St Luke's Church Eccleshill - Articles from "The Link"

A new projector and screen

For more than a year the Church Council has been discussing the possibility of replacing our present overhead projector (OHP) and screen with a new system. The present system dates back to the early 1990’s and was originally meant to be just temporary! Nevertheless, one shouldn’t change just for change’s sake, so why would it be good to change?

Why do many churches now use projected images instead of books?

So that they can have:

words of new songs,
people looking up when singing,
alternative words for worship,
texts of bible readings,
rotating display of notices,
pictures to illustrate sermons,
video / film clips.

If you’ve visited other churches (Bolton, Wrose, St Augustine’s, Idle, Pudsey, Calverley, Yeadon ...) you’ll have seen these in action.

At St Luke’s we only have an OHP, so we only benefit from the first couple of these. We could do the next two, but acetates have to be printed of photocopied and that would be expensive. A computer-driven projector would be a lot more versatile.

We are NOT thinking of abolishing hymn books or service books for the 9.30am service, nor the take-home notices sheets. The 9.30am service would not be changed by a new projector.

Why are we thinking about a new screen location?

At present we project from an OHP onto a 5’6” square screen which stands about 4’ above the chancel floor on the left-hand side of the arch. It does work but it has five shortcomings:

a) It blocks the view of the East Window and chancel of all the people on the left-hand-side of the church. That’s a great shame, because the East Window and chancel are the most attractive and “churchy” features of our church building.
b) There’s a big “keystone” effect (the words are bigger at the top and smaller at the bottom). This is caused by the projector being too low and too close to the screen, and we can’t correct it because OHP’s have fixed optics and image sizes.
c) It separates the choir from the congregation. So we can’t ever use the screen at 9.30am without moving the choir, and we can’t ever use the chancel for drama at 11.15am.
d) It is a bit low to see in a full church building, and at some times of the year the sun shines on it and bleaches out the words.
e) It is hard to put up and take down. There’s a knack to it, but it can go horribly wrong if the usual people aren’t there!

Where else a screen might go in St Luke’s Church?

It could be suspended from a gantry arm hinged from behind the chancel arch. In other words, slightly behind where the present screen stands, and higher. In this position it would still separate the choir from the congregation and block the view of the window from half the congregation. Hanging vertically it would still have a keystone effect unless we used a long-length lens for projection, which would cost an extra Ł1000.
It could go above the choir-vestry door and be angled so as to tilt. It would obscure the flag but apart from that would not detract visually from the church. (It couldn’t go on the other side, in front of the organ above the side communion table, because the sun would shine on it most of the year. It would also block the nice view of the organ pipes.)
We could have plasma-screen TVs fitted between the arches. They’d be expensive and short-lived, and probably not big enough for good visibility.

The PCC has agreed to explore the second of these ideas. On page 6 of this magazine you’ll find a sketch diagram of what it might look like, but please bear in mind it’s only a sketch!

How to make progress?

The law requires churches to get legal permission (a ‘faculty’ - like planning permission) before making any permanent changes to church buildings. To get a faculty we’d have to submit exact plans of what we wanted - but the trouble is, we don’t know what it would be like until we actually get started and try something. So we have decided to begin with some temporary ideas.

In the lower diagram on page 6, you’ll see the screen descends from a box which is mounted on a 9-foot cross-beam. We can’t fix the beam to the walls without a faculty, but what we can do is construct a kind of temporary gantry to support it: it would be 12’7” above the chancel floor (that’s 13’8” above the church floor), and it would be held rigidly at the window end by being buttressed against the radiator cover and against the steps which rise to the choir vestry entrance, and rigidly at the pulpit end by its location in the corner of stonework. The retractable screen would be pulled down by a cord which would tie to the handrail, giving a tilt to the screen, and we think the projector could then be located in the angle of the pews.

And once it is up, temporarily, we’ll be able to borrow projectors and try them to see what we need and whether we like it.

John Hartley

Please see pages 2 and 4 for explanations. Above is the choir vestry door and arch as it is at present: below is what a screen might look like.

	*St Luke's Church, Eccleshill - The Link* magazine** The Link is published monthly at 40p (Senior Citizens 35p), and we deliver free within the parish and post copies (at the reader's expense) to those who request it. Please contact us if you would like a free copy for a trial period. July 2009, Page 2.
Home Page. Index of articles: by subject, by date. In this issue: (July 2009) In Christ, Projector & screen, Fewer bishops. Other articles on our locality.	A new projector and screen For more than a year the Church Council has been discussing the possibility of replacing our present overhead projector (OHP) and screen with a new system. The present system dates back to the early 1990’s and was originally meant to be just temporary! Nevertheless, one shouldn’t change just for change’s sake, so why would it be good to change? Why do many churches now use projected images instead of books? So that they can have: words of new songs, people looking up when singing, alternative words for worship, texts of bible readings, rotating display of notices, pictures to illustrate sermons, video / film clips. If you’ve visited other churches (Bolton, Wrose, St Augustine’s, Idle, Pudsey, Calverley, Yeadon ...) you’ll have seen these in action. At St Luke’s we only have an OHP, so we only benefit from the first couple of these. We could do the next two, but acetates have to be printed of photocopied and that would be expensive. A computer-driven projector would be a lot more versatile. We are NOT* thinking of abolishing hymn books or service books for the 9.30am service, nor the take-home notices sheets. The 9.30am service would not be changed by a new projector.* Why are we thinking about a new screen location? At present we project from an OHP onto a 5’6” square screen which stands about 4’ above the chancel floor on the left-hand side of the arch. It does work but it has five shortcomings: a) It blocks the view of the East Window and chancel of all the people on the left-hand-side of the church. That’s a great shame, because the East Window and chancel are the most attractive and “churchy” features of our church building. b) There’s a big “keystone” effect (the words are bigger at the top and smaller at the bottom). This is caused by the projector being too low and too close to the screen, and we can’t correct it because OHP’s have fixed optics and image sizes. c) It separates the choir from the congregation. So we can’t ever use the screen at 9.30am without moving the choir, and we can’t ever use the chancel for drama at 11.15am. d) It is a bit low to see in a full church building, and at some times of the year the sun shines on it and bleaches out the words. e) It is hard to put up and take down. There’s a knack to it, but it can go horribly wrong if the usual people aren’t there! Where else a screen might go in St Luke’s Church? It could be suspended from a gantry arm hinged from behind the chancel arch. In other words, slightly behind where the present screen stands, and higher. In this position it would still separate the choir from the congregation and block the view of the window from half the congregation. Hanging vertically it would still have a keystone effect unless we used a long-length lens for projection, which would cost an extra Ł1000. It could go above the choir-vestry door and be angled so as to tilt. It would obscure the flag but apart from that would not detract visually from the church. (It couldn’t go on the other side, in front of the organ above the side communion table, because the sun would shine on it most of the year. It would also block the nice view of the organ pipes.) We could have plasma-screen TVs fitted between the arches. They’d be expensive and short-lived, and probably not big enough for good visibility. The PCC has agreed to explore the second of these ideas. On page 6 of this magazine you’ll find a sketch diagram of what it might look like, but please bear in mind it’s only a sketch! How to make progress? The law requires churches to get legal permission (a ‘faculty’ - like planning permission) before making any permanent changes to church buildings. To get a faculty we’d have to submit exact plans of what we wanted - but the trouble is, we don’t know what it would be like until we actually get started and try something. So we have decided to begin with some temporary ideas. In the lower diagram on page 6, you’ll see the screen descends from a box which is mounted on a 9-foot cross-beam. We can’t fix the beam to the walls without a faculty, but what we can do is construct a kind of temporary gantry to support it: it would be 12’7” above the chancel floor (that’s 13’8” above the church floor), and it would be held rigidly at the window end by being buttressed against the radiator cover and against the steps which rise to the choir vestry entrance, and rigidly at the pulpit end by its location in the corner of stonework. The retractable screen would be pulled down by a cord which would tie to the handrail, giving a tilt to the screen, and we think the projector could then be located in the angle of the pews. And once it is up, temporarily, we’ll be able to borrow projectors and try them to see what we need and whether we like it. John Hartley Please see pages 2 and 4 for explanations. Above is the choir vestry door and arch as it is at present: below is what a screen might look like.
Top of page.	This web page was last updated on 15th October 2009.