April 2000
The Chapel is now to be known as St Felix Church
The chapel on the domestic side of RAF Bentwaters will be reused as a church, and will take its name from a saint associated with Felixstowe. Saint Felix is to be the name of the church in the heart of the old airbase housing at Rendlesham. The saint was a bishop from Burgundy who came to East Anglia as a missionary in the year 631 and set up camp at Dunwich.
Rendlesham householders, who made the decision, were asked to choose a name from a shortlist of four. Other contenders were St Augustine of Canterbury, St Theresa, the patron saint of airmen and airwomen, and Sts Mary and Martha. The Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich purchased the base chapel, last used in 1993, and opened for worship after it had been licensed in April 2000.
1. General view of the Chapel, now St. Felix Church,
with the water towers beyond.
2. This picture of the rear of
the Chapel and adjoining building was taken 1 January 2002.
3. General view of the Chapel, now St. Felix Church, and its attractive garden.
4. The large blossoming cherry
in the gardens alongside the Chapel, now St Felix Church..
5. The path to the now-empty plinth.
.
6. The space at one gable end for one of the missing crosses.
7. The path to the plinth has sunken and needs re-setting.
8. Detail of some repairs needed - cracked and flaking render.