Our afternoon teas have now reached legendary standard and on a bright, hot but windy Saturday 12th July we yet again demonstrated why!40 guests were treated to possibly the best afternoon tea they had ever seen, together with proper china cups and plates. Raising a total of £687, nearly all donations which can be claimed on gift aid for the building fund.Thank you everyone who attended!(You can download additional pictures by clicking on the links)
After our roof repairs to the vestry area was completed, the work moved on to the second phase of three. This phase was at the back (west) end of the church nave where the tower joins the church. Water had been damaging several internal walls for years. Now an investigation started to discover the long term problem and identify solutions. Whilst we had expected some bad news about drains and gutters, we were shocked to discover extensive damage over decades to roof support beams as shown in the main picture. An expected outlay of around £5,500 plus scaffolding we are now looking for £35,000 - £40,000. We have had incredible support from members of our small congregation plus a wonderful grant of £10,000 from the Northumbria Churches Trust which all helps.Work is pressing ahead with fundraising and we hope to be able to cover this cost. See other news for other fundraising efforts!If there are any funds left then the next, and hopefully final, area of roof to be repaired is above the organ chamber where lead theft over years has meant the organ has had to live under sheets of plastic for years- damage is always caused between the theft and the replacement.
Work has now started on the roofing repairs needed to make St. Mary's watertight again. Last year we finally finished repairs to the lime mortar and stonework outside. This latest phase of the works is to repair damaged caused by lead theft over the years (considerable) and blocked drains. It is being tackled in 3 phases: first will be the tower where water run off has been overflowing the gutters for years and penetrated through into the nave. This has caused damage to the high-level rafters inside church. At the same time work will be going on to repair the roofing over the vestry (back of church on the rectory side) where the theft of lead has caused real problems. During heavy rain water actually pours down the walls inside church. This has meant scaffolding inside the church as well- see the pictures!(Edit July 2025: The phasing of the work was changed to suit the damage discovered- now the vestry first then the nave)We have not been able to obtain grants for these two sections but fundraising and donations have enabled the work to go ahead. We are hoping that the Diocese may also help us. Costs for this will be around £15,000.The final section will the roof above the organ chamber where rain has penetrated for many years. The organ is protected by thick plastic sheeting but has suffered some damage. We are applying for grants to help us with this as we expect it to also cost around £15,000.All this work needs to be complete by the end of March 2026 as the government has indicated that our ability to reclaim VAT is to be withdrawn.There is now no lead flashing on the roof and we hope that this will deter the idiots from even attempting more thefts. Insurance is now nearly £400 a month and does not cover incidents where we do not discover the damage for years.
