A Message from
the Rector
St. Bridget’s Church and Community Centre have played an important role in the West Kirby community for centuries. Our aim is to provide, alongside other church and community centres in West Kirby, facilities for spiritual, cultural, educational, social, youth and fitness activities in high quality modern buildings.
I hope you will support us in our efforts to improve and extend the centre and ensure its continuing role for future generations and our ministry to this community.
John Bleazard
Rector, St. Bridget’s Church
St Bridget’s Church and Community Centre
A Church has stood on the site for over 1000 years providing a focus for the West Kirby community.
Across the churchyard lies the Community Centre incorporating the old school rooms built in 1825. Over the years the centre has continued to serve the Church and community. The pyramidal roofed building was added later and now houses the Charles Dawson Brown Museum and in 1969 the centre was extended to provide more accommodation for the Church and community.
Uses of the centre are varied and include Church and community groups of all ages - a pre-school group; Church Sunday Club; St Bridget's School; dancing; 
yoga; painting and kneeler embroidery; an elderly persons' luncheon club and bookings by other groups and users. Recently some groups, such as the yoga and dancing groups have had to move elsewhere because of the unsuitability of the floor of the hall for such uses which underlines the need to redevelop the centre to the latest standards. In addition, the Charles Dawson Brown Museum contains artefacts providing a snapshot of religious and secular life in West Kirby
The current Church Centre lies within the attractive West Kirby Old Village Conservation Area which includes the Church, the Churchyard, the old school rooms, the Rectory and Rectory Field. A view of the Charles Dawson Brown Museum, the old schoolrooms and the Church tower behind are shown above.
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OUR NEW CENTRE
The new centre will be handed over to the Parochial Church Council on 18th May 2012 and thereafter we will spend a week moving things back into the centre, taking delivery of new items and getting it ready for use by Church and community. Please bear with us over the next few weeks while we set ourselves up with all we need for the future operation - we have a wonderful new centre but still have to move in and purchase what we need for it to run as we wish it to for you - the users.
There will be two events marking our great achievement:
20th May - Service of Blessing
- after the 10.00 Family Service at St Bridget's we will have a short Service of Blessing followed by refreshments. This is your first chance as the congregation to explore the new centre.
26th May - Formal Opening
- a formal opening ceremony (invitation only due to the need to limit numbers) will be held at 2.00 when Montse Benitez will open the new centre. Also present will be the Mayor of Wirral, the Bishop of Birkenhead and Esther McVey M.P. At 3.00 the doors of the new centre will be opened to the public and all are welcome to come in and look round. Refreshments will be served until 5.00.
Our thanks to all those who have supported us over the last 6 years and helped make this happen and also to Nobles Construction, our contractors, Alisdair MacDonald, our architect, Roger Hennell, our quantity surveyor and all the other people who have helped us in constructing and fitting the centre.
THE WORKS START!
Parochial Church Council decided on 12th May 2011 to proceed with the redevelopment of our Church Centre so that we have a modern, accessible and sustainable centre for Church and community into the future.
Since October 2006 the appeal has raised £916,000, a wonderful achievement for Church and community. As a result the Parochial Church Council CC decided that we have sufficient funds to cover the cash-flow required to pay the contractor, fees and VAT and carry us through to the end of the project – but only if we continue to raise funds through events and give through donations and standing orders until the work is completed and beyond. Some aspects of the project (such as solar panels, a replacement screen in the old schoolrooms and audio-visual equipment and also extra tables, chair and other small items) have been excluded from the project for the time being so that we could make a start at this time when construction prices are low. So now we have made the commitment to start, if you have not given yet please make a donation, preferably gift-aided, or if you have, consider extending your standing order or topping up previous donations.
The contractor, Nobles Construction of Liverpool, started work on 25th July after the St Bridget’s term finished with the planned completion date of 20th April 2012.
Click "PROGRESS" in the menu to the right to see the latest photographs from the site and a Progress Report.
If there are issues you wish to raise concerning the construction please ring Martin Harrison on 0151-625-8535.
Our deep thanks for all the support from St Bridget’s and Caldy Churches and the local community which has enabled us to go ahead. We now look forward to completion and the day of opening!!
Martin Harrison
Project Leader, St Bridget’s Community Centre Redevelopment.
