Giving thanks for Heart of Greenwich Place and People project 6 November 2022
On November 2022 we held a special thanksgiving service for the Heart of Greenwich Place and People project as it moves into its next stage from January 2023.
Giving thanks for the St Alfege Church Heart of Greenwich project and looking forward
Wendy Foreman, Voluntary Project Manager for the Heart of Greenwich project
Today we are celebrating the completion of our church’s major project – Heart of Greenwich, Place and People, a project largely funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund which awarded us just over £1.8m towards restoring the fabric of the building and opening up the building and its many stories to locals and visitors.
Much of the work is very visible. We cleaned and repaired the stonework on the north and south elevations, and relayed the paving around the church. An important part of the project was to make the church and the churchyard accessible, so we levelled the paths across the courtyard, put in a new ramp, and two new accessible toilets in the north porch. Less visibly we did internal redecoration, put in a new kitchen area and installed a fire alarm system. We also made the north door the main entrance for visitors so that the tens of thousands of people who come to Greenwich can see that the church is very much open and keen to welcome them. And we needed to do that. Many thanks to Richard Griffiths and Rachel Farrer Bristow, our architects and carried out by our wonderful contractors PAYE.
We have much improved signage and have re-landscaped the courtyard including the beautiful community memorial garden with its very comfy benches. We put in 460 new plants, 9 replacement trees and 20 metres of new native hedging all chosen to help wildlife.
We also set out to reveal the vibrant history of the church and the extraordinary people associated with it through time. ZMMA created a thoughtful interpretation scheme, telling these stories in seven interpretation boards in the churchyard and in an imaginative range of interpretation materials inside the church including a touchscreen display in the choir vestry.
We have an ongoing programme of activity - talks on the church’s heritage and architecture, musical events, hidden spaces tours (tours of our amazing crypt and galleries) and tours of our bellringing chamber. We have also welcomed hundreds of primary schoolchildren who have benefited from the learning resources we have developed for them.
We are truly privileged to worship in this building and to benefit from the vision and skills of the craftsmen who built and decorated this church three hundred years ago. And it has also been a real privilege to welcome the many skilled craftsmen who have worked on this project. Not only have they preserved the heritage of our building, but have made it fit for the twenty-first century. No mean feat. So, a huge thank you to the modern-day stonemasons, metal workers, carpenters, ground workers, plumbers, electricians, scaffolders, paper conservationists, painters … and one letterer. And of course, the architects, archaeologists, gardeners, plantsmen, designers, graphic designers, copywriters, site managers, project managers, quantity surveyors, web developers, interactive computer designers and so it goes on.
Another thing that has made this project so special is the dozens of volunteers who have made it all possible. There have been and continue to be so many volunteering roles - research volunteers; archive volunteers; the heritage ambassadors who welcome visitors and pilgrims every day of the year; hidden spaces tour guides; the members of the steering committee (members of the church council and congregation) which met over 30 times; the volunteer gardeners including children and families; and the watering volunteers who helped our beautiful new trees and plants thrive. That all adds up to over 10,000 volunteer hours.
Special thanks to Rebecca Parrant, Interpretation and Engagement Manager, and Anne Burton, Volunteer Development manager whose tenacity, creativeness, flair, commitment, sheer hard work and sense of humour have contributed so much to its success. And much of it during a pandemic.
We would also like to thank our partners, the Royal Borough of Greenwich, the University of Greenwich, The Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust, The Greenwich Society, and our Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site Partners for their significant and many varied contributions.
If you look up when in the church – at either side of the chancel there are two benefaction boards, detailing charitable giving via the church that goes back five centuries. Benefaction, giving, has been at the heart of St Alfege Church and the social fabric of Greenwich for generations and it continues today. This amazing £2.6 million project was made possible not only by National Lottery players but also by generous donations by members of the congregation, Friends of St Alfege, local people, legacies, grant making trusts and community organisations such as the Peter Harris bequest. See online benefaction board
We wish to thank the Revd Canon Chris Moody and Gill Moody for their bold vision and inspiring leadership which has made this project possible. Chris gave a wonderful sermon during the Thanksgiving service and it can be found here
The formal funded part of the project has now finished. We’re giving thanks for that. But it’s not all over. It is now up to all of us to continue the work of opening up the church to visitors, pilgrims and schoolchildren, and looking after our beautiful building and grounds.
Back towards the beginning of the project in January 2017 we did a comprehensive visitor survey. It showed that most local people and visitors to Greenwich thought the church was closed. Not anymore! Today St Alfege Church gleams, bright and visible as a clear symbol of God's presence at the Heart of Greenwich and as a welcoming beacon to worshippers and visitors alike.