St Peter’s is Saved

By Maureen Dickson 

My first introduction to St. Peter’s was 1998 when my son Jon and his wife Helena decided to get married there as they were in the parish.  It was a lovely wedding on a warm August day.  

Two of my grandchildren were also christened there.   

My husband, Mike, and I then used to go to the communion service and always attended Christmas mornings. I became more involved with St. Peter’s when my husband became ill and received a lot of support from Father McKittrick. 

However, the congregation was shrinking by then, and there were no new young people coming in. Father McKittrick then became Archdeacon of Chichester and we were left without a permanent vicar.   

A group of us formed The Friends of St Peter’s to investigate different avenues through which we could try to save the church, not only by trying to raise some money, but more importantly, by increasing our little, sadly diminishing congregation.   

Pieces of masonry then started to crumble off the outside of the building, which we could not afford to replace. And then our boiler broke down, which we also could not afford to replace.  It was decided to install what could only be described as an industrial fan heater which would be switched on half an hour before the services started to warm the surrounding areas. As a result of this fairly intense blast of heat the plaster on the ceiling of the nave began to crumble and the whole area had to be netted to stop it falling on the people below.  

The area in which we could worship became smaller and smaller, the congregation dwindled, and it seemed as if St Peter’s itself had sadly given up the struggle. 

The church closed its doors for the last time, which was tragic. It was such a beautiful church, which, in its time, stood tall and stately and really was the ‘Gateway to Brighton’. Many rumours started to circulate as to what would happen. 

However, it was with great delight (and relief) that it was taken over by HTB (Holy Trinity Brompton) under the very positive and enthusiastic guiding hand of Archie Coates, who moved down from London with his family. He was instrumental in lifting it up to become what it is today, a large, thriving, enthusiastic, warm community.