HERALD NEW 29/1/2011
LOOKING BACK:
Long-time Singleton
resident Roy Smith is among those fighting for the
preservation of St Clement's
Anglcan
Church at Camberwell.
Fight continues to save St Clement's Church
By Bronwyn Farr Hunter Valley News
SINGLETON resident Roy Smith does not want to imagine a day when the historic Georgian-style St Clement's Church at Camberwell is demolished.
The 94-year-old was born across the
creek from the Anglican church
in the days when Camberwell
was a thriving
village and he is among a growing number
of elderly residents of the Upper
Hunter joining the campaign to save the
church.
"My father and my grandfather were
christened in that church and I went to
Sunday school there," he said.
"I would like to see it re-opened and
restored. It has been part of my life and
lots of others would say the same.
Mr. Smith recalls the days when
Camberwell
boasted four pubs, a black-smith
and other stores and the church
was the heart of a thriving rural community.
Now, the beleaguered old church is surrounded by a coal
mine and traffic roaring past on the highway, but its
graveyard tells the story of the growth and development
of the Upper Hunter.
It has links to all of the pioneering families who
mapped routes through
the Liverpool Ranges and further afield
and is the earliest settlement in the Upper Hunter.
“Friends of St Clements “
secretary
and
local historian Carol Garvie
said the group would never give up the fight to save the
church.
"We will keep trying, that's all we can do,"
Mrs
Garvie said.
"Country churches have never been a
drain on the Diocese but I believe there
are four more country churches they want to close."
St Clement's was damaged
when a
vandal stacked and ignited all the pews
and bibles inside the building in March
2008.
The local group has worked since then to coordinate
repair and restoration of the church.
But last December the Dioceses' Property Approvals Board recommended the church be demolished and the $375,000 insurance money payout be used for other works in Singleton – a move that outraged many.
The group's campaign has resulted
in the NSW Government Department of
Planning directing its Heritage Branch to explore all
possible options for restoration with the church and
community, saying the church may be of State heritage
significance.
The church dates back to 1 841 and is
one of the oldest churches in Australia.
Friends of St Clements
chairman
Graeme Cheetham said in an
open letter
that it was wrong for the Diocese not to
repair the church with the $375,000 insurance payout.
"Services are still being held monthly
either in the church porch or outside
depending on the weather conditions," he said.
"St Clement's parishioners
have always maintained the church and cemetery with the
help of perpetual trust accounts.
"These same parishioners have always paid for insurance
only to be denied repair of the church."
Singleton Argus
Save our church
Still in shock over the Dioceses’ Property Approvals Board recommendation to knock down the historic building, parishioners are now seeking avenues that will stop Singleton from losing its oldest Church.
Yesterday morning, St Clement’s supporters Janene Smith and Colleen Harper met with Archdeacon Stephen Pullin, chairman of the Property Approvals Board, to put their case forward.
Despite acknowledging the decision was difficult, Mr Pullin continued to back the board’s decision.
“It’s disappointing,” Mrs Smith said.“They are not budging from the party line. They say they are sympathetic to the process but are not prepared to budge or deviate,” she added.
Mrs Smith declared the fight to save St Clement’s had only just begun.
Up until a week ago, parishioners had been preparing to start restoration work to fix the damage incurred from a fire in March 2008.
The fire devastated parishioners who took comfort that the Church would be restored to its former glory days.
According to Mrs Smith, who is acting as a spokesperson on behalf of the local congregation, Camberwell and Singleton communities, the Diocese wanted rising damp in the Church fixed before they would allow restoration work to begin.Mrs Smith said an original estimate suggested it would cost $161,000 to fix which would be taken out of the $375,000 insurance claim received from the fire.
However Mrs Smith says the figure was nominal with advice from architects suggesting the cost might not be as much. Once the rising damp was fixed, the church had planned to start on structural damage.
Mrs Smith said in-kind donations would make up the bulk of the funds.
“Ashton Coal has offered to do the roof, what we would need would be the bare bones with community support, our plan was to get the church structurally sound to hold services, use plastic chairs or whatever and go from there,” she said.
Reports suggesting St Clement’s Church would be unable to cover the costs or carry out future maintenance of the Church has infuriated its members.The Smith family represents one of many families who have a long association with St Clement’s and who have vowed to fight vehemently to save it.
They are also one of the many families and individuals within the congregation who share maintenance duties at the site so there is no cost for the Diocese according to Mrs Smith.
“With reference to Mr Cleary’s (Diocese business manager) remarks I say that the Parish has stood on its own for the part 150-years doing its own maintenance and will continue to do so without his help,” she said.
Earlier in the week, Anglican Diocese of Newcastle Archdeacon Stephen Pullin, said the recommendation of the Property Approvals Board for the Church ‘not to be repaired’ was ‘not made lightly’ and was ‘very difficult’.
Mr Pullin said there were two issues regarding the restoration of the Church.He said the insurance claim of ‘$370,000’ was well short of the cost of the project and ‘quite a significant amount of money had to be raised’ to meet the repairs estimated at $500,000.Mr Pullin said the second issue was maintenance of an old building and the ongoing costs ‘that never go down’. He wanted to make clear the Singleton Parish ‘wanted to go ahead with the restoration’ however the board did not support their application.
“The board, as emotional and as difficult as it was, it could not see that it was in the best, long term interests of the Diocese,” he said.
Mr Pullin said they understood the significance of the St Clement’s site and had recommended a community memorial site be established alongside the cemetery and columbarium.
Mr Pullin said all the insurance money for St Clement’s would stay within the Singleton Parish.