Page 31 - Historic Churches 2013
Basic HTML Version
BCD Special Report on
Historic Churches
20th annual edition
31
CATHEDRAL
C O M M U N I C A T I O N S
closing doors and an intercom system. The
grant funding has allowed much greater
use of the church by the local community
for projects to help the homeless, young
people and the elderly. These include the
Bridges Project, which gives breakfast every
Saturday to at least 70 homeless people.
Next door to the church is a sheltered
housing scheme. Many of its residents have
mobility problems but the provision of a ramp
and toilets means that more of its residents can
now attend activities organised in the church,
including a new ‘Active Tuesdays’ group.
Community grants also help churches
in more isolated areas. A £10,000 grant was
awarded to Grade II* listed St Leonard in South
Cockerington, Lincolnshire, which is the only
public building in the village. The grant has
helped to fund the installation of a kitchen
and disabled toilet, enabling the church to
host functions and provide refreshments.
In 2012–13 the trust administered a one-off
grant from the Department of Culture, Media
and Sport (DCMS) which allowed it to award
several significant grants to listed places of
worship doing vital work to support local people
by providing resources that are not available
elsewhere. Under this scheme, the places of
worship that have been helped include St Mary,
Malpas, Newport. Situated in a deprived suburb,
this Grade II listed church was built on the site
of a 12th-century Cluniac monastic cell, with the
current neo-Norman Gothic building rebuilt in
1850. There was a need for greater community
cohesion in the area and the National Churches
Trust awarded a £50,000 grant to help construct
a meeting room, provide disabled access and
a small kitchen. Use of the enhanced facilities
will include surgery sessions for a parish
nurse scheme and activities for teenagers.
Another example now being funded
under the DCMS scheme is in West Bromwich
where the town centre is undergoing major
regeneration. Here the Grade II listed
Catholic church of St Michael and the Holy
Angels has received a £40,000 community
grant. Outdated and inadequate facilities
mean that the church has been underused
for community activities. The funding will
upgrade toilet and catering facilities. This will
help the church to meet the specific needs
of the local community, for example through
the provision of English language classes for
new migrants, IT classes and dementia care.
CORNERSTONE REPAIR GRANTS
While community grants are becoming
increasingly important in the trust’s funding
of places of worship, repair grants continue to
form the majority of its support for churches.
In many cases, however, repair grants also help
to increase the community use of churches.
A good example is the £40,000 Cornerstone
Grant awarded in December 2012 to Oxton
Gateway Congregational Church in Birkenhead.
The grant will help to fund a programme of
repairs and alterations worth nearly £1 million
to bring the building back into wide and
active community use. Once repair works are
complete, the church will be a place where
local residents can come together to solve
local problems, such as family breakdown,
unhealthy lifestyles, young people struggling
with independent living and the isolated elderly.
Worship, of course remains at the heart of
churches, chapels and meeting houses. Places
of worship are also there to reach out to and
serve the wider community. But many church
buildings are very limited in what they can
provide because of the simple lack of toilet
or catering facilities. The trust’s community
grants programme focuses on these basic
needs, helping places of worship to expand
their activities and increase the resources
that they can offer their local communities.
By investing community grants in well-
researched and well-managed projects the
trust is making sure that more people realise
that churches are for life, not just for Sundays.
Eddie Tulasiewicz
is communications
manager at the National Churches Trust.
From 1987 to 2002 he worked for the BBC in
a number of roles including press officer for
BBC Radio 3. After leaving the BBC he took
an MA in information studies at University
College London and then worked as director of
communications for the Diocese of Westminster.
St Cleopas, Toxteth: facilities such as kitchens are
key to helping churches remain at the heart of local
communities. (Photo: Julian Hamilton)
The neo-Byzantine exterior of Memorial Baptist Church, Plaistow (William Hayne, 1921–2). The church’s east
tower houses a unique chime of ten pealing bells which bear the names of 169 men from the church and local
community who were killed in the first world war.
THE NATIONAL
CHURCHES TRUST AT 60
This year marks the 60th anniversary of
the National Churches Trust, originally
named the Historic Churches Preservation
Trust. The trust has provided over 12,000
grants and loans worth over £85 million at
today’s prices to help the UK’s churches,
chapels and meeting houses. It promotes
the use of churches not only as places
of worship but also as social, cultural
and educational resources for their local
communities, and the conservation of
places of worship of historic value for the
use and enjoyment of future generations.
Given these demanding objectives,
the work of the trust is necessarily wide-
ranging, with the provision of direct
financial assistance in the form of grants
for repairs and modernisation as its main
focus. Other areas of activity include
the provision of support, advice and
information for places of worship, raising
awareness of the trust’s work and seeking
to bring more resources to the sector.
You can support the National
Churches Trust by joining as a Friend,
donating or leaving a legacy. Friends
pay an annual membership fee of £30
and receive a range of benefits including
regular newsletters, special offers and
invitations to events.
To become a
Friend please call 020 7600 6090, email
or
visit
.
