Refurb Phase One is finished!
Time to RefurbCountdown
Work on Phase One began in May 2021 and finished in October. Here's the story.
Short of all the funding we need landing in our lap at once(!), we have long recognised that we need to break the Refurb project down into phases and move through them as funds become available. After some advice-taking, thought and prayer we decided that Phase One should consist of new heating and the work on the hall. This would mean we have use of the hall for church and other meetings while subsequent work is going on in other parts of the building. Here is a video we made to send to potential funders.
Short of all the funding we need landing in our lap at once(!), we have long recognised that we need to break the Refurb project down into phases and move through them as funds become available. After some advice-taking, thought and prayer we decided that Phase One should consist of new heating and the work on the hall. This would mean we have use of the hall for church and other meetings while subsequent work is going on in other parts of the building. Here is a video we made to send to potential funders.
This includes:
- New replacement boiler(s). For some of you of a certain age from the church congregation you will know the significance of this decision!
- New heating in hall and worship room.
- New insulated hall roof.
- New hall (‘Youth’) entrance.
- Additional new toilets off the hall.
- Revised car park.
- Beginnings of new church garden.
- Additional storage.
After getting the necessary permissions and accurate pricing, we began fundraising. As a church we committed most of our reserves (there is a legal requirement to keep some back); the congregation gave sacrificially; the local community also chipped in generously, as did many of our ex-members. Several applications to funding bodies were successful... all great, but in the meantime we had a 40% jump in costs from our original quote in 2019 to swallow, taking our target to over £600,000. More prayer!
Through 2020 and the Covid lockdowns everything slowed down, but the building has remained in use serving community through the Brunswick Beestro and further underlining its value. Fortunately more successful bids came in during 2020 edging the total towards our target. Then in January we received £150,000 from Sport England which in one jump took us to over 90% of the funds needed... that was quite a moment! It meant we had enough raised to actually start building work in early May. The final bill was over £620,000. With a final push on fund-raising we managed to raise that, with a surplus of £227. God is good!
The result of all the hard work, consulting, praying and planning is now there in front of our eyes, and in regular use by the community and others. Still two phases to go though... Please pray for the Refurb project and think about how you could get involved. To support us click here, or for more info contact the church office: email or phone 0161 273 6608.