Thanks to the Ride & Stride and legacies and donations we have received we have been able to pay the following grants in 2017, a total of £83,000. Grants are only paid when work to the value of the grant has been carried out and there is a further £220,000 to be paid to churches when they have got to that stage of their repair projects.
St John the Evangelist, Bexley £1,000
St Peter, Bexleyheath £3,000
St Mary the Virgin, Boxley £5,000
St Mary of Charity, Faversham £4,000
St John the Evangelist, Kingsdown £5,000
St Mary Magdalene, Ruckinge £5,000
St Andrew, Shepherdswell £3,000
St Michael & All Angels, Tenterden £1,000
St Mildred, Tenterden £2,500
St Lawrence, Mereworth £5,000
St Mary & The Holy Cross, Milstead £15,000
St Nicholas, Newington £2,500
St Mary, Walmer £500
St Alphege, Whitstable £8,000
St John the Baptist, Wittersham £2,500
St George, Wrotham £20,000
We also recommend churches for grants to the National Churches Trust as part of their Partnership Grants scheme for urgent repair work and these recommendations totalled £15,000 in 2017.
We would like to show you two 2017 examples where grants from the Friends of Kent Churches have helped to recover structures from a deteriorating condition.
St Mildred, Tenterden – 2017
St Mildred, when they applied to us, had carried out a series of repairs required by the 2012 quinquennial and the one major repair still to be done was the renewal of the lead on the north aisle roof and the treatment of the timbers against death watch beetle. The lead, it was thought, had been in place since 1847 and was showing signs of wear and render on the upstand of the parapet gutter had failed.
The church had already raised a good proportion of the money needed but an application to the Listed Places of Worship Roof Repair Fund had failed in 2015 and 2016 and they then applied to the Friends. The Friends always recognise the importance of protecting every church against water ingress and were pleased to support the church with a grant. The work has now successfully been carried out ensuring the church is waterproof this winter.
Exposed timbers
Damaged gutter and parapet wall
Wet rot damage to the plate
North aisle roof
Box gutter
New roof
New parapet and gutter
St Nicholas, Southfleet – 2017
St Nicholas applied to us for a grant in 2016. The 2014 quinquennial had identified work that required attention within 2 years particularly conservation work to stones in the church tower and repointing plus repairs to quoins and bearing stones to the east wall. Extensive repairs had been carried out 10 years earlier but the church had not had sufficient funds to carry out all the work needed then.
When we visited we were very impressed by the energy and enthusiasm of the congregation who were very keen to make the church the centre of the community and were planning ways to make the church more usable throughout the year and accessible to everyone. They had been promised a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund but that did not cover the total needed and we were very pleased to give them a grant of £10,000.
And from 2015 and 2016 here are some more examples:-
Please click here