East Finchley

After the Fire

As many of you will know, we are now worshipping in the sanctuary after three months cramped in the Fellowship Room as a result of the fire. Margaret Jones took our first service (which was also the Women's Fellowship Service) and welcomed us back with use of appropriate prayers and hymnody.

But there is still work to be done. The electrician is currently repairing the wiring, sockets and spot lights and I hope that this will be completed in the next few weeks. The recent wet weather has revealed that our roof is leaking and he has sealed off the lights in the North Aisle. Unfortunately, this will make the sanctuary a bit gloomy until everything is repaired. Margaret has called in Sinclairs, our building contractor, to attend to the roof.

The smell of fire is still apparent. The contractor has attempted to neutralise the smell on three occasions but this has not been completely successful. The problem may be the organ and, as I write this, our organ builder should be repairing the casing and cleaning it. If the smell is still apparent after this, I will call in the contractor to neutralise the sanctuary again.

The new carpet is in place and looks very grand. I am still getting use to the lack of curtain and pelmet but we have decided not to put these back, so that the features of the brickwork are more apparent. We will be looking into appropriate wall hangings to brighten up the area but this is still some little way off. The communion table and cross are to be refurbished to bring them back to their former glory.

Currently I am looking into replacing some of the items that we lost in the fire. Display boards, overhead projector, microphone stands and 'pew' chairs are easily replaced; not so the church chairs and the hand-made hassocks. I have yet to find somewhere that sells such items, despite searching on the intemet. We do have an offer of church chairs from Trinity, Golders Green but I still need to value the ones we lost for insurance purposes.

The hassocks were made by Eleanor Scanes who died earlier this year, and are, therefore, irreplaceable. The only made-up hassocks I have located so far are in dull gray or brown leather and Eleanor's were remarkable for their bright design. I am awaiting a brochure from a company that sells hassocks in kit form but this will require someone to make them up. Are there any volunteers out there?

The sound system has suffered damage, least of all to the wire that feeds the speaker, but I expect there is also smoke damage to the electronics. Comtec Services have been called in to attend to this but we may be with out a PA system for a few more weeks yet.

We are gradually getting back to normal and thank you all for being so patient during the work that has been going on. All our users are back using the premises particularly Marjorie Millons Dance School, who has been using the Baptist Church Hall during the first half of the winter term. It is also good news that the Junior Church Friday Club is up and running once again.

There is further news on the horizon. It seemed appropriate to re-dedicate the sanctuary and the various components that we use for worship and also to give thanks to God that we have survived and grown stronger since the fire in July. It may seem a long way away but the morning service on 28 March 2004 has been set aside for this. This is because the District Chair, the Rev. Anne Brown, offered the circuit a service on this day and this seemed to be the most suitable use of this gracious offer. So make a note in this year's diary to remind you to fill in your new 2004 diary (when you get it) with this date and come and join the celebration.

Robert Alderman