WANSTEAD: Church to hold meetings on vision for future (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

United Reformed Church in Wanstead will hold two important meetings on the future of its buildings

10:10am Wednesday 10th February 2010 in News By James Ranger

CRUCIAL meetings to discuss the future of a church will take place later this month.

Four architects will present their vision for the United Reformed Church, in Grosvenor Road, Wanstead, at a meeting on Saturday February 27.

Plans developed by Cliff Patten, Wyatt McClaren, Theis Khan and JBKS will all be presenting from 10:30am, so that members of the congregation and residents can get a sense of how the church and the adjoining Cromwell Hall could look in the future.

The following day – Sunday 28 – will see a special church meeting after the morning service to try to come to a decision on which architect should be chosen.

The meetings come while the future of two halls recently sold by the church remains uncertain.

In November the church's minister, Rev Rosalind Selby, told the Guardian that Grove and Centenary Halls would be sold early in the new year and a meeting would be held in February to inform people of the details of the sale.

The cash-strapped congregation was forced to sell the buildings to raise £750,000 to pay for the work to the church building itself and its remaining hall.