Is it a race?

Construction of new Libraries is always an exciting thing. Definite decisions on our new Building including the New Library are expected soon (yes, we keep saying that), and we have taken a significant first step by packing up and placing in store a large proportion of the Oratory's collections of books.

Here they are, boxed up and ready to go. We have been very kindly loaned the use of a warm, dry, safe storage area for boxes, as well as a certain amount of furniture which we hope will be useful in the New Building. But it does mean that for the coming months we will be unable to browse in some of our more interesting ancient books, including the Acta Sanctorum and the Corpus Byzantini, not to mention secular history, archaeology and some other smaller classes, and a selection of the less likely books in other areas. Oh well, if really needed we can drive to the store, locate the relevant box and extract a book quicker than our competitor could get a book back from Swindon.

Our competitor? There is, we find, another library being built in the city. Who will finish first? Up to you, really, and, yes, there is still time for you to have the library named after you for a consideration...

Another Library. But we have books they haven't got.

Like a mighty tortoise

Where have we got to on our Building Plans? A significant step (one small step for tortoisekind) because we have now agreed on a Contractor. We are not announcing the name just yet, because we are waiting to see if their sums come out the same as ours which pretty well agreed with those of our surveyors. But what we expect is that we shall start on Phase I of the building after dividing it into five or six Steps so that we don't take on more than we can pay for. The contractors seem happy with this, and are just costing the Steps.

Step A will be the building or construction work, that means we have the whole of the new block built, covered in and made weathertight, and the building modifications to the old school building completed. Then the Crane (or Stork) can be taken off site. That should be done, we trust, by late spring (the Crane may fly away before Easter).

By then of course more money will have come bubbling in, as people see that at last, at long last, builders are actually and truly on site. Which should mean that we can tell them to get on with Steps B, C, D and so on without a break.

It has certainly taken a long time, and now, of course nothing will happen until January. But we are getting there...



And the fund-raising? Oh, we didn't tell you? Pledges and Donations have now gone significantly over the Two Million mark. No, we mean two million POUNDS - what that will be in Marks we don't yet know. But it's a lot more than two million Euros.

Not that there's all that much in the bank, as we've explained before. So if you are feeling enthusiastic donations can still be made, either by cheque, used notes, or through JustGiving or the American Fund. But perhaps, we hope you won't be offended, if we say not in Euros, please.

Merry Christmas!

A Crane or no Crane?

We have been studying the Tender Documents in some depth. There are now two front runners, both of whom have suggested we could save quite a lot of money by changing the design slightly so that we do not need to have a Crane. You know, one of those massive things that dominate the Oxford skyline as seen from Wytham Woods. This doesn't affect the plans at all, just the method of construction. We are investigating this. In some ways it would draw attention to our site, if we had a massive great thing oversailing the Church, but the Oratory has always tried to avoid drawing attention to itself. Yes, we know, we do need world-wide attention to keep the donations flowing in...how to resolve that one? To the mere layman it seems that the sheer weight of stuff that would have to be got onto the playground site to build a Crane (foundations, ballast, the Crane tower and boom, the operators cabin...) would be more than the weight of stuff the Crane would then be able to lift onto the site. But then, some members of the Community had hoped to be allowed to climb up and see the site from above.

We shall know soon enough, and will pass on the news,

and incidentally, that's a Stork, not a Crane.

Tender care

The tenders have now come in for our new building - five out of the six companies that were invited have offered to build us a new accommodation block (so that Fr Richard no longer has to live in the cellar, and we can consider taking future novices or guests) better rooms for the parish with a proper office, servery and securely locked bar, a splendid library not only for our own clergy and those training for the priesthood, but also for the scholarly public wishing to consult the Chesterton Library, the Gaisford Library, and our own unrivalled collections. That, with the foundations and "services" for our new Newman Chapel, the connecting Baptistery, and the elegant fire-escape that is dignified with the style and name of an Italian cortile.

Three of the tenders were within the price range we expected, two of them offered to keep to the timetable suggested, which is 38 weeks beginning on Tuesday 3 January. Our surveyors are going to do a detailed analysis of the tenders, and advise us on which to accept.   But it does really look as if, at last, after so many months and indeed years of preparation, we are going to make a start.

That means, of course, that the existing parish centre will be out of action, and you will not be allowed to watch building progress - but we will ply you with photographs and progressive reports.    No photographs yet, however, so we will have to make do with another curious creature.

No wrinkles or crinkles in the old Shool

We have been intrigued by many items in the 938-page Tender Document (with supplements) that is being studied by the contractors who are eager to work on our new building. Among hazards which the contractors may encounter are "live services on site", which we would have thought rather predictable for a church.  We are reassured to know that the use of explosives and materials liable to spontaneous combustion is not permitted, and that on no account is polychlorinated bihenyl to be introduced. Intriguing too that "swimming pool ventilation is to be provided" - we hadn't realised a swimming pool was included in the site - where can we fit it in? It is also impressive that the new paint is guaranteed not to "slump, flow, crack, flake, split, sag, pit, bubble, blister, float, effloresce, craze, shrink, break, wrinkle or crinkle."

A reference to the British Wood Preserving and Damp-Proofing Association is fascinating. Where do they meet? Are they planning a Christmas party? And what do they talk about over the mince pies?  We hear also about "wrought-iron crumpets" (rather indigestible we would have thought), and "reinforcement bars, deformed, in beds" (uncomfortable, perhaps intended only for Lent?).  Under the heading of "philosophy for the electrical distribution" we hear that "all busbars will be fully shrouded". Do the philosophers drink in the bus bars while wearing their shrouds?

But what is most interesting of all is that on the Room Data Sheets the existing building is consistently called the "Old Shool Building". Now in fact that is quite correct - for some time in the 1980s, the upper room of the Parish Centre was used as a schul while the synagogue in Richmond Road was being rebuilt. That is why there is a mezuza by the outer door, and another on the door at the top of the stairs.
A mezuza? did we hear you ask. It's a little metal tube which contains a slip of paper with the words of the Shema'

"Shema, Yisrael, Adonai elohenu Adonai echad ...   Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God is one LORD; and you shall love the LORD your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.    And these words which I command you this day ... you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)



The mezuzoth are still there today, and we shall take care to rescue them before building work starts.

moving steadily on...

Contractors have begun visiting the site to tender for how much they think they can get away with charging. They don't know what our own Quantity Surveyor has already told us! They agree it is a challenging and difficult site, and we have to acknowledge that if we were building on a greenfield far away it would be much cheaper.

People may have wondered, over the years, why after all our efforts in publicity and planning and fundraising, nothing has yet been begun. The reality is that for any building project these days it takes literally years to get the plans to planning permission, then on to tender, and thence to actual construction. To say nothing of all the surveys, geological, archaeological, theological, or just plain logical which had to be done. Plus technical advice on VAT, Rights o'Light, the Party Wall, etc., etc, usw. We have never actually stopped during all these years.

It is true that once the foundations have been laid, half the money has been spent.

And the fundraising? No sooner had we started when the entire world economy collapsed in flaming ruin, with scenes unparalleled since the Fall of the Roman Empire. Which makes it all the more impressive that our Sunday Mass attendance (average 979 this year) has been able to raise very close to two million pounds. That's £2,000 each - remembering that half of our people seem to be under eighteen.

Anyway, we trust now that within a few weeks we can tell you about the successful tender and award of contract, and not long after you should see signs of energetic work.

in the meantime, patience ...

waiting, waiting ...

Our building plans have now "Gone to Tender", which means that six eager contractors are wading through 938 pages of information, plus six folders of plans and drawings, so that they can give us a price, and a timetable, for our long-awaited New Building (Phase I). It is getting very urgent to start - the latest excitement is the discovery of damp in our existing Library, resulting in having to move a lot of Books quickly, and a good crop of Mushrooms.  More and more of our Books are having to go into store until we can place them triumphantly on the new Shelves, which we hope devoutly we shall be doing this time next year.  (Many thanks to the Brothers who came and helped move the Books.)

Oh, it has taken a long time, from first dreaming up the project, through various competing designs, to agreeing an Architect, Surveyor and Engineer, to getting Planning Permission, to achieving an amicable arrangement with our Neighbours (who have now professed themselves content with the effect of our new building) to this present stage of Going to Tender.

And there will be weeks yet while they Tender, and we consider their offers, and then their "Run-in" - but surely ere long we shall see diligent Activity in our Site, and then the New Building will spring rapidly out of the Ground.



and don't forget, you can order a copy of the souvenir book about the Statues and how you sponsored them directly from Lulu; Or there are some in the Lodge at £10.00 each.