Church Facility Usage Plan

26 JUNE 2019

The Friends Of The Church Of Our Lady Star Of The Sea And St Maughold

Summary And Outline Plan For Useage Of New Facility At Our Lady Star Of The Sea And St Maughold, Ramsey, Isle Of Man

The installation of a new purpose-built facility would have a significant positive impact upon the church community and its operation. It would provide an additional focal point for church activity, allowing more dedicated space for existing regular activities to take place in without the use of external facilities, together with encouraging additional activities and usage of the new space, given the fact that a purpose-built facility was available and on site at the Church.

Currently there are a number of events which occur outside of the existing Church infrastructure and/or parishioners' homes are utilised. Offices of parishioners are used for committee meetings/annual general meetings. The Priest's house and garden is also used for meetings and gatherings, and whilst this is acceptable given the inclusiveness of the Church, this is the living space of the Parish Priest. As it relates to the garden a marquee is often installed, which is at an additional time and expense and is not always convenient as a consequence of inclement weather.

A new specific on-site facility would mean that the house and garden would no longer need to be required or imposed upon for such usage, and the use of external venues for meetings and other events would no longer be required, having a saving in relation to time, cost and convenience.

Examples of regular activities which would benefit from the installation of such proposed facility would be,

• Weekly social meet/get together/coffee and cakes which currently takes place in house after 11am Mass every Sunday morning (30-40 people mainly standing)

• Parish Council meetings which take place in house could use facility on a regular basis (up to 10 people)
• Other administrative meetings for the parish currently generally use the house for such meetings and/or external venues such as Parishioners offices - a new venue would replace the need for this and allow this activity to occur in the heart of the Church (up to 10 people)
• Annual events such a First Communion/Confirmation use the house and garden for a reception for children and families - again a new specific facility would be a welcome addition and improvement as it relates to these annual events in the calendar ( $40-70$ people - using both room and garden)
• "Little Church" uses the existing space within the Church to hold its regular weekly sessions in the build up to First Communion/Confirmation (20 people)
• The Parish usually runs a summer fair, which uses a marquee in the garden as well as the garden space. The new facility would be a significant improvement on this, particularly as it relates to the use of indoor space and protection from the weather ( $60-100$ people - again room and garden plus a flow of people in and out)
• The Parish usually also runs a Christmas fair, which is done at an external venue as it is not able to take advantage of the house/garden at that time of year. This would certainly be possible to use a new venue at Church to accommodate this event ( $60-100$ people - again room and garden plus a flow of people in and out)
• The active Filipino community celebrate certain saints and feast days particularly during the church year, and for these events use the marquee/house arrangement. This would be a further added bonus for these regular events to occur on site ( $40-70$ people - using both room and garden)

As well as the existing regular Church and Parish events that take place which would benefit significantly from the installation of a new facility, it would also open up the possibility of allowing the venue to be used for other events and gatherings. A good

example would be in relation to Christenings occurring at Church, where families will either use other venues within Ramsey (Rugby club as an example) or their own homes, a facility such as this would be ideal to hold a celebratory reception for friends and family post a Christening at Church. This could apply to a number of other events which could benefit from the use of such a facility.

The case for the installation of a new meeting room/communal space at the Church is compelling from a Parish point of view. It allows a number of regular events which occur off site to be undertaken on site, adding to the sense of community and regular usage at the Church, with the added bonus of without the current level of interference as to the living and working space of the Parish Priest in the house.

S J McNALLY

DIRECTOR

THE FRIENDS OF OUR LADY STAR OF THE SEA AND ST MAUGHOLD

26 JUNE 2019