Church restored to former glory
Covers off as £2million St Bride’s refurb revealed
An East Kilbride church has been restored to its former glory after months of renovation work.
The first services were held at St Bride’s Church last week – including a special mass dedicated to former parish priest, Canon Michael Ryan.
Along with grant funding from various sources including The National Churches Trust, Viridor Credits, Historic Scotland and Heritage Lottery Funding, the congregation has been and will continue to fundraise to meet the £2million repair bill.
Work on the design of St Bride’s began in 1957 with the building work taking place between 1959 and 1964.
The church was designed by Izi Metzstein and Andy MacMillan, architects with famous firm Gillespie, Kidd & Coia - and the men behind St Peter’s Seminary in Cardross.
St Bride’s is one of only 42 post-war buildings in Scotland to be listed at Category A.
However, the architecturally renowned church was showing signs of wear and tear and extensive works to repair external brick work and restore the inside to its former glory got underway at the beginning of the year.
Services were temporarily held in nearby St Andrew’s and St Bride’s High School while work was ongoing.
John Hastings, a member of the church and one of those leading the fundraising efforts, was there when the church was officially opened, acting as an altar server.
He told the News: “As far back as 2011 there was a sense that the church needed major refurbishment.
“The church is a category A listed building and they realised what an important feature it is in the town.”
John went on: “While the school has made an excellent temporary home for which we were very grateful, the whole congregation is delighted to be back in the church.
“I think the most pleasing thing for everyone is just how light and airy the building is.
“A lot of the work which was done was outside on the roof and replacing glass panels.
“One of the great features to the building early on was the huge amount of natural light .
“But over the years, due to wear and tear and leaks, a lot of the windows had been replaced with dark covers which meant very little natural light.
“Now you can really see all the interesting patterns in the building’s brickwork which made the building so unique.
“We are all delighted with the end result of the renovations, which near enough went to schedule barring some delays due adverse weather.
“I am sure, with a little bit of ongoing maintenance, the church will definitely see another 50 years – it’s certainly going to see me out.”