the times | Monday August 3 2020 2GM 13
News
If your body is not a temple you may
struggle to fit inside a church. This is the
view of one parish, which has decided to
remove its pews because the aisle is too
narrow for obese couples to walk down
side by side.
Locals in the “chocolate box” Dorset
village of Okeford Fitzpaine have orga-
nised protests after the church council
for St Andrew’s, a grade II listed church
in the village, said that its Victorian
pews were “ill-suited to the human
form of today”.
It will leave its rows of 17th-century
pews in its south chapel but remove the
19th-century pews from the central
nave, replacing them with modern
chairs that can be moved aside to create
a “flexible worship space”.
A report from the parochial church
council described the pews as a “trip-
ping hazard [and] uncomfortable for
long periods” and said: “We have also
had occasions at weddings where the
couple have been too large to be able to
walk side by side down the aisle.
“With chairs we would be able to
widen the aisle and remove an
embarrassment.”
The move has provoked anger
locally. One socially distanced protest
attracted more than 30 villagers, with a
banner reading: “Save the pews from
the devil within.”
The Save St Andrew’s Pews Facebook
group has 139 members. Helen
Sherwood Clinkard, a spokeswoman
for the group, said: “I was gobsmacked
when I read some of the reasons for
wanting rid of the pews.
“There have been weddings in that
church for generations and to my
knowledge there has never been an
issue before about large people not
being able to fit down the aisle. How is
it that the human body is now so
different to that of our great-great-
grandparents?”
Many churches have seen their
congregations dwindle to a handful of
worshippers over recent decades,
leaving them at risk of closure unless
they can find a way to attract new
people.
This often involves modernising
buildings by installing new heating or
An Anglican choir that was disbanded
to make way for more diverse singers
was not always good enough, Sheffield
Cathedral’s dean has said.
There was an outcry last month at
the decision to axe the traditional choir
and form new choral groups that better
reflect the “mixed urban community in
which we live and work” in the city.
The cathedral said that the move
would give children from different
backgrounds the chance to discover
choral music.
The dean, the Very Rev Peter Brad-
ley, told the cathedral’s congregation
that he wanted to “raise our ambition
for excellence in singing so that once
again we will be one of the best, if not
the best cathedral choir in the UK”.
Mr Bradley was pressed yesterday on
whether this meant that he felt the pre-
vious choir had not been good enough.
He was reluctant to agree with this
during an interview on BBC Radio 4’s
told that the couple would have to make
an appointment. He was said to have
been trying to cajole courtiers to per-
suade Ms Kelly, 52, to travel to London
to unlock the cupboard where the tiara
was kept.
The Queen summoned Harry to a
private meeting. “He was put firmly in
his place,” a royal source told the news-
paper. “He had been downright rude.”
Finding Freedom, a book detailing the
Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s decision
to step down as senior members of the
royal family this year, says that the
couple had believed that Ms Kelly was
being deliberately obstructive.
A royal source, however, said:
“Meghan demanded access to the tiara... Angela essentially said, ‘I’m very sor-
ry, that’s not how it works. They’re kept
under very tight lock and key. You can’t
demand the tiara just because your
hairdresser happens to be in town.’ ”
Queen scolded Harry for
tiara tantrum swearing
Valentine LowAxed cathedral choir ‘lacked quality’
Sunday but said: “Cathedrals believe in
excellence and we want the choir to be
singing at a quality that is thrilling and
that is not always the case at the
moment.”
He said that congregations were
sparse for the choir’s performances
during evensong services, explaining:
“On occasion they were singing beauti-
fully but there was nobody there.”
Mr Bradley added that the cathe-
dral’s governing chapter had to look at
setting up “a whole choral life that will
engage the local community well”.
One former member of the choir told
the BBC that she remembered there
being between five and 20 people at
most of its performances but said that
the choristers loved singing and “were
there for the music and for ourselves”.
Kate Caroe, whose three children
have been in the choir, said that the
young choristers were “shocked,
distraught and upset” at the decision.
She added that being in the choir was
the “main thing they had been missingduring the lockdown”. The dean of
Lichfield in Staffordshire, the Very Rev
Adrian Dorber, said that Sheffield
Cathedral had wanted to “really renew
the Anglican choral tradition” while
Hugh Morris, director of the Royal
School of Church Music, told The Sun-
day Times: “It seems to me that to have
an active vision for the future is a good
thing.”
When announcing the decision, the
cathedral said: “For some time, Chapter
has been considering a new model for
Anglican choral life here, with a
renewed ambition for engagement and
inclusion. They recognise that this will
require flexibility, imagination and
experiment.”
Mr Bradley told the BBC that the
pause to choral singing enforced by the
pandemic had provided a good oppor-
tunity to reimagine the cathedral’s
musical offering, adding: “It’s been
quite a long time since the choir has
been full and we want the choir singing
to larger congregations.”Kaya Burgess
The Queen reprimanded Prince Harry
for using offensive language about one
of her closest aides during a row about
his fiancée’s wedding tiara.
Previous reports suggested that there
had been a dispute about which tiara
Meghan Markle could wear for the cer-
emony at St George’s Chapel, Windsor
Castle, in May 2018. However, sources
have told The Times that she was able to
have the one she wanted: Queen Mary’s
bandeau tiara. Instead it was Harry’s
bad language that upset the Queen.
According to The Mail on Sunday he
became angry when Angela Kelly, the
Queen’s dresser and confidante, was
unable to meet a sudden demand from
Ms Markle to visit Buckingham Palace
with her American hairdresser to try on
the tiara. The newspaper reported that
he swore about Ms Kelly when he wasParishioners in Dorset are protesting at the removal of the Victorian pews from St Andrew’s Church in Okeford FitzpaineHere comes the bride, 40 inches wide...
larger couples trigger church pew purge
lighting, accessible entry points, lavato-
ries and kitchen facilities. It also fre-
quently includes removing several
rows of pews, usually installed in the
19th century to accommodate far larger
congregations, and replacing them
with foldable chairs.
This allows churches to create open
spaces that can be used for prayer
meetings and church activities but also
by local community groups to host
children’s playgroups, yoga classes,
jumble sales and other events.
Such plans frequently face opposi-
tion from heritage groups and residents
who wish to preserve Victorian pews
even in churches where they remain
almost entirely unused.
The 16 rows of pews in St Andrew’s,
which can trace its origins to the 14th
century, have been in place since a
rebuild in 1868. The church’s council
said that they were built to accommo-
date a number of people that “far out-
weighs the size of congregation that has
ever attended the church”.
The council said that the pews pro-
vided an “impediment to the involve-
ment in worship of disabled people”
and that the creation of a “flexible wor-
ship space” would give people greater
choice over where to sit.
The church will also install a refresh-
ment area for people to prepare food
and drink, a lavatory and baby-chang-
ing facility, and new lighting. It will re-
tain some of the Victorian pews to use
as benches near the font.
The others have been listed for sale in
the parish magazine and on Facebook.
The decision was made after a four-
year legal process and a consultation
with villagers but is now facing strong
local opposition. Some parishioners
claim that they have been locked out of
the church because of their protests,
but the diocese of Salisbury said that
the church was closed until mid-Sep-
tember owing to the pandemic.
The Bishop of Salisbury, the Right
Rev Nicholas Holtam, said that he was
“fully supportive” of the plans. He
added: “Churches are community
buildings which have to adapt to the
needs of the community as those needs
change. The changes have come after a
very wide consultation and ample
opportunity over a long period to
comment on the proposals.”Kaya Burgess
Religious Affairs Correspondent
CORIN MESSER/BNPS; ALAMY