Christ Church Cathedral Bids Farewell to the Ballroom
Christ Church Cathedral Bids Farewell to the BallroomCathedral parishioners bid an enthusiastic farewell to the ballroom at Century Plaza Hotel on Sunday, November 22. To the tune of Farewell to Nova Scotia, they sang words composed for the occasion by the Rev. Dr. Ellen Clark-King, Cathedral Vicar.
“The kitchen now is all in place,
The roof still needs some more work! This is true,
But we will relish our own space, and soon the bells will ring out too.
Farewell to Century Plaza, you hot! ballroom,
With your ceilings low and crowded rows!
For we are going back to our dear Cathedral home
Where beauty will surround us and coffee flows.”
The parish was exiled to the literally hot hotel ballroom on Burrard Street at Comox when construction began on the Cathedral roof, kitchen and bell spire in May 2015.
The first Sunday of Advent, November 29 marked the parish’s return to Sunday worship in the renovated Cathedral. The scaffolding and hoarding are still in place, and will remain until near the end of the job, but the Cathedral community are back, and the building is open to the public. The kitchen expansion and renovation is complete, and the parish has resumed soup and sandwich food programs for the hungry. Work continues on the new zinc roof, but tasks that generated dust and dirt in the Cathedral interior are finished. Construction on the bell spire, clad in stained glass is scheduled to begin at the end of March, beginning of April, 2016 and it is hope it will be completed in the late spring/early summer.
On November 29, the sanctuary looked great, however, the organ is still wrapped to prevent any dust from invading the pipes and tracker mechanisms. Associate Warden, Ian Birtwell, ODNW who is the Cathedral’s point person on the project hopes that the organ will be unwrapped and ready to use by Christmas, but made it clear that the organ’s availability is a possibility and not a certainty.
The work is part of Raise the Roof, Ring the Bells, Feed the Hungry! capital project. For more information, visit http://raisetheroof.thecathedral.ca/ or contact Emily Pritchard, Director of Stewardship and Capital Development at Christ Church Cathedral by telephone at 604-682-6545.
PHOTOS
1. Cathedral deacon, the Reverend Liz Hamel stands by the stairs to the main entrance to welcome folks to worship, November 29, 2015
2. The custom built Kenneth Jones tracker action pipe organ (circa 2004) under wraps.
3. Ian Birtwell, ODNW
4 A full church
5. The Eucharistic Prayer on Advent I, November 29.
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