St Michael & All Angels celebrates 25 years of its ‘new’ Parish Halls

St Michael & All Angels Church – Photograph of the day by Barbara Chandler, @sunnygran

Entrance to the Parish Halls of St Michael & All Angels Church; photograph Barbara Chandler

Party, party, party

News of the restoration of St Michael & All Angels Parish Hall and its opening as a new community centre for Bedford Park in 2001 made the Times Diary, (Brentford Chiswick & Isleworth Times, that is), so in its absence (it closed in 2015) it is fitting that the 25th anniversary gets a mention in The Chiswick Calendar.

Fr Kevin Morris told the Times, rather prophetically:

“It was a great party – the first of many that will be held in the hall over the coming years”.

He marked the 25th anniversary with another party on Sunday 1 February.

New Parish Hall and completion of St Michael’s Church Bedford Park, Chiswick, 30 May 1884

The original Parish Hall was designed in 1884 and completed in 1887 as a central feature of Bedford Park, the first garden suburb. It fell into disrepair and was reopened in February 2001, after a £500,000 project to rebuild the gloomy Victorian hall.

The capacity of the building was doubled by adding an extra floor, giving a boost to arts, education, social and charity activities locally. The Parish Hall is a popular venue for all sorts of events from Scottish country dancing to Chiswick Book Festival events.

Fr Kevin Morris with architects Oliver West (left) and John Scott (right) at the 25th anniversary party, Sunday 1 February 2026

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”.

Sally Hobbs, former head teacher of Orchard House School, remembers the restoration well.

“Pre 2001, Orchard House made good use of the original hall but we used to dream of better conditions and more imaginative use of the space. Along came the School’s trusted friends, Oliver and John…

“Oliver and John consulted with us how we could use the ground floor space during the day; the larger area as a classroom for the Den, our three year olds, and the room behind as a music room.

Parish Hall pre-conversion

“The Michael Room above was to be for Chiswick and Bedford Park School but we enjoyed a positive arrangement with them and upstairs became the venue for small productions over the years. In time, the School moved the Den down the road to what had been Wendy Wisbey’s Studio and Bob’s Surplus Store and Orchard House used the Gabriel Room as an art room.

“How thrilled we were with the new accommodation, including the modern loos and kitchen facilities!”

Panel discussion in the Parish Hall in 2017 for the Chiswick Book Festival on the subject of Wartime Women

Susan Stanley-Carroll, former head of drama, Chiswick & Bedford Park Preparatory School, also remembers the upgrade being a distinct improvement on what was there before:

“My first memories of St. Michael & All Angels’ Parish Hall date back to the late 1980’s when I was allowed to set up Chiswick & Bedford Park Preparatory School’s first after-school drama club in the large ground floor hall”.

Setting up the drama club was very exciting, except for one thing:

“Huge wood splinters that pierced the ‘derrières’ and fingers of little children.  The school supplied a 5-inch pair of Victorian tweezers (to extract the monster splinters!) and a tube of antiseptic; the children were asked to wear gloves.

“In 2001 the purpose-built Michael Room, in the restored Parish Hall, changed the teaching vista of our school.  We had space – wonderful space – plus use of loos, a kitchen, storage and under-floor heating.  Drama, music, dance, games and physical education thrived …

“Albert, a Victorian coal miner, visited year 5 every autumn term.  He told the children about his work in a Welsh coal mine…. miraculously his mine appeared, complete with coal seams.  The miners lay on their backs and wielded heavy picks until there was a violent EXPLOSION.

“The Michael Room survived unblemished, as it did when the Romans vanquished Boudicca and Howard Carter opened Tutankhamun’s tomb.  Yes, all this happened and much more during the year 2001-2002 in the Michael Room”.

Chiswick Book Festival holds events with the larger audiences in the church and those with a smaller audience upstairs in the Parish Hall

Cara Curran, former head of music at Orchard House School, recalls:

“So many lovely memories of my time there; the annual fire risk of lining 100 children up with lit candles in preparation for the procession that marks the start of our Carol Concert; opening the doors between the Gabriel and Raphael Rooms to choreograph showstoppers for our end of year productions; and sneaking in some ‘Dutch courage’ with the OHS parent choir before performances (mojitos before our rendition of ‘Guantanamera’ was a particular highlight)”.

Queuing for tickets for the Book Festival in the autumn sunshine

A decade later Jeannie Shapiro, who now runs the Chiswick Business Network, remembers holding Christmas fairs – “the start of many pop-ups around Chiswick that my then vintage and antiques business, Wilson Picks, organised.

“We got off to a bit of a rocky start for the first fair as the caretaker hadn’t shown up to let us in. Placating 20 anxious stallholders with calm reassurance, but quaking a bit inside, we eventually found a keyholder and got in.

“The Hall looks so festive and welcoming. We had a section for tea and cake served on our vintage china cups, saucers and plates. We have great memories of successful Christmas Fairs in the Parish Hall and we so appreciated all the help and support from everyone there”.

Girls with balloons whose job it was to serve the food at the grand opening party in 2001 L to R: Katherine Paines, Katherine Pears, Eleanor Douglas, Victoria Wareham; Adults at the party L – R: Eileen McGregor, churchwarden; Oliver West, architect; Mary Pears, chair, Appeal Committee; John Scott, architect; Fr Kevin Morris; David Beresford, churchwarden

St Michael’s Church functions are renowned for the quality of their homemade cakes and the kitchen facilities have been put to very good use over the years. Cathie James, master of ceremonies at St Michael & All Angels, held her 70th birthday there.

“My favourite treat is afternoon tea with all the trimmings and that‘s what I organised: lacy white table cloths, bone china and cake stands, all set out to complement the delicious sandwiches, scones and cakes, made and served by my lovely caterers and with a string trio playing gently in the background. Very ‘Palm Court’!”

During the rebuilding

Anna Benson, parish manager for St Michael & All Angels, remembers coming for her interview at St Michael’s in December 2006, “being shown round the halls by Sara Pask and marvelling at the incredible, modern space.

“I was familiar with church halls – of the concrete floor, corrugated tin roof, brown paintwork and inadequate heating variety.  St Michael’s halls were like no church halls I’d ever seen”.

At the service on Sunday, Fr Kevin took the congregation back to Maundy Thursday in the year 2000 when Oliver West and John Scott took him up a ladder to see the top hall.

“How struck I was with how beautiful it looked… ‘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.

Vicky and Giles Tibbitts celebrating their wedding in the Parish Hall, 4 October 2008

“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”.

An Easter breakfast in 2023

John Scott spoke five years ago about what an important project the Parish Hall was in his career:

“For Oliver West and myself, the hall project stands as a proud achievement at the conjunction of our professional and community lives. If ever there were a project where the result justified the effort, this was surely it. It certainly was effort, and at times an emotional rollercoaster… but what a lot of community life it has accommodated and enabled in the ensuing 20 years”.

Torin Douglas, Director of the Chiswick Book Festival

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.”

A display of photographs and memories can now be viewed in the church and online here: smaaa.org.uk (Photos can also be downloaded from here).

Read more stories on The Chiswick Calendar