While acknowledging the achievement, the hard work and the generosity involved in the current restoration of the Cathedral -
(a) Was approval sought from Synod for the previous re-orientation of the cathedral whether legally required or not and was approval sought from Synod for the new re-orientation?
(b) Have any major furnishings or memorials been permanently removed from the cathedral now and if so which particular furnishings and memorials, and if they have been permanently removed, were the necessary faculties granted for the removal?
(c) Which major furnishings and memorials are still to be returned in due course to the cathedral?
(d) At the completion of work in the cathedral, will proper provision be made for kneeling for prayers and at the administration of Holy Communion in view of the many references to kneeling both in the New Testament and in the Book of Common Prayer?
To which the President replied -
I am advised the answers are as follows -
5. The Rev Dr John Bunyan asked -
While acknowledging the achievement, the hard work and the generosity involved in the current restoration of the Cathedral -
(a) Was approval sought from Synod for the previous re-orientation of the cathedral whether legally required or not and was approval sought from Synod for the new re-orientation?
(b) Have any major furnishings or memorials been permanently removed from the cathedral now and if so which particular furnishings and memorials, and if they have been permanently removed, were the necessary faculties granted for the removal?
(c) Which major furnishings and memorials are still to be returned in due course to the cathedral?
(d) At the completion of work in the cathedral, will proper provision be made for kneeling for prayers and at the administration of Holy Communion in view of the many references to kneeling both in the New Testament and in the Book of Common Prayer?
To which the President replied -
I am advised the answers are as follows -
(a) In 1935 Archbishop Mowll launched a competition for the design of an enlarged St Andrew's Cathedral. Thirty designs were entered and the winners were Pinckney & Gott of London, who proposed a new building running along the George Street frontage, with only the western front and towers preserved of Blacket's design. From 1937 to 1940, the Pinckney & Gott designs were refined, with several schemes considered by the Synod. For 4 days in November 1940 the synod debated the merits of the various schemes: no scheme received majority support. The question of the Cathedral's extension was abandoned until "the appropriate time", probably after the war.
In July 1940 a Synod sub-committee had begun to examine the possibility of changing the interior arrangements of the Cathedral from east to west. The Standing Committee received its report in October 1940 and authorised its implementation. The timing suggests that the "disorientation" was only ever intended as a stop gap, a means of facilitating the proposed enlargement. With the effective abandonment for the time being of that grander scheme, the Synod approved funds to "disorient" the Cathedral; the funds approved came from the accumulated rents of Cathedral properties. The work was carried out in 1941. An opening was made at the George Street end of the building in 1949.
In November 1997, the Standing Committee passed an Ordinance granting funds for the restoration of the Cathedral. The project was a matter of report to the Synod; the approval of the Synod was not sought.
(b) It is taken that "major" qualifies both "furnishings" and "memorials". No major memorials have been permanently removed. The following major furnishings have been removed: the Whiteley Organ (1928) from the North Porch; the Kinlock Organ (1992) from the Chancel; the Dean's Stall (1935); the Communion Table (1941). No formal faculty was granted.
(c) None. However, some furnishings and memorials remain to be returned.
(d) Yes.