This week we moved in. A herculean effort by so many people means the building is now ready for use and literally with hours to spare !

The blog closes with this post. For further information and to keep up with developments in our church please visit our new website

www.unionroadcommunitychurch.org.uk

God Bless !

CB

To the future

This afternoon many of our church's 'next generation' will be in the building rehearsing for their puppets presentation next Saturday. These kids really are the next generation of a well loved Melbourne Street tradition and if my daughter is anything to go buy they are enjoying themselves. Our older youth are also practicing a dance routine, another popular tradition revived.

What has always drawn the community into our church looks likely to draw them in again, the difference now of course if that we can accommodate 170 people instead of the 100 the old building could manage.

Some things will change of course with our new high street location we are better suited to providing all sorts of day time activities which will attract passing footfall. Our new Tuesday coffee morning start in September and I'm sure these will provide a welcome break for passers by.

CB

Building Project : Done

The final stages of completion are being played out this week. The painter is in and making good progress on finishing upstairs. Mick has been working hard to complete the baptistery, the first candidates for which are busy completing baptism lessons.

The Blinds are now in the main hall and office and I am this evening going to secure all the furniture we need for the office, desks, chairs, cupboards and the like.

Next week member of various church departments will be in putting the finishing touches to their spaces, the chairs laid out and the floors polished.

CB

The last post

We have had a fair number of irritations in this project, the final one is still being played out. For some reason there is a lamp post in the middle of our car park entrance. How this has happened I do not know but the council have come along and put a new on in and the old one is still there so we have an odd situation at the minute whereby we have 2 lamps on Oak Street ! We are on the case and the old one will be removed shortly.

The painters will be in tomorrow to paint upstairs and the joiner is lined up to put his furnishings on the doors. This is the last job of any scale to undertake before opening.

Next week we hope to mobilise a cleaning crew to give the place a thorough clean before we open on 5th September.

CB

Brew anyone

Sundown

Our new kitchen

Our new kitchen is now operational - and it looks superb. The boiler for making the teas and coffees has been commissioned and the new 6 burner hob and oven are alive ! We have a large fridge freezer and a dish washer too.

Whilst a utilitarian facility it does serve a vital function. How many chats, prayers and words of encouragement will be shared over a cuppa. Our catering team manager is very much looking forward to serving you !

CB

We will be ready

Having spoken to the architect this morning I can confirm that we will be ready to open on time. A strange statement perhaps but until one receives confirmation it is always niggling in ones mind.

The kitchen and baptistery are complete more or less, the painter is due to complete upstairs next week and the flooring company and going to come in and clean the floor on the Wednesday before we open - so I have to confess for the first time in 18 months to be quite relaxed about the state of play.

God is good and he has blessed us abundantly with this new building and I'm sure that when you get in and see the finished product you will feel truly blessed.

I have heard from so many people that they know of people who are planning on coming to take a look at us when we open. We have some exciting things planned for the church in the coming months which I am sure you will love. There will be things for all ages and all interests.

Its going to be great !

CB

Two new buildings opening

A brand new church website has been built and is currently being finished ready for launch on 5th September. The website will be online but will also be presented in the office of the new building on the same day.

The last duty of this blog will be to post a report on the day along with photos of the events that take place. Then we will bow out and all future correspondence will be through the website. The new site which currently has a temporary notice on it is at

www.unionroadcommunitychurch.org.uk

visitors to our old site will be automatically redirected to the new site as well.

CB

Blog Exclusive Video !

More Progress

The kitchen is scheduled for completion tomorrow and the baptistery shouldn't be too far behind. We still have a number of jobs left to complete including finishing off upstairs - its not a big job to do but its an important one as its an important one.

We have a number of small finishing off electrical items to take care of ideally before we open as well and we have to get final approval from building control. As with everything in this project we are on the edge of our seats !

CB

New Picture

Today some of the fencing which has been in place for nearly a year has been removed to show the clean lines of our new building off to good effect. The remaining fences will be in place for another couple of weeks.

CB

A busy week

This week is another busy one on site. Despite the fact the building is now in our possession we still have a couple of jobs to complete before we can open as a public building. These largely relate to fire doors but we are on the case.

The kitchen will be installed this week as will the baptistery tiling. Hopefully the upstairs painting and joinery will follow later in the week then we can get our certificates !

CB

Moving On

The Oswaldtwistle Youth & Community Centre has been our home now for two and a half years. Its a fantastic venue and its treated us well. In some respects our new building has benefited from the experience we have gained in operating out of Harvey Street. The building compared to our own Melbourne Street premises was far superior in all respects.

Last Sunday we were packed in to the centre which generally means a congregation of 85 - 90 people. We could not have fitted any more people in.

This morning I spoke to Martin at the centre to give notice and to express our thanks for the use of the building. Our last meeting will be on 31st August - 4 weeks on Sunday.

CB

Recession Depression

I learnt yesterday that a church currently under construction in Burnley which started work at the same time as us has recently had work suspended due to the builder's financial condition. Its deeply worrying because there are a number of people who have been through our church who now attend this particular church.

I was also speaking to a good friend of mine who attended Fern Gore church that he has been out of work for 5 months because of the lack of work in his employment sector.

I would be grateful if you could pray for both of these situations. God has been so gracious in giving us this building at this very troubled time we are so blessed. I just pray that he will bless our brothers and sisters similarly in Burnley

CB

Jobs Done

The projector and screen are now ready, the cabling installed in the fabric of the building works gives a neat finish to the job. The chairs are in and the upstairs skirting and doors are now in place. The baptistery will be finished on Tuesday, the tiles are in house ready for our man to install them.

Decorating upstairs is the next job followed by the kitchen - then its pretty much job done inside. Outside the builders fencing needs to come down, landscaping put in place and chains installed across the fence posts.

One interesting feature of the last few days has been the appearance of a second lamp post on the land. This will replace the one which is currently in the middle of our entrance !

38 days to opening

Yesterday the new chairs were delivered - it appears as though we have a buy 170 get one free offer. I guess the extra one is just in case of of its brothers has a defect. With the one that I have brought from home that makes 172 chairs. 170 for the congregation and two for the very hard working projector team.

The screen was also installed yesterday for the projector.

Today the joiner is in completing installation of the upstairs fire doors. Nest week the upstairs will be painted and the protective floor covering removed. The kitchen is planned for 2nd week of August and that is us more or less done !

CB

Hard Graft

There were a gang of workers on site this morning as I went past. On Friday a large truck full of top soil was deposited on the car park (thankfully on a plastic sheet) this morning they are filling wheel barrows with the top soil to complete the ground works on the car park side of the site.

4 steel posts will be erected at the entrance to the new car park and once the mountain of top soil is put in the coreect place, white lines will be added to the fresh tarmac to complete the project off as far as the builders are concerned.

I just hope the weather stays fine for them !

CB

Temporary Office Set Up - Hey it works for now !

Mission HQ

I spent three hours in the building this afternoon - just me and my mp3 player blaring music (of the christian variety - naturally !?!?!) into my ears. I can confirm the main hall absorbs sound well cant guarantee I will sing so badly when we are all in.

I was in there taking an inventory of items whcih ive recorded on the new office computer I am going to install.

In the end we have ended up with 16 internal doors each with three keys (all now safely numbered and stored) and 20 window keys. 7 fire extinguishers all numbered and listed so if one decides to go walk about I'll know where it lives ! 12 CAT5 computer or TV Ariel points all identified and logged. I've also labelled the remotes for the velux windows so we know which one opens which.

I also managed to make a start on one of the four building manuals which explain in the finest detail where everything came from and who to contact if something goes wrong. They are really quite dull actually so after a short amount of time I decided to clean all the doors which were greased up with builders finger prints and the glazed panels in them.

This Tuesday our new projector will be finished. I understand the final image size will be 8' x 6' which is plenty big enough for the size of the wall. The chairs are coming on Tuesday as will and will temporarily be cited in the classroom until such time as the main hall is cleaned and ready to take them. Ive drafted a seating plan to accommodate all 170 chairs and have calculated that in small group mode the classroom can accommodate 55 which may be handy for larger small groups.

CB

Good ole Tarmacadam

White lines due to be fitted tomorrow - we will have 12 car parking spaces.

CB

Day one and the work goes on

Day one as legal owners of our new build and its pretty much like any other day on site - a hive of activity.

The tarmac has been laid on the car park this morning and with only minor ground works to be completed the perimeter fencing will gradually disappear. By tomorrow the John Street scaffolding and the union road scaffolding to the end of the building will go. Posts are to be installed tomorrow at the end of the car park to which we will be attaching chains to prevent unauthorised vehicles entering the car park. We plan to have the remaining fences down shortly. Our insurers will be inspecting the building shortly to advise on the required level of security we need we dont expect this to be an onerous task but we have a full schedule of costs for an all singing all dancing system if needs be.

This weekend I will complete the fire plan, label all the keys up, identify and mark all of the Internet connection points (CAT5) and so on. so that we have a full set of plans and documents to fall back on when we need them.

CB

CB

That's it - it's ours.....Praise be to God !!!

Its the strangest thing accepting 'delivery' of a new church. In some ways its like buying a house. One signature and that's it your responsible.

Ibbotsons showed us around, how everything works, we tested the fire alarm, read the meters so that we are now paying for the electricity, checked exit doors and the like.

Then it was one signature by myself on a piece of paper, a copy for us and a copy for the builder accepting the manuals and we were finished. Job done. (Gulp) Ive just signed the church over to us !!!!!!

Like buying my own home it was exciting and daunting at the same time but more so knowing the true reason for the building and the impact that it is going to have on thousands of people across many generations. Praise be to God !!

The building team will now meet again shortly to sort out maintenance schedules, fire alarm testing procedures and all sorts of technical stuff, marking up all of the many door keys (27 keys in triplicate) producing a fire exit plan (I am going to produce an emergency exit video as well to be shown when the building is being used by the public -might have to find someone posh to do a voice over though :-))

CB

Farewell Duncan

Duncan Duff is the man who built our building. And we couldn't have asked for better. From day one he has been courteous, efficient and proud of his work. And the end result is a building that is fit for a king.

Duncan will be handing the building over our building committee tomorrow evening at 5:30. After that its our baby.

The handover procedure is quite straight forward. Duncan will show us around the building explaining where everything is, light switches, fire alarm controls, heating, ventilation and those fancy remote control velux windows. Everything from where the stop vales are to which fuse is which in the distribution board is documented in a manual so if we get stuck we will have a book to guide us (kind of like Christianity I suppose).

Dave and Mick will be 'Facilities Managers' working alongside myself in the future to ensure the building is maintained, legally compliant and secure, so it is important that Dave, Mick and I fully understand the workings of the building because if anything happens, say a bus runs into the side of it we will need to know where to switch the gas off.

On 5th September the building will become a public building. We need in the next 6 weeks to satisfy building control that all the fire doors operate, the fire alarm works, fire risk assessment is complete etc. Its a lot to get our heads around.

At our deacons meeting last night Mick and Dave were rubber stamped for their new roles and Sue Wolstenholme and Joan Heap were assigned roles within the administration function. Both Admin and Facilities teams will work closely with myself to ensure smooth running of the back office functions of the new building.

A cleaning crew has also been approved and these people will also play a vital role in maintaining the cleanliness of the building. A cleaning rota will be established so that we are always spick and span.

In addition a welcome team has been formed. This is a vital role which will enable us to ensure that we make sure new people are made to feel at home and that they can be properly integrated into our church - there isnothing worse than going into a church and not being made welcome.

CB

Thank You

I showed the video 'Thank You' at church this morning and it seems to have gone down well with many positive comments about the new building.

The next few weeks will be quite busy for the team as our own tradesmen come in and finish their work. As new rooms become available we will be 'shaking down' the various facilities. For example the kitchen. Once that's in we will put it through its paces, make sure it all works and everyone knows where everything they need is.

CB

One small step for man.....one giant leap for the church

Ok so we haven't put a man on the moon but we have done something equally as alien and it suddenly dawned on me yesterday. WE HAVE BUILT A CHURCH !!

Its extraordinary to think that in a time when church attendances are falling that we should be not only growing but growing to the point that we need a place with double the capacity that we have now.

I was asked on Sunday whether or not I thought that our building looked like a church. Absolutely totally not was my reply! Deep in the Psyche of British minds is the memory of millions of people being frog marched by their school into a musky old building with wooden pews being asked to chant things they didn't understand

Our church no matter who has been in believer or otherwise is perceived as a warm user friendly and impressive building. It certainly doesn't look like most peoples idea of church but its the people inside that are the true church, not a building.

The balance of the flooring will be finished today. Yesterday the wooden fences were installed to complete the enclosure of 'Barbeque Deck'

CB

What a difference a day makes (24 little hours)

I went on site this morning and even the usually unflappable Duncan was running around like a headless chicken and no wonder given the activity on site. The aggregate for the car park has been laid, the tarmac will probably follow on Monday. Meanwhile Duncans men are finishing the iron mongery and decorating whilst the ground crew tackle the last bits of finishing including the gates and a couple of drain pipes.

Inside the worship room floor is down and looks stunning - it looks like we have real wood down and certainly makes the room look fit for a King which of course it should be !

The office is the first room to officially be considered complete. Again it looks lovely. We opted for a blue / grey carpet to complement the light cream walls. I shall speak to my office supplier this week to kit that out, the computer for the office is on test at my house at the minute too.

The kitchen floor is down, the gas is in and the sink is propped up against the back wall just waiting for the units to be fitted.

Ibbotsons plan to complete internal works by 15:30 today after which the flooring company can finish their side tomorrow which will be the stairs, foyer, corridor and baptistery cover.

On Sunday I plan on showing a video of the building to the church although I need to shoot it first :-) I will release it on the blog hopefully on Saturday evening

Next week the ground works will be completed, manuals presented and we will be legally in charge of our building. (Gulp!)

CB

07:59

Getting ready for work this morning my mobile rang.

"Chris it's Michelle. Can you go on site and approve the floor covering upstairs ?"

So off I went to site avoiding the digger which was mincing the ground for the tarmac to be laid to inspect the floor. It looks fantastic ! The guys installing it were really proud of their work and its clear that they want to do a good job for us. The floor covering will now be covered in cardboard to protect it whilst the rest of the work is done.



Dave is going on site today with another decorator to get a quote for finishing the paint work up there and Mick is now back so he will be on with sorting the fire doors out.

I'm going back on site tomorrow to inspect the floor covering in the worship area which is being laid today. There are a couple of solutions that need to be addressed regarding the baptistery which will be sorted in the morning as well but once that is done the worship room is more or less done, the tiling in the baptistry will be completed after handover as will the installation of the projector and the citing of the chairs (which will finally leave their Manchester warehouse home next week !)

Top soil has been placed around the perimeter of the building which is one of the key jobs which needed doing before the fences come down. The concrete ramp at the front door is needed before the fence can be completely removed from the front elevation and the gate needs to be put on the side before the John Street elevation fencing can be removed. But we are a step closer !

CB

Insurance upon Insurance upon Insurance

We have today started to insure the building under our name. The reason for this is that we may be required to access the site later in the week to start work on finishing off items that are under our control.

The building remains in the legal charge of the builders until such time as it is handed over so that site is also covered under the builders policy until they leave.

On top of that the flooring contractor has negotiated entry onto the site to get on with their side of things and have entered into an agreement whereby they undertake to cover their work on their insurance policy until such time as the builders hand the building over to us.

With me so far ?

The builders require access to certain areas this week so as the floor is laid some areas will be out of bounds and other areas will be covered in card board to protect the floor that has been put down.

Dave has arranged a meeting on site with a decorator to complete the painting of 'the loft' as Ive affectionately called upstairs.

Duncan is fitting the gates at the rear of the building enclosing the 'barbeque deck' (yep, another one of my names) aka the outside paved area! Skips will be on hand all week to clear the inevitable refuse waste that has accumilated, bricks, plastic, wood, damaged or incorrectly built window frames, piping - you name it. Once this is away, top soil, gravel and tarmac will be laid although this is likely to be done next week.

Glad I'm at work this week and not under the feet of those working so hard to finish the building off. It's going to be like a crazy place in there this week. Hopefully by the end of the week we will be much closer to finishing.

CB

No swimming !

Duncan is extremely proud of the new baptistery. When I was in there the other day he insisted that I try it out for size although I resisted the urge to dunk myself in water that wasn't there but alas I got in and am now 'baptistery trained'.

I decided this morning to go past the building on the was to work and my left arm instinctively dragged the steering wheel around and pointed the car in the direction of the church entrance. The reason for such a knee jerk reaction is that I remembered that the water was switched on yesterday. I was keen to make sure that everything was OK.

Duncan informed me that there were three small leaks in the system although these were deemed 'teething troubles' - I must confess to being relieved that I didn't walk into a swimming pool this morning !

Next week is snag week. Our architect was on site yesterday and has drawn up a list of items the builders need to complete before the building can be handed over. Minor items of trim and finish mainly. The fences will be put up on the back and the ground works for the car park started.

The 'latex screed' will be applied to all areas of flooring before our fancy new floor can be installed. The kitchen will follow in late July / early August.

CB

Silent Movie - Don't adjust your speakers :-)

Father's day

I am unusually off work today. I have been seconded for 'family duties'. Oliver is off to the hospital to have gromits put in his ears and I have to step in and watch Jessica sing at the school choir concert. With a gaps in the schedule I decided to go and take a look around the building to see how things were progressing. And progressing they are !

The portacabin which was first sited back in September of last year is being freed from its temporary enclosure today. Tomorrow the water supply will be switched on and early next week the ground works will be completed.

Duncan was keen to show me the fancy Velux roof windows that have been put in. I have to say they are very impressive if you are anything like me and enjoy gadgets. Two remote controls are supplied. They open vents, open the windows themselves and shut the blinds.

Somehow the main hall looks even bigger than it did before it was painted. There was certainly no need to turn the lights on becuase it was so bright in there with just the nattural light flooding the room. It was hot too the building is so well insulated it just retains the heat, but that said, there are plenty of doors and windows to open if need be.

The stairs for the baptistry and now in and its read to be tiled now. I stepped down into it and can confirm that we can definately dunk 6 footers in there without the risk of concusion ! The bathrooms are all but done. The gents is a bit snug but I dont reckon its going to be the busiest part of the church.

Upstairs the quirky angles of the room give it a really 'loft like' feel. Its huge up there and like down stairs thanks to the incredible insulations its really warm !

CB

'Lights (no) camera, Action !!'

Driving past the building yesterday the lights were on in the main hall for the first time. It was as if the building had suddenly come to life. From what I could see there was a very good amount of illumination in the main hall. We have fortunately invested in a new much more powerful projector which will be fixed into position and will project a powerful, colourful image onto a purpose built projector screen on the John Street elevation. It should be almost movie standard !

We have received a number of grants for kitchen items which will enable us to fit the kitchen to a very high standard - a six ring gas cooker, bespoke kitchen cupboards and other mod cons. It will be more than capable of meeting our needs.

The flooring company are poised to install the flooring - they are in touch directly with the builders and Ive advised them of the order in which to install the floor to fit in with other contractors.

We have a meeting on Thursday to run through the finances. Its tight but we have achieved far more than we had originally anticipated - but really God was never going to leave us short was he !

CB

Rapid Progress

I was very impressed when I gazed into the church windows yesterday. The suspended ceiling tiles and lights are in as are the pendant lights at the front of the main hall which look quite dramatic

http://www.keylighting.co.uk/product_info.php/products_id/27

To my mind the only work really left to do is finish hanging the doors (some are already in) decorate upstairs and complete the ground works. Its all coming together nicely. It will however look much nicer once all the ground works are complete but already I can see we have a building which we can be rightfully very proud of - I'm sure that once we are in we will be spurred on to use the facility to its full potential

CB

Cooking on Gas

The gas meter has now been installed and general testing of the heating system can now take place. My eagle eyed spies also confirm that Emergency Lighting is installed and that general lighting is also being wired up. I noted that the electrician was on site late yesterday which is encouraging.

One surprise is that the builders have elected to install oak boarding above the front door which finishes it off nicely - the reason that this is a surprise is that I want aware it was on the plans !

Tarmac is on order so I anticipate the remaining portacabins will leave shortly.

CB

5th September 2009

Finally we have a moving in date. 5th September 2009 so if you are reading this and don't normally attend our church or you are out of area - you know when it all starts.

Events are still being planned although there will be events on the Saturday before we open for worship on the Sunday.

The builders estimate they will be finished on 10th July after which the flooring company will be installing our new floor covering for a sneak preview of this click below :

http://www.polyflor.com/JH/products.nsf/products!open&family=lux&prodcode=fmi01&shade=1966

This floor covering our light cream walls , pendant lighting and jazzy new projector which will fire its image in glorious technicolor. The kitchen and other fittings also need to be installed.

Its all go at the minute !

Hole update

Well we're in. This morning on the way to Church there was a man in the road wiith one of those 'Stop Go' signs directing traffic on Union Rd. The reason for this is that the gas was connected to the main pipe which is siuated 1 metre into the main road.

Holes in Oak Street - not us mate !

The gas connection is being sorted today. Holes have appeared in Oak Street which and vans marked 'Enterprise Utilities' and British Gas are hogging the parking spaces. Cant wait until we dig into Union Rd

Note to self : Don't go home via Union Road for a few days

CB

All coming together

The workforce were on site again this weekend completing the paving at the back. I understand that the heaters are now in place in the main hall and that the balance of the suspended ceiling will be in place this week. Tarmac is on order for the car park and the gas connection is being resolved hopefully this week as well.

We (the leaders) are meeting tonight to finalise the floor covering and the kitchen is being measured up this week as well. The chairs are in storage waiting to be delivered and the new projector has been ordered.

I still have no definitive answer as to when the building will be handed over or when we will be able to get in there really is a lot up in the air at the minute and until everything settles down I cant really say much else.

CB

Not so fast young'un

I had a phone call after my last post from Joan. It appears my fears about the amount of work remaining will mean that the building will not be handed over for another couple of weeks....uuuuggggghhhhhhhhhr !

Good thinks come to those who wait and all that

CB

So near and yet so far

Its frustrating at the minute because I cant see the sort of progress taking place that Ive been used to whilst driving past on the way to and from work. So I ditched the car this evening and walked around the perimeter of the building to try and ascertain what progress has been made since Sunday's visit. Here's whats changed :

• The door frames have now been fitted internally
• All the main hall is now painted
• More flagging has appeared on the car park
• A vent hole has appeared in the oak street elevation where the kitchen is
• Two wires are protruding from the oak street elevation one either side of the door presumably for security lighting to be fitted
• The missing pane of glass in the Oak Street Side Entrance is now in place
• Additional down spouts for the guttering are in place

So all in all quite a bit. Still to do however

• Finish Paving and tarmac the carpark
• Fit the suspended ceiling in the main hall
• Hook up all the electrics
• Fit Ceiling tiles
• Fit Lights
• Hang all internal doors
• Make and fit the kitchen serving hatch
• Clear and clean the site
• Test fire alarms

And all of this is scheduled to be completed with the ext 7 days. Next Thursday is likely to be what is known as a handover meeting.......we hope !

CB

What lies beneath

I went into the building yesterday to see how things were going. There has been a lot of activity since I was last in there. The bathrooms are all but complete, piping is in the kitchen and the brackets for the heaters on the wall. All the sockets for the plugs, light switches and so on are in just awaiting their covers. The painting is coming along nicely - to give you an idea, the inside paintwork s a similar colour to that on the elevations outside (the top cream bit) the doors will be the same colour as the exterior woodwork which should I think give it a nice luxurious feel. The remaining glass work is on site just waiting to be installed. The flags at the back are down and the ones on the side are almost done so some scale of the parking area can now be appreciated.

CB

Coming Together

The building is really starting to take on a new appearance inside and out this week. The flags at the sides of the building and the car park are being installed as I type. The suspended ceilings infrastructure is in, painting has commenced in the foyer area, already the wall around the kitchen serving hatch has been painted 'light cream' the main doors are in, they are just waiting their windows and door handles.

Our architect is on site today to assess the progress of works. I spoke to him yesterday but he has little to note (which on experience of this project is a good thing)

With less than 2 weeks to go it really is starting to come together, every day something is changing on the site. By the end of the week all the flags will be down, internally the place should be painted and lighting and so on installed. Its amazing how quick the finishing touches are.

CB

Portacabins - Gone

My eagle eyed spies report that the portacabin site offices have gone ! This is a significant mile stone because it indicates that the building is now 'livable in' and also that the ground works on the car park are likely to be started very soon.

More scaffolding has gone, the Oak Street elevation scaffolding is down revealing to 'fault lines' one either side of the door. Apparently these are expansion points and Will be mortared in shortly.

CB

God : Did you doubt I would show up ?

The excellent news of funds being enhanced by a very generous contribution from the trustees of Stonebridge Christian Centre caused great elation in church on Sunday and there was a very tangible motion of thanks to God for this incredible gift.

In reality though this is very much the way God operates. It took years for the church to step out in faith and start the building project and God has challenged many people along the way. It hasn't been easy in fact speaking to our oldest member who has been in the church all of his life, the new building is the best thing to happen to the church and it is by far the best facility we have ever had.

So why would God not show up with the bounty to finish the job ? Of course he would but to be fair he has made us sweat for it !

The additional funds will allow us to complete the building to a far higher degree of comfort and practicality than we had anticipated. The car park for example can now be completed in tarmac with white lines to mark the 12 car parking spaces, the interior can be decorated professionally without the need for any of us trying to climb the 7.5m height of the main hall (thankfully!!)

We can complete the kitchen to a higher standard than anticipated, security systems, projection equipment and the like can all now be taken care of.

How great is our God

CB

The scaffolding that has obscured the building from view throughout the construction process has been removed on both the John Street and Union Road elevations to reveal the almost completed product. The main door is still to be installed and the scaffolding is still up in that area but I believe this is to be completed this week.

It seems an odd thing to say but somehow taking the scaffold away makes the building look taller - I think that's probably because the walkway on the scaffold at the front of the building was higher than ground level. Nevertheless I'm very much looking forwards to getting in and getting on with building our church !

CB

All go go go

The site is rampantly busy this week - the meter for the electricity is due today and numerous meetings will be held on site in the next few days to measure up for items we need to finish off such as kitchen, security, power sockets and that sort of thing.

The rain has hampered plans to finish exterior painting but the oak boarding features are all in place. Once the scaffold is down we will get a better idea of the finished product.

Please continue to pray for the safety of the men on site. We have thus far had a 100% safety record and in these final days it would be nice to maintain that.

CB

What a difference

Im pleased to report that significant progress has been made on the building over the last few weeks. Today's priority on site was plaster boarding and installation of central heating piping. The scaffolding should be down by the middle of next week and our electricity meter will be installed on Wednesday. The builders report no health and safety problems or security problems on site.

The boiler and associated heating systems are coming along and the suspended ceiling in the is being installed shortly. The hardwood entrance doors and windows are on order.

All in all its looking very good.

Windows Done

A lot has happened since my last post. The upstairs feature windows are in, the triangle one in the apex and the arch in the Oak Street Elevation. The render and oak boarding is also in place on the John Street side, the floors have been screeded both upstairs and downstairs, the back classroom doors are now both in place and the entrance doors from the car park are in place.




I understand that the scaffolding may come down at some point this week as well. Still some way to go but the jobs left in hand are minor. Plaster boarding, fitting power sockets, door frames and doors etc.




It finally fells though like we are nearly there.

Busy times Ahead

The AGM proved to be a very good meeting for all. Everyone participated in discussing ideas for use of the new building with many suggestions to be filtered through and the practicalities considered. It is clear though that we have the potential to be very very busy.

Reports from a number of members of the church were encouraging with high praise for all of the small groups, worship and children's work.

The final costs for the building were presented to members as was a summary or work remaining. Whilst the final of final totals is not going to be known until the builders leave we remain in credit in the building account with just enough to finish the job to a satisfactory standard, certainly well enough to function as we do now.

The pavement on John Street at the back of the building bore the hallmarks of pneumatic drill activity yesterday evening indicating that the electricity company have been to switch on the power. Also the floor screeding originally planned for last weekend started on Monday with the back end of the building having a floor 8 inches higher than the main hall. The main hall will be screeded this weekend (a bank holiday) thus giving it time to dry.

CB

AGM

Its the church AGM tomorrow - always an interesting experience full of banter and a real chance for the members to have their say about how the church is run and what sort of things they want to see happen. Tomorrow will be no exception in fact it will be bigger than ever with everyone having the chance to say what type of activities they want to see happen in our new building.

Please continue to pray for us as we embark on the challenges of the coming few months

CB

I never want to see this again !!!!!!

The building has presented a very bleak image this week all boarded up and closed off. Its depressing and I never want to see it this way again. In a few weeks the boards will be down and brand new stunning doors and windows will be put in. These will be doors which will welcome thousands of people over the life of the building entering them into the house of God.

I pray that God will speak through all of us, guiding and protecting us from the enemy. We have a unique chance to use the building for good in our community.

If we mess up it will be back to the boards............. Please pray for the body of the church that it will remain strong and that because it remains strong we will present a positive image of Christianity and we will see lives saved.

CB

Live on the land

The builder has informed me that electricity will be connected to the mains next Tuesday. This weekend the 8 inchs of screeding will be poured into the main lower floor areas. A vehicle (presumably a mixer) will come on site tomorrow and the mixture will be pumped into the building via a big hose ! Apparently its quite an interesting project. What it does mean is that any ducting and pipework changes from here on out will have to be above the floor.

Our electrician has been on site this week to confirm a few requirements from our side and our kitchen man will be coming on site soon to measure up for his side.

The missing windows were due on site yesterday although when I went past in the evening there didnt appear to be any changes to the appearance of the building.

The special windows i.e. the upper floor triangular window in the apex and the arch looking over the car park entrance are being made specially for the building. They are bespoke products so they take a little longer, apparently they made templates to work from so that they get the shapes right.

CB

I forgot to say.....

In our site meeting on Monday Ian (our architect) confirmed the stopping up order for the alleyway between ourselves and Pet Warehouse has been approved by the Highways Agency on the basis that there were NO objections from the public.

This means that the right of way which existed on land we own is no longer in place.

CB

Site Progress

We had a good meeting on site today. This week there is a lot of activity. The windows will be finished this week, there is a joinery and plumbing crew on site, the floor is being laid on Friday which will require 3 days to set.

Depending on who you talk to the estimated time remaining is 4-6 weeks. The builder wants the job done in 4 weeks, the site foreman wants 6 !! The more time the builders are on site the more that it is costing them in labour.

We have the final account in hand and with a little bit of give we are financially OK which is a good place to be after all that we have been through.

CB

And the Son shone (sic)

It was a gloriously sunny day the last time we were all on the land back in September and true to form it was a lovely sunny day today as over 50 people availed themselves of the opportunity to view the building.



I was somewhat apprehensive about today because this was the culmination of many peoples dreams and hopes and how they responded to the building was important. I'm pleased to report that many people were thrilled - for many it was an emotive visit and many commented on the quality of workmanship which went into the building.



Building work continues apace.

Before we all went in I got a brief update from Duncan unflappable as ever he commented on minor annoyances such as the inability of the electricity board to arrange to get consent to raise the pavement to wire us up - a minor problem which can quickly be addressed.




The Son truly shone today - Jesus Christ his church moving forwards in Oswaldtwistle the building is simply that - a building. Not a gilded temple, not a Gothic palace, a simple (but well bolted together) building for which the church can do its work. I Hope in time as we settle in that we can adapt to our new building and make full use of it. We haven't been able to build a church that suits everyone but a quick straw count today showed that 95% were completely satisfied and the remainder felt that a number of minor adjustments were needed but I'm sure no one can deny that we have as a church taken bold steps and God has given us just enough money, energy and talent to finish the job.

Long Live the King !

CB

Reminder

For those of you who can make it on Sunday we have a viewing of the new building at 13:00. For those who can't make it I will post some pictures on the blog so you can see what you've missed.

Hopefully by the time I get back on Saturday all the scaffolding at the side of the building will be down to ensure safe and easy access.

The site will be under the jurisdiction of the builder and as such we have to follow their rules - please do take care, access to the upper floor may be possible but it is not advised that small children or those of limited mobility attempt the stairs.

CB Live from South Wales !

We've been framed ! (They are getting worse these titles)

The windows were installed yesterday on the front and on the back. The door fixings are in and all of the partitions are up. A team from the church will be on site on Tuesday to discuss a umber of minor issues prior to the church visit next Sunday.

A number of our fellowship were at new Lane Baptist Church this morning for Good Friday Service and there was a tangible buzz amongst our members about the progress made on the new building. Its a wonderful time for us all at the minute - maybe next year we can host New Lane and Hyndburn Christian Fellowship round at ours !

CB

Aesthetics

I have a confession to make.

On Saturday morning I was thinking about Easter Sunday. We are away in South Wales that day and I was thinking how vital it was that I find a church to give praise to God that Jesus conquered the grave - to me Easter is the most wonderful time of the year it represents what Christianity is all about.

Flick suggested that I may struggle to find somewhere that had an English language service but oddly it wasn't so much that that worried me but more how the church looked that I was bothered about - I have a phobia about run down looking buildings.

I had to pull myself up pretty quickly because of course it isn't the outside of the building that matters its the church within !

I guess that will be true of many who we welcome into our new home. Some may be drawn by the newness of it all but of course it is just steel, bricks and mortar its inside what counts. As impressive as the building will be we must avoid the risk of it becoming an idol.

CB

Frames

When I drove past the building this morning at 8 o'clock Mick was already on site discussing business with Duncan. There are a couple of small matters that need sewing up. I noticed also that the electricians van was there too. He has done a fantastic job, the main wiring loop appears to be almost complete.



The bulk of the internal partitions are in place now the only room not to have a timber frame yet in place is the kitchen although the floor does have a timber baton layout on the floor so one can appreciate the size it is going to be.



The stone work on the outside walls is receiving a final dose of pointing. The back is looking good - the utilities should soon be in place then that area can be paved.

The next big job is the floor. Given that next weekend is Easter and the site will be closed I wold imagine that the screeding will be completed late next week so that it can dry over the weekend.

CB

Walls...........done

I noticed on the way home yesterday that the John Street and Oak Street breeze block elevations are finished. The arch window in the upstairs room will need to go in before that part can be completed - at the minute this void is being used as an access point to upstairs for things like timber, plaster board, piping etc. and to remove excess breeze block and offcuts of timber framing.

Work has commences on the frame work in the main hall area as well.

Its all go go go

CB

Dont sit at bus stops

Apparently there was someone sitting under the shelter when it was struck by a lorry. She walked away from it with cuts and shock !!

The scaffolding at the back of the building has been removed now to facilitate access to the ground works for installation of the utilities during Easter week. As this is only single height there is no need for the scaffolding to remain.

The windows and doors should be on site next week and should be in place fairly quickly. Once these are in place the mechanical installation will take place. The Mechanical installation is basically the central heating, gas supply etc.

The electrician continues to weave cables through the site which must be an epic task. He is fitting all the fire alarms too.

The floor screeding is another task which needs to be completed. I would imagine this will take place shortly but it will take 3 or 4 days to dry which will mean no access. I suspect this will need to be done over a weekend to limit down time on site.

It seems like a lot of work but there are quite a few lads on site now and Duncan as usual is cool and collected about the whole thing.

CB

Drama in't Village

It would appear that the bus shelter which is on the pavement has been demolished today by a truck ! My roving reporter Flick sent this image from the crime scene !

Thankfully the bus stop is slightly further South East (up the road) than the building so it hasn't been damaged - I bet it went with a bang however !

CB

Clarity

Throughout the project we have had to face shifting goal posts. I guess that is probably normal but to the uninitiated its quite alarming when you think you have a plan and things suddenly change. The land for example - we thought that the plan was in place but the land had other ideas - same with the stopping up order for the back alley which we now think is resolved and the issue with the stopping up order for the drain, the laborious process of getting the mortgage, legal paperwork, dates of trustees from the past, changing the direction of the baptistery to fit in with piling, delays because of the coldest winter for decades. I don't think I would be exaggerating if I said that something new has cropped up every week and dutifully my brilliant colleagues on the building team have risen to the challenge and I want to publicly thank them for their efforts

Of course all of this is behind us but doubtless there will be other issues before the team can take a sabbatical in the Bahamas (please God if you are reading this!)

There is a bit more clarity coming through now and a less fuzzy timeline is coming into view.

On 19th April we have our church visit to site. This is important because we have a full leaders meeting the next week along with what may well be a penultimate site meeting with architect and builders on the 20th April at which time I have requested a final bill to be presented. This will enable the leaders to decide what to do with any surplus - we still have a kitchen and floor covering to find and a decorating budget but I'm sure we will get there.

The AGM on the 28th by which time everyone will have seen the building, the leaders will be in a position to close expenditure and we can make plans to finish our bits in the building before we open. At this point that date is dependent on the builders and others finishing their work.

CB

God

You know how it is when you view a house you either take to it or you don't - it feels like home or it doesn't. Twice the team have been in the building and twice its felt like home. I'm sure when you come into the building you will feel the same, you will want to kick your shoes off and put your slippers on. It has that sort of feel. And to me thats the magic about what we are building its our home its where we belong. isn't that what being in a church is all about ? Being at home in a place where you are free to show your strengths and weaknesses and be accepted for them ? God loves you just the way you are (even the dodgy bits) and you are at home in his house - even if you aren't perfect !

Welcome home mat anyone (duck!)

CB

On Site On Side

Another good meeting on site today, the electrical installation is looking good although naturally the complexity of this particular task requires the odd minor adjustment along the way but the bulk of the cable is in now.

The scale of the building is the thing that really impresses people when they go into the building compared to what we have been used to the new main hall is massive. The electrical supply and the gas will be online the week after Easter and we anticipate completion mid May although we will need to finish the internal decor, carpeting, kitchen and other works before we can open.

Finance is in place for the completion of the build although funds are limited for the final kitting out of the building - naturally we value your prayers and support on this matter because we want to be able to complete as much as we can before the building is open.

Hopefully soon we will be able to have a church visit to the site. Details to follow nearer the time.

"When's the new church opening Chris?" (or Mike or Jim or John or Sue)

Like many I'm fielding questions from members of the public faces old and faces new about when the new building is opening. Yesterday I placed an order on behalf of the deacons for 170 new chairs for the building for delivery in May.

On Sunday we had NINETY people in church all told. And there were some regulars missing ! One of our deacons was actually forced to bring a chair in from the other room and sit by the entrance showing how full we actually were!

Have we ordered enough chairs I ask myself ?

Certainly in the opening weeks of the Church my gut feeling is we will fill it and the real work can commence. I'm in the process of collating expressions of interest from people in the congregation who want to work in new and existing ministries and there is very much a 'cradle to grave' spectrum of activities which will be taking place.

Praise God !

Bringing in our boys

We have a site meeting on Friday with the builders and we are drafting in two of our men - Gareth Walker and Dave Wilkin will be seconded to assess and finalise the electrical plan for the building - where the sockets go, how much umph the set up will have, where the switch box is going and all that sort of thing. By taking ownership of this part of the project we can determine the suitability of the installation for future development because we will all know how its wired up.

The roof is now 100% done and the facia boards yesterday received their first coat of varnish. Both John Street and Oak Street elevations are nearing completion of breeze block work ready for the windows to go in.

I will take some pictures on Friday and maybe put a slide show together for the blog.

CB

China Slate

Building Update

The roof tiling should be finished today. The builders have worked really hard over the last two weeks to tile what is a very large area of roof as well as the tricky Apex. Internally the electrical installation is starting to take shape and the dividing walls are starting to be erected.

The bulk of the heavy work is now behind us and we are moving into the fitting out stage. I will have a clearer idea of how long it will be before we get the keys next Friday when the building team meet with the architect and the builder on site. I will also take some photos for the blog whilst we are there.

Anyone who is a parent will know that the final months of a pregnancy seem to drag on and on and to me this is where we are right now but it will all be worth it when the building comes to life and we can use it for its intended purpose.

A number of exciting opportunities are presenting themselves and people are starting now to come up with ministries that they would like to explore. Also a number of gifts have been offered to the church of which more later but God's hand is clearly present as we bring the project to its end.

CB

One good turn.....

I received a wonderful email this afternoon from one of the deacons at Bethesda Chapel in Blackburn. You may recall in an earlier post I was building a website for them.

I made it clear that this was a personal gift to the church and that I would pay for the domain hosting and so on.

The leaders have spoken and they now want to make a small gift to our building fund. Praise God.

These people know that God is using me in my church and want to give a gift to support that.

This project is packed full of stories, prophesies, hopes, dreams and miracles and mine is just one of a whole encyclopedia of minor victories which make the church what it is - a living example of God's love for us. Praise God !

Roof-us Back-side (do you see what I did there ?)

For those of you scratching your heads and wondering if Ive lost the plot entirely I will elaborate on the title of this post.

Rufus Garside are our resident youth band - so I thought cunningly that I would call this post roofus backside :-)

You can tell the pressure of the building is doing strange things to my sense of humour

The image above shows the roof today. The rate they are going it will be finished by the weekend and then its on to the front.

CB

Uuuugggghhhhhh SNOW !

I really don't like snow ! Yet again the weather has played up just when excellent progress was being made on the roof. Apparently this winter has been the coldest for a couple of decades which is no use to us.

Work on slating the roof as at last night had been progressing remarkably swiftly - the back is 75% complete which is far more than I had anticipated it being.

Feedback from a number of people new to the church has been very positive. God really is starting to plant people into the fold now. Mainly families. It was funny on Sunday seeing all of the children to perch themselves on the benches at the front of the church - they looked like sardines ! Allegedly I raised one of them to tears when I suggested someone would have to 'change the loo roll' in the new church. I hasten to add these were tears of laughter.

But on a serious note I have had a couple of expressions of interest in cleaning and I am going to start shortly to put together a team to manage this important area of church work.

Change is often extremely difficult to manage - we as a church are inevitably going to have to change but the response to changes proposed and implemented thus far have largely been positive. There is more change to come - there has to be. We are going to have a big responsibility on our hands with the new building and the new church. I have seen churches fail because they have failed to prepare and failed to manage change. Sometimes and new building and new people cause irreversible damage to the makeup of a church. With good communication between all in the church and good communication with our community we will not fail.

CB

1093218

The Charity Commission website has now been update with our new details.

http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/ShowCharity/RegisterOfCharities/ContactAndTrustees.aspx?RegisteredCharityNumber=1093218&SubsidiaryNumber=0

Over the next few weeks the process of completing the name change with the bank, solicitors and so on will take place.

CB

It's a new Day

Full House

The church was full this morning which was wonderful to see. The capacity of the existing place is really starting to become an issue now. The projector desk moved forwards again today to facilitate another 10 or so chairs behind us.

It was great to see some familiar faces from the churches past back with us.

I gave a presentation entitled 'Day One' the idea was that with our new name being formally approved yesterday today was day one for our new church. I encouraged people to get involved in church jobs and the response has been brilliant. People are really motivated and want to get involved.

Exciting times.

Day 1

I received the following email from the Charity Commission today

Dear Mr Brindle
Thank you for your letter regarding the above.
Pleased to confirm that we have updated the charity's records accordingly.
Please note this information will take up to five working days to transfer onto the public Central Register of Charities available for view on our website.

That's it, we are officially 'Union Road Community Church (Oswaldtwistle)' a new era begins. It will take a few weeks to update our records with the bank, Inland Revenue and so on but we have made the first and most important step to changing our identity.

Its a new start for all of us. Members and Friends old and new can now move forwards under the banner of a new entity.

CB

Blue + Pink = Grey

I thought that Joan and Sue were winding me up when they said the church roof was pink! It was bad enough when it was blue I know many of the congregation had to field questions from the locals and there was even talk of a petition in the town to object to a blue roof !

So you can imagine my consternation when I discovered that the roof had indeed turned pink ! Now I'm not expert on trees but I know they don't come in the colour pink so why the timber on the roof is pink I have no idea ! Alas this will shortly be covered up with slates.

On a positive note, the stonework looks stunning and when the building is finished it will be a real focal point for the town and all this 'hair greying' time will be in the past.

CB

True to their word

The builders did manage to start on the preparation work for the slates in the roof which is great news. The weather over the next few days appears to be mild although it may be wet and windy for the next few days before becoming fine on Friday - at least though it will not be frosty or snowy !

The windows will be going in in a few weeks. These take around 2 weeks to manufacture. Stone work is pretty much complete now around the building so its all coming together nicely.

There are around 10 weeks to run now.

The building team had a very constructive meeting last night and discussed a number of items relating to issues raised by the builder (such as ordering a phone line that sort of thing) but we are all confident of delivering a building which is fit for purpose, more or less on time and within budget.

CB