. The colour for the new carpet for the aisles is now being finalised and will be laid when the Parquet has been sanded and resealed. Lots of things are happening! |
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Friday 14th August 2020The church roof is finished! The Scaffolding is down and there are no leaks in the church for the first time in months! The buckets have officially gone!
The decorators have been working hard and have finished decorating the ceiling in the church and have now started work in the Lady Chapel. The new lighting is progressing well, and this will be finished in the next few weeks. The Terrazzo flooring specialists are busily cleaning and restoring the sanctuary floor. The Parquet continues to be a real problem, but nothing is impossible! The damaged sections of the floor are slowly being lifted and repaired. The concrete floor beneath needs time to dry out completely before the blocks can be re-laid. Once this has been done, the new carpet can be laid in the aisles and the Crucifix can be returned! |
FRIDAY 7th august 2020Sorry there was no update last week! It's been a very busy week at St Thomas's. The roof is now complete and looking very smart - and, I am promised, watertight! The decorators have been incredibly busy inside, and the ceiling is now almost finished. The new lighting is also being installed. It is a truly remarkable transformation!
Next week, following advice from the Archdiocese Art and Architecture Committee, specialists will begin to restore the original Terrazzo sanctuary floor and the decorators will begin work on the Lady Chapel decoration. The Parquet flooring is still proving problematic, but once the concrete beneath is completely dry, the carpenters will be able to begin relaying the original, refurbished wooden blocks. The final jobs will be laying the new carpet in the aisles and servicing the Organ. I |
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Friday 24th July 2020Well, the roof is almost finished! The roofers are now installing the final bits of the new roof and installing the new downpipes. The buckets have been officially removed from the building, as it will (fingers crossed!) no longer be raining inside!
The lighting technicians moved in this week to begin removing the old lighting and installing the new, efficient LED lighting throughout the church. The poor electrician got soaked a number of times as he took down the old fittings! The builders can now begin working to replace the ceiling and continue to take up the damaged parquet flooring, ready for it to be relaid. It will then be sanded and restained. |
Monday 13th July 2020What a busy week it was last week at St Thomas's! The roofers are battling with extremes of weather, but are progressing well. Hopefully, the end is in sight for the roof replacement.
The carpets in the church have had to be removed as they were badly damaged by the flooding. The Parquet repairs have continued this week, with the damaged blocks being taken away to be sanded ready for relaying. The electrical testing is now completed, with just a few things left to sort out so that we can (hopefully) pass with flying colours. The organ has been booked in for a service so that it can be good voice ready for when we are able return! It's beginning to get very exciting.ThTh |
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Monday 6th july 2020We're open! It was with great joy (and some emotion) that we were able to open the doors at St Christopher's for the first public celebration of Holy Mass since the lockdown began in March. We continue to pray for those who are self-isolating or shielding. We look forward in hope to the day when we can be reunited together!
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Friday 3rd July 2020It's been another busy week at St Thomas's. On Monday, contractors moved into start the work on the inside of the church. They have removed the ceiling near to the organ where the flood was at the beginning of May, and the parquet floor has been take up ready to be relaid. A vast expanse of the parquet flooring was damaged due to flooding from the failing roof. The roofers promise me that (although not finished) the roof is now water-tight. They have replaced the skylight above the altar - this has made a huge difference to the light! The electricians have finished installing the new fuse boards, and are now finishing off the electrical testing to ensure that everything is safe.
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Thursday 25th june 2020Apologies for not posting an update last week - it was chaotic! There was a second major flood which poured through the building near to the sacristy - this has caused further damage to the parquet flooring. We will now need to replace all of the carpet in the church and fix the places where the parquet has lifted.
This week, the last of the old roof was removed from the church and tower and the new roof has begun to be laid. The poor roofers had to deal with torrential rain last week, and this week, sweltering temperatures. The electrician has also been working hard to replace the three antiquated fuse boards in the sacristy and parish hall. This is nearing completion, and there doesn't appear to be too many 'unknown' wires left to work out what they do. We have also discovered heaters in the church that I didn't even know still worked! It will be worth the wait...St Thomas's is going to look even more beautiful after it's facelift! |
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Friday 12th June 2020It has been another busy week at St Thomas's despite the poor weather. The Stations of the Cross have been removed in preparation for repair work to the ceiling and for the installation of the new lighting scheme a bit later in the year. Fr Craig has been meeting with contractors to discuss the redecoration, the electrical work and the replacement of the carpet due to the flooding. The etched window has also been removed from the internal doors so that the new doors can be manufactured to match the new external ones.
There is lots still to do, but things are getting exciting! Keep coming back to see what has been happening! |
Friday 5th June 2020Not the most productive week due to the rain. The workmen have, however, now removed the old windows which are due to be replaced with efficient ones which don't leak!
A busy week meeting contractors to arrange the electrical works, the new lighting and the replastering following the flood. Things are progressing! We need to pray for more dry weather! |
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Thursday 26th may 2020e to edit.Now that the workmen have started to remove the old roof, it has become apparent that St Thomas's has had three different rooves in its lifetime. All three of these now have to be painstakingly removed before the new one can be laid. The new skylight has also arrived and this will be installed over the Altar in the coming days.
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Friday 22nd May 2020Fr Craig climbed to the top of the Tower with the workmen to see the extent of the works required to replace the delapidiated church roof. The views from the top were pretty spectacular...if not a little windy!
The roof deck (I'll pretend I know what I'm talking about!) has begun to collapse between the roof joists causing water to gather in giant puddles. This water then finds the easiest route out...through the church ceiling! |
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Thursday 21st may 2020My first tentative steps onto the church roof! Now that the scaffolding has been put up, we are now able to get a better understanding of what the state of the roof is.
The works will completely remove the current, dilapidated roof before replacing it with a new, insulated one ... that doesn't leak! |
The new entrance doorsThe main entrance doors to the church and the Newman Centre have now been replaced. No more draughts! Lots of people have already commented on how smart they look!
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we've had a flood!Sadly, following a recent downpour, our trusty buckets couldn't cope and the carpet and surrounding floor were completely saturated. We are now exploring the costs to replace the carpet and mend the beautiful parquet flooring. Oh, and the hole in ceiling!
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Rainbows at st christophers!The young people of our parish and school have been busily drawing, painting and colouring rainbows during the current lockdown. Lots of people who walk passed St Christopher's are stopping to look at them! Thank you to everyone who has sent one in.
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