Christmas repair funding boost for UK churches

Corpus Christi Church, Bournemouth - image NCT

Thirty churches and chapels in England, Wales and Scotland are set to benefit from grants totalling £550,000 from the National Churches Trust.

Churches receiving funding include St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, in Blantyre, Scotland which receives a £40,000 National Churches Cornerstone Grant to help fund urgent repairs including re-slating of all roofs, renewing leadwork, restoration of stained and leaded glass windows and minor stone and pointing repairs. The church, a tall red sandstone building, is a prominent landmark sitting on Glasgow Road, the main road through Blantyre, a Lanarkshire town between Glasgow and Hamilton.

Corpus Christi Roman Catholic Church, Bournemouth, Boscombe, Dorset which receives a £10,000 National Churches Trust Community Grant to help fund a project to provide toilets and a meeting room. The new facilities will allow for greater use of the church building by the local community, particularly by those most in need, in an uplifting and supportive environment.

The funding from the National Churches Trust – the only independent charity dedicated to supporting church buildings of all Christian denominations across the UK – will support major restoration projects including repairing roofs and stonework. It will also help pay for providing new facilities such as kitchens and accessible toilets to enable the greater community use of places of worship.

Four of the churches receiving funding are on English Heritage’s ‘At Risk Register’. The National Churches Trust funds church buildings of all Christian denominations and funding benefits Church of England, Roman Catholic, Methodist, Elim Pentecostal, Church in Wales and Scottish Episcopal places of worship.

Other churches receiving funding include:

St Michael and All Angels, Great Witley, Worcestershire.

‘The Sistine Chapel of the North’ completed in 1732, and which houses one of the country's most important baroque interiors. The Grade I Listed Building is on English Heritage’s ‘Heritage at Risk’ Register and receives a £20,000 National Churches Repair Grant to help fund urgent roof repairs.

St Paul, Bow Common, London E3.

The church, built to the designs of Robert Maguire & Keith Murray in 1958-60, is widely regarded as the most architecturally important post-war parish church in the country. The Grade II* Listed Building It receives a £50,000 National Churches Cornerstone Grant to help fund a major restoration project.

St Mary the Virgin, Alton Barnes Wiltshire

The church of St Mary the Virgin in Alton Barnes is considered one of the smallest in England. Situated between Avebury and Stonehenge, the tiny church, the value of which was put at a mere £5 in 1291 is now considered to be a place of priceless history and beauty. The Grade I Listed Building receives a £20,000 National Churches Repair Grant to help fund a major restoration project including repairs to the roof and dealing with damp in walls and timberwork.

Journalist and broadcaster Huw Edwards, Vice President of The National Churches Trust, said: “Churches, chapels and meeting houses are a unique part of our national story. But many of these beautiful buildings are under threat from crumbling stonework, leaking roofs and rotting timbers. Others are in desperate need of modern facilities such as toilets and kitchens so that they can better serve local communities.”

“Church buildings are much loved by local people and by visitors who enjoy the history of sacred spaces. But the cost of keeping churches and chapels looking beautiful and paying for the installation of modern facilities is far beyond the means of congregations. That’s why the latest grants from the National Churches Trust are so important as they will help ensure that more of the UK’s places of worship remain open and playing a vital role in the life of the nation for many years to come.”

“Churches may be historic buildings. But they also need to be part of our future.”

THE FULL LIST OF GRANTS CAN BE SEEN ONLINE AT www.nationalchurchestrust.org/news/christmas-repair-funding-boost-churches