Anglican Church clears out parish hall

By Lookout on May 29, 2019 with Comments 0

Left: A concept illustration of the new building. Right: Present day St. Peter and St. Paul parish hall.

Peter Mallett, Staff Writer ~

Parishioners at the historic St. Peter and St. Paul Anglican Church are making final preparations for this weekend’s “moving on sale” of hall furnishings.

The historic 152-year-old church located at 1379 Esquimalt Road isn’t moving, rather it is the parish hall contents that are being sold off.

The hall will be deconstructed to make way for a five story building to house the new church hall and ministry centre and a 24 unit seniors affordable rental housing complex.

Sharon Wickware, moving on sale organizer, says emptying out the parish hall before demolition is emotional for church parishioners.

“This change is not something that happened overnight and has been in the planning process for the last 10 years; the process of saying goodbye remains very disconcerting for many of our members,” said Wickware. “Nonetheless, many parishioners are also looking forward to the renewal and moving this project forward.”

In 2018, St. Peter and St. Paul received zoning approval from the Township of Esquimalt to replace its parish hall and community centre with a new building. The construction project is being overseen by The Anglican Diocese of British Columbia and B.C. Housing. Demolition work on the parish building is slated to begin soon and a ground-breaking event is planned for later this year.

The moving sale will commence at 9 a.m. on June 1. Items for sale include tables and chairs, office style dividers, a large movie projection screen, two deep freezers and two household kitchen stoves, bulletin boards, dishes, pottery, numerous items from the church’s arts and craft club, a wooden fireplace facade, Sunday School toys, and a Nintendo Wii.

Proceeds from the sale will be collected and put into a church building fund.

For more information on the church and their building plans visit the St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s Anglican Church website www.stpeterandpaul.ca