New Building: Weeks 30 and 31 - Roof tiles

After a slight delay while the lightning conductors were put in, the roof is now nearly finished. Here you can see the insulation in place:

A view from the top floor bedroom...

And here are the actual slates going on:

This next photo is taken from the top floor landing, as if we'd just come out of the lift. The new outer wall of the staircase and landing is one of the last bits of external brickwork left to do.

Turning round, you can see that the lift shaft is nearly at the top. When it is finished, it will be the highest point of the new building.

Meanwhile, in the library, the new brickwork where the old window used to be is done. We had to divide the window up so that we could put in the library gallery. The new bricks give you an idea of the height where that will be.

Bricks - the results

In July, some of our volunteers started selling bricks after Masses.

After a determined 10 weeks, enduring all kinds of weather conditions, we have a total in...

£5,842

Many thanks to the volunteers, and to everyone who bought a brick! It's not too late to make a donation, see the donations page to find out how.

New Building: Week 29 - Inside

Partitions are going up on the ground floor — dividing the new Parish office from the kitchen and bar. You can also see the concrete floor that has gone down.

A view from the bottom of the lift shaft:

Insulation has arrived, ready to line the new roof...

...which can be seen from a distance in the next photo:

And here are the slates ready to go on:

The old Parish office was a boxed-in part of the upper floor, which looked like this:

It was being used temporarily as a site office. The soon-to-be library is looking much more spacious, now that's gone!

Walking to church

Last Saturday, a group of young people (and Fr Daniel) took part in a sponsored walk from Bicester to Oxford, a journey of over 14 miles.

Here you can see the group early in the morning setting out from the church of the Immaculate Conception in Bicester.

And travelling through the countryside:

The route took them via Islip, where Saint Edward the Confessor was born and baptized.

They decided not to use the ford marked as a footpath on their map...

And here we have them safe and sound outside our church in Oxford, having raised over £600 for the new buildings!