Replacing the Lighting in St Mary's 

Progress to Date - October 2025

 

North aisle lights , which will also  illuminate the north side of the nave.

By the time that you read this in early November, the majority of the new lights will have been installed in the north and south chapels, the north and south aisles, the nave and the west tower under the various ceilings.  The rest will be installed in the first half of November and those in the aisles and nave, at least, will be switched on for Advent and Christmas. Good progress has been made during September with the installation of the new lighting on the north side of the church, the north chapel and north aisle, and as I write, the installation of the south chapel lights is well underway and the work in the south aisle has started.  During September, new cabling was installed in the south porch ready for the new lighting and the aim is to have all of the new lights at the church entrances installed and working before the contractors leave us for December.  

Why, if the new lights are now fixed, aren’t we using them?  Before they are switched on, the contractors will go up to the ceilings once again, when the lighting designer is present, to make sure that they are pointing in exactly the right direction and that they are focussed correctly.  Focussing involves adjusting the fittings at ceiling level so that the light we see on the ground or in our pew is either a narrow spotlight or a broad “wash” of light.  We will also have a temporary control unit on the welcome unit on the north side of the nave at the back of church before the end of November.

 

Work commencing in the South Chapel  (choir vestry)

So far, there has been little need to string up some temporary lighting because Tom Flynn (TFE) and his team have left our existing lighting in place until the replacement lights are switched on.  They will remove our current lighting when they go up to focus the new fittings.  We do have temporary lighting in the clergy vestry and, as mentioned last month, at the west entrance and in the west tower.  However, it is clear that we are only just in time with this project, all of the downlights in the nave on the north side (the left when facing the high altar) failed about 20 minutes before one of our July weddings and they haven’t worked since.  The downlights on the south side of the nave have flickered on and off recently too! 

In mid-October, we have Bakers of Danbury on site to help TFE run a new cable across the steps between the west tower and the west end of the nave. Bakers are the contractors who installed the servery, toilet, all the associated cupboards and welcome units back in 2017-18 and we are using them for all the “Building Works in Connection” with the lighting installation. This will be the first of a few visits from them.  In due course, they will fit out the tall cupboards at the back of church, which now have some lighting control gear in them, once the rest of the control gear is in place.  I will look to get the cupboard on the north side, used to store tables, back into use as soon as possible but this relies on fitting it out to ensure that the tables cannot lean on and damage the control gear.  The tall cupboard on the south side, which is used by Tinies, will be ready for their return to the church, which will most likely be in early March 2026. 

 

New lights for the north aisle and  the area below the chancel steps.

 I mentioned earlier that TFE will leave us for December.  The last day when they’ll be working inside the church will be on Thursday 27th November and they will take away all of their equipment under the blue tarpaulin and put the missing north aisle pews back before they leave. They’ll be back in very early January to work in the chancel and sanctuary but more about that next month.

Finally, I have sought to ensure that there are notices in the Grapevine and emails are sent to relevant persons when parts of the church will be inaccessible for a few days.  PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, do take notice of these and do not seek to enter an area which we have communicated as inaccessible.  These warnings are being sent for your safety. If the contractors mistakenly drop a light fitting on you when you are below them, the result will be extremely serious.  The notices are giving sufficient information to allow you to re-schedule your visit, please do so.

Steve Hasler
8th October 2025