Holy Trinity Church’s Time Capsule Contains A Wealth Of Material For Future Generations

Published on: 7 Jul, 2019
Updated on: 11 Jul, 2019

A time capsule has been buried inside Holy Trinity Church in Guildford High Street to provide future generations with a snap-shot of life in the church and parish in 2019, and its contribution to the local community.

The time capsule was buried at a service at Holy Trinity Church on June 29.

The idea for a time capsule arose from a community engagement programme. It was an obligation to the Heritage Lottery Fund, in return for its grant of almost £80,000 towards repairing the north and west steps up to the church. This was one part of an extensive repair and refurbishment project undertaken between 2014-19.

The project has involved the church’s 12- to 16-year-old group, Café Club, led by its children and families co-ordinator, Pippa Mitchell. They made suggestions for the contents and wrote their own “Letter to the Future” included in its contents.

Some of the Café Club youngsters with the time capsule in its resting place.

The church sought advice on how to make a time capsule from the British Library website and reproduced the ideal conditions as far as possible. All the written contents are printed on archive quality paper, dried and inserted in inert polyester envelopes. The box contains silica gel to keep the contents dry. Everything was handled wearing cotton gloves. It has also been registered with the International Time Capsule Society.

Gary Skidmore of Leedsheath Ltd making the time capsule.

The capsule takes the form of an airtight stainless steel box, made by Gary Skidmore of Leedsheath Ltd, an engineering firm on the Slyfield Industrial Estate.

Kevin Rossiter of Timpsons in North Street engraved the box lid.

The box lid was engraved by Kevin Rossiter of Timpsons in North Street.

It was interned in a disused heating pipe conduit, under the floor in the church during morning service on Sunday, June 29.

It was Holy Trinity’s annual ‘Jazz Mass’ – when the normal Sung Eucharist was replaced by a liturgical performance of Mass in Blue, composed by parishioner Will Todd, and accompanied by his trio (piano, bass, percussion) together with guest brass and wind players.

The time capsule being buried under the church floor. From left: Roger Howes, the Revd Rod Pierce and Ann Pierce.

The capsule contains a USB stick with electronic copies of all the many items within. These include: audio recordings of three sermons; messages from the rector, the Revd Canon Robert Cotton; and from a member of the parochial church council (PCC) about the parish in 2019.

There are four weekly newsletters; monthly newsletter supplements from January to June 2019; music schemes from December 2017 to June 2019; a photograph of the Holy Trinity boys and girls choirs taken in August 2018; “father of the choir” Graham Morris, and its youngest boy chorister, William Pinkerton.

An informal concert programme; Remembrance Sunday order of service for November 2018 with photograph of the service in Holy Trinity are also in the capsule. There is a programme of Guildford Shakespeare Company’s production of Measure for Measure; three CDs of music from Holy Trinity Church; an article by Jane Hedgecock about the parish relationship with Kwasa School in the Highveld, South Africa, with photographs from a youth trip in 2017.

An article by the Revd Rod Pierce about parish battlefield tours undertaken each spring from 2014-18 with photographs are included; a list of the PCC members in 2019 and a copy of Keeping in Touch, which shows the range of activities taking place in the parish. There is also a list of charities the church currently supports.

A Letter to the Future, written by the boys and girls of its Café Club and a photograph of them with the time capsule is in it, plus a detailed list of the building works carried out at Holy Trinity in the period 2014-19 and current plans for re-ordering at St Mary’s Church.

The order of service for evensong on March 5, 2017 has been added. This service was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 from St Mary’s Church. And finally, samples of leaflets produced for visitors in English, Russian and standard Chinese.

The engraving on the lid recommends the time capsule is not opened until June 2119.