The Challenge
Churches nationally are facing real threats to their long-term futures. Reductions in congregation size and shortages of funding for repair work, especially for historic churches such as St Peter’s, are increasingly challenging the sustainability of the buildings.
Part of the answer, as set out in the Taylor Review, is to broaden the use of the church. The core purpose of the church in promoting worship remains; but developing the building as a community resource, where a wider range of community activities can take place, will help St Peter’s generate revenue on a long-term basis.
“The long-term survival of Church of England church buildings requires a change in the way many communities regard these buildings. To survive, a church building must be both valued by, and useful to its community”
The Taylor Review: Sustainability of English Churches and Cathedrals - P15 - DCMS, Dec 2017
The Church needs to continue to serve as a place of worship but also now needs to become a hub for wider activity across the whole of the local community. It is increasingly difficult to plan for either without the presence of some key facilities on site – the church has no kitchen or toilet facilities for example. In addition, there are a number of priority repairs required to the fabric of the building, to ensure its continued sustainability.
The PCC has only limited funds available and so has begun a large scale fundraising programme.
The Project
The full project has been split into two phases in order to make fundraising more manageable.
Phase 1 – estimated at around £102 ex VAT, work will involve the installation of a toilet, kitchen and new lobby, together with relevant enabling works (a trench-arch drainage system, the installation of a water supply and the re-location of the font).
The main area affected in the church is shown on the plan below;
Completion of this work will still enable the Church to continue to function as a place of worship and but also become a centre for increased local activity. In the process, it will ensure the longer term continuation of St Peter’s by creating a regular source of recurring income, helping to fund the further maintenance and operatiuon of the church.
The initial range of additional activities we anticipate include;
- A rehearsal space for a local choir who are interested in the excellent acoustic qualities the Church has
- An additional local community market – a market is held monthly at the shared Village Hall, but this is some 3 miles from the village. We would complement that arrangement with a more locally accessed service
- An exhibition space for the various existing local craft businesses based in the village
- A potential location for a sculpture trail in the churchyard
- A venue for a wide range of local meetings
Phase 2 – the PCC does undertake some level of maintenece work each year but needs an additional injection of financial support to get on top of the problem. The backlog work needed is estimated at around £30k, identified from the formal inspection of the Church that takes place every 5 years. Completion of the work will help keep the the current building secure and safe and includes a variety of works - replacing the existing drains, repairs to stone windows, roof repairs, re-pointing of walls etc.
The Approval Process
We have now applied to the Diocese for permisison (a Faculty) to install the Kitchen and Toilet Facilites. As part of the application, the PCC has submitted plans, a detailed specification of the work and some background documents. Here we have provided links to;
- Summary of the Work - shown as a series of annotated drawings
- Statement of Need - which sets out why we are doing this work
- Statement of Significance - which sets out the background to the Church and how we will minimise the impact on this ancient building
How much have we raised?
For the Kitchen and Toilet Facilities, as at February 2024, we have raised £84,500 towards our expected total required of £102,000. This has come from a variety of sources, set out below and we have included links where appropriate;
- The congregation, visitors to St Peter's Church and on site events
- The Earl of Plymouth Estate
- Laslett's Charities
- Shropshire Historic Churches Trust
- Laing Family Trusts
- Benefact Trust (previously All Churches Trust)
- The Garfield Weston Foundation
- National Churches Trust
- The Bernard Sunley Foundation
We would like to thank everyone who has donated so far or who has given us a commitment to provide funds. The work continues to raise the rest.
Your help in supporting our work will make a real difference and ensure that St Peter’s church remains a vital part of the local community for the next millennium.
Fundraising, payments and donations will be processed and administered by the National Funding Scheme (Charity No: 1149800), operating as DONATE. Texts will be charged at your standard network rate. For Terms & Conditions, see easydonate.org
The Church of St Peter's, Stanton Lacy needs to raise funds for this and for other charitable purposes.