Bridport’s Chapel in the Garden, has discovered a great fount of generosity in local builders, plumbers, heating engineers and suppliers. The 350-anniversary appeal has already borne fruit in an extremely practical and useful form. Firstly, the disaster of the floor in the kitchen had become increasingly unstable, to the extent that it was no longer safe to make a cup of tea . Faced with this serious problem Fru Jeune of the Chapel building committee looked for local support and found it. She said
“Once I had explained the problem to Ian Baker he offered to help. The floor was immediately and effectively remedied, and we are so grateful to Ian and his team at Baker Builds who were able to use materials kindly supplied by Fred Etherington of Bridport Building Supplies. The floor covering was donated by Carpet World and installed by Lea Windsor.”
Speaking to Ian Baker we heard “I wanted to contribute to the Chapels efforts to support the more vulnerable members of our society by donating my teams skills. Fixing the kitchen floor was my way of giving back.” And Fred Etherington of Bridport Building Supplies added “ As a local business we will always support worthwhile causes in our community, and supporting the chapel is a way of helping out an establishment who are supporting the more vulnerable people within this community” Ian Baker and Fred Ethrington
Fru added “We know the floor will need more long-term improvements following an in-depth survey of the cause of the problem, but at least we know it’s safe to make a cup of tea at our cafes on Wednesdays and Saturdays and our increasingly popular Warm Spaces project.”
The Warm Spaces initiative was set up by Bridport Town council who co-ordinated a scheme ensuring free community spaces were open on different days of the week and provided a grant towards heating bills. Warm Space at the Chapel opened last autumn and has become a hub of companionable community with a warm welcome for volunteers and visitors alike. As well as soup and a roll for lunch, there is always chatter as well as games, puzzles, listening and signposting to other useful services including the Community Fridge; a scheme to combat food waste in Bridport by making sure everything edible gets used up.
Thanks to an extremely generous donation of a night storage heater by Phoenix Heating, it is now possible to heat the room much more economically to a cosy level. Dan Hopkins of Phoenix Heating explained “As a heating engineer, I have come across a lot of problems ensuring people are kept warm as cheaply and effectively as possible, particularly with rising bills. The warm spaces project was the perfect cause for us to support, and a night storage heater, the best solution for the Chapel. I was happy to donate a heater and to install further heating on the ground floor rooms at the chapel at cost price.” James McGrady and Jack Scadding of Phoenix Heating
The Chapel in the garden runs a café every Wednesday and Saturday from 10 to 12, all are welcome. Services on Fridays at 6.00 (enter from the back of the Chapel) and on Sundays at 11.00 are held in the tradition of a loving welcome for all. ,