Reverend Jeremy Hobson on how residents, charities and businesses pulled together to restore St Matthew’s Church

My wife Dawn and I moved to Ponders End this summer with a strong sense of wanting to bring St Matthew’s – a church earmarked for demolition in 2016 and closed in 2019 – back to life again.

Since we moved, we’ve been warmly welcomed, and have loved getting to know the local community. Immediately, we started hearing people’s fond memories of the church and the school.

Offers of help from local businesses, charities, and other churches enthusiastically came in, and we’re now ready to open to the public.

Food charity Cooking Champions has operated out of the church for two years, and the renovations will help them expand their training and provision of free food. Founder Clare Donovan says they’re “really pleased” to see the church reopening and adds: “It is maximising the use of the beautiful building and will bring a lot of joy and comfort to many. We have already discussed joint projects with Rev Jeremy, and we are confident this partnership will only strengthen.

“Community makes us stronger and provides much-needed support, especially during challenging times.”

We’ve had further assistance from Dan Aitken and the Edmonton Van Hire team who have already mended the floor, Hutchinson Electrical Factors who have restored power, and Vertex Roofing who are working to make the building waterproof. Local couple Steve and Raya are planning on getting married here in November, and Steve’s dad Declan, a professional decorator, is helping to restore and paint the walls.

St Matthew’s Primary School is next door, and we are enjoying the restored close links as I have joined their governing board and have led some assemblies; headteacher Rebecca Harris told us she was “absolutely delighted that St Matthew’s Church is reopening after almost five years of closure” and that “together, I believe we can build a stronger, thriving Ponders End community”.

I am grateful to the teachers who have already helped clean the building and have enjoyed leading the school harvest festival, complete with donations for Cooking Champions.

The St Matthew’s team is currently preparing for the church’s public launch. We have already started English language lessons (Tuesdays at 1.30pm) and help for addiction recovery (Mondays at 10.30am) and our first service is now due to take place on Sunday, 15th December.

We think Christmas is the perfect occasion to thank everyone who helped restore the building – see you there!

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