In 2016-17, St Anne’s underwent a major development to be able to better serve the local community as the only church building in Dunbar opening daily for sacred, cultural and social purposes, taking advantage of its heritage and prominent High Street position.
St. Anne's interior, before re-development.
The repair, restoration and adaptation of the Church and historic War Memorial Chapel has created a more welcoming, flexible and accessible venue for the growing congregation, community, and visitors. Changes include:
- Essential access and weather-proofing works
- Developing the Tower space to provide an additional disabled toilet, training/meeting-room and office
- Creating an equipped activity space in the rear-half of the Nave
- Restoring the WW1 Chapel
- Improved insulation, heating, lighting, sound, and security
systems throughout.
The development was based on the results of a careful consultation involving the congregation and community in 2014. The resulting £425,000 capital fundraising campaign was successfully completed in October 2016. Following completion of the development, the Church opened again for worshp and community activities in July 2017.
Bishop John blessing the new UN Peace Pole
Currently, three further initiatives are at the planning stage:
- Further development of the church’s UN Peace Pole Garden, with High Street frontage, to become a wheel-chair accessible Community Peace Garden, with seating and to include display-boards reflecting the town’s 1300-year history of Christianity. It will link directly with local audio-visual material in the WW1 Chapel in St. Anne's, recording the impact of war on the town and, unusually, on the town’s women.
- The creation of a stained-glass window on the South wall of the Nave, overlooking the new activity area, commemorating the faith, life and work of John Muir, Dunbar’s most famous son.
- Commissioning a statue of John Wesley for the external niche on the East wall of the church, looking towards the harbour and the Methodist Chapel (founded in 1764 and the oldest in Scotland) he helped establish; and a statue of St Anne for the external niche over the main entrance porch to the church.
Stained glass in St. Anne's.
The proposed new John Muir window would replace a plain glass window to the right of the three windows in the photo.
In undertaking the first major changes to this building in its
125-year history, the Vestry and united Episcopal and Methodist
congregation of St Anne’s gratefully acknowledge the financial
support generously provided by the following bodies:
- The Baird Trust
- St Hilda’s Trust
- and the following bodies:
