St Michael & All Angels celebrates 25 years of its ‘new’ Parish Halls
February 3rd 2026
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St Michael & All Angels Church, Bedford Park, held a party on Sunday to mark the 25th anniversary of its ‘new’ Parish Halls and a display of photographs and memories can now be viewed in the church and online here (Photos can also be downloaded from here).
The original Parish Hall was designed in 1884 and completed in 1887 as a central feature of Bedford Park, the first garden suburb (see line drawing attached). It fell into disrepair and was reopened in February 2001, after a £500,000 project to rebuild the gloomy Victorian hall as a community centre for the whole of Bedford Park. The capacity of the building was doubled by adding an extra floor, and this gave a boost to arts, education, social and charity activities locally.
Fr Kevin Morris, the vicar of St Michael & All Angels, who oversaw the project, told the congregation at Sunday’s Candlemas service: ‘I want to pay tribute this morning to the architects of the project, Oliver West and John Scott, for their talents and skills which has meant the Hall has served us well all these years.
‘I remember on Maundy Thursday in the year 2000 how Oliver and John took me up a ladder to see the top hall and how struck I was with how beautiful it looked. It felt a very spiritual thing that had come into being: “Our eyes have seen thy salvation, Lord.” And it was a wonderful day to on which to see it as we were commemorating the Lord giving Himself to us in Holy Communion and in the service of others.
‘The Hall has gone on from strength to strength ever since, and proved itself with schools, and groups and concerts and talks, exercise classes and parties, festival events. It has become a wonderful meeting place for the locality and for us as a congregation and the profits we have made from it have allowed us to maintain our building, re-paint the church, build a new organ, support priestly ministry and our youth ministry.
‘Our mission as a church is to serve the wider community and foster a sense of togetherness, which Chiswick achieves through its arts festivals and other local ventures. Our Millennium project was to provide a community space to serve the parish and beyond – and the Hall has had a very positive impact on community life.”
The money for rebuilding was raised entirely from the local community (a heritage lottery bid was turned down) through donations, events and loans secured on projected lettings. Major sums were raised from the Bedford Park Festival and fundraising Balls held at Chiswick Town Hall.
Torin Douglas, the director of the Chiswick Book Festival, said: “It was a brave and visionary project and without the ‘new’ Hall we would never have launched the Book Festival or expanded the Bedford Park Festival. It’s hard to remember how dilapidated the old Hall was – indeed, some users of the ‘new’ Hall didn’t even know the old one had only one floor.”
See also: Celebrating 30 Years of Fr Kevin’s Ministry at St Michael’s
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Parish Hall: Highlights and memories – click to read
