St Nicholas Restoration

Dear friends,

We have some good news !

The Planning Application has been submitted at last … Since the village meeting in January at which the Architects presented their plans and model for the restoration of the church and despite the church being “under wraps”, much has been happening.

It has taken some time to get the detail right, but it was agreed at a meeting on July 15th to go ahead and present the plans to the planning authority and the Diocesan Advisory Committee. Both these bodies are crucial in the progress of the project, and we have kept them informed with details of how it is all developing, so hopefully their decision should not take too long.

Once permission is granted, the project will be drawn up in minute detail and costed ready for putting out to tender. So we have taken a big step in moving on to the next stage of this, and are praying that nothing will hold up the process.

Fundraising

May I also take this opportunity to turn your attention towards our fund-raising efforts. As you are aware from previous Bulletins, the insurance company will pay a large part of the re-build cost but in order to create facilities within the church for both present and future generations, a further £90,000 is needed to install toilets, a kitchen and an office as well as providing facilities for wider community use.

We are encouraging anyone who would like to run a fund-raising event, whatever that might be, to simply have a go.

We have already had some excellent events – the Village Voices concert, a poetry evening, a few metal-detecting afternoons, and a talk about hearing difficulties have help raise over £3,000 so far – a magnificent sum.

Our fundraising total now stands at over £14,000.

So if you want to hold or help run an event to raise funds for the restoration project, or to make a donation, please contact James Fleuty (883708) or Don Simpson (426652).

Donations can also be made via the website www.stnicholasrestoration.com

Rev Martin Green

Dear Friends,

Thank you to all those who came to the village presentation last month – the Community Hall was full and people seemed both interested and excited by the plans. The picture here shows the architect’s model of the new design for the North side of the church (the South side will look largely the same as before) with its new gables and extensions. We are currently exploring the heating options, still with a view to having an environmentally friendly system if we can, and the drainage system. Do have a look on the website, where we have put the ground plan, and more pictures of the new church model from different aspects.

Fund-raising
A small fund-raising team has now met and there are some exciting plans for various events and initiatives, including metal-detecting in local farmland (the first of which has already raised £240) and a concert in May by the Village Voices choir. We are also planning to make opportunities for people to make a donation for specific items in the church – more of that in due course. If you have any ideas for an event or fund-raising activity, please get in touch with Don Simpson. He is coordinating all these initiatives so that we don’t have things that clash. His number is: 01926 426652

So here’s a date for your diary – Saturday May 15th : Community Hall, The Village Voices Concert. More details will follow in due course.

If anyone would like to make a donation to the Restoration Fund, now that we have a target, this can be done too by making a cheque payable to “St Nicholas Restoration Fund” and giving it to a church member, or sending it to me by post (1 Manor Rd, Bishops Itchington, Warks, CV47 2QJ).

Budget Target
As you know from previous bulletins, we are looking at a budget shortfall of around £90,000. However, we may also have to face a VAT bill of unknown size on top of this. At the moment, the government has a scheme by which VAT can be reclaimed for work on heritage buildings (of which the church is one). Sadly this scheme is due to end in March 2011, and although there are some strong lobbies at the moment, there is no indication of whether this scheme will be extended or renewed, or not. Last week the General Synod of the Church of England put in a strong plea to extend the scheme, and I have written to both Bishops, urging them to add their weight to the lobby.

If you want to write to the local MP to encourage the extension of the scheme, that would help enormously. Until we know what is happening with this question, we will not know the extent of any extra amount we might have to find in addition to the £90,000 we know about.

Timing
I have just delivered the first of many Faculty applications to the Diocese – these are requests for permission from the church’s planning authority for work on the building. We need to have permission at each stage, and it will inevitably slow the process a little, but in keeping the Diocesan authorities up to speed with developments, we hope to minimise any loss of time. For those who missed the village meeting, the expected timescale for rebuilding is that, with a year’s worth of physical building work, we are aiming at an opening of the new church in July 2012. That means this year will be spent setting the plans, getting all the permissions in place and raising the extra funding needed. There is much to do, but we can do it if we work together.

Rev Martin Green

Village meeting, led by Patrick Crawford and Alex Veal from Caroe & Partners, Architects. Summary by Rev Martin Green.

The presentation opened with a reminder of what had happened on Palm Sunday 2008, a fire that had been so intense that there was nothing left inside the church except rubble and charred timbers. The whole roof structure had been completely destroyed, and a significant amount of the internal stonework had been very badly damaged.

Patrick then explained the process we have been through following the fire – of gathering together ideas and hopes of the rebuild from the church community, and putting together a working brief from that.

These ideas in effect brought the facilities currently in the old church room into the main church complex – facilities like toilets, kitchen, office space and meeting areas.

They had then produced some outline designs which have been refined and developed to the point we have come to today. These plans have been given initial approval by the Church council (PCC), Coventry Diocesan Advisory Committee (DAC), the amenity groups (including English Heritage, The Victorian Society, Council for the Care of Churches …) and by the local authority.

There are elements of the work which will restore the church to its former glory, and other elements that will be new.

The effect of the restoration work will be that the aspect of the church from the road will look as it did before the fire. The new work will add two small extensions to the rear of the church, and adapt the interior to be more open and flexible as a resource for the community.

There will also be an alteration in the roof structure over the North aisle which will bring in more natural light and give a wonderful new focus to the church.

We hope to be able to open the East end of the church during the week as a distinct and separate space, for visitors to the churchyard, for some of the groups that used to meet in the church room, and for meetings.

The whole church can be available for worship, concerts and other larger gatherings.

The timescale for this is that there is 9-12 months building work, and we hope to re-open the church in July 2012 (if not before !) There is much to do between now and then.

There were some questions raised following the presentation:

• We are exploring sustainable heating and lighting systems, to make the church as ecologically friendly as we can.
• The materials to be used for these extensions are being explored at the moment, but will be sympathetic with the church and its environs.
• The new facilities are designed to complement the Community Hall in the village.
• There are no definite plans as to where the contractor’s site will be, but much of the work can be done off-site and brought in at the right time …
• We will not meet these plans within the insurance settlement, and therefore will need to raise a further projected £90,000, plus something more to cover uncertain VAT costs.

The following files are available for download:

• Summary from Village Meeting on 21st Jan 2010 (copy of the above post)
• Architects Model Presentation on 21st Jan 2010 (PDF, 2.5MB)
• Architects Model Presentation on 21st Jan 2010 (Powerpoint, 10MB)