In January 2007, Gial searched the real estate sites on the Internet and found a church for sale in Allambie Heights - a suburb we had often thought would be a good, central spot to live! Built as a Methodist Church in 1960 (at which time Wayne was living as a 9 year old at the bottom of the hill), it consisted of the church plus two outside toilets. The adjacent hall (10 square metres with a kitchen in the corner) was added 10 years later. In 1977 it became part of the new Uniting Church and then specifically, a few years ago, a Tongan parish. It was put on the market in 2006 so that the Tongan congregation could contribute towards the building of a large Sydney-wide Tongan church elsewhere.
After a gruelling, 6 month process, we finally purchased it and moved in on 23rd August, 2007. We slept in the church's storeroom, used the minister's room as our kitchen/laundry and had one of the outside toilets turned into a shower. Architect Colin Filmer drew up plans to turn the hall into a two storey home and Council approval was given before Christmas. However, it was to be another 6 months before a builder (Petar Pasalich - Kevin & Glenny's neighbour) was found and building began on 24th July 2008 with an anticipated finish date of April 2009.
The Future - The church has been used for Loosely Woven rehearsals ever since we first occupied the premises. Now that the building has finished the church will be left empty to be used for rehearsals and performances for not only Loosely Woven but also all sorts of other people. It should make an absolutely superb house concert venue with comfortable seating for up to 100 people!
Grand Opening of Humph Hall - The official opening of Humph Hall took place at Winter Solstice - Sunday 21st June 2009.
Concerts - The first Loosely Woven concert, 'The Colour of Prudence', took place on Sunday 19th July 2009 to a standing room only crowd. See here for details & photos.