Lunchtime Meeting - 12:45pm - Speaker Duncan Kerr
Mon, Mar 13th 2023 at 12:45 pm - 2:00 pm
Graham's speaker will be Duncan Kerr - owner of the Hermon Chapel Oswestry
Meal (£13.50) * Tomato and mozzarella salad Beef stew and dumplings Tea/Coffee
Hermon Chapel in Oswestry reborn as an entertainment venue
Shropshire Star: May 20, 2014
https://www.shropshirestar.com/entertainment/2014/05/20/hermon-chapel-in-oswestry-reborn-as-an-entertainment-venue/
A 19th century chapel in Shropshire may not be the most obvious of buildings to transform into a 21st century entertainment venue.
But that is exactly what is happening at Hermon Chapel in Oswestry thanks to the hard work and vision of the building's owner Duncan Kerr.
Mr Kerr, a social worker who also serves as a councillor on Oswestry Town Council, has worked on transforming the building in Chapel Street over four years into a premises for public meetings, music performance and movie screenings.
With all the correct licensing and planning permission in place Mr Kerr, 53, who lives in the former Sunday School building behind the chapel, says his labour of love is now paying off and he has announced a series of events will take place at the venue over the coming months.
Among the upcoming events is a series of gigs from local bands including a performance Thom and Crisbee this Saturday and Hut People on May 31.
Regular movie screenings are now also taking place.
Mr Kerr said he was delighted to bring the church back into use for the wider public after falling in love with the property, its design and its history.
He said: "Built in 1862 Hermon Chapel was designed by the self-taught preacher, carpenter and architect Thomas Thomas.
"English Heritage have given it a Grade 2 listing, a status reached by just one in twenty of all listed buildings. In Oswestry there are only three other properties in this category, one being St Oswald's church.
"To appreciate the building we have to try and imagine what life was like in the Victorian age when Oswestry had a large Welsh-speaking, non-conformist population who outgrew their first chapel, built in 1842, and set their hearts on opening a new chapel on the 250th anniversary of the ejection of the non-conforming clergy.
"Full of confidence they appointed an architect who understood their vision and chose the name Hermon from the mountain associated with the transfiguration."
Mr Kerr said after serving the community for generations, the chapel struggled to find a use and was put up for auction in 2009.
He said: "That weekend I was on a visit to Oswestry, viewed it on a whim and fell for it hook, line and sinker.
"It is a beguiling beautiful building.
"Like Hermon, my own life had experiences some changes as I had recently decided to relinquish the works of large desks and laptops and move up from being a council chief executive to re-train as a children's social worker.
"I wanted to learn more about re-building communities so we increase our capacity to overcome the big challenges of our age such as climate change and inequality.
"In management speak they called it "Social Capital" and Hermon had it in spades."
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