General News
26 November, 2024
Pew! That was hard work
A CHURCH pew stored in a wool shed for almost a century has been restored. Members of Inglewood and Bridgewater Men’s Shed last Thursday handed the Tasmanian red gum pew back to Glenn Catto. The pew, made to a convict design, had been part of St...
A CHURCH pew stored in a wool shed for almost a century has been restored.
Members of Inglewood and Bridgewater Men’s Shed last Thursday handed the Tasmanian red gum pew back to Glenn Catto.
The pew, made to a convict design, had been part of St John’s Church Rheola from its opening in 1870 until the building was demolished in 1926.
Mr Catto said grandfather Stan had tendered for the building, using hand-cut weatherboards for the wool shed.
“The pew was stored up in the rafters and stayed there until brought to the men’s shed who have done a tremendous job,” he said.
Shed member Dave Grant said it was only when the pew had been cleaned and stripped and a coat of lacquer applied that members were certain of the timber variety.
“The lacquer brought out the warmth of the Tasmanian red gum,” Mr Grant said.
Similar design pews, although longer, were also in the Kingower church.
The restored pew will be donated to the Rheola community and dedicated to three local men killed in World War One - Rob Catto, Harry Soulsby and Michael O’Shannessy. “They would all have attended St John’s in the years before they enlisted and went overseas,” Mr Catto said.