St Andrew
Rugby, Warwickshire
Centrally located in Rugby, with an atmosphere of peace and spirituality, we welcome visitors, pilgrims, guests and more to our church, to drop in, visit our cafe or attend one of our events.
The church started near the railway station, when Rugby was an expanding railway engineering town. St Peter’s church started out as church services in a coffee tavern, erected for the navvies on the Great Central Railway. A tin church was erected in the present location in 1901 as a daughter church of St. Andrew’s in the town centre and was dedicated on 25th May 1901.
The current building is a large brick structure built in 1908 by C Ford Whitcomb. Due to the shape of the land, alongside the former railway line, its orientation was north (altar) to south. The chancel was added in 1933 and the orientation re-ordered south (altar) to north. A memorable feature is the east window, which was dedicated in 1955. In 1984, after a nearby hall was destroyed by fire, the main church building was split into two to create a community space at the rear.
As well as being an important place of worship for our parish, our building also acts as an important community centre and is a meeting place for a wide range of people from isolated older people, recent migrants, young families with children.
The church is the venue for weekly worship services on Sundays and Wednesdays, as well as seasonal church services, weddings and funerals. The church is also hired out by various local musical groups throughout the year as a venue for concerts and performances. The hall is a popular meeting place for several local community groups and is hired out for birthday parties, family celebrations and special occasions. Regular external groups & providers who hire the hall include a yoga class and a weekly ‘Knit & Natter’ group and a weekly mother and toddler group.
Our social committee meets throughout the year to plan and arrange a host of fun social events for the benefit of the whole community. These events offer a great opportunity to engage with our local community, to meet new people, and to share our resources with others. Our social events are an important way of raising the profile of our church in our local community, of bringing in income but most importantly, are an opportunity for us to have fun.