Plans to make All Saints' Church in Kings Langley an accessible space for worship and the community continue to progress

Plans to make some changes at All Saints' Church in Kings Langley continue to progress following a event in October where the public were invited to have their say.

All Saints' Church has regularly undergone improvements to modernise the building and its decoration - and has now launched a 'reordering' project.

Church reordering refers to the rearrangement and adaption of churches to accommodate changes in religious practice.

The team at the church believe that the time is right to make some changes, to grow an inclusive church of all ages, share their faith and welcome and serve the community.

Key elements of the proposals included:

> Improving the welcome of the church through the removal of the large stone steps and the creation of an accessible sloped path to the entrance

> Removal of the pews and replacing with flexible seating solutions and a larger welcome area. This will allow for different configurations for different service types and improved sight lines. It will also create space from which to ‘lead’ services such as weddings and funerals or even interactions with children during the service

> Moving the large Longman screen from the north aisle to the tower, with the installation of a huge glass panel to separate the tower section, creating an area that people can 'step out' of services whilst still feeling connected via an AV display

> Improved and uniform flooring to make the church safer and more accessible for example during our ‘Tiny Tots’ toddler groups

> Updated heating to improve the church’s green credentials as well as redecoration of the walls.

> Restoration of the wonderful Royal Chapel to bring to life the Royal story for visitors from the local community and from further afar – this would involve a slight relocation of the tombs and restoration of key historical artefacts.

> The overall ambition is to make the Church more suitable for wider community use – no one should feel excluded. It should be a flexible space for different uses (e.g. concerts, lectures,

wedding receptions, community foodbank) that attracts more users, whilst keeping an impressive and historic atmosphere.

Feedback event

There was a good level of engagement from the local community and over 65 pieces of written feedback shared at the event.

This, combined with feedback from over 45 members of the congregation and local community groups, has now given the team a very helpful pool of thoughts to proceed with.

A spokesperson for the Reordering Committee said: "The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and constructive – thank you to everyone that has taken the time to engage with the project so far.

"We are very mindful of the historical nature of our wonderful church building and have every intention to retain the heart and charm of the building whilst addressing some of the challenges.

"The Reordering Committee will now be taking feedback and ideas into account, in order to work up more detailed plans.

"These will continue to be shared with the community and congregation and taken forward to the relevant bodies (e.g. historical governing bodies and Diocesan Advisory Committee).

"We will also be kicking off plans for fundraising both locally and through grant and foundation applications."