The purpose of this document is to support the application for a faculty to level the floor of the nave of the Church of St Thomas the Apostle, Elson and is a continuation of the vision described in a document produced by the Clergy, Churchwardens, PCC and worshippers of that Church in November 2006.

That document set out a statement of significance and a statement of need which identified a coherent vision for the future. We have successfully completed the first stage of this, and now seek to continue this work to the next stage, taking account of the building, its liturgical purpose, sacramental focus and the financial situation of the parish.

Our vision sought to set out a model of future development which echoed the architectural style and history of the church, incorporating much of the historical legacy upon which we are founded, but is a contemporary statement of where we find ourselves today in such a way that will be seen by subsequent generations as a legacy of good design and liturgical practice.

The Parish of the St Thomas the Apostle see the building as a metaphor for its liturgical and pastoral role within this community, and seek to provide a worthy focus for that among the peoples of Elson and Hardway. We believe that the building will speak of the care that people receive and that an uncared building will suggest to the community that they themselves will not be cared for. We seek therefore to invest in this building as a tool of our mission and outreach.

As a community of worshippers, our lives are focussed on sacramental worship: through the Eucharist, through Baptism, through prayer and healing, reconciliation and renewal, this church seeks to provide a sacred space where God may be encountered. The liturgy of the church, therefore, provides the key impetus to all our future plans: a place where the people of God may by challenged by the risen Lord in word and sacrament.

The Parish of the St Thomas the Apostle was formed in 1845 to meet the needs of a rapidly growing population on the eastern side of Gosport. The small villages of Elson and Hardway were to be served by a Church built in a design very similar to that of Littlemore Church, Oxford by HJ Underwood. No actual records of the building or design of St Thomas remain.

The parish is an urban environment with a variety of housing stock and social profile. It currently serves an established population of around 9000 souls. The recent development work at Priddy’s Hard provides around another 2000 homes, but it is not clear how many souls that means as many of the homes are bought as second homes and are largely unoccupied, and many others are the subject of fast-turnaround short lets which are difficult to track.

The social profile is mixed, especially if one excludes Priddy’s Hard. The indices of multiple deprivation show that Elson is in the bottom 25% of the county of Hampshire when a variety of social deprivation indices are compared

The worshipping community of St Thomas’ is a small but committed group of Anglicans. Morning and Evening Prayer is said in Church six days a week. In addition to a said mass at 8am and the principle act of worship, the Parish Mass at 10am on a Sunday, the Eucharist is offered twice a week at 7.30pm on a Wednesday and 10am on a Friday. Additional masses are celebrated on Solemnities and some feasts.

In addition, prayer groups and other devotions are offered during the week at various times.

The Church is used by the local community for worship: local schools make regular visits as part of their curriculum and Uniformed organisations are involved.

Service Average Attendance
Sunday 8am Mass	11
Sunday 10am Parish Mass	40
Wednesday 7.30pm Mass	8
Friday 10am Mass	15
Other Masses	15-20
Daily Office	1-2, 6 on Mondays
Other devotions/prayer	5-8

Services of particular significance where attendance has been extremely high include Christmas Eve Christingle Service (around 150, mainly children), Midnight Mass at Christmas (around 70) and Remembrance Sunday (attended by members of 33 Field Regiment making a total of around 100 worshippers). These are, however, very unusual occurrences.

It is a small sacred space, unencumbered by pillars or blocks to the line of sight, and a congregation of 50 in the nave makes it look quite full. The recent removal of pews, chancel and large altar have opened up the space and brought a new light into the worship of the church, and have enabled greater community involvement through local schools and locally organised concerts.

The building has undergone a number of developments and transformations since 1845.

• Originally designed with 409 sittings, some of the original pews remain. Seating at present is for around 140, with a further 40 in the gallery
• In 1948, the organ was moved from the chancel area to the gallery, requiring the removal and destruction of gallery seating. Pews in the Nave were removed and destroyed and a large reredos, altar, choir stalls and chancel screen which formed a small pulpit were installed in a wood which was not consistent with existing woodwork. Electric lighting was installed.
• The church was re-roofed in 1957.
• The Churchyard which had been closed since 1906, was cleared of headstones in 1969.
• In 1971 the bell was removed from the tower. Its whereabouts are not recorded in the PCC minutes.
• A Gas Warm Air System was installed in 1979 replacing the oil fired boiler.
• The Sanctuary was carpeted in the early 1980’s in a bright red and highly patterned carpet.
• A door to the south of the church was completed in 1991 to provide a second exit and disabled access. Pews were removed and destroyed to enable this. It has recently been determined that there is a significant discrepancy between the plans authorised by the DAC at the time and the site of the door: it is 1 metre out and has been placing that part of the wall under undue stress. We are determining a long term strategy to address this, which may in due course require resiting of that door but which is outside of the remit of this vision document.
• In 1993 the heating system was replaced by electric panels.
• The rear of the church was converted into a Narthex, new vestry and toilet facilities finally installed in 2005. Pews were removed and a stone font (which had been covered in masonry paint at an unknown date in the 1960’s) was dismantled and placed in the foundations of the Narthex to enable this. Four pews were removed and destroyed as they were not of saleable quality.
• An archdeacon’s temporary faculty was issued in Summer 2006 to remove five pews which had rotted at the base and were therefore unsafe. At least three of these pews had rotted to such an extent that they broke completely on removal. These 5 pews remain in storage until a permanent faculty for their disposal is granted.
• A Schedule B faculty was granted in October 2006 to remove panelling above the gallery which had been installed in 1967 by a team of RN ratings from HMS Sultan, which covered the original wood carving, enabling their restoration.
• A free-standing screen was placed to the right of the reredos in 2005 and the liturgy is often supported by projected images, videos, hymn words and liturgical words. This innovation has been warmly received by the congregation, and its distinctive use within sacramental liturgy is currently being noted by the Archbishop’s Fresh Expressions working group. A free-standing Personal Address System is also in situ, enabling amplification of the spoken liturgy and driving the temporary domestic hearing loop as well as the use of drama and multimedia in both experimental and traditional forms within worship.
• In 2006 the remaining pews were removed, the 1940’s chancel screen, altar rail, pulpit and altar were disposed of. Carpet was removed from the chancel revealing bare floorboards. The body of the nave remains raised from the aisle floor level by 2 inches. Below the raised area there is a void. Much of this original wood is in reasonable condition, but some is damaged and some is made unusable by gaps lefts where the pews were. The raised platform is not only unsightly, but is a trip hazard. It is the legacy of this work that this faculty seeks to address and complete.

The PCC and the people of Elson seek to continue to build upon the existing heritage of the Church of St.Thomas the Apostle in Elson Road in order to facilitate the worship, prayer and spiritual development of its people. The Clergy and PCC have consulted widely within the parish, and the involvement and authority of the PCC at each stage of the decision-making process signifies that this vision for the future is owned by its worshipping community. These plans carry the consensus of the whole parish.

In the reordering vision, set out in November 2006 we sought to provide an example of good architectural style and liturgical practice which will be a lasting legacy for future generations.

The Statement of Significance (above) describes in detail the current nature, style and tradition of the Church, and so this section of the document will lay out the next stage of our planned sequence of re-ordering.

Financial constraints have meant that reordering will take place over a phased period and under the authority of a number of distinct faculties. The exact content of these faculties will be identified as and when the Diocesan Advisory Committee deem them to be appropriate.

We have benefitted greatly from our first phase of reordering and seek to continue with this next phase. We recognise that each phase is transitional, and dependant upon each other in order to achieve our final aim: a sacred space which speaks boldly of our community, forms a focus of our sacramental and pastoral life and shows this communities commitment to the worship of God in our situation.

 

The first phase of this reordering vision removed the remainder of the 1845 pews from the Nave. These pews were fixed in the raised floor and into the internal walls. Their removal did not address the raised platform on which they were placed.

This platform is over a void of approximately four feet. This is an uninsulated space. The raised platform is not only unsightly but is a trip hazard.

Much of the original floorboards remain in reasonable and reusable condition, but some are incomplete, damaged or broken by both the ravages of time and the removal of the pews.

Example of the Raised Platform at the South West corner of the Nave

 

Chancel Step illustrating the need for conduiting and concealment

 

 

Example of the legacy of pew removal and interim, unsatisfactory methods of making it safe

We therefore seek to bring most of the existing floorboards down to the aisle level and ensure a contiguous floor level from church entrance to chancel step. This will not only provide a safe and accessible nave area, but also ensure that the central space of the church looks attractive and focuses attention on the liturgical action in the sanctuary.

Reference to the building of the South Door (1991) and the Narthex (2005), both of which have levelled a part of the floor in the Nave and an examination of the structures beneath the platform have revealed that the floor joists are placed upon historical ships timbers supported on bricks. Many of these joists contain shipwrights marks and are believed to have been reused from ships captured from Napoleonic conflicts and stored at Hardway.

In both 1991 and 2005, the technique employed was to remove a course of this supporting brickwork to bring it into line with the aisle floor level. It is proposed to repeat this technique which has the advantage of being original to the building whilst moving the building design forward, and will enable the utilisation of a significant amount of existing joists, supporting beams and floorboards. Where floorboards need to be replaced, we envisage their replacement with reclaimed wood so that the appearance of the floor may be as consistent as possible.

   The platform suspended on brickwork and (r) the 2005 Narthex lowering

At present, the Church has no facility for the hiding of audio or video cables. In some areas they are unsightly and obtrusive, and so it is envisaged that when the floor is levelled, many of these key cables are hidden in the space below. There is a precedent for this in the electric heating cabling.

This will be tidied and ordered, and access points flush with the floor will be made available

 There are currently two double power sockets, one on each side of the church. More sockets are required as indicated in the sketch in Appendix B.
These sockets are to be recessed in hidden units with holes for cables to run out from. This should dramatically reduce the amount of free-running cable around the wall edges, especially where the Audiovisual Desk is situated and where the Projector and Screen are sited.

 

The space under the floorboards should be filled with fibreglass insulation material in order to reduce heat loss and conserve energy. The Church is notoriously cold and whilst not a full solution to the heat loss problems may reduce the problem.

As the flooring will be completed using existing boards and boards obtained of a similar  but not identical appearance, it will not be possible to exactly match the floorboards. It is therefore desirable to carpet tile the whole of the Nave in a hardwearing tile matching the existing aisle.

We seek to obtain a faculty for the following work:

1.    Levelling of the Nave floor to the level of the aisle
2.    Provision of additional power, cable conduit and access below the floor
3.    Provision of underfloor fibreglass insulation
4.    Carpet tiling to Nave

We seek a period of two years to complete this next stage of our vision for reordering, which is guided by cost and the fundraising required to meet the work. The work will be undertaken in four distinct sub-phases: initially in the South-West corner of the Nave, then in the South East, and then the North West and finally the North-East corner of the Nave. This means that the worship will not be unreasonably disturbed during the work, and there will be no need for Church closure during this work.

This faculty application has been discussed with the Church’s appointed Architect.

It has been discussed and passed unanimously by a meeting of the Parochial Church Council on January 17th 2008

As can be seen, in our previously submitted vision, the parish has a strong vision for the future. It has reflected theologically upon its needs and produced a vision which is guided by current theological and liturgical practice. This next phase seeks to take us further towards that vision and improve the ambience, comfort, liturgical and architectural features of our sacred space.