Meeting House Construction Update – August 21, 2013

Work progresses.  Each day more of the building is sided.  There has been a bit of a delay as we wait for the pilasters to be manufactured.  The pilasters are the trim pieces that look like columns, though they are basically flat) on the corners of the building.  There are pilasters to be installed on each level of the steeple and on all the corners of the Meeting House.  They should arrive by the beginning of October and then can be installed.  In the meantime there is siding at the corners which cannot be finished and the staging will remain around the steeple.

Lloyd’s Woodworking reports that the pews are being built and will be ready for delivery and installation in mid-October, as scheduled.  There will be eleven rows of pews, as there were in the former Meeting House, although there will be a couple of significant differences.  There will be four sections, two in the middle and one on each side, but the sections will be divided by an arm rest rather than by a partition.  There will be no kick board under the pews, which may mean it will be less noisy.  There will be several half-pews in scattered locations in order to allow for wheelchair access.  Each pew will be topped with mahogany trim, which will look like the piece that topped the former pews, but since the mahogany will be stained it will not need repeated painting.  There will also be a mahogany kick board on the end of each pew, on the aisle.  The Building Committee worked carefully to choose the book racks for the pews to be sure there would be enough room for hymnals, Bibles, various pew cards and pencils.

The chancel furniture is also being built by Lloyd’s Woodworking.  There will be a pulpit, a lectern, several chairs, two flower stands, a baptismal font and the communion table.  The top of the communion table will be created using a piece of mahogany donated to us by Anne and Dick Larson.  The aisle candlesticks to be used for candlelight services will also be created from pieces of the Larsons’ mahogany.  This is especially meaningful because Dick made the aisle candlesticks lost in the fire.  There will be a cross in the arch at the back of the chancel that is being created by church and Building Committee member John Jones.  It will be somewhat larger, though still proportional to the arch, and will be finished so the wood grain is visible.

Another piece of the former Meeting House that will be present in the new is the inscription from the bell.  Before the bell was scrapped the inscription was removed by Scott Daigle.  It will be featured in a display in the same location as the rope for ringing the new bell. 

I was surprised to read an article in one of the local papers that stated our Capital Campaign had raised a very small amount toward our goal because we have in fact been moving along fairly well.  Currently, because of donations from members and friends of the church and some additional funds received from the insurance company, we have reduced the amount we need to still raise by more than half.  We will still continue to raise funds and are still counting on the generosity of some who have not yet contributed, but we are well on the way to achieving our goal.  

Watch this space, our Face Book page (https://www.facebook.com/SomersCongUCC) and web site (www.somercongregaional.org)   page for pictures and updates.