Baby it's cold inside

I have just returned from Church this morning, and am gradually thawing out after the experience.

I went to the 9am Mass at Penparcau this morning, the main reason for this was in order to avoid the Latin sung parts of the Mass which are promised for 11am Mass in town. If I wanted to speak Latin I'd have been an ancient Roman (and they seem to have spoken Greek half the time anyway).

Aberystwyth Parish has two churches: St Winefride's in the middle of town and Welsh Martyrs out at Penparcau (a suburb of Aberystwyth). Both are in an advanced state of decrepitude, and both (as I discovered this morning) are freezing cold in the winter.

After this morning's experience I realise that the hardy souls of Penparcau actually have an even colder Church than we do in town. Having said this it was quite a nice change to St Winefride's. Welsh Martyrs dates from the 60's or 70's (not sure which) and therefore has a modern layout, which I prefer - I think it brings people closer together and closer to the focus of the Mass. St Winefride's is Victorian, and I really dislike Victorian Churches.

Added to this I found that the a cappella singing in Welsh Martyrs was very good. At St Winefrede's I often find that we struggle with the organist. I have to say this isn't always her fault, she is often asked to play hymns which really shouldn't be played on an organ.

As I say both Churches are in a poor state; Welsh Martyrs is a fine example of how not to build a modern building, largely due to poor construction and overuse of concrete. St Winefride's is just too old and no longer fit for purpose - in the event of a fire at the back of the Church I fear a calamity.

Some time ago it was decided that, as we now only have one priest, we would have to go down to one Church and the St Winefride's site was chosen. We are supposed to be having a feasibility study to see what should be done with the St Winefride's site. I could save them the time and money by stating the obvious - we need a new Church!