A recent review of "Fund Raising Needs" for St Wulstan's
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CHURCH RESTORATION/FUNDRAISING
July 2019 |
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Progress on the structural restoration of St Wulstan’s has continued with the help of our generous supporters. The south side and the Baptistery, which are most exposed to the elements, were cleaned, re-pointed and damaged masonry made good during 2015-16. In 2016 a new, modern, lighting system was installed inside the church. In 2017 the Nicholson organ was dismantled, repaired, re-tuned and rebuilt, though, as can be seen in the Music section of the website, ideally it could receive further attention to make it perfect. In 2018 the west front, including the magnificent rose window, was also cleaned, repointed, the damaged apex stone and the red sandstone columns at the entrance all replaced. As can be seen from the accompanying photograph, this work has made an enormous difference to the church’s appearance, which is now more cheerful and welcoming than hitherto.
What remains to be done, in order to complete the structural restoration, is the cleaning, repairing and repointing of the whole north side, including the replacement of the supporting iron bars with stainless steel to prevent stone-damaging corrosion. And the Hardman stained glass in the Lady Chapel needs cleaning. We hope that the first half of this work may be undertaken in 2020. It will include all the north side excluding the Lady Chapel. The total funds needed for this part of the work are estimated at £31k, which includes VAT. (So far we have fortunately been able to recover VAT, but this is not guaranteed). Recently we have been able to supplement grants/donations specifically given for restoration with some surplus monies from our current account. Hoping that we will continue to be able to do this during the next stage, it would be good if we could raise £20k in the coming year from donations and grants. In the meantime we intend to undertake some provisional repairs on the driveway, which is suffering from subsidence. Unfortunately a thorough re-building is beyond our means. Fr Edward Crouzet OSB |
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