St Stephen’s project is on track
Work to carry out essential and urgent repairs to St Stephen’s Roman Catholic Church in Blairgowrie is progressing on schedule.
The project aims to carry out major structural repairs, install ceiling insulation and improve internal lighting, essential in ensuring the church building’s future as a place of worship for the local Catholic community.
The outside garden areas have been cleared and scaffolding put up to check the roof and identify the extent of the damage to slates and guttering.
Inside, all pews, altars and the organ have been protected and full height access scaffold has been erected to the underside of the main pitched roof to allow stabilisation works to secure the internal plaster ceiling before re-slating.
Further inspection will confirm the extent of any dry and wet rot, timber degradation and plaster cracking.
Parishioners have been active in fundraising to supplement the significant financial support of the Heritage Lottery Fund and other bodies for the project.
A ‘dedicate-a-slate’ campaign has been launched where cards, carrying the name of the donor or the person of their choice, will be placed on the altar at a special thanksgiving mass to celebrate the re-opening of the church.
Volunteers from all areas of the parish recently helped set up and staff a week-long charity shop, and the Christmas raffle is still ongoing.
The church website has been enhanced and is charting the progress of the project. Other promotional materials are being drafted, and plans are now under way for next year’s inaugural Pugin Lecture, acknowledging the significant role of the famous Pugin family in ecclesiastical design - St Stephen’s being one of EW Pugin’s first projects in 1856.
The lecture will be delivered by Dr Gerard Hyland, president of the Pugin Society and author of several books on the Pugin dynasty.