Parish profile St John & St Andrew, Waterloo

Opposite the IMAX Cinema rotunda which replaced 'cardboard city' and in the shadow of Waterloo Station, St John's Church is familiar to thousands who pass it every day.

It's a 'Waterloo Church', the 'John' of Matthew, Mark Luke and..., four Lambeth churches built to celebrate Wellington's victory over Napoleon. The parish's second church, St Andrew's, is a less imposing sixties building, hidden away in a side street just off The Cut.

An advert for a curate described it as 'the most interesting parish in the country' and with neighbours like St Martin in the Fields and Westminster Abbey - plus the National Theatre, the Old and Young Vics, the South Bank Centre and County Hall (as was) - the presumption is excusable! Somehow, you expect to meet 'luvvies' at every turn...but St John's congregation is mainly local people and the Church has its feet firmly planted in the surrounding estates and the local community. One of the northernmost parishes in the Diocese it has a fairly large population - around 6,000 They range from 'trendies' in posh riverside flats to long-established south Londoners in the Church Commissioners, Peabody and Council estates and housing co-operative riverside developments where pressure led to 'affordable' housing for local people.

St John's itself is certainly imposing. The parish was carved out of the old St Mary's, Lambeth, in the 1820s - the former parish church is now the Garden Museum at Lambeth Palace. Designed by Francis Bedford it was built to take up to 2,000 people with galleries around three sides. Renovated (to suit Victorian tastes) in 1885 and again in 1924, St John's was bombed in 1940, removing half the roof and gutting the interior. The solid structure meant the walls and the crypt - at the time an air-raid shelter - stood firm, and provided the basis for the eventual rebuild which restored much of the original 1822 design. In 1951 the present Queen was among the guests when it was rededicated in time for the Festival of Britain.

By 1991 the building was showing signs of wear and tear and a £1.5 million, 7 year external and internal renovation followed - including installing St John's unique stainless steel roof, featured in one of the earliest editions of The Bridge.

Today the church is clean, bright - cream paint seems to be everywhere, on the walls, on the unusual 'twin' pulpit and lectern - and with its large open floor-space, very 'functional' for both worship and for the musical performances and art exhibitions which seem to be listed in the Bridge Diary every month.

When I paid my 'profile' visit on Palm Sunday we met at St Andrew's, from which we processed carrying palms and singing hymns, part way with Rev.John Paxton and his Christ Church congregation. We stopped at the corner of Waterloo Road for prayers. A scruffy teenager ambled past with his mates, beer cans in hands, and called out 'Up Satan!'. One of the worshippers echoed his words - but with a different meaning intended!

Going along Waterloo Road we picked up a couple of American tourists who came into St John's to join in the ASB Rite A Eucharist. Perhaps it was not unexpected, that the sermon spot should take the form of a performance, 'AND LADDERS', by dancer Clare Whistler and violinist Joanna Parker. The performance was part of a larger package including sculptures and paintings on display in St Johns through to mid-May.

After the service many of the congregation gathered around a table to talk about the performance with the artistes involved. Usually it's the sermon that is discussed.

The Vicar, Richard Truss, came to Waterloo about six years ago from Shepperton. As well as his parish duties, he is Chaplain to both the National Theatre and the Old Vic - and a number of local office buildings. Curate, Katharine Rumens is also Chaplain to the Young Vic and the South Bank Centre, including LWT (as profiled last summer in The Bridge).

There is also a Ordained Local Minister, David Pape, born and bred on the patch, and a second in training Godfrey Kaziro. Godfrey will be St John's link to the Lugandan language (Ugandan) Church which meets monthly at St Johns.

Nathan Ntege, the Lugandan Church's pastor, an optician who was ordained in Uganda, has the Bishop's Permission to Officiate (PTO) at St John's and very much part of the team - he carried the cross for part way in the Palm Sunday procession. We should have been led by a Ugandan Choir, but at the last minute they couldn't get visas. The parish also has a Mission Partner and is looking for a second to work with young people.

The pattern of services is fairly traditional. Sunday begins with a 9am non-eucharistic service, usually followed by everyone sitting down to breakfast together; a 10.30 ASB Eucharist, with 12noon sermon study; and a 6.30pm Evening Service at St Andrew's Church. Weekdays there's a Mattins at 8.30 and a Eucharist at 12.30 every day except Friday.

The Lugandan church which draws from all over the London area has been worshipping at St John's for about three years. It's monthly service nowadays is often in both Lugandan and English, as many of the younger people have English as their first language. The congregation join with St John's on many occasions and several worship regularly at St John's.

It's a very 'social' church. The 'diary' handed out included parish outings to Paddock Wood and Salisbury and a children's weekend. Church members are also heavily involved with local community and pressure groups and while 'Cardboard City' may have gone, the homeless haven't. St John's crypt is used as a Day Centre and a 'blind eye' is shown to those who curl up on the porticoed front steps overnight. Mind you every morning the first task is to ask them politely to move on - they usually do!

Phyllis Brown and Louisa Shepherd are two of St John's long-standing members. They reflected on how the area - and the Church - had changed. Phyllis regrets the passing of the old BCP. "When I was ill a few years back, I couldn't really take in everything but with the old familiar services I caught a word here, a phrase there, and it was a great comfort. Mind you with what they are now planning , I suppose soon I'll be nostalgic for the ASB!"

Louisa, who has published a book of her 'waterloo memories', recalled the days when there was a street market in The Cut and people lived in streets of terraced houses.

"They took all the little houses away and replaced them with concrete blocks! Affordable housing is a problem locally, specially for young families". Louisa lives in a local council estate where many flats have been bought by the occupants "just so they can sell them later at a profit and afford a house somewhere. The only hope of renting a house is with one of the co-ops, and there just aren't enough of them to go round".

Louisa was washing up alongside Esther Kawoya, a member of the Lugandan Church, who came to the UK to study 20 years ago and stayed. She comes to Waterloo about twice a month - and on other Sundays worships near her home, at St Mary's Croydon.

What are St John's 'down sides'?, I asked Richard Truss.

"There is a conflict of interests - we want to help the homeless, but some of our people find it difficult when they can't get into church for people sleeping on the steps. It also deters couples from getting married here".

"Upkeep of the building is expensive - but greatly helped by the regular lettings. St Andrew's is also largely financed by letting income, but there are plans to replace it with a new church in a new housing development."

Like many churches, St John's also suffers from the 'committed few' syndrome - the small core of active members who do all the work. "There are also pockets of the parish - like the 2,000 or so students living locally - which St John's finds hard to reach" said Richard.

"And we'd love double glazing, to keep out some of the traffic noise, especially as we are trying to encourage lettings for musical performances"

But "just being at the heart of London, the centre of the South Bank, with an incredibly warm and active church family, more than makes up for all that", he added.