St. Saviourgate Unitarian Chapel Concert
30th April 2009
Background on St. Saviourgate Unitarian Chapel
and York Unitarians’ Fundraising Campaign
A portion of funds raised at the York Light Orchestra concert will go towards ‘All Are Welcome Here’, a £35,000
campaign to pay for recent internal improvements and enhancements to St. Saviourgate Unitarian Chapel.
The chapel is an attractive, historic building with modern comforts and enhancements. Clean, safe, dry, light, and airy,
and situated in a peaceful garden setting, it has excellent acoustics, a hearing loop system, ramps for wheelchair access,
and heat in colder months. York’s earliest (1692) surviving nonconformist chapel, the building is Grade II* listed because
of its Greek Cross design—unique among churches in England—and its innovative load-bearing brick walls.
In 2008, the congregation organised additional improvements to the interior: an extended “performance area” at the front
to accommodate larger musical groups, re-hanging fire exit doors to open outwards for safety, creating a disabled toilet
in the vestry, and adding a second toilet in the vestibule. The benefits of these changes have been immediately noticeable
to our members, friends, and regular visitors.
In addition to Sunday morning worship services, the chapel is regularly open for other activities, such as a weekly meditation
group and a semi-monthly Healing & Spirituality meeting, and for local and national events, such as Heritage Open Days and
York Residents Festival. Do come and see us!
See the Unitarian Press release from CoRE newsletter 17/4/2009 here.
For more about the chapel or York Unitarians, visit www.yorkunitarians.org.uk,
or send us an email at yorkunitarians@hotmail.co.uk.
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