Huddersfield Parish church has exciting plans for the future.
We want to worship and welcome visitors to a building that makes it clear that God’s invitation is for everyone. We want to contribute in this generation to Christian witness in our town.
The Cornerstone Project
In Autumn 2004 we launched ‘Cornerstone’, a development project to ensure the future of our church.
The vision behind Cornerstone is to open the church to all members of the community and to people of all physical abilities. This is not just a legal issue, but a faith issue. We believe that God’s welcome is for all and that our building should be an icon of what we believe. We also need to maintain the heritage of our building and enhance the interior furnishings of the church. We are witnessing to the world the value that we place on the holy places of our faith.
During Autumn 2004 our architect, Stuart Beaumont of One17AD prepared a feasibility study to our brief including a beautiful new ‘vestry’ structure at our south-east end to enable easier access to church and better use of the church community space. This was received with enthusiasm by the church community in the Spring of 2005. During the Summer and Autumn of 2005 we proceeded with the various stages required to obtain planning permission, negotiating with the Advisory Committee of the Wakefield Diocese, English Heritage and with the Local Planning Authorities.
We then carried out an investigative dig to establish the archaeological significance of the area around the church.
During 2007 the workmen arrived and extensive repairs were carried out in the balconies enabling us to bring the entire church back into use for major public and civic events. We also commissioned major repairs to the church tower and a complete re-roofing for the nave and side chapels.
Christmas 2008 was a very significant milestone for Cornerstone as we finally achieved planning permission for our beautiful new entrance, designed to stand as a lantern on the busy corner of the church. This will enable us to offer access for everyone to community rooms in the crypt and gallery.
Now all we need is funding. Meanwhile small sub-projects of Cornerstone are being planned and carried out whenever funding becomes available.
