St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, at Island Harbour, is now under repair, almost two and a half years after its roof was damaged by Hurricane Irma. As a consequence, accommodation for services was made in the nearby church hall.
The Rt. Rev. Errol Brooks, who is in charge of St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral along with St. Augustine’s and St. Andrew’s, said most of the money for the repair work was from insurance. “But, of course, we had to fix up the hall to put it in a state for use as an interim place of worship,” he explained. “We had to spend quite a bit putting on a ramp to make it more user friendly with wheelchair access as well.
“We are now tackling the main church building where the ceiling is being stripped off – so that the workers can look at the rafters and parts of the roofing to see whether or not they are in good shape, and to put on a completely new roof.”
The repair work is being supervised by Mr. Emerson Reid, the Building Adviser for the Anglican Church. The roof is being done by Mr. Lance Bryan who, according to Bishop Brooks, “did a marvelous job on the roof of St. Augustine’s Church.” The walls of St. Andrew’s, with new columns, and other work, will be done by Mr. Dolcin Gumbs, another builder in Anguilla.
“We are hoping that by the middle of the year we will be back again at St. Andrew’s,” the Bishop added. It should be noted here that the Starlight Singers, of Island Harbour, Anguilla’s oldest Gospel-singing group, will hold a concert on Sunday, March 1, to raise funds for the restoration of St. Andrew’s, their home church.
Meanwhile, Bishop Brooks stated, among other matters, that quite a bit of work was done at the old Boys’ School (now St. Mary’s Church hall) which, apart from being renovated, was leaning slightly as a result of Hurricane Irma. For the time being the old Boys’ School building is currently providing additional classroom space for students from The Valley Primary School.
