Hooray! Our new Annexe is now officially open!!

It was a busy morning at St Ann's today.  After the 10am Mass and the May crowning of the Statue of Our Lady we moved straight away to gather outside the main door to the new Annexe for the official Blessing and Opening.

All eyes and ears on Fr Míċeál as he begins the blessing of our new Annexe . . . 

The moment of truth . . .! 

Something tells me we like our cake at St Ann's - not just one magnificent celebration cake but two!

A few hungry servers will soon make short work of the edibles!

Once more, a huge thank you to all who have worked so hard to make this moment possible and to all who have contributed in any way.  This much-needed facility of new meeting rooms will be of great benefit to our parish for many, many years to come.

A final tour . . .

It's been a little while since an update on the Annexe so here is a final tour around the building, inside and out.

We hope to be able to announce the date of the Official Opening very soon. As they say, watch this space . . . And watch the newsletter, Facebook and Twitter too to stay up to date.

First of all some shots taken around the outside of the building.  The grass is beginning to grow at last . . .

The view as you enter the annexe from the main entrance . . . 

With the room-divider open, looking into one of the two identical meeting rooms . . .

This shot gives an idea of the space available when using both rooms together for a larger meeting . . .

And another view of the same space from a different angle . . .

This will be your view as you approach the main exit on the way out of the annexe.  The meeting rooms are on the left-hand side in the photo and the kitchen and toilets on the right-hand side.

All the windows have dark roller blinds which will be useful when using a projector . . .

The smart kitchenette.  A big improvement on the facilities in St Ann's Room and hopefully will make it a pleasure to make tea and coffee for meetings in the annexe.

You can probably guess what's behind this door . . . ! 

Correct - A very important facility!  

There are also separate facilities for ladies and gentlemen.

 The entrance doors leading from the hall into the annexe which many people will already have seen, giving a tantalising glimpse inside the annexe via the glass panels . . .

That finishes our brief tour.  Don't forget please watch out for news of the official opening.

Of eggs and omelettes . . .

We all know the saying, 'you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs'. That saying comes to mind looking at the 'apparent' chaos in some of these photos.  It may look a bit of a mess now, if we're being honest, but there is no doubt that it will produce a great finished product.

And here's a prime example . . .

The men here are preparing the footings for the retaining wall in front of the new entrance to the Annexe.

Actually, our hard-working contractors are a tidy bunch!  Considering this is a construction site, things are looking pretty organised.

They are also excellent at clearing up after themselves.  This was the scene in the foyer of the hall yesterday as the electricians have been busy all week installing new wiring.  Those parishioners who went into the hall for coffee after the 10am Mass today would have had no idea about this as the area had been tidied up beautifully and the floor swept and washed. Well done ITC!

Getting closer . . .

Here's a view from the Annexe looking through the entrance into the hall via the space which was the old disabled WC.

Some more photos of the Annexe interior . . .

Despite the rain, our contractors have been continuing apace with the Annexe building.  I'm sure they are very grateful that they have a roof to work under at the moment!

The horizontal casing on the ceiling is the line of the partition between the two meeting rooms.

Here you can see the corridor between the meeting rooms on the right-hand side and the cloakrooms and kitchenette on the left-hand side.

"Yoohooo! Anybody there?"  I certainly hope not. This is a view that not many of us will recognise as it is looking from the new Annexe into the old disabled access WC in the hall.  This is the 'breakthrough' point from the existing hall to the annexe. Of course a new  WC with better disabled access will be installed elsewhere to replace the old one.

And finally, here is a shot of what will be the main outside entrance to the Annexe.

That's the end of today's tour around the site . . .  

A different perspective . . .

Today we have some new photos of the Annexe build taken from within the perimeter fence so be ready for some new, interesting views . . . 

(Please remember to click on the photo if you'd like to see an enlargement.)

The roof from inside . . . 

A bit gloomy this one but is it any wonder given the awful weather we're experiencing.  This gives  a good idea of the size of the Annexe.  Our two workers seem a little camera shy!

Here you see the space in between the meeting rooms and the existing hall kitchen. The blocked-up doorway you can see is what used to be door from the hall kitchen to the grounds in between the hall and the old Scout Hut. 

Windows on the end wall.

A lovely birds-eye view of our Garden of Remembrance.

Wonderful straight lines on the roof.  It looks as if they used a ruler!

It's a good job someone has a head for heights!

That's it for now.  I hope you've enjoyed the little tour around the building site.

A Head for Heights . . . ?

(Click on this, and any other photos, to see an enlarged version)

It's amazing how quickly the hall annexe building is progressing.  Just a few days ago, windows were arriving on site and now they are installed. It makes such a difference to the appearance of the building.

At the moment the roofers are working hard trying to make the roof watertight before the next band of rain comes along.

All those involved in the annexe building project have been doing a grand job.  Our thanks our due to the site manager, Stuart, for making sure that disruption both to the parish in general and to other hall users is kept to a minimum and that only when absolutely necessary.  Noise is kept down, especially during Mass times, and in fact noise has not been a problem in general.

I'm sure we're all looking forward to the day when the annexe is complete and those small group meetings which have been held in St Ann's Room can take place in the new annexe, and other small  parish meetings can benefit from this much needed facility.

Hopefully we'll be able to post a few interior shots of the annexe soon.  Meanwhile here's a photo taken from a different angle . . . 

A roof . . . !

What with the dreadful weather, the busy-ness of Christmas and so forth, I must admit I haven't really paid quite so much attention to our building project of late.

My goodness, you couldn't miss this though . . .

Seemingly out of nowhere we suddenly have a roof; well, the bare bones of one, at least.  Because most of the work hitherto has not been easily visible behind the site hoarding unless one made a point of walking around the back to see what was going on, it came as quite a surprise to suddenly see the roof appearing, seemingly out of nowhere and very visible from the presbytery.

We tend to forget, I think, that whilst we've been muttering about the dreadful weather recently, and there's no doubt about it, it has been dreadful, the contractors have been quietly and efficiently carrying on with their work as far as possible.

Stuart and the team at ITC are doing a grand job!