I went along to visit Holy Spirit Church on Tempest Road, Beeston today. I went because I had never been inside and saw that it was open as part of the Treasures Revealed Festival. I discovered that this was the last day the church would be open, at least as an Anglican church.
The building is beautiful and much bigger than I had realised from the outside. It was built in the early years of the twentieth century, ten or fifteen years after much of the surrounding housing. For most of the century it was the centre of a thriving community with Scouts and Guide groups, Mothers’ Union and busy services. But the congregation has dwindled over the last twenty years as the costs of keeping the building going have gone up and up.
The church got a good send off with the building filled for the final church service this morning.
I’m not religious, but the church is a public building, a rather grand public building, in my community. I’m sad to see it fall into disuse and hope that a new use can be found for the building. There seem to be plenty of “new” churches meeting in secular buildings in Beeston. Perhaps they could join together to share this Christian space?
