Heritage Appeal Update

To complete urgent repairs to the Roofs and Tower of St John’s Church will cost £249,000.  English Heritage have offered us a grant of £96,000, but this is conditional.  To obtain this grant we need to raise £96,000 by March 2010 for Roof repairs and £27,000 towards Tower repairs, a total of £123,000.  So how are we doing?

We have made astonishing progress since I wrote the last Restoration Report on 15^th November 2009, for the December 2009 Parish Magazine.

      Our Heritage Appeal for urgent roof and tower repairs was £2,182.78 in August 2009, and £8,912.24 in November 2009.  On 5^th February 2010 it stands at £77,103.17.  How has this miracle happened?  We have received three major grants.  The London-over-the-Border Council gave us £50,000.  The National Churches Trust gave us £10,000 and the Allchurches Trust (from Ecclesiastical Insurance) gave us £1,500.  The remaining £6,690.83 came from special efforts and individual gifts, including the remarkable work of Joyce Dolphin, Colleen Harding, and Clem Stewardson raising funds at Friday and Saturday Coffee Mornings, and the Mini-Market.  Notable also was the sale of the entire stock of our Christmas Cards at the Christmas Market that raised £250.  We have also received generous gifts in memory of Frank Peters and Dorothy Candey.  This has been a remarkable achievement and we give thanks to God for all those who have made it possible.

This means that on 5^th February 2010 we need to raise £45,896.83 by the end of March 2010.  How can we do this?  Maureen Dennis has applied to the Friends of Essex Churches for a grant of £30,000, and has followed this up with a letter saying that we need over £40,000!  We would value your prayers for the success of this application.  Barbara Elliott is applying to a charity that specializes in giving grant aid to projects in the last stage of Fundraising, the Beatrice Lang Trust.  She is also applying for grant aid to the Garfield Weston

Foundation.   We are launching a new ‘one in a hundred’ project, asking 100 people to give £100 to our Heritage Appeal.  This could generate £10,000 very quickly, or £12,500 if everyone gift aids their gift!  This may be just the sum we need to plug the final gap!  And thanks be to God, individuals and groups are still making generous gifts for this appeal.  God has led us a very long way, very quickly.  I do not believe he will let us down at the last post!

We have now received the Access Audit of St John’s Church that was conducted on 18^th November.  Having such an Audit is a condition of the English Heritage Grant.  We have fulfilled that condition!

We have now received a Faculty from the Chancellor of the Diocese of Chelmsford for the urgent roof and tower repairs to St John’s.  Having such a faculty is a condition of the English Heritage Grant.  We have now fulfilled that condition.

Our team of Architects, Kay Pilsbury Thomas has sent out detailed specifications to specialist companies that are experts in restoring old churches.  Early indications from the Tenders returned suggest that the estimate of £249,000 is correct.  The work to be done, is affordable, within our estimate, including a contingency fund for extra repairs!
 

I have watched all this with a growing sense of excitement and awe, and with a deep sense of thanksgiving to God, and to all those who have made this possible.  Please pray that God will guide us and bless us with success in this final stage of the Heritage Appeal.

If you would like to donate toward this appeal you can do so by visiting the Donation page.