Roof Project Newsletter
June 2024
Dear Members and Friends,
First, a huge thank-you for your generosity at the Gift Day we held on March 24th. We received gifts of £34,400 on the day, plus promises of a further £27,200, most of which are already settled. On top of that Steve Feven-Williams is currently processing our Gift Aid claim for 2023/2024, which includes £9,400 of Gift Aid reclamation on those gifts. This will bring our total raised so far to around
£135,000.
With this in mind, we are very close to the contractor’s quotation for the works, though not including VAT, provisions for associated costs and contingencies. This has led to a discussion with the contractor about whether or not the repairs could be done in two parts. This idea is that in Phase 1 a large part of the work could be done inside the roof during 2024, securing it from further damage. External scaffolding would not be necessary for that phase. Then, we would have more time to raise the remainder of the money for Phase 2, setting up the external scaffolding and tarpaulin over the roof to replace the external roof.
All of this requires Planning Permission from Stroud District Council’s Planning and Conservation teams, and on this we have good news. Our contractor Longcroft submitted the final planning application mid May, and now we must wait 6-8 weeks for their decision. After that, we will know what the final scope of works is and can get a more accurate estimate.
At that stage, external fund raising can start in earnest. For that to be effective, as we explained at our AGM, we need to explain how our repaired chapel with its repaired roof can be used for the benefit of the community. We will need to give examples of the events to be held, provide evidence from external organisations supporting our bid and explain who will run these events. This may be events organised by 3C as well as events organised and run buy other organisations hiring our space. Imagine if our building were used by 5 groups each week, bringing 100 people each week into our building, and how that would help 3C be better known in our community!
Points for Prayer
Please pray that God will show us how we can use our building to benefit our community, including how we as a church can reach those in need in our community. Pray that God will reveal who at 3C can co-ordinate this important programme.