Normal service 20 years on for St Luke’s Church in Oseney Crescent
Thursday, 5th January 2012
Published: 05 January 2012
by PAVAN AMARA
A CHURCH that closed two decades ago after falling into disrepair is set to re-open after a restoration project.
The first service since St Luke’s Church in Oseney Crescent, Kentish Town, shut its doors in 1991 is scheduled for January 29.
A £100,000 refurbishment was made possible by the Church Conservation Trust.
Jon March, 32, who has lived in Kentish Town for three years, will become the new vicar at St Luke’s.
He said: “We’ve been lucky enough to receive grants, fundraising, and so we’ve been able to completely redo lots of things.
So before Kentish Town was everything it is now, it was still standing – it’s seen a lot in its time.”
He added: “It’s also in the heart of a lot of creativity.
Suggs from Madness was married in this church and Amy Winehouse recorded music just round the corner in Caversham Road.”
An opening ceremony, during which soul singer Michael Kiwanuka sang Silent Night, took place inside the church on December 18, drawing in around 300 people.
Mr Kiwanuka has been nominated for the BBC’s Sound of 2012 poll, and will be a regular among the St Luke’s congregation.
“I want this place to reflect the community,” he said.
“This church’s congregation should look exactly as diverse as out on the street.
Kentish Town is the sort of place that is very homely and comfortable, with people who have been here for decades, but then it can also be quite transient, with people who are settling here afresh.
“For people that are new, we want to welcome them, for people that are old we want to be a home for them too.
“No matter who you are, you’re welcome here.”
Mr March, whose wife Sus is a parent-governor at St Michael’s C of E school in Camden Street, said: “In the first 24 hours that we came to Kentish Town I loved it.
It was the atmosphere that we loved, everyone here, different economic status, backgrounds, everything, and we want this to be a community space.
“People and groups in the area will be able to use this space to create even more fantastic stuff in this area.”
The Bishop of Edmonton spoke at the Christmas ceremony, along with Mr March, and members of the congregation who had attended the church in the 1980s, complete with a choir and 15-piece orchestra.
Tim Sowula, who lives in Bartholomew Villas, also attended the ceremony.
He said: “There was nothing Vicar of Dibley about it.
It was a beautiful ceremony, and this will be a very valued place.
“With Caversham nursery shut, and all the cuts, it will be a great resource.
There were bids to turn it into a shopping centre of all things, and thank goodness that didn’t happen.”
