£400,000 target – or church roof will rot away
VILLAGERS are hoping a musical fundraiser will help raise the roof on ambitions to save their medieval church from abandonment.
The Friends of St James Church in Westerleigh have to raise £400,000 to re-tile the roof of their Grade I listed place of worship or face it rotting into disrepair.
-
St James Church in Westerleigh
On Saturday, May 12 the 13th Century church will be hosting the Cantanti Choir and Wind Band in a concert to raise money for the restoration project.
A 2009 survey of the 700-year-old church of St James the Great found that the roof gully between aisles leaks and must be replaced before the roof becomes unsafe.
Business Cards From Only £10.95 Delivered www.myprint-247.co.uk
View detailsOur heavyweight cards have FREE UV silk coating, FREE next day delivery & VAT included. Choose from 1000's of pre-designed templates or upload your own artwork. Orders dispatched within 24hrs.
Terms: Visit our site for more products: Business Cards, Compliment Slips, Letterheads, Leaflets, Postcards, Posters & much more. All items are free next day delivery. www.myprint-247.co.uk
Contact: 01858 468192
Valid until: Wednesday, May 22 2013
The first stage of the work in the summer of 2011 was to investigate the full extent of the work required but this resulted in a recommendation to re-tile the whole roof, doubling the size of the project.
Patrick Mills, 66, is church warden of St James Church and said: "We have two options; which is to abandon the church and deconsecrate it or we can fix it. What we cannot do is leave it to rot a few more years."
The Friends of St James was set up in June 2010 in order to galvanise the local community to help support the restoration of the monument to medieval architecture. Mr Mills said: "Where the friends come in is the grants are all subject to getting a lot of community support. We have to show that the community can raise a certain portion of the money."
Over the past two years significant offers of grants have been secured, including one of the largest grants in the South West from English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund of £160,000. But now the community is coming together to make sure they do their bit to secure the future for their church.
For tickets call 01454 318157.
Comments
by Thomas54
Sunday, April 15 2012, 5:40PM
“*** g82 5/8 p. 30 Watching the World ***
Church on Wheels
â With many of the ancient churches in remote parishes of the Church of England falling into heavy debt and disrepair, an innovative clergyman has come up with the idea of putting his church on a bus. With the front seats removed to make room for an altar, the bus can be converted into a 32-seat chapel, quite adequate for the usual Sunday crowd. A new double-decker would cost about £50,000 ($92,000 U.S.), a fraction of what it takes to restore an old church, and a good secondhand one would cost considerably less.”