The Story So Far
Our Restoration and Reordering Project – Project Inspire – has been running now for ten years. A huge amount of work has been completed to develop plans, consult with the church and wider community as well as working with the Diocese of Gloucester in order to achieve our objectives. These are:
- Conserving our heritage
- Making bold improvements
- Creating welcoming spaces
- Reducing our carbon footprint
Our Petition for a Faculty was submitted in autumn 2023 and, after consideration by the Diocesan Advisory Committee, progressed to the Chancellor of the Diocese for his judgement.
Granting of the Faculty
In early June 2024 the Chancellor issued his judgement in favour of all aspects of the Petition bar minor changes in the south chapel. The text of his judgement indicates that the proposals submitted presented a very persuasive case for these changes and improvements to be made.
The judgement is subject to some minor directions on conditions that would be expected such as an archaeological watching brief during elements of the work plus final agreement on details such as paint types and colours – this is encompassed within Design Stage 4 of the project.
A copy of the Chancellor’s judgement can be read here Lechlade St Lawrence decision 05.06.2024
and the final, sealed faculty can be seen here Faculty sealed.
Overall, this is a very significant milestone in the work of the Restoration and Reordering Project Group under the leadership of Nigel Jones. Now, our conservation architects, Chedburn Codd, are pressing ahead with details plans. We aim to have tenders in late spring and construction work start in the second half of 2025. .
In late 2024 a faculty was granted for photovoltaic cells to be installed on the south aisle; we await the outcome of a planning application. Our detailed document setting out the scheme is here Lechlade St Lawrence Net Zero_Proposals
In addition, the project has been successful in winning a grant through the Church Of England Demonstrator Churches Project which forms part of the Net Zero Programme aiming to help churches pay for items such as solar panels, heat pumps, insulation, secondary glazing and LED lighting.
Grants
We are very grateful to the Benefact Trust which has awarded Project Inspire a generous grant of £48,500. This trust is a leading contributor to Christian and describes its work as: “We are working to change lives and communities for the long-term. It’s more than supporting the repair, restoration, protection, improvement, reach and growth of places of Christian worship; our grants are designed to have a positive impact on the wider community, tackling social issues from homelessness and poverty, to climate change and cultural cohesion”.
David Turtle is working hard towards securing more grants and we hope to be able to report more successes in the coming months.
Funding
A sizeable proportion of the funds needed to deliver Project Inspire have been raised or identified but further fundraising lies ahead of us:
- many generous pledges have been made
- fundraising activities continue to accrue funds
- applications for grants have been made with some success to-date.
We are immensely thankful to:
• those parishioners who have generously pledged
• the trust funds for their generous donations
• the Heritage Lottery Fund for its grant
• the Fundraising Team for organising so many events
• those who gave in the past to allow us to buy Church Cottage
However, we had expected to be able to reclaim VAT on almost all the costs of the project but in January 2025, HM Government announced a cap of £25,000 per parish leaving us with a shortfall of £115,000.
We need more personal pledges to make this project happen, spread over 2 years or one-off: to suit your circumstances – plus Gift Aid of 25% if you are a taxpayer which we can reclaim.
The Vicar’s letter sets out the current position Urgent funding letter Jan 2025
Donations may be made direct to the Project Inspire Bank account:
Parochial Church Council Lechlade
Sort Code 20-84-61
Account 63394069
The brochure describing our exciting project to restore and re-order St Lawrence to make it fit for today and for future generations is still available to all at the back of the church. Please take a copy, and once you have read it, carefully consider how you might respond to the appeal to pledge funds to the project to enable it to proceed. To read the brochure online please click the link:
Project Inspire Brochure 2023
If you have any questions about the project or the pledging process please contact Andrew, the Churchwardens, Nigel Jones (Project Inspire Chair) or David Turtle (fundraising lead) all of whom will be delighted to talk to you – please make initial contact via email.
If you would like to make a pledge for the project please use this form: Project Inspire Pledge Form
OTHER NEWS
We have recently issued a newsletter: Newsletter – No. 12 Feb 2025
The Shelley’s Walk improvements have been completed – click here for details
We have a video explaining the reasons for the reordering project, please CLICK HERE to see it.