12th May – Dear friends,
We want to update you on the restoration work at the church.
A recent detailed inspection of the Tower by ASBC and Historic England has shown that the stonework needs significantly more repair than first expected. Some areas have deteriorated badly, and extra conservation work is now essential to keep the Tower safe and stable.
This includes replacing damaged stones and carefully dismantling and rebuilding the parapet wall. Because this is specialist heritage work, the additional cost is estimated at £200,000–£250,000 beyond our current budget.
Work on site may need to pause while we seek the necessary approvals and secure extra funding. This also means it may be longer before we can return to the church building, with completion possibly moving into early 2027.
We know this is disappointing news, especially for those affected by the ongoing disruption to services and special occasions. We are very sorry for the inconvenience this continues to cause.
Despite the challenges, this work is vital to protect our much‑loved historic church for the future. We will share further updates as soon as we have more information on funding and revised timelines.
Thank you for your patience, understanding, and prayers. If you feel able to help — through fundraising, practical support, sponsorship, or professional advice — we would be grateful to hear from you via our usual email address.
1st May – The South wall of the nave and east gable is up to about 60% done. Great work chaps.
27th April – Work started on the East gable end yesterday. Things are progressing smoothly.
23rd April – Steady progress this week on repointing the south wall of the church. It is a time consuming process of grinding out and then pushing in the special lime mortar mix, inch by inch.
The end result looks great. ASBC of Melbourne are doing a great job so far.
We are grateful for the support of National Lottery players and The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
