A list of remaining items was carefully put together by the College Capital Projects team containing furniture not required by the College and a campaign was run by The Bradfield Society. The aspiration was to try to get donations of around £100 per item and it was a successful project.
Items included over thirty very long and heavy oak pews, pew responds, a vintage piano and harmonium along with a large table and metal screen which divided the South Transept from the South Aisle.
John Drake, a local painter and decorator, who was married in the Church, was the first to hear about the sale and gave a donation for four pews in total, three for his daughters and one for himself.
Judith Frisby, a member of the College Operations team, also took three pews to integrate into her new kitchen plan and her husband, a carpenter by trade, cut them down to fit them into their van for ease of transit.
Hugh Best-Shaw (F 88-93), who runs building company SW Design and Build, bought two pews for his new home. When he came to collect them, he was so taken by the antique American Estey Harmonium that he made a second trip to pick that up too.
Hugh played the organ in the Church and then wheeled it out and loaded it into his horsebox for its journey to its new home which was a memorable experience.
Henry Cooke (D 88-93), Director at auction house Mallams in Oxford, made contact about the metal screens as he had read about them and had in the past sold items from the College’s Founder, Thomas Stevens’, house.
Coincidentally, Alan Holloway, grandson of former Bradfield Blacksmith James Holloway, also got in touch when he heard about the screen available in the Church.
