NEWPORT MINSTER, on the Isle of Wight, has reopened, after a £2.6-million refurbishment project (News, 5 January) that got down to bring a “sleeping beauty back to life”.
There has been a spot of worship on the positioning for at the least 1000 years, with a medieval structure accomplished in 1175. It has been closed since 2022 while work on internal refurbishment took place. This followed many phases of a project to conserve its exterior, which began in 2006. In 2023, it was faraway from the Historic England “At Risk” register after greater than a decade. During the closure of the constructing, worshippers have been meeting for services within the parish centre near by.
The work, carried out by local tradespeople, has included a whole reshaping of the inside the constructing; the installation of an underfloor heating system; and improved lavatories, a latest kitchen, latest seating, and latest meeting rooms. The most important worship area includes 300 chairs that might be moved to enable community activities to happen. A press release from the diocese spoke of the constructing becoming “a magnet for community groups, in addition to a spiritual hub for the island”.
The work has been made possible by grants from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Historic England, the National Churches Trust, the Benefact Trust, and others, including a personal benefactor who donated £100,000.
More than 400 people attended a reopening service on Wednesday evening, led by the Bishop of Portsmouth, Dr Jonathan Frost. The Archdeacon of the Isle of Wight, the Ven. Steve Daughtery, preached on the feeding of the 5000, drawing parallels with the overwhelming need that had presented itself and the underwhelming resources that Jesus had transformed. Students from Christ the King College, the joint C of E and Roman Catholic secondary school, also took part.
A Bible reading was given by the Duke of Edinburgh, the patron of the Friends of Newport Minster. Speaking before his reading, he said: “I would like so as to add my because of everyone who has been involved in it, everyone who has supported this, for all of the wonderful craftsmen who’ve been involved in restoring this incredible minster, and to say what a pleasure it’s to be here at this event to see it being fully reopened and restored. It is what we got down to do. We are handing it back to you and please make the very best use of it.”
NEWPORT MINSTERThe interior of Newport Minster
The church will officially reopen to the general public on Friday from 10 a.m. The first community group to make use of the brand new facilities might be a toddler group that, since launching on the parish centre at the beginning of the yr, has welcomed 65 families.
The minster’s community engagement co-ordinator, Hannah Griffiths, who helps to steer the group, said last week: “The extra space might be invaluable as we’re beginning to outgrow the space within the parish hall, and the brand new six-slice toaster will really help with snack time.”
One of the Team Vicars, the Revd Emma Cooksey, said that the brand new facilities would “enable us to do what we’ve been aspiring to do for years: to be a thriving hub on the centre of our community. We are looking forward to welcoming the community into the constructing for exhibitions, live shows, meetings, and plays, and to supply excellent facilities for our regular worship services.”
NEWPORT MINSTERThe interior of Newport Minster
In 2022, Jacque Gazzard, who chairs the Friends of Newport Minster, spoke of “bringing this sleeping beauty back to life and completing a mammoth project”.
Last week, she said: “Our aim all along was to see the church start to come back to life again. It is one thing saving necessary bricks and mortar, but creating community is far tougher, and yet that’s what is occurring here.”
Newport has undergone significant pastoral reorganisation lately, after a diocesan bid for Strategic Development Funding that highlighted the world as a spot where, “despite the very best efforts of clergy and congregations, relatively few people go to church” (News, 26 October 2018).
The parish of Newport and Carisbrooke with Gatcombe was formed in June 2020, uniting the parishes of Newport Minster, St John’s, Newport, and St Mary’s, Carisbrooke, with St Nicholas’s, Castro. It has a population of 25,000.
The Commissioners agreed last yr that there must be a “reset” of the SDF project in the world (News, 5 January 2024). The Minster has struggled financially through the restoration project and the pandemic, but there are hopes that this might be resolved now that it has reopened. Restoration funding has enabled the employment of a community engagement co-ordinator and business officer. To date, it has received 30,000 visitors a yr. The last annual report put the electoral roll within the parish at 197.
The diocese is currently recruiting a Team Rector, to work alongside Ms Cooksey and the opposite Team Vicar, the Revd Stephen Sutcliffe.
