We have at last received approval to proceed with the installation of our new boilers and have started to make preparations for this.  The installation works in church are expected to start in early November.  There will also be some preparatory gas works taking place at the south gate. As with all alteration works there will be some disruption, and hope you will bear with us whilst it is being done.

A big thank you to all of you who have been involved in getting us this far and who have contributed to the fundraising.  This means St Mary’s will continue to have heating for the foreseeable future as part of the Church’s Warm and Welcoming mission.

You will see over the next few weeks and months the unfolding of a new major fund-raising effort.

We are grateful for all that was given to keep the Church Tower in good order and help preserve the fabric of our building from the elements. Now we can begin to make our building warmer and more welcoming for both church and community use. We initially need to raise in the order of £100,000 for boilers and improvements to the heating system through grants and fundraising.

There are three elements to this effort: A Warm Space; A Warm Welcome; a Warm Heart.

A Warm Welcome

Our aim is to encourage wider use of the building by community groups and promote community events, such as concerts and exhibitions.

We will continue to develop the building to better serve our needs in our worship of God and for community use by keeping flexibility and adaptability at the heart of both this scheme and of future wider reordering plans.

A Warm Space

Community consultation before the Pandemic identified the priority of a ‘warmer’ space for any wider use of the church building by the community. To make the church a warmer space, we are looking to install new boilers which are hydrogen ready, and a new heat exchanger. It could take up to 20 months to raise the monies and will need generous support from all in our community. We will ensure the work we plan now will be able to adapt subsequently to whatever wider re-ordering scheme is undertaken and will safeguard the fabric of the building.

By this coming autumn we will begin the process of improving our current heating by having the existing pipe and radiator system refurbished by a thorough flushing and refilling. We hope this will maximise the efficiency of our current system, keep our fuel costs down and make us warmer!

For a summary of the Community Consultation results, please click the button below:

A Warm Heart

Action taken now will ensure that the church building does not degrade but also that it enables greater frequency and breadth of use – keeping the building at the heart of the town for the next 800 years.

We will make small changes to improve the efficiency and environmental impact of the church and explore other means of reducing our carbon footprint.

St Mary’s is a church of great historical and cultural value. We, therefore, have a duty to make sure that all work enhances and improves the facilities so that the delicate fabric and treasures of the church are protected.

However, we cannot raise money for building needs alone and ignore people’s real needs, so our sense of a warm heart will also include a recognition of the current cost of living crisis for many in our community and for the very deep need felt in poorer nations of our world.

We will be raising, alongside our heating project, other monies for local charities/organisations supporting those struggling with the cost of living, and for a mission partner in the third world, bringing help to families there. We hope that you will be drawn to support all these efforts for our church building, for local need, and for international development, a sign of the big picture of God’s love reaching out in a variety of ways for all the world.

Watch out for our fundraising events and for opportunities to give regularly over the next 20 months directly to our good causes, both for the heating fund and for those in need.

Thank you.

Rev. Canon Paul Richardson, Priest-in-Charge