St Brendan's Premises Project Board

The board first met in May 2009 with the remit of directing and overseeing an extensive church premises refurbishment programme at St Brendan’s. Sadly, years of neglect had taken its toll on the fabric and facilities of the church. Urgent remedial action was necessary to repair the roof, replace fascia boards, rainwater fall-pipes, windows and doors. The central heating system was also obsolete. The church lighting and electrical installation also needed to be upgraded to meet parishioners’ needs and modern day safety standards. Internal decorations were dirty and dingy and floor coverings were in urgent need of replacement.

As part of the overall goal of re-invigorating St Brendan’s Parish spiritually, materially & socially, an extensive consultation exercise was held so that parishioners could have their say about what they would like to see in the refurbishment work. Everyone applauded the initiative to undertake the much needed work. However a unanimous request was for a parish community room. The board therefore developed plans to convert the old sacristy into the Harbour Room, which is now extensively utilised by a diverse range of parish groups, and importantly provides an ideal meeting place for after Mass refreshments every Sunday.

The completion of an extensive eighteen month programme of building and refurbishment work was marked by a Mass of Celebration & Blessing & Opening of the Harbour Room on Saturday 24th April 2010. The celebrations and associated social events were well supported by our parish family.

Since that time, the church car park has been re-surfaced, the gardens and grounds are being maintained and options are now being considered as to the future of the vacant presbytery.

We are proud that we now have a beautiful and worthy place of worship at St Brendan’s. As we go forward with ‘Faith in the Future’, we can be confident that our church and Harbour Room can meet our parish community’s needs for today and in the future.