Repairs to Woking church roof let light shine in
'At the heart of any community is its church and Goldsworth Park is no different, with St Andrews supporting so many residents and vulnerable groups in our community.'
St Andrew’s Church in Goldsworth Park has fixed its leaking roof windows with aid from two community funds.
Vicar Revd Kate Wyles said: “After 36 years, the bespoke glass roof ‘lantern’ that lets in light also began to let in the rain. Now the building is watertight again, thanks to the work of Addison Glass, and the scaffolding will be coming down."
The repair work was made possible thanks in part to Allchurches Trust which provided a grant of £1,500 and Cllr Colin Kemp who donated £2,500 from the Surrey county council community fund.
Cllr Kemp said: “At the heart of any community is its church and Goldsworth Park is no different, with St Andrews supporting so many residents and vulnerable groups in our community. I was more than happy to donate to these works.”
The total cost was in excess of £20,000 including scaffolding hire. The cost in excess of the generous grants was funded by gifts from church members in Woking, Surrey, that were given over many years.
Revd Kate Wyles reflected on the Bible story of a lame man who was lowered through a roof to reach Jesus.
She said: “Jesus forgives his sins, and then tells him to pick up his mat and walk. Much to the amazement of the crowd, he does so – praising God as he goes.
“Thankfully, you don’t have to make a hole in the church roof to receive the life changing love of Jesus at St Andrew’s, even during this pandemic. We’ve discovered new ways of sharing God’s love outside of our building, such as livestreaming or Zooming services on Sundays."
Many of the community groups have gone online and volunteers in Andy’s, its community café, have been distributing meals to those who are finding life challenging in partnership with FoodWise.
The church's next project will be to improve accessibility to the building by fitting doors that open automatically. Revd Wyles said it will have wide access ways "so there should never be a need to make a hole in the roof to get in.”
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