This was a case of the "Biter Bitten"! An adult who
had recently come to faith asked for baptism by immersion. My Minister
asked me to research where we could hire a pool. These were the
findings:
(a)
Playlite Limited (01795 476 367).
This was a fibreglass construction which was very heavy
requiring four people to shift it!
The hire cost was about £200.
(b)
Hexpool (01953 888 109).
These are manufactured by a church in East Anglia, using
unemployed people on a “self help” basis.
A pool from them for costs £1073 or hire about £135.
One church had used this one and although it leaked slightly,
it was preferable in a number of ways, including visibility.
Need to collect and return.
(c) Splashdown(020 8422 9308).
Although they were very knowledgeable and helpful concerning
baptistries (“they do a lot of these”), their pools were initially
designed as birthing pools - rather a nice analogy anyway.
These can be hired rather more locally from several UK
locations.
For birthing purposes they hire them out at £235, but for
baptismal purposes, it’s only £150……….
(d)
Bubbatubs (01992 302449). Discovered later - again a
hexagonal pool for £65 hire or £900 Purchase.
"requires 1 person 10 minutes and no tools to
construct". Web site is www.bubbatubs.com.
(e)
York City Church
www.portablebaptistery.co.uk
(01904 750910). - Another
pool in the £750 range. For further information contact by
email at info@portablebaptistery.co.uk
or by telephone.
In the end we opted for Hexpool (above) because
the birthing pool was only 5 foot long. It was a very clever
simple design, took 5 hours to fill, but the submersible pump emptied
much more quickly. As it
happened, they could not meet our deadline (then only 5 days!) and
very kindly pointed us to a few local churches who had purchased.
As a result of this
page we subsequently received information from the US ARM Prisons
Ministry. US enquirers will be interested in the following
message:
"Have
you seen the two baptistries produced by A.R.M. Prison Outreach
International? The Communion
Table Baptistry
and Collapsible
Portable Baptistry were
originally designed to be uses by jail and prison chaplains to baptize
inmates.
Please
visit the www.arm.org website and
click on the "Communion
Table Baptistry" and
"Collapsible
Portable Baptistry" icons
(0n the Quick Menu) to see these baptistries.
Perhaps
one of these two baptistries could be used by other ministers,
missionaries, and jail/prison chaplains who are looking for
baptistries in the future".
If
you are interested, please contact jwelch@arm.org.
The website is www.arm.org - which should
not be confused with the Anglican Renewal Movement in the UK!
