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Lighting in our Grade II* chapel was so poor that it limited its use in dark winter afternoons. We removed the old fluorescent strip lights, broken barn door spot lights and TV screens that cluttered the sanctuary. The whole space was rewired.
We installed two rows of heritage pendant lights (copied from designs by our chapel's architect, JF Bentley) hanging from large brackets with discrete spot lights to create atmosphere and to highlight architectural features. Two of our original Bentley brass brackets were cleaned and reinstalled with new sanctuary lamps.
The large screen can be set at any height while in use but then retracts to hide unseen behind the main arch.
The crucifix originally donated to the school over 100 years ago by the old girls' Hammersmith Association was decaying and hidden behind what had become a very substantial tree.
The entire crucifix was taken out of the ground and both the original wooden cross and the metal statue were restored in 2024. Much of the original paint on the statue was lost but it was still possible to test the paint that remained, and to recreate the statue in its original colours.
A new more prominent location for the crucifix was agreed and it was reinstalled in August 2024.
As a second stage to our restoration of the cloister garden, the statue of Jesus in the centre was taken away and restored in 2024. This statue has even greater significance to the school now we understand that it came from one of the Society's convents in France, in Lille. It was shipped to England to save it when they were forced to leave France in the early 1900s as the country moved to secularisation.
Our cloister garden was restored in the summer of 2023. A circular prayer space with new seating was added in the centre, and the original perimeter flower bed was recreated. New planting in the centre includes lavender bushes and two olive trees.
Significant landscaping improvements at the 'front' of the school (as accessed from Bute Gardens) were completed in 2023 to enhance the setting of our listed building and improve our outdoor space for students. Much more than shown here, the new landscaping included planting all along the western edge of the netball courts, along the entire east frontage of the Calder building, in the four corners of our front lawn and in the centre of the site with new benches nestled within planting that will grow up around them.
