St Nicholas Restoration

I am at last delighted to be able to write with some good news.  After months of apparent inactivity and negotiation, I am able to tell you that the Insurance Company have finally agreed a settlement of just over £2m for the rebuilding of the church.  This means that we can set a budget at last and begin the process of detailed plans and applications for permission.

We have already had to spend nearly £300,000 of this on the first stage of the project, making the church ruin secure and covered, and you will have seen that the tower covers have been replaced again.

I also know that some of you have been waiting until this point to know how much extra we have to raise before making a donation to the Restoration Fund. We have instructed our architects to work within a budget of £2.2m, which will mean that we are able to add a small extension behind the tower for much needed toilet facilities, and another at the East end behind the vestry to provide an office.  This brings the facilities currently divided between church, church room and Vicarage shed, into one place.

This leaves us with £160,000 to find; we have already accumulated about £70,000, so we have an overall target of around £90,000 to raise.  Until construction starts and we have bills to pay, we plan to invest most of the cash payment received with the insurance settlement, and expect that the interest this investment earns will make a useful contribution to the target.

So what’s next ?

The first thing is that I am trying to arrange a village meeting, when the architects can come and present the outline plan to you and answer any questions you might have.  The PCC has already approved this outline design, as have English Heritage and the Diocesan Advisory Committee, but this has all been conditional on budget. Now that we have a basic budget to work with, we know what is feasible, and therefore can invite you to come and see what is proposed within those limitations.

The second thing is to press on with obtaining permissions from the various statutory bodies as the plans we have are made more detailed and specific. This could take time, but is essential.

While this is going on, we also need to set about raising our target figure of £90,000. We plan to set up a fund-raising group who can mastermind various events and activities, so if you would like to be part of this, or have any fund-raising schemes and ideas, please do get in touch with Don Simpson (426652) . I am hoping that this process will actually be quite fun, as it will mean doing things together as a community, and then celebrating the end result together.

So I am delighted that we are moving into this next stage of the process – it has taken a long time, but we hope to make faster progress from now on.

Thank you again for your patience and support – we will get there !

Rev Martin Green

Dear Friends

First, may I apologise for the gap since the last Bulletin I issued in November. The trouble is, as you will have noticed, there has been very little activity at the church, except the replacing of the plastic sheeting over the tower roof whenever the wind has torn it off!

The current snowy weather reminds me of the snow we had last April, just a few weeks after the fire, when it looked quite stark and ominous – that was when the photo was taken that was on our Christmas card. (Thanks to Fiona who took the pictures …)

You will, I hope, be pleased to know that in this apparent absence of action, we have been busy behind the scenes, preparing detailed documents that will form the basis for the insurance company settlement. This has now been submitted, and I am anticipating that once their engineers have looked over the paperwork, we shall enter a not-too-lengthy process of negotiation to reach an agreed settlement.

Once this is done, we will know what budget we have to work with to rebuild the church.

Alongside this, we have been exploring the next stages in rebuilding, and the architect has been working on an initial brief gathered together from a comprehensive survey we did some months ago with church members.

Some of the important elements which we hope will be part of the new church are as follows :

• The view of the church from the main road should remain unchanged
• The new church should have toilet facilities and basic kitchen facilities (currently in the old church room, which is on its last legs)
• There should be more flexibility within the building so that it can be used more during the week by the local community (without compromising the excellent facilities already in the village).
• There should be some basic office facilities for future incumbents (currently a deteriorating shed in the garden of the Vicarage !)
• There should be the opportunity to have the church open more during the week for people to visit for pastoral and spiritual needs.
• We should use sustainable energy sources for heating and lighting where possible

Basically, this brings together the facilities that are currently in the old church room and the shed into one place, providing more regular access and more flexible use for the church and community.

There will of course be some structural differences – it is almost certain that we will not be able to replace all the stained glass windows with the original designs, through the Millennium window can be remade as it was. Modern building regulations will also determine how we proceed with construction, especially for these extra facilities.

At the moment, these are ideas rather than specific plans, but once permissions have been given to go ahead with this idea and detailed plans are drawn up, there will be a public consultation to present these plans and fine-tune any specifics. I will, of course, let everyone know when that will be once we get to that stage.

In the meantime, if anyone has any creative suggestions, do please get in touch (email is probably best if you can – revmcg@kerrins.net) and we can add them to the general discussions.

The restoration of St Nicholas Church gives us the opportunity to provide a thoughtful and prayerful facility for the village which can be used, enjoyed and loved by the community for future generations. Do please pray for us as we move ahead slowly, even when you can’t see anything happening at the church – and thank you once again for all your support.

With my best wishes

Rev Martin Green

Dear Friends

At the beginning of November, the new Bishop of Coventry, Bishop Christopher, will be installed in Coventry Cathedral and for a week in mid-October, he cycled around the Diocese, acquainting himself with some of the parishes and the geography of his new home.

One of the stops he made on his first day of cycling was at St Nicholas church, to look at the devastation left by the fire, and to pray for us as a community. His words of encouragement and hope for the future were heartfelt, and I pass them on to you to encourage all of us as a community.
Do pray for him as he takes up the reigns of the Diocese, with many challenges ahead – he is praying for us.

Not much has happened since I last wrote, and the church lies under its now-mended plastic shroud, awaiting decisions from the many different bodies that will be part of the rebuilding process.

The Structural Engineer has completed a thorough survey of the church ruins, and has sent this to the architect and Quantity Surveyor to begin the work of assessing the costs of reinstatement – a requirement of the Insurance Company.

Alongside this, the Diocese have been discussing reports submitted to them about the significance of the church in our community and our hopes for the future, and an archaeological survey has also been completed. Representatives from English Heritage, the Victorian Society, and the Council for the Care of Churches have all been part of these discussions, and their recommendations and support will mean we can then to move on to the next stage.

Having said this, some of these decisions could take a few months to make, as they have to be done carefully and responsibly, as you would expect.

But the church continues to worship in the Community Hall, for which we are very grateful, and a couple of things coming up need special mention.

Service of Remembrance – November 11th

Over the last three years, we have held a special service in the church on Armistice Day, and this year we plan to do the same, except it will be in the Community Hall.

We are holding our monthly Communion service at 10.30am on November 11th for anyone to come to – it will include an act of Remembrance with the names from the war memorial read, and a time of silence at 11.00am, and the laying of wreaths. Do please join us, and stay for refreshments once the service is finished.

Christmas – Carol Service – December 21st

One of the highlights of the Christmas programme is Carols by Candlelight. Without a church and the physical facility we had there for a candlelit service, we are planning a carol service on December 21st at 6.30pm in the Community Hall. However, we are inviting people to congregate at St Nicholas church at 6.00pm, and walk through the village in a lantern-lit procession, singing carols. Do join us for the procession and service – it promises to be a memorable moment in this year’s celebrations.

With my best wishes,
Rev Martin Green

Dear Friends

Things at St Nicholas have been relatively quiet over the summer. We have had an archaeological survey completed and I have put a picture below showing part of the original medieval wall that they uncovered. The Victorians seem to have used these ancient walls as the foundations for some of the pillars and walls when they enlarged the church in the 19th century. I am still awaiting the formal report, but it was fascinating to see the team from Warwickshire Museum working.

We are also in the middle of a thorough Structural Survey of the church, assessing the damage to the walls and deciding how much more of the church will need to be dismantled before any building work can be done. There has been a great deal of fracturing since the fire, and it looks like the gables and pillars may need to come down. Again, I am awaiting the report, which should come out in the next few weeks, and we shall know then the scale of the project ahead of us.

Alongside these surveys, we have been working with the architect and insurance company, providing details of what was lost in the fire, and beginning to look ahead to the rebuilding process.
As part of this, we have visited some churches that have been through what we face at the moment, and are taking note of some of the stunning results. It has been a real encouragement to catch a glimpse of the other end of the journey.

Not much more to report, but may I draw your attention to the revised Winter times of opening the churchyard.

New times for opening the Churchyard, from October 1st :
Wed evenings : Closed
Sundays : 2.30 – 3.30pm

From November, we shall be opening the plot on Sunday afternoons only, until the clocks change again in the Spring.

The Harvest Festival will be on Sunday 5th October at 10am at the Community Hall. All are welcome. Please bring Harvest gifts.

Rev Martin Green