©Sharon Montgomery-Dupe/Cape Breton Post
GARDINER MINES, N.S. — When a former New Waterford couple purchased a church in Gardiner Mines, plans were to put a ‘Home Sweet Home’ mat out front, but that’s on hold for the time being.
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“We were going to live in it,” said Corrina Kelly. “I even had our furniture sent there at first. We were going to make it our home.”
Corrina and her husband, Mike Kelly, former members of the Canadian Armed Forces, had postings throughout Canada and the United States over the years.
“We had been living away for more than 20 years,” Corrina said.
One of her visits home she noticed the St. James Church in Gardiner Mines was up for sale. In 2013 she said they purchased the church and moved home to retire.
“The building has so much potential, there wouldn’t be any need to see it destroyed. “
With pews still in place, plans were to move in and renovate as they went along.
However she said they ended up moving in to her old family home in New Waterford to live with her mother. She said they have invested a lot of money into the former church and still have a lot more to do.
A sign on the church dates the building back to 1949, but other documents it may go back as far as 1947.
“The government needs to open some funding up for people willing to save structures like this.”
She said there wasn’t any insulation in the building at all, it was costing $100 a day for oil plus servicing a furnace that wasn’t working at peak efficiency.
To address that issue, they put a $100,000 geothermal heating system into the building.
“It still cost a lot for power but not nearly what the oil was.”
She said the building needs a new roof and they also hope to put solar panels in as well. They repainted the yellow and brown walls to a neutral white and grey. Plans include making the former confessional into an office.
“Right now we are going one step at a time.”
In the meantime the church has a new kind of kingdom in it’s midst; they have rented out the upstairs of the former church — which now bears a pink front door and a sign ‘The Palace’ — to the Premier Cheer Allstars, a local cheerleading group. The parking lot spaces have even been outlined in pink.
Corrina said they allowed the group to add these touches, “to help make them feel at home.”
Stacey Madden, co-ordinator of the Premier Cheer Allstars, said one of her cheer mothers knew the new owners and knew the space was empty.
“I was in contact with her almost a year before I decided to take it over.”
Madden watched the renovation process, where the church was gutted. The cheer group — which includes about 100 girls from ages three to 30 — moved into the building in June.
Madden said the main floor is beautiful and bright and now houses the group’s spring floor and tumbling equipment.
“The inside is beautiful, it was all redone,” she said, adding they are very happy there.
“ You can still feel it is a church with the windows and one of our back doors still has a cross on it.”
She said pink is one of their group’s colours, which also includes black, silver and white.
“I wanted it to stand out on the outside as well and make it was pretty as I could.”
She said through social media everyone voted on the name of the building.
“We are called Premier so we thought Premier and Palace goes well together.”
The fairytale aspect was a natural part to add on to a group with more than 100 girls.
“It’s not that the girls think they are little princesses — we like to think the girls are treated like little princesses.”
Premier Cheer AllStars is a non-profit organization dedicated to cheerleading. Madden said cheer training is a combination of gymnastics, stunting and dancing, but skills are not only developed in these areas but also other areas including self-esteem and self-confidence.
She said they compete in tournaments locally, regionally and nationally.
And there’s another business still brewing in the former church — Kelly Kids Thrift Shop.
Corrina Kelly said they opened a thrift shop in the basement to get rid of the belongings they no longer wanted.
“When you’re military and moving a lot sometimes there’s boxes you don’t even get a chance to open for years. We always totally unpacked except for this time.”
She said her children, ages 12, 15 and 16, have been looking after it.
“My kids are entrepreneurs, it’s all designed around them.”
She said the basement is partially renovated and once the basement is partially cleared out she plans have it become a fun zone type of place, perhaps to rent out for birthday parties.
Corrina said a lot of people are always stopping by to see the church.
“I get approached all the time by people telling me family got married there or were baptized there or are buried in the graveyard, something that ties them to the church.
“They are quite proud of that church. They are appreciative it wasn’t torn down.”
Resource :http://www.capebretonpost.com/news/local/2017/3/27/new-waterford-couple-purchased-former-gardiner-mines-church-to-l.html
