That’s why the forecourt also resembles a storage area for construction materials: trenchers, gravel and solid material, with broken walls and stones in between. And then there was the ubel in the basement of the parish house. The church square was designed in such a way that water flowed in the direction of the parish hall. Over the decades, the steel institutions that had provided stability had been decimated. "The whole extent of the damage was found out during test drillings.
We are now really glad that something is being done", says pastor rolf dieling, who lives with his wife in the parsonage, which was built in 1928. According to him, a public bath was housed in the basement of the parish house until the 1950s – as a substitute for the bathroom, which was still rare at that time.
Barrier-free access
in the meantime, protective walls have been put in place and a new ceiling has been installed. The floor was also concreted. Pipes still need to be laid. And: in the course of the cellar renovation, the church congregation can realize the dream of redesigning the church forecourt. Not only can the angle of inclination and thus the water runoff be changed: now the peace church will also have barrier-free access. "The level of the church square will be raised by 25 centimeters, then it will be covered with anti-slip granite", declares pastor rolf dieling. A mixture of blasted and flamed paving slabs makes for an appealing look.
The barrier-free access to the church then leads from the sidewalk of the kemmetweg along the church to the entrance. "We hope that the linden tree planted in 1983 can be preserved", says dieling. In any case, the access is designed to pass behind the lime tree.
A bench and a birdcage are to be installed on the forecourt. In the future, the lawns will be maintained on a voluntary basis, promise robert hirschmann and arnold schubert of the church administration.
Now everyone hopes there will be no more surprises at the construction site. The tree removal will not be completed until the fall. But until then, community life will not come to a standstill – and there is plenty to do for everyone.