Community Corner

Somers Congregational Church Construction Back on Schedule

According to the church website, the bell will be on site and ready to be placed in the steeple during the week of April 8.

This information was published in the Somers Congregational Church restoration news center on March 26, 2013:

Rev. Dr. Barry Cass

Today there is digging going on in the front of the church lot.  The water for the site is being connected and we are making good use of the Permit we got last week from the Department of Transportation.  The scheduling for connecting to the power line in front of the bank is still in process, but will be done soon.  In the midst of this, the necessary pipes are being installed for all the roof drainage on the site.   Everything that needs to be done on the site between the building and the street should be completed by the end of next week.

Find out what's happening in Ellington-Somerswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The steel is about 50% complete.  Everything to the second floor should be done by the middle of this week.  The concrete for the floors should be put in place by the end of the week or the beginning of next week.  When that has been done the rest of the steel will be brought in and put in place, completing the structure to the third floor and up to the roof and steeple.  The steel company will be bringing a beam that has been painted white which will be made available for various people to sign before it is put in place.  Further notice of this will be forthcoming once we know the exact timing.

The bell will be on site and ready to be placed in the steeple during the week of April 8.  As of this writing there is still some wiggle room in terms of exact timing, so you are urged to watch this update and the Church website and Facebook page for further details. (www.somerscongregational.org)   There will be a brief dedication service for the bell, with refreshments following.  We had given some thought to trying to schedule the bell placement on a weekend, but discovered that it would be very expensive to have the crane available at a special time.  We are doing our best to make the best use of our resources.

Find out what's happening in Ellington-Somerswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The contract for building the pews and chancel furniture should be ready to be awarded early next week.  There will be eleven rows of pews on the main sanctuary floor, as there were in the former Meeting House.  The two side aisle and center aisle will be recreated, though there will be some changes.  There will be no partition between the center and side pews, but there will be an arm rest dividing them in two.  There will be an open space under the pews rather than a kick board going all the way to the floor.  Pew back and armrests will be made of mahogany and stained to be a color similar to the former pews.  Pews on the main sanctuary level will have cushions, but the balcony pews will, for acoustic reasons, still be cushionless.    There will be racks for hymnals, bibles, pencils and pew cards on the backs of the pews.  We are also adding a modesty partition in front of the first row of pews to separate them from the chancel area.

Although there were some delays in construction due to the weather and a hold up with the steel production, we have made up the time and are now on schedule.  Contractors have worked hard to keep things moving at the pace necessary to complete the project in good time.

We are still in the process of determining the type and extent of the security system to be installed in our new facility.  There will be a combination of motion detectors, video cameras and sensors that will work together to allow us to secure various parts of the building when they are not in use, even as activities go on in other areas.  This system will be integrated into the fire alarm system we have installed in the Bugbee and office wings of the facility.  Our goal is to create and maintain a safe and comfortable facility for all who use it while protecting people and property from harm and damage.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here