Oxford Oratory: "Reaffirmation & Renewal"

Is it a race?

2012-01-13T16:41:00.001Z

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

2011-12-21T16:36:00.001Z

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?

2011-11-29T09:34:00.002Z

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

2011-11-19T17:37:00.002Z

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

2011-11-11T16:45:00.002Z

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...

2011-11-02T10:21:00.001Z

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 ...

2011-10-21T14:38:00.002+01:00

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.

Heads and Statues

2011-10-08T22:04:00.000+01:00

Ages ago we promised you a souvenir book to commemorate the twenty heads and fifty two statues on the reredos behind the High altar - it is ready at last. The book is of 40 pages in colour, A4 format: it illustrates every statue or head, with a little bit of text about them, and a record of those who sponsored the restoration, or those they wanted to commemorate. There will be copies in the Lodge at £10.00, or you can order your own thus:
go to www.lulu.com (don't forget the "com" with an em, or you get someone quite different!) and search for "Heads and Statues", Oxford Oratory, ID number 1123 1614, and see how to order a copy posted to your home.

Tri-Oratory Challenge

2011-09-27T16:12:00.001+01:00

As we told you a few weeks ago, Billy and Nick Griffiths have now established the all-comers record for walking to all three English Oratories and back. Many of you have already sponsored them, and many more paid up on Sunday, but in case you forgot, to save them the trouble of hounding you out, if you did sign up their sponsor forms (at any of the Three Oratories) and haven't yet paid, now's your chance. Cheques etc to Oxford Oratory Trust, and make sure you include Gift-aid information if relevant! You can use the JustGiving button - just put in the comments column a reminder that you are the one who sponsored them whenever it was.
In the meantime plans etc etc are very nearly finished and we hope to see some Action soon.

Gently getting on with it

2011-09-16T16:52:00.001+01:00

While the economic systems of the works continues to collapse, and banks crash in all directions, our project continues serenely on its way. Except that there is nothing much happening at the moment. Only, behind the scenes, engineers are producing beautiful technical drawings, and making complicated specifications about load-bearing concrete and the exact mix of cement. We will very soon be able to "go to tender" which means allowing half a dozen eager contractors to look at the plans and compete with each other on cost and speed. During which nothing much can happen except finishing the details of the "party wall agreement" with our neighbours. After a useful meeting with them this morning, they assured us that they had no concerns or worries apart from the details of how the construction can be done as quietly and cleanly as possible, especiallly during exam time. That is for surveyor to talk to surveyor. so there is not much for the Fathers of the Oratory to do now except contemplate the peaceful countryside.

Well, apart from the parish, the school the hospital, the prison, ... and anything else that takes our fancy.

open doors

2011-09-09T12:00:00.001+01:00

In common with thousands of places all over the Kingdom, the Oxford Oratory is listed in the "Open Doors" booklets produced for those who want to visit places and buildings during the weekend 10th to 11th September. Admittedly we are open every day of the year without charge anyway, but we found last year that lots of local residents came to look round for the first time.

This year we have put on a little exhibition in the Guild Room, to show them something about St Philip, something about Blessed JHN, and something about the past and future of our church. Including, of course, the New Building which we really hope to get going ere long. A chance for new people to become excited about the project, to sign on for an information function, or to make a major donation. Whenever there's an economic disaster, someone out there is making a great deal of money out of it - we just need to find that someone and make her feel guilty.

Nothing new in the way of pictures this week, so here's an open door we found recently.

bricks

2011-08-24T16:17:00.002+01:00

You may have been wondering when we were going to see the first bricks of our new building - well, wonder no more, here they are!

Actually, er, they are sample bricks, to satisfy the planners that the colour of our new building will not clash horribly with what went before. The red ones will blend in with the old school building, and the yellow ones match the facade of the Church. Difficult to compare clean new bricks with slightly grubby old ones, but they look convincing, don't they?

We shall want rather a lot. someone suggested 60,000 of them altogether. But if 60,000 people wanted to buy a brick at a pound a go, that would cover the cost of transporting them, laying them, and all.

So contributions, singly or in six-packs, to the Oxford Oratory Appeal (JustGiving button, or however you like) would all be gracefully accepted.

Meanwhile, those of you who have already sponsored the walkers who visited the Three Oratories can fulfil your pledges by callling in at the Porters' Lodge, where they have a list of names.

walking on and on ...

2011-08-15T21:03:00.001+01:00

As reported last week, our two intrepid walkers completed the trek from the Oxford Oratory, to the London Oratory, to the Birmingham Oratory and back here in less than two weeks, despite attacks by cows, dogs and other beasties. Now many of you have already sponsored them - you kindly signed lists outside the church here, or at London or B'rum. So it's time to call in the revenue!

If you are in Oxford, call in on the Porter's Lodge next to the church, where they have the full list of those who had agreed to sponsor, pay up (cash or cheques to "Oxford Oratory Appeal") and they will check your name off on the list. Simple, really!
There will be a chance after Masses in September, when everyone's back from WYD and other excitements, to meet the boys and settle up.

But of course there is more - every year the Oxfordshire Historic Churches Trust run a sponsored "Ride & Stride" on the second Saturday in September (10th September this year), to visit as many historic churches as possible in the time; half the proceeds go directly to the church of your choice (that's us!) and the other half to the OHCT, which gave is a hefty donation two years ago for the restoration of the Relic Chapel. Forms from OHCT or from our Porter's Lodge. You can even be sponsored for sitting in the church and being nice to visitors that day!

At the Mother House at last

2011-07-31T21:10:00.001+01:00

Our two valient walkers, Nick and Billy, have successfully negotiated the Midlands and reached the Oratory in Brummagem in time for Mass this morning; they received a special blessing from the Provost and struck out at once for home, expecting to reach Oxford towards the end of this week. That means the entire trip will probably take just on two weeks, leaving them a moment to recover before setting out for Spain and World Youth Day. (No, not walking all the way, they will have to cross the sea somehow!)

It appears the journey from London to Birmingham was not entirely through waterless desert - and they were joined one evening by the Support Team who have been following them with a camera and clean socks.

Sponsorship still coming in - you can use the JustGiving button, remember to mention the Three Oratories Walk in the "message" section.

Wolves on the Misty Mountains

2011-07-28T10:16:00.003+01:00

Our intrepid walkers have been striding out in faith with great vigour since they left Oxford a week ago. Not without adventures - the very first night they were attacked by wolf-like creatures as they neared the misty heights of the Chilterns - they camped out in Longbottom, had to swim the River Wye (? some mishtake shurely? Isn't the Wye in the West country? Oh, another River Wye, I see...) and yes, they discovered there really is an Oratory in London, and the Provost, one Fr Ignatius Harrison, was there to greet them. Their back-up team took the opportunity to extract yet more sponsorship money from the natives of Kensington and Chelsea. After that, Billy and Nick set off to follow the Grand Onion Canal through map-less wastes and passing legendary places like Tring and Milton Keynes. Birmingham looms!

Sponsorship has been coming in from all over the place including through our "JustGiving" button, remembering to put in a remark about the "three-Oratories walk" in the space for "messages".

Striding out in Faith

2011-07-21T14:51:00.001+01:00

Here are Billy and Nick as they set out from the Oratory on their three-cornered walk to find Three English Oratories. It's Thursday 21st July and they are heading towards London to see if it is true there is an Oratory there. If there is, then they will follow the Grand Union Canal to Birmingham to rediscover our Mother House. And then they will return to Oxford with news and reports of whatever they find. The total distance is rather a long way. Their father, Julian, will be keeping an eye on them and following the route with the support team - he has promised to send us news and photographs from time to time.

Now if you admire their courage and enterprise, you can express that in all sorts of interesting ways. For instance, any donation via our JustGiving page can be accompanied by a message "in support of Three-Oratories walk" or something of the sort (donations have started coming in already).

The Fathers thought they ought to start with a blessing.

Digging Holes and Filling them In again

2011-07-15T11:33:00.002+01:00

Parishioners and admirers may have noticed yet more holes being dug in the old school playground, and neatly filled in again. All of that was the engineers wanting to know exactly what is going on below ground, so they can plan the foundations without interfering in the drains, or plan drains without interfering in existing foundations, and they can be sure it all rests on a firm foundation so we don't have embarassing collapses and subsidies in fifty years' time.

So now we know exactly what's down there. The "gravel terrace" remains neatly at 1.2 metres below surface, except for that mysterious round hole which the archaeologists identified last summer, and which we thought might be a Bronze-Age burial pit. We now know it's 4.5 metres deep, and therefore certainly not a B.A. burial pit - it must be a post-mediaeval well. Oh, well. We did find the footings for an old garden wall, running just beside the church wall, which must have been recycled as the back wall of the cottages which stood where the playground now is. At the top is the old wall, crumbling, beside the church wall.

Here is the foundation-laying ceremony in 1873. The cottages are on the left, the brick wall visible behind the crowds. Oscar Wilde is lounging on the scaffolding in the foreground; Bishop Ullathorne is the one in the mitre in the middle.

we have not, after all, struck oil

2011-07-05T09:02:00.001+01:00

The geo-technicians have been back, testing the soil to see if we had any interesting petrochemicals, heavy metals or other interesting mineral deposits under our building site. Oh well, it was worth hoping. The late John-Paul Getty I used to say the secret of success was "get up early, work hard, strike oil." We thought we were well on the way, with two-thirds of that programme completed.

Here are the geologians drilling a hole. We told them the Gravel Terrace lies 1.2 metres below surface, 'cos we've seen it - its lovely, level, firm, river-deposited gravel, drains well, ideal foundation. And they said they had gone down and down and found it at 4.5 metres. Which we said was silly. So they tried again, and again, and everywhere else they met it at 1.2 metres. It seems their very first probe was exactly where the one archaeological feature was - you remember last summer - just one circular hole going down through the gravel. We thought it was a Bronze-Age burial pit, but at that depth it is beginning to look much more like a post-mediaeval well. So no Bronze-Age gold, no serious chemical pollution, nothing to prevent us building happily on the site. Except time and, er, money.

data outlets and gas inlets

2011-06-20T17:00:00.001+01:00

The planning has now got to the intricate stage of determining exactly how where and why we should have all the fixtures and fittings in each room. How many power sockets does the office need? Should the library have a television aerial? (NO!!) Should the WCs be flushed with re-cycled rainwater and if so do they need a separate set of pipes ? (YES !) Should there be smoke detectors in the organ loft? (NO - far too much incense smoke!) Should those of us who dislike moths and dust-mites have the option of a room without fitted carpet? (YES!) And so on and so fifth. Not very exciting, except that it means we are having to envisage exactly what each room will look like, and what will be happening in it.
What can we show you? the great crested grebes have grown too big to sit on Ma-grebe's back - so how about a dreadful Hartebeeste instead?

All Statues Sponsored and Correct

2011-06-20T16:51:00.005+01:00

WE now have an elegant Commemorative Book about the Heads and Statues - it runs to 40 pages of A4, in colour, illustrating each head or statue and giving some information about the saint concerned, with the name of the sponsor when given. Copies are available in the Lodge at £10.00, but you can order your own directly by asking Lulu. Find her at http://www.lulu.com/ and ask for "Heads and Statues", reference numberf 1123 1614.

We had to restore the Sanctuary in 2008 in a hurry, because a stone fell during Mass. So there wasn't time to gather sponsorship in advance, or to apply for grants. Infuriatingly, no grant-giving trust will make grants for work already completed, but that is no reason why individual benefactors should not.

Behind the altar there are fifty two statues of saints and angels, and above them there are twenty heads of saints. All of them were cleaned and restored by Taylor Pearce of New Cross. The statues were all taken out, crated and carted to South London, where they were cleaned, the missing bits restored, and the gilding refreshed. The heads wouldn't come out, so were restored in situ. We have calculated that it cost £350 for each of the heads, and £750 for each of the statues.

In the event this gambit raised over £50,000 (because many of the donations werre Gift-Aided) which covered the entire cost of restoring the statues and the screen in which they stand, with the alabaster spire over the tabernacle.

Here is the full list.
Twenty Heads - on the Gospel side:
a Blessed John Forest
b Blessed Margaret Pole
c Saint Thomas More
d Saint John Fisher
e Saint Thomas Aquinas
f Saint Anselm
g Saint Jerome
h Saint Leo
i Saint Athanasius
j Saint Ephraem the Syrian.
           on the Epistle Side:
k Saint Basil
l Saint John Chrysostom
m Saint Benedict
n Saint Bruno
o Saint Francis of Assisi
p Saint Bernard
q Saint Edmund Campion
r Saint Oliver Plunkett
s Saint Alexander Briant
t Blessed John Storey

Fifty two Statues - upper deck, Gospel side:
1 Saint David
2 St Columba
3 St Edmund of Abingdon
4 St Edward the Confessor
5 St Frideswide
6 St Dunstan
7 St Michael
8 St Bede
9 St Hilda
10 St Alban
11 St Helen
12 St Gregory the Great
13 Our Lady
      lower deck, Gospel Side:
27 St Andrew
28 St Charles Borromeo
29 St Stanislaus Kostka
30 St Francis Xavier
31 St Dominic
32 St Henry the Emperor
33 St Raphael
24 St Augustine of Hippo
35 St Gertrude
36 St Ambrose
37 St Julia
38 St Peter
39 St John the Evangelist

        Upper deck, Epistle side:
14 St Joseph
15 St Augustine of Canterbury
16 St Winifred
17 St Chad
18 St Edith
19 St Cuthbert
20 St Gabriel
21 St Thomas of Canterbury
22 St Bertha
23 St Hugh
24 St Simon Stock
25 St Thomas of Hereford
26 St George.
         lower deck, Epistle Side:
40 St Mary Magdalen
41 St Paul
42 St Cecily
43 St Sebastian
44 St Hubert
45 St Monica
46 St Uriel
47 St Ignatius
48 St Aloysius (Luigi) Gonzaga
49 St Teresa
50 St Francis de Sales
51 St Vincent de Paul
52 St Patrick

This list differs slightly from the one in our parish history "St Aloysius, Oxford, the Third English Oratory" (millennium edition 2000, still available at £2.95 from the Lodge) because some of the statues had been wrongly positioned after the disastrous interventions in the 1950s. We have put them back in their original order, as ashown on the oldest photograohs.

Some saints have been sponsored by individuals on their own behalf, others for children or godchildren, in memory of the dead, or anonymously. Others are sponsored by two or more people together.

Here are the Saints being crated up.

and here is the low-loader with two and a half tons of saint on board;

Chesterton Library

2011-06-13T12:31:00.003+01:00

We were delighted to see that Fr Ian Ker's new biography of Chesterton mentions the fact that the Chesterton Library is to be housed here, once we have the first phase of the New Building up. Although G.K.C. himself did not have a personal connection with the Oxford Oratory, he knew many people who did - some of whom still come to Mass here every Sunday. But he is part of the great Catholic Revival in literature and spirituality - that flowering of lay Catholic writers that was so prominent in the first half of the last century. Hilary Belloc was of course intimately connected with the Oratory, being at school under J.H.N. himself in Birmingham, and an undergraduate in Oxford. In connection with the Chesterton books we are also collecting books by and on Belloc, Maurice Baring, Christopher Dawson and the others, not forgetting our own J.R.R.Tolkien, another Oratory boy who came to Mass here regularly.

The detailed drawings for the new Library have just arrived - rather technical, so here's the artist's impression of what it will look like.

Tri-Oratory Challenge

2011-06-02T17:46:00.006+01:00

Summer, as we said, and sponsored sporting events are all the rage. During this summer Billy Griffiths, Nick Grifiths and Ben Sivewright are going to link up the Three English Oratories, walking from Oxford to London, London to Birmingham, and Birmingham back to Oxford. Rather a long trek! Much of it can be done along river or canal towpaths, so they don't have to use the Newman Centenary Motorway which was built in 1990 to link London to Birmingham via Oxford.

Now if you want to know more, try 3oratorieswalk.blogspot.com

They have their own sponsorship forms, or you could just give using our own JustGiving procedure - in the comments column say this is in admiration of Billy, Nick and Ben or something to that effect!

Here they are, lined up against the church they are going to support. it's up to you to support them.

enterprising fun raisers

2011-05-25T12:33:00.002+01:00

It's spring, and a young man's thoughts turn to sponsored events to raise money for our building and restoration reaffirmation and renewal campaign!

Well, they have already finished summer in NEW ZEALAND, where Eamonn McDonald walked for 70 miles along the Queen Charlotte Track in the South Island, during the earthquake time. He raised £4,500, shared out among four causes, so we got our quarter, a very useful contribution. Eamonn writes "I would be very grateful if you could remember the vistoms and families in your prayers and Masses and especially the Catholic Diocese of Christchurch, which lost its Cathedral, and the many Parishes now without a Church."

Many thanks, Eamonn! Here he is being put ashore to begin the great walk.

Watch this space for news of a forthcoming walk by three boys connecting up the three English Oratories!

engineers and surveyors

2011-05-21T16:43:00.001+01:00

After a marathon meeting, we are getting closer to agreeing on Specifications, little details like where should the power sockets be located for the washing machine, what calibre of electric cable goes to the new office, no we don't want a television in the Library, thanks, but yes, we still do want to be able to show EWTN and cover all future Papal Visits to Birmingham in the Hopkins Room. We are pretty well there when it comes to the plans, room layout etc; but it is important to make sure all the pipes and cables are in the right places before they get sealed in under plaster.

Serious discussion still about various forms of heating; solid biofuel, natural gas, thermonuclear, geo-thermal, photovoltaic ... what is going to be cheap and efficient both long-term and short term? Will today's technology still be serviceable in twenty years' time? At present the geo-thermal looks very attractive, having seen (and felt) it in action at Douai Abbey - that means drilling holes into the core of the earth to pick up heat from below. As long as it doesn't cause volcanic eruptions.

So there is still not much to show, as we warned you all along. By the time builders actually move on site (and we are still wondering how they get onto site without blocking the church), half the work is over.

And in the meantime? We were anxious, as undoubtedly all of you were, about not finding the Great Crested Grebes near their nest site, but all is well, they have just moved further up river. Here are three little not-yet-crested Grebelings sitting on the back of Ma-grebe while Pa-grebe tries to feed them.

underground, overground, ...

2011-05-16T08:52:00.002+01:00

Visitors may have noticed some mysterious yellow chalk marks on the ground outside the church and in the old playground. They are the result of the underground survey necessary before we start digging any more holes. They have traced the route of the gas mains to the church and the house, which we now know are safely out of the way, they found where the water pipes and electricity cables go, and have had great fun exploring the main drains. And they found two mysterious anomalies, lines of magnetic disturbance running parallel to each other, which may be the exhaust trails from a space craft but just might be old garden wall footings. They were found by Ground Penetrating Radar, which basically does what we used to do with a hazel twig but more respectably.

Then there are a couple of bright yellow triangles. These are what we used to know as "Trig Points", the basis of a new and more accurate survey of the site to make quite sure the building fits together as promised.

in the meantime discussions continue on the finer points of construction, the alternatives of cavity walls or solid load-bearing brick walls, the locations of electric sockets, computer cables, smoke detectors, all the little details. Yes, it all takes time, which is why it is still not expected that we can begin the real work until the autumn. We will try to keep you suppied with pictures until then. No luck yet in snapping the little Crested Grebes riding on their mother's back - in fact we couldn't find them last time we looked, and there were disturbing signs of fox activity. We remain hopeful. In the meantime, here's a Ground Penetrating Radar.