The church is an ever changing group of people seeking to engage with God, often in new ways, serving the modern world as they find it. However, while we don’t dwell on the past, we know that people find it interesting and enjoyable to discover more of their local history.

Please click on any of the images below for a larger view.

Please scroll down for images of St Birinus and Cornwell Community Church

St Catherine’s

Early Photos

Map of the area around St Catherine’s before the major house building work started in the 60’s. St Catherine’s now stands in what was Hilden’s Copse.	The roots of St Catherine’s go back to a Mission Hall which once stood on Little Heath Road opposite the end of Warborough Avenue.
Laying of the Foundation stone in June 1962	The foundation stone, laid by Nurse Julia Le Besque – 9th June 1962
Construction in 1962 from the West End	Construction in 1962 from the East End
Completed Church – without the hall	View of the East end of St Catherine’s from Birch Copse School circa 1968. The church hall can be seen behind the church itself.

Building of the New East End 1980

Working on the first Buttress	End Buttress
Ring Beam	Erecting Steelwork
Cladding	Scaffolding
Removal of the old East End	Finished Building
New East End extension interior	St Catherine’s – circa 2000

Development Project 2015/6

After many years planning, the building was much improved over the Winter of 2015/16. This provided

A new small prayer room (the ‘Garden Room’),
A new Kitchen attached to the church, enabling the rear of the church to be set out as a Café
New vestry
Additional toilets
New heating system throughout
Replacement corridor between the hall and church

Garage removed and foundation for the Kitchen started	Foundations for the new Garden Room started
The old Narthex removed	Garden room and space for the new corridor (Composite wide angle shot)
Kitchen is started, with new vestry & toilets behind	The Garden Room gets higher
The Kitchen grows higher	Interior corridor roof goes on
New corridor	New Kitchen Interior fitting
Nearly Finished	Dedication Plaque

The church today

The church !	St Catherine of Siena Church Building
Church Interior	The garden room
The Café	The church hall

St Birinus

The parish of St Birinus Calcot merged with St Catherine’s in 2007. The church building saw it’ s last Church of England service in 2008. It has since been sold and is used by The Gate Church.

These photos are from 2008.

St Birinus Church – Exterior	St Birinus Church – Interior from the balcony
St Birinus Church Altar	St Birinus Church – view from the altar of the body and balcony

Cornwell Community Church

Cornwell Community Church met for over 25 years in the Cornwell Centre, in Home Croft, off Clements Mead, in the north of the parish.

A larger selection of photos of Cornwell Community Church can be found on their archived web site here.