Historic Chatham church reopens after multimillion pound restoration

KentOnline / KMTV

Local Democracy Reporter Ollie Leader was at the grand opening of St John's Church for us.

Transcript

00:00And I have one deeply theological word to share with you right at the start.

00:05Wow!

00:06The words of the Bishop of Rochester echoing the feelings of a room

00:11that made a multi-million pound Medway restoration project possible.

00:17St John's Chatham was built to commemorate the Battle of Waterloo back in the 1800s.

00:25But by the 90s, the building had fallen into disrepair,

00:31left to rot just off Chatham High Street,

00:35in an area of high demand for affordable housing.

00:40What we really were lacking was a place of art for Chatham.

00:45A place that people of Chatham have loved, have been married in,

00:49have had their funerals in, have parties in.

00:52And it's got so much history and so much meaning for so many people

00:57that it would be wrong if we had turned it as flat.

01:01And frankly, when we asked people what they wanted us to do with it,

01:04they said we'd like it to be a church.

01:08And that's what we've done.

01:08Work to bring the building back to life began in 2017,

01:14with organisations like the Heritage Fund and Medway Council

01:19pulling together to bring a community asset back to life.

01:25This wasn't one organisation, it was a partnership approach.

01:29It really was a one Medway approach to bring forward

01:32something which again is magnificent and really does inspire people.

01:36200 years ago, it was the first public building to get electricity.

01:40And now it's shining as an actual beacon of hope 200 years later

01:43for the people of Medway.

01:45St John's is an expensive capital project,

01:49costing £4 million.

01:51Is this really the best use of that cash?

01:56Now on Sunday mornings, we're regularly over 100 people.

02:00Whether that's value for money, I don't really know.

02:02But the truth is that the reach of this place

02:04beyond those that might be coming in here to worship,

02:06actually the difference that it's made in individuals' lives,

02:09the difference that it's made for families

02:11who are really struggling with their children.

02:1380 or so people that we've had come through our community football project,

02:16many of whom were vulnerably housed or at risk of addiction.

02:19So it's really hard to quantify,

02:21but we know that we're just at the beginning of a story

02:23where ultimately we will see far more than just value for money

02:28through what's been invested in this place.

02:30There you have it.

02:31Perhaps you can't put a price tag on history,

02:35especially if that history is now set to help people

02:39into the future for years to come.

02:42Olly Lieder in Chatham.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended