St. John's talent night

Last night was certainly a giggle as some of us gathered together in the hall for the talent night organised by the lovely Jill Smith. She, along with two others, kicked off the singing with their newly formed group, Angel Delight, giving everyone else enough time to work up the courage to get on stage and sing themselves. But, I'm pleased to say, after a little encouragement, quite a few people did go up or took to the dance floor!

Great fun was definitely had by all and a huge thank you to Jill and everyone else who helped organise it. The event raised £316.00 with the proceeds being split evenly between Aila's Fund and the refurbishment appeal.

A taste of Spain and Latin America

Last Friday, despite the cold and gloomy weather outside, the atmosphere was warm and exotic in St. John's Hall as we were all regaled with music by our parish's very own Spanish & Latin American music group. We first enjoyed various dishes (kindly prepared by parishioners) and a few glasses of wine before the main event began. Here's a few pics snapped by various people from the night itself;

We raised £380.00 in total which will go towards the refurbishment of the Church. I have had so much positive feedback about this evening we may have to do it again! Thank you to everyone who came, to everyone who helped and, most especially, to Brian, Lynne, Amy, Shaun & Suzanne (Zee) McDonogh, Miguel Bravo, Haydee Fernie, Henry & Carolina Gonzalez, Irek (Tom) Tomaszewski for playing so brilliantly!

Some sneaky pics from inside the Church

On Saturday last I popped into the Church briefly to see how it was looking. I hadn't been in for a couple of weeks and was pleasantly surprised at the progress that had been made! Have a look for yourselves...

I'm guessing that's not a permanent feature lol

Panelling looks good with the old varnish stripped

Caution! Men at work! ;-)

Lady chapel's coming along nicely

The doors painted a lighter colour really
brightens up the main body of the church

The view from above...

Lighting fixtures are starting to go up

The infamous cobweb is gone!!

So all in all everything's going smoothly and according to plan. Can't wait to see it when tis all done!

So...how's the Church coming along then?

As you will have read in the newsletter this week I'm sure stage one of the refurbishment is running on time and going according to plan. The ceiling in the sanctuary is now completed, the doors from the Martyr's chapel into the flower arranging room is in, the organ has been moved onto the balcony, the oak panelling is beginning to be looked at, the speakers have been moved and the wiring tidied up and tuning sorted. Here's a few snaps from when I last had a peek (which was Tuesday and a lot has been done since then!)

Please do pray for Richard the decorator, Chris the sound guy and Simon the carpenter as work continues.

And so it begins! (With an insane number of photos!)

Last Sunday after months of planning and discussion and suggestions and whatnot St. John's Church building officially closed to allow the refurbishment and redecoration work to begin. Last Sunday evening after the evening Mass lots and lots of marvelous people were kind enough to help move all of the pews, stations of the cross, statues, tables and everything else out and set up in the hall. A really, really really big thank you to everyone who gave up their time to do this. It was greatly appreciated.

I'll admit that I thought it would seem rather alien to have Mass in the hall but I have to say that I was proved wrong and it was not at all strange when I went on Friday. Everything has been set up very well to make the transition as smooth and simple as possible.

For those of you who will be wondering where the Stations of the Cross and other pictures/statues ended up then I have some rather excellent shots from the Presbytery dining room for you...

It's wonderful and rather exciting to now be at that point when the work outlined in Phase One of the Refurbishment Brochure (if you can't remember what's in it tis still available to download in the sidebar) is actually starting to happen. And although two months might seem like a long time it will fly by I'm sure and before we know it we will have the joy of walking back into a beautifully done-up Church. It will more than have the wow factor I'm sure. In case some of you were wondering what's been happening over the last seven days here's a few snaps from this afternoon...

And although I thought it all went quiet on the weekends there were still a few hardworking people tirelessly scraping off the wallpaper in the confessional!

I'll take some more in a few weeks time so all can see what's going on and what progress is being made. Please, please do pray for the workmen and our community here in Horsham too. The results will be well worth it I assure you.