An update to parishioners…
ALL SAINTS, BOLTON PERCY TURNING DREAMS INTO REALITY
The Dream Lives On…
Our church desperately needed a new roof but we had nowhere near the massive funds required to match costs of re-roofing. So we dared to dream. And since then, like all dreamers, we’ve been riding an emotional roller coaster.
Initially we had the excitement of preparing the application for funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the experience of Hope when the application was first submitted. Then we went through the despair of rejection when our application was turned down. But we had the Faith to go again and, with gritty determination, we prepared and submitted our second application to HLF.
Thanks to the Charity of the HLF we then enjoyed the jubilation of receiving the award of £22,300 towards the Development Phase of our project. Truly a time for celebration and to congratulate the Steering Group who have worked so tirelessly for so long to achieve this outcome.
But no sooner had the fizzy drinks been consumed and the back-slapping stopped than reality began to dawn. This initial award from the HLF is intended to fund the investigative works necessary to specify the full extent of the permanent works of re-roofing. It does not guarantee that we will receive the final award of over £200,000 required to complete the project. There is lots of hard work to be completed before we achieve that objective. The dreams haven’t turned fully into reality; they’re still in transition. We are currently working with our architects and engineers to flesh out the detailed scope of works necessary to support the second round application to the HLF. An important feature of this second round application will be the extent to which we evidence the church can genuinely be seen to reach out not just to the local community but also to wider interests. There are some encouraging signs with the interest we have seen recently from University bodies and historical societies; but we also need active involvement from the local community to make our plans succeed. Assuming we successfully complete the re-roofing works the PCC has wide ranging plans for the continuing development of the church building as an important asset to the community. They have previously held consultations concerning their plans and they propose to hold a further community consultation in October the purpose of which will be to update everyone on the progress of the roofing project and also to discuss additional plans for the church. See the panel below for details. It is important that as many as possible come along to the meeting to listen to the plans and also to express their preferences for how they should develop. So please come along, join in, let us have your views and help us to maintain the church as an important centrepiece of our community.