At the weekend of September 2-3, 2018, thieves stole the lead from the roof of the South Aisle. A temporary felt covering was put in place, although this was not entirely watertight. We then got to work, to raise money to repair the roof properly, because the insurance pay-out was only a fraction of the sum required. We chose not to use lead again, because that would have meant the prospect of further thefts. Instead, we used terne-coated steel, a type of stainless steel sheet which looks like lead. This material is already used on St Peter's Church roof. The total cost was estimated at around £45,000. An appeal was started in November 2019, and good progress was made. Most houses in Barton received a flyer through the letterbox, and local BBC featured the appeal several times. We have now received about £12,000 in private donations, including some very generous donations of more than £1000. Thank you to everyone who contributed! We were organising a programme of concerts and other fund-raising activities in early 2020, but at that stage the virus arrived. Our Raising the Roof concert was wisely cancelled at the last moment, shortly before the first lockdown was imposed. We still intend to hold that concert when it is safe to do so, and all purchased tickets will be valid. The next stage was to appeal for funds from charities and trusts which offer grants for church repairs. Needless to say, there is a lot of competition for this money. We received £4,000 from the Allchurches Trust, and had several other funding bids ready to go, awaiting only the formal Diocesan permission. At that stage, a new source of funding appeared. A large sum of government money was made available for a Covid-19 Culture Recovery Fund, and the Church of England Archbishops Council successfully bid for several million pounds. to distribute to churches which needed urgent repairs to remain open. Timescales were very tight, but we successfully applied for some of that money, and received nearly £30,000. At last, shortly before Christmas 2020, we could start to repair the Church. We also ordered a special roof alarm, which will alert us to intruders on the roof in future. Our Church Architect had already organised competitive tenders from specialist contractors, and now the winning bidder set to work. Some extra repairs were found necessary to the North Aisle roof (caused by thieves pulling up the roofing sheets and allowing water beneath), meaning that we had to spend a further £3,000. However, we have a sound roof, and can now concentrate on the many other costly repairs, that were already pending when the lead was stolen! Having a huge medieval Church to maintain is indeed an expensive matter, and your donations are still very welcome!

James Tannock
PCC Fundraising Lead

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