NEW PEWS!

On April 21, 2020, Parish Council voted unanimously to approve a recommendation from the Re-Ordering Working Group to renew our church seating with locally made, custom built, movable and stackable pews made out of the old-growth fir of our existing pews.

The Re-Ordering Group spent over a year carefully considering the current and potential uses of our main worship space, and researched over twenty options for new seating, including sourcing two quotes from local manufacturers for reusing our existing pews.

The “new” pews will be custom built by a local carpentry and design shop. They are a beautiful, new, and eco-friendly take on the traditional look of church pews, and the flexible seating will enhance the use of our worship space for both traditional services and new opportunities. They can be placed into our customary configuration for traditional worship services or moved into any number of optional seating arrangements for alternative worship services, concerts, weddings, community meetings, and other events. They can even be removed altogether to create a large open space under our beautiful stained-glass windows and vaulted ceiling.

Each pew is 5’9” long and weighs 25 kgs. (56 lbs). They are designed to abut without any gaps to form long rows, and can be stacked up to five high for easy reconfiguration or removal. The curved design of the rear legs creates stability even when one leans on the top rail, and the seating geometry is exactly the same as our existing pews, for ease of reconstruction and to keep costs down. Book racks on the back of each pew hold our hymnals and other items which do not need to be removed for stacking and storage.

Trustees have approved an initial expenditure from the proceeds of the Capital Campaign and reconstruction of our pews will begin very soon.

Special thanks are due to the Re-Ordering Working Group: Ursula Bell, Pat Brandon, Stuart Hallam, Erin McDougall, Brian Mix, Michael Murray, Sarah Ruddle, Barry Smith, Mike Wenzlaff, and Duncan Wilson.

Click here to read the full recommendation of the Re-Ordering Working Group.