St Chad’s receive £40,000 for urgent tower repair work
The National Churches Trust, the only independent national charity to grant aid important conservation work for churches, has awarded the St Chad’s Church in Shrewsbury its maximum national grant for 2011 of £40,000 to assist with urgent repair work on the tower.
There were only 3 such awards made this year. The Trust, which derives its funding by individual and group donations, as well as fundraising events, has a membership scheme, details of which can be accessed on their website (www.nationalchurchestrust.org.uk).
St Chad’s is the only Grade I listed circular Georgian Church in England and serves as the Civic Church of town and county. It is one of 30 members of the Greater Churches and Cathedral’s Group of the Church of England. Repair work on the tower is urgent and must begin this spring, whilst the weather permits as work will take about 9 months through the Summer & Autumn and cost nearly £3/4Million.
This major grant from the National Churches Trust, together with the very generous donation recently from the Shropshire Horticultural Society of £150,000 and the grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund of £1/4 Million has enabled the PCC to agree to sign the contract for work on the tower to begin.
David Tudor, development director at St Chad’s, expressed the Church’s gratitude to the National Churches Trust for giving their top award to the project. “Although a considerable sum has also been raised by the congregation, we are still over £100,000 short of being able to pay for all of the work on the tower,” he said. “However, we hope that further fundraising during the summer months will secure the remainder, particularly amongst the wider community of Shrewsbury and Shropshire.” If you are able to support the conservation of this iconic building, please do so by contacting the Campaign Office at info@stchadscampaign.org.uk or by ‘phoning 01743 368121.
