St John the Baptist Church in Edge near Stroud has celebrated reopening its doors after a restoration project following a serious fire.
In August 2021, the church suffered a fire which caused extensive heat and smoke damage throughout the church building. The spread of the fire caused damage to the church’s disabled WC, roof timbers and flagstones – requiring a complete refurbishment of the area, as well as specialist cleaning works.
Following the completion of those restoration works the church has now been able to fully reopen to the local community.
“The people of Edge are famous around here for their hospitality so it has meant so much to us to be able to welcome worshippers and visitors alike back into our church building,” said the Revd Sarah Haslam, newly appointed Rector of St John the Baptist Church.
“In fact, people rarely leave a Sunday service here simply ‘spiritually filled’ but instead find themselves physically full with tea and delicious cakes, as well as having made at least one or two new friends. I can’t wait to lead us in welcoming some more new faces here, too.”
To mark the reopening, the St John the Baptist Church community came together on Sunday 11 June to celebrate with a special ‘Songs of Praise’ service called ‘One More Step: A service of blessing, thanks and hope for the future’.
The event included hymns, readings as well as an afternoon tea service and was attended by representatives of Ecclesiastical Insurance, loss adjustors Crawford and Co and the church architects – as well as the Venerable Hilary Dawson, Archdeacon of Gloucester.
The Archdeacon of Gloucester, Ven Hilary Dawson said, “This joyful service of celebration was an opportunity to be thankful for the years of faithful worship that have taken place in St John the Baptist. Faithful worship that has equipped the worshipping community to live out the good news of Jesus Christ. It was wonderful to spend time with here, to see smiling faces and welcoming hospitality, and to look forward to all that is to come.”
Jeremy Trott, claims director at Ecclesiastical Insurance, said: “It’s great to see St John the Baptist church back to its former glory and fully open for the local community after the fire. We have a huge amount of experience in working with churches to restore them following fires and I’d like to thank the teams who worked on the project and the church community for their support.”
For more advice on keeping churches safe from fires, please visit www.ecclesiastical.com.
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Hello. Nice to see the Church being put to good use again. I was baptised there by Revd. Hippisley-Smith. Became a chorister under the Revd. Butcher, but lost faith when Revd. Bird was Rector.
In the old days the Church was lit with paraffin lamps and the organ was supplied with air from a hand pump in the vestry. I never appreciated Mrs Butcher’s playing until I learnt about the limitations of this Vowles instrument, or understood how caring and compassionate the Revd. Butcher was until life’s experiences put him in perspective. As regards The Parson Bird, let me just say: He served as a bad example.
I wish I could come and pay you a visit. My relatives are buried in the Churchyards, but I’m old, and my health is pretty fragile.
Just one other thing, which is not always appreciated; The “Toppers” on the wall in the new Churchyard are “rag” stone. (an abbreviation of Ragged Stone) This type of stone is not porous like Cotswold “free stone”, and is impervious to frost. It is found in thin layers above the more abundant limestone. Thanks for the memories. John.