The Hinckley Search Society have more events planned with the help of other local land owners.

Photo courtesy of W Burton.

If you have been waiting to find out how much we need to raise before making a donation, then please make any donations payable to “St Nicholas Restoration Fund” – and if you are able to Gift Aid it, we can receive an added bonus from the Government !

Thank you again for your support, and please continue to be creative and inspired as we begin the next stage of raising funds and setting the detail. As we have looked back with great sadness at all we lost in the fire, I hope that we will all now begin to look forward with excitement to what is to come.

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)

- Correct file uploaded for Bulletin 10 in Downloads
- Bulletin 11 file added to Downloads
- Fundraising target added to sidebar
- Added website email address to sidebar
- Upgraded Word Press (the software that powers the site)
- Events calendar now displays correctly

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

The Raft Race between Leamington and Warwick takes place on Saturday 13th June 2009.  More information can be found on the Warwickshire County Council website.

Sponsor forms will be sent to your local Minister – ask them for details, or go direct to John Taylors:

• 1-3 Russell Terrace, Leamington Spa 01926 426052
• 178 Warwick Road, Kenilworth 01926 854261
• 9 St. John’s, Warwick 01926 490780

Sponsor forms for the team can be downloaded here.

Thank you for your support, by helping us to help others.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

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

QUALITY TIME – CHRISTINGLE
Dec 7th, 10.00am

Christingle is always a special moment in the Christmas calendar, and ours will kick off the season in our village. Proceeds from the service will be sent to the Children’s Society, to help disadvantaged children in the UK.

CAROLS BY CANDLELIGHT
Dec 21st, 6.00pm Candlelight Carol procession begins outside St Nicholas Church, 6.30pm service starts

Christmas this year will feel very different without the special atmosphere St Nicholas church gave us. You will see though that we plan to congregate outside the church at 6.pm on Sunday 21st, and walk through the village to the Community Hall, singing carols. It is a mark of acknowledging what has been lost, and also of determination and hope for what is to come. Do please join us, either at the church or along the way …

CAROLS ROUND THE TREE
Dec 24th, 5.00pm

This is always a special Christmas Eve time – it’s an informal carol service for all the family

CHRISTMAS EVE COMMUNION
Dec 24th, 11.30pm at Radford Semele Baptist Church

We are delighted to be sharing again with the Baptist church, and very grateful for their support and fellowship over this year – a year that has seen significant change for both of our church families.

CHRISTMAS DAY CELEBRATION
Dec 25th, 9.30am

Do join us – it may seem early, but if you have children, you will have been up for hours anyway ! A lovely break from opening presents !!

CAROL PRAISE
Dec 28th, 10.00am

An informal joint service to sing and celebrate.

… and can’t get enough of singing carols and celebrating the Christmas story, Christmas services at Radford Semele Baptist Church are as follows :

Carols by Candlelight Service : Sunday 21st at 4.30pm
Christmas Day Service: Christmas Day at 10:30am

As I write this, there is a great tide of hope rising in America. They have a new President Elect, and they have been given promises of change and new, even historic, beginnings.

But there are also many who are struggling to find hope … people for whom the economic problems of the last few months have meant a loss of jobs, pensions, and maybe even homes.

As we enter the Christmas season, many have hopes for Christmas – some may be excited about a gift … others may be longing to see a loved one … and we will certainly have that annual hope that it might even snow on Christmas Day !!

Hope is something that runs through the Christmas story.

It begins with the hopes of an elderly priest and his wife, longing for a son, and hoping beyond hope that God would hear their prayer, and of the first encounter with the angel Gabriel.

We discover long-held hopes for freedom and justice for a downtrodden people, and God’s response to their cries – elements that resonate with so many parts of our world today.

We find hopes for a better life, for a new King, for a Saviour, for purpose, for change …

Some of this sounds all very familiar … these are hopes many still look for.

The Christmas story tells us that God understands the deep-felt hopes we have … and answers them in a baby; in something so fragile and dependant, hope comes.

Many will tell you today that this is nonsense – that God “probably” doesn’t exist anyway, so why bother. But many will also say that God has met their hopes and dreams in ways that were way beyond their imaginings ! So who is right ?

Hope can be dashed if our hope is based in the wrong things. As we have seen clearly this year, people whose lives are based in financial security have been seriously challenged. As banks have been shaken, and some collapsed, the effects are felt right across society.

Hope can be dashed too if we see hope as “wishful thinking”, like the child hoping for a new bike, or the latest computer game, or the buying of a Lottery ticket.

But for God, hope is about looking forward to something which is assured … It is about the value that God places on us, a value that comes out of His love for us.

And so Christmas is full of hope, because it is at Christmas that we celebrate God entering our fragile and vulnerable world, and walking alongside us through those uncertainties with an unchangeable and unassailable love.

With His love giving us value, we can face the uncertainties with a new perspective, unafraid of the changing and falling values of the world around us. We can dare to reach out to help others struggling under the weight of their lives. Hope in God helps us see things differently, and respond generously to one another.

May God open our eyes to the hope of Christmas, and live in that hope together in a new way.

Wishing you God’s blessing of hope this Christmas,
Martin