spaceforall

A new community space for Wokingham

 

 

A Message from  The Reverend Canon David Hodgson Rector of All Saints Wokingham- November 2022

Welcome

I am delighted to welcome you to the webpages about

I hope you will be inspired by this exciting vision for the future role of All Saints Church in the town of Wokingham.

The spaceforall project realises a vision of a new community space for the growing population here. A wide range of people and groups will be able to meet in a safe and welcoming environment.

Whilst retaining its role as a parish church and place of worship, this spacious church building will be turned into an accessible and flexible community meeting space, an inspiring venue for arts,  cultural and educational events, and a unique space for special occasions.

It will provide a much-needed facility in this community and guarantee the church building’s value and importance to the future life of the town.

Meeting the challenges of the current time

This new spacious and flexible community space will help meet some of the pressing challenges residents of  our community in this area of Wokingham will be facing in the next few years. As we face into the cost of living crisis, an economic downturn and the need to save on transport costs,  and as we try to reduce carbon emissions and costs, All Saints Church will be providing new local public meeting space open to all every day.

Current progress on the works

The work on Phase 1 of adaptations to the building is now well under way, overseen by our architects Acanthus Clews  (ACA) of Banbury, and carried our by our main contractors Borras Construction of St Albans. Completion date is Spring 2023.  This phase  will create the accessible and flexible community space as urgently as possible. It will include the key elements to achieve this.  Other elements in the full plan, such as an extension building (new parish room) and a link to The Cornerstone will be in later phases.

What happens when the church re-opens in Spring 2023

Please explore our web pages here to discover what the new space will be used for and how you and your groups or organisations can make use of the new space.

Can you help?

We know spaceforall will create new opportunities for the community here. It will make a huge difference to the well-being of many people in challenging times. It will secure the future of this church building as a vibrant focus and invaluable asset for the town’s community life in decades to come. We have the opportunity now to step forward and to make a lasting and beneficial contribution to the lives of our present and future neighbours.  We are still raising funds to ensure we have everything in place on time. Costs have risen with inflation. Whilst we have received generous grants from both local and national organisations to meet the £1.3 million cost of this phase, the vast majority of the funds have come from private donors, residents of Wokingham giving generously of their own current resources or as legacies,  individuals and families excited by the vision of this project.

If you are excited by the vision for this project too,  please consider joining your neighbours and make a significant donation. Details of how to do that are here. You can also target your gift for specific items or for general use for the project.  Link here for the details and how to donate. If you have donated already – thank you!

Canon David Hodgson, Rector


A prayer for

Almighty God, who first inspired the people of Wokingham

to start the building of our beautiful church more than 800 years ago,

inspire and direct us now to provide a building fit to worship you and

serve our community in the 21st century. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stay in touch

Sign up for our weekly newsletter for the latest updated from All Saints Wokingham

Latest news

Good Friday Events in Wokingham

Read More...

Good Friday Open Air Performance, 12pm

The presentation uses Bible readings, simple prayers, and 4 actors telling the story through the eyes of some of the…

Read More...

Churchyard Working Parties

Our  churchyard is managed and maintained by volunteers. Come along to help out at our monthly working parties – next…

Read More...