IT IS THE FIRST CHURCH visitors see on their journey from Grantley Adams International Airport and the last as they leave the island.
St Bartholomew’s Anglican Church has been ministering to its parishioners since 1830. But time has not been kind to the structure, which shows obvious signs of wear and tear. There are holes in the ceiling that occasionally drops pieces of the old Plaster of Paris.
But Reverend Jilian Crawford says members of the parish have decided to restore the 185-year-old church to its former glory.
The restoration project was rolled out last November to coincide with the parish’s stewardship month.
“Over the years we have had quite a bit of deterioration to the building. We are currently undertaking the refurbishment programme and we’ve already replaced the permaclad sheets on the roof,” Crawford explained.
That was Phase 1.
“The inner ceiling was made of Plaster of Paris and that is now gradually dropping because formerly some sheets were on the roof and they were overlapping, but because some sheets were replaced on the roof some years ago, about 25 years, and then the Plaster started to get old and obviously it’s pushing in on the roof.”
The reverend said the Plaster of Paris would be removed and replaced with hardwood. Some of the windows would also be replaced or refurbished.
That restoration will be Phase 2.
“The initial plan was that we were going to take the ceiling down and it was going to be an exposed ceiling because it was a metal structure in the roof and we would have had worship and then come back and seal the roof,” she told Heather-Lynn’s Habitat.
“Now there is another plan because once the workmen are on drive, they want to keep going but we are going to have a meeting and re-examine that again,” she noted.
The entire cost of the restoration is about $600 000 and so far, the church has raised about $60 000.
There are numerous tins distributed at strategic points in the parish, as well as placed in businesses in the area.
In addition, the members of the fund-raising committee are stepping up their efforts with events like a flea market, luncheon, garden party, as well walk-up collections, from next month until November.
“God willing,” said Crawford, “next year November we should be completed with the project or at least most of it, but we had envisioned a three-year plan.”
Alumni to the rescure
ITS ALUMNI reads like the Who’s Who of Barbados.
And those distinguished men and women have come together to restore the more than 100-year-old building that once housed St Clement’s Primary School to its former glory.
The school was closed around 1997 and the pupils were shifted to the newly-built, nearby Ignatius Byer Primary. St Clement’s has been empty since then.
But priest-in-charge of St Clement’s and St Swithun’s, Reverend Keith Griffith, said the parish had taken a decision to restore the school building that is almost as old as the 1838 nearby St Clement’s Church.
“It has been the centre for education in the community when all that surrounded us was a plantation system.
“So we made a conscious decision not to allow the historic building of St Clement’s school to go into ruins. It was vacated in 1997 or thereabouts and from that period of time it was inactive and almost became derelict,” Griffith said.
The church has so far restored the annex as part of Phase 1. Workmen have capped the coral stones walls, to prevent deterioration, in preparation for the new roof.
The total cost of restoration will be in the region of $300 000 since it includes the new roof, windows and doors.
“The walls are still structurally sound – a credit to the builders of that time,” Griffith said, adding the new building would become a multi-purpose centre serving the community as well as the church.
To achieve its goals, the church has set up a committee, headed by former St Lucy Member of Parliament and recently High Commissioner to Canada Evelyn Greaves, a former pupil, and includes former Bishop Rufus Broome, Calvin Springer, Sir Philip Greaves, Douglas Corbin, Hensley Sobers and Wendy Hollingsworth. It is tasked with fund-raising and developing community projects.
“One of the things we want to do is put together a programme to access those persons who came to St Clement’s who may be overseas to try to get them energised, as well as accessing the business community in the area.
“We still have to finalise the drafts and we would like to complete it as soon as possible, because we are conscious that to leave it like this, it might suffer some deterioration,” Greaves said.