Re-opening of Royston Parish Church
During the nearly four years since the disastrous fire of 2018, we have been providing updates on the progress of the restoration/ refurbishment of the iconic building.
It is now time to move away from an update, as the work is reaching completion, and look forward to a celebration of the re-opening of what is not only our beautiful house of prayer but also a welcoming building for the benefit of the community of Royston and its surrounds.
As well as the event being a cause for rejoicing by our congregation, who have spent the last four years worshipping elsewhere, we also expect it to generate a lot of interest from the wider population of Royston who, whilst they may not be regular churchgoers, still regard it as “their church”. This presents a wonderful opportunity to welcome visitors into our bright, warm, flexible space, and to tell them the good news of what we do as a church.
The team at the church has been planning a Festival of Re-Opening with a whole series of events to celebrate the occasion:
Saturday 26th November 2022: Open Day (times to be confirmed, but approximately from 10am-3pm) – to welcome anyone who is interested to come and see inside the church, to admire the beautiful restoration, and to find out about all the things that we have to offer. There will be music (choir singing and an opportunity to request the organist, Louise, to play a favourite hymn on our new, digital organ), delicious refreshments, children’s activities, bell-ringing, exhibits from the different church groups (Mission, Social/Ladies’ and Men’s groups, Housegroups, Eco Church, Children’s Church and MAP), flower displays and even a chance to make your own floral buttonhole to take home! The Fund-raising committee will be saying a big “Thank You” to everyone who has supported us, and people who have donated chairs will be able to see them and test them out!
Sunday 27th November 2022: Morning Services as Usual at 9am and 10.30am (the new time for services in the church building) followed by a Town Service of Thanksgiving in the afternoon (time to be confirmed) – a joyous service with popular hymns and music open to all the townspeople.
During December, we will once again have a large Christmas Tree on which people can hang decorations in memory of loved ones, and there will be our usual range of Christmas Services, including a Christingle Service, the Carol Service, Christmas Eve Crib Services, Midnight Mass and Christmas Day Morning Service to look forward to.
Sunday 19th February 2023: Church Re-Dedication Service (3pm – time to be confirmed) We have booked Bishop Alan to come and re-dedicate the church, and we will be inviting special guests such as the Emergency services, Civic representatives, people who have worked on the restoration, donors, organisations and other people with links to the church to join the congregation for this formal re-opening.
In addition to the special events mentioned, we are planning to re-commence our regular services of worship during November. Details of these will be found on our website, notices and social media.
We would like to take the opportunity to thank not only all those who have supported us through donations, grants, chair sponsorship and other means but also those organisations who have provided the use of premises for us to celebrate worship and other meetings.
As with all building projects, unexpected things can crop up, and there is still an element of risk to the dates – we have already reported many delays. Any change to the above dates will be found on our website and social media.
