Leave the Town Church pews alone

Thursday 26th March 2009, 2:59PM GMT.

From Michael Smyth.
I WAS disappointed to read (JEP, 19 March) about the proposed removal of the fixed pews in the Town Church to create extra seating for other parish meetings.

The only function of a church is as a place of worship and quiet meditation. The church hall could easily be used for other parish meetings, as well as the Town Hall.

Those pews are part of the history of the Town Church and therefore should not be consigned to the dustbin of history. Some of those pews have brass plates attached and one or or two of them are memorials.

When people visit a church they expect the traditional layout, which includes the pews, which are more orderly than chairs. Chairs are not comfortable or stable for those who wish to pray in the traditional manner of kneeling, as they tend to slide. I speak from experience.

I am all for money being spent on improvements to lighting, heating, the sound system, decorating, cleaning and keeping the church in good repair but not for alterations such as removing the pews. So leave the pews alone.
4 Sherland Close,
Mary Street,
St Saviour.

1
PJG

March 26, 2009 at 3:44 pm

If you want it for worship only the worshipers should foot the town church bills, exclusively. Fairs Fair

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2
Richard

March 26, 2009 at 10:24 pm

Presumably this building is a listed one.That includes the interior fitments, such as the pews.The RC Church of St Thomas made the same mistake many years ago.All the intricately crafted marble and that included the altar, was stripped out and left to rot in a damp field.The pews were dumped and the central aisle was removed.Recently, a huge amount of money was spent in attempting to restore its original layout, but sadly it could never replicate the original.Michael Smyth is right.The Town Church has suffered greatly already, not least, the tarmac paths, which should be restored to gravel and I would suggest the removal of car parking spaces, which is an abomination of the use of a church,which has a history of being the most prominent in Jersey.

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