Church to be demolished

Featherston’s St John’s Anglican Church will be demolished after the cost of earthquake strengthening proved too much. The decision was made at a special meeting last month. The future of the church, built in 1961, has been under a cloud since the need for strengthening came to light in 2012. It has been vacant for the past 18 months. St John’s Bishop’s Warden Hilary Kendall said the decision was a hard one. ‘‘Based on a church in a similar situation, we thought the least it would cost was $500,000.’’ Services have been moved to a hall behind the vacant main building, and will stay there until a new church is built. Kendall said there was no date yet for demolition.