Hexham Abbey is asking for £75,000 by 22 November towards a £275,000 LED relighting. Its halogen bulbs cannot be replaced and the Choir runs on temporary lamps.
Hexham Abbey has launched a £75,000 appeal to replace lighting it says is “failing fast”, and hopes to reach the target by Sunday 22 November.
The whole job is expected to cost £275,000. In its appeal brochure the Abbey’s Parochial Church Council (PCC) says it is confident of raising £100,000 in grants and has committed up to £100,000 from what it calls its “much in demand reserves”. The appeal, called Let there be Light, is for the rest. It opened on Sunday 1 November.
The Abbey’s pewsheet for this Sunday says the response “has been really positive and the Appeal has made a good start”. It has not published a running total.
What is wrong with the lights
The current scheme runs on halogen bulbs that, the brochure says, “cannot be replaced”, and the control panels that work the lights “are now virtually obsolete”. It lists the parts of the building that are already going dark:
- the Choir can only be used with temporary lighting
- the North Nave aisle “has almost no light at all”
- the North Transept is “very poorly lit (to put it mildly!)”
- the upper Nave lights have failed or are failing
- the chandeliers can no longer be dimmed for services or events
- the Crypt lighting is very poor, “which is so disappointing for such a world class treasure”
The plan
A new scheme has been designed and approved, and the Abbey says it now has permission to begin the installation, which it hopes to carry out during 2027.
Rather than strip everything out, the PCC has chosen to “upcycle and recycle wherever possible”. Most of the existing fittings will be refurbished, adapted for LED bulbs and put back. New low-energy LEDs and control panels will, the brochure says, let the Abbey be lit “effectively, sensitively and flexibly, and with a greatly reduced environmental impact”, and make visits to the Crypt “absolutely stunning”.
What the Rector says
The Rector’s letter in the brochure opens plainly. “Asking for money is never easy, especially when we are asking people to think big,” he writes. “But Hexham Abbey is precious to us all, and reliable lighting is essential for our worship, welcome and daily life together. We have reached the point where we can no longer simply ‘make do and mend’; a complete renewal of the lighting is now unavoidable.”
“Because of the size and importance of the Abbey, everything we do is costly. By upcycling and reusing most of the existing light fittings, we are seeking to be as economical and environmentally responsible as possible. It is very much our hope that this project can be completed during 2027, enabling future generations to enjoy a building which always points to Jesus, ‘the Light of the World’.”
“I know that we are a generous community in so many ways, and I am confident that, together, we can meet this challenge,” he adds. “Every gift, large or small, will help us bridge the funding gap.”
What a gift pays for
The brochure prices the work fitting by fitting:
| Gift | What it pays for |
|---|---|
| £5,000 | the fittings in the North and South Choir aisles, or a third of the lighting in the Choir or Nave |
| £2,000 | the fittings in the North Nave aisle or the Crossing, or a quarter of those in the North or South Transept |
| £1,000 | the fittings in one of the chapels |
| £500 | one of the spotlights in the North or South Transepts |
| £250 | a high-level spotlight |
| £100 | one of the smaller spotlights |
| £50 | a refurbished light transformer |
The brochure is illustrated with the Abbey’s medieval paintings and stained glass, the things the new lights are meant to show off.
4 photos, swipe or scroll. Photos: supplied by Hexham Abbey
How to give
The Abbey’s online giving page for the appeal is at cafdonate.cafonline.org/31371, run by the Charities Aid Foundation, where UK taxpayers can add Gift Aid, worth an extra 25p on every £1. Gifts can also be made by bank transfer, using the details printed in the brochure, or in cash at the Parish Office on Beaumont Street, open Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 12.30pm. Printed copies of the brochure are in the Abbey.
The brochure marks Sunday 15 November as “The Light of the World” and Sunday 22 November, the Feast of Christ the King, as the day of celebration. The PCC says it is deliberately running the appeal during the Kingdom Season, which ends on that Sunday. “Our faithful hope is that, on that day, we can celebrate a successful appeal with our target reached,” the brochure says.
A week of prayer
From Monday 9 to Friday 13 November, special Let there be Light prayers replace the usual Morning Prayer at 9am. Each day has a theme, from the “war torn regions of our world” on Monday to “our own nation and our own town” on Thursday and “our church, families and homes” on Friday.
2 photos, swipe or scroll. Photos: supplied by Hexham Abbey
Also coming up at the Abbey
The same pewsheet lists a full few weeks.
- Saturday 7 November, 5.30pm: a special Choral Evensong with the Chapel Choir of St Hild and St Bede College, Durham University, singing music by Joanna Forbes L’Estrange, Charles Wood and Herbert Sumsion. Free, and about 40 minutes long, finishing before the Hexham fireworks at 7pm.
- Sunday 8 November: for Remembrance Sunday the Parish Eucharist moves to 9.30am, so that those who wish can reach the war memorial on the Sele for 11am. Holy Communion at 8.15am goes ahead as usual as a said service.
- Saturday 14 November: a Christian day retreat with Hexham Abbey and Hexham Deanery at Whitley Chapel Church Hall, An Introduction to Ignatian Spirituality, led by Canon Jonathan Lawson, Vicar of St Gabriel’s, Newcastle upon Tyne. Places are booked by emailing mrs.lindarowell@gmail.com.
- Thursday 19 November, 1pm: the last Lunchtime Live of the year, with the Abbey’s Director of Music, Matthew Kelley, at the organ. Free, with a suggested donation of £5.
- Friday 20 November, from 5.45pm: Carols and Cocoa after the town’s Christmas lights switch-on, with carols around the piano led by Hexham Abbey Choir and hot chocolate topped with marshmallows.
- Until 22 November: Threads Through Revelation, Jacqui Parkinson’s 14 textile panels of the Book of Revelation, free to see.
- Saturday 12 December: the Abbey’s Christmas Fair.
2 photos, swipe or scroll. Photos: supplied by Hexham Abbey
For the fair, the Flower and Gardening teams are again running a stall of candles, Christmas decorations and houseplants, and want to reuse old containers rather than buy new ones. Sheila Dance, writing in the pewsheet, asks for ceramic or metal houseplant covers, and for baskets (“preferably with their plastic waterproof linings intact”) or troughs for spring bulbs in indoor planters. They can be left in the Flower Corner in the Abbey over the next couple of weeks, so the team can match plants to containers and order bulbs in good time.
New faces, and a full house at Halloween
Two new staff started at the Abbey this week: Andrew Adair, the new Assistant Director of Music, and the Rev’d Tom Birch, the new Associate Priest.
On 31 October, the pewsheet says, “the Abbey was full of families” for Skeletons in the Abbey. More than a hundred children made skeletons, prayer boats and spiderwebs. The Abbey thanked the team, “especially John for heaving all our tables into place and Kym for the spectacular cakes and lollies”.
The Abbey’s children’s groups carry on through the winter. Tots’ Praise meets in the North Transept on Wednesdays from 9.30am, Cloister Club runs during the Sunday morning service in term time, and Messy Church is on the third Sunday of each month except August, next on 15 November at 3pm. Margi McAllister, writing about the groups, says of Tots’ Praise: “Most importantly, we do friendship and encouragement.”
The Big Story currently holds an exhibition on William Thew by conservation volunteer Moly Kady, with help from Pete Lunt.
The appeal brochure and this week’s pewsheet were sent to us by Hexham Abbey. The Parish Office is on 01434 602031.
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