October has been a most encouraging month in the restoration of St John's site.
Plaster repairs to the Lady Chapel began on Monday 29th September and were completed on Wednesday 8th October. Lodge and Sons Ltd. discovered that more plaster repairs were needed than we expected and our architect, Kay Pilsbury, confirmed this. But the extra work was done, on time, and now the Lady Chapel is ready for redecoration. It is another important step on the path to the internal redecoration of St John's.
A very generous anonymous gift , and the carefully stewarded funds set aside in the Organ Fund, along with gifts from church members, meant that we were able to reach our target set for the Digital Organ Appeal. The Chelmsford Diocesan Advisory Committee at its meeting on 7th October gave St John's permission to buy the Digital Organ of our choice, subject to faculty. I put up the public notices of our plans on 10th October and if there are no objections by 8th November, the chancellor will give us permission to buy this organ. We hope that it can be installed by the end of January. It is only twelve months ago, in November 2007 that we launched the Digital Organ Appeal. To have achieved our aim so quickly, is a profound relief, and a cause for thanksgiving. We give thanks to God for all those who have made this project possible, and patiently and wisely steered it through.
The internal professional redecoration of the Church Hall began on 8th October and is on time for completion by 24th November. All the groups that use the Hall, with the exception of Cheeky Monkeys, have relocated to St John's Church. The Parent & Toddler Group, Cheeky Monkeys, has relocated to the Hall at High Road Methodist Church. This work will cost £5,625, and by 31st October the entire cost has been raised by St John's. In less than 12 months we have raised this large sum. This too is a profound relief and a cause for thanksgiving. We give thanks to God for Joyce Dolphin, Colleen Harding and many others who have worked so hard to make the hall redecoration possible, by making personal gifts, and raising funds at Friday Coffee and Saturday Coffee Mornings. Congratulations!
To keep us humble, there were further leaks in the Church and Hall Roof in the heavy rain on 30th September. So A.J. Restoration Ltd. came again on Tuesday 7th October, and repaired these leaks. So far, they are holding, but this is a reminder of the fragile state of our roofs, and the need to replace the Church Roofs. We have now raised £10,582.47 for the Donate-a-Slate project. £3,400 of this has been raised by Clem Stewardson on her stall at Friday and Saturday Coffee. We give thanks to God for her, and all those who have made gifts for Donate-a-Slate. We are waiting for a response from English Heritage to our application for a grant of £200,000 for urgent roof and tower repairs. We should know their decision by Christmas.
At the 175th Anniversary Thanksgiving Service on Sunday 2nd November at 10.30am we launched our new Save-the-Tower appeal. We need to raise £50,000 for urgent Tower Repairs. Although we hope the bulk of this money will come from grants, we need to raise a considerable sum ourselves for this work. A Save-the-Tower appeal leaflet appears in this months magazine. An anonymous give from members of St John's has been received, for the this Save-the-Tower appeal, for £350, so we have begun. "Thanks be to God".
In all of this I give thanks for the faithful members of St John's who have dared to believe, through long years of waiting, that this whole site can be restored and used to the glory of God. Now we begin to see it happening before our eyes.
Raymond Draper