All Saints' Roof Restoration - SEPTEMBER UPDATE

It is now 2 months since we launched the programme to raise the £175,000 needed to repair the church roof, upgrade the heating and lighting, resurface the church paths and carry out essential tree works. Thanks to the incredibly generous donations by parishioners, funds raised through Jazz in the Garden and The Flower Festival, and donations from the descendants of Stephen Hopkins in the US, the total raised to date now stands at £86,000. We are nearly half way there!

This means that we will shortly be able to commission Stage 1 of the project – re-tiling and insulating the roof. Based on preliminary quotes we concluded that we needed £125,000 for Stage 1. This includes £18,000 VAT and a contingency of £20,000. If we can start the work early in 2022 it is possible that we can recover all or part of the VAT through an application to The Listed Places of Worship grant scheme. This grant scheme is currently scheduled to close on 31st March 2022 so we need to get this started without delay to capture this significant saving! The other works outlined above will be carried out as Stage 2.

To those that have already made a donation – thank you very much.

But we still have a long way to go to raising the whole sum required! If you have not yet made a donation but would like to, there are two options in how you can do it:

• Through our JustGiving page at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/all-saints-church-roof. Please do tick the gift aid box for those able to do so.
• By cheque; please click on this link and complete the form https://forms.office.com/r/taCmkCfMR7 with instructions on how make your donation by cheque.

To any of you who now decide to make a donation, thank you in advance.