We are pleased to formally announce that at a meeting of the Parochial Church Council held on 14 November, the decision made by our Project delivery team to nominate T&C Williams of Norton, Sheffield was unanimously supported.This concluded a 3 month period of competitive tendering and post tender Question and Answers. Over this period T& C Williams consistently demonstrated best value and a co-operative constructive approach to seeking and realising Value Engineered options with our project delivery team.Work has already started on the next 'pre-construction' phase of our project. We anticipate that works will now start on site in early January 2024, subject to receipt of approval of our revised plans in the next Diocesan Approval Committee due in late November 2023.
Progress on the project has accelerated in the last 3 months. Key project milestones of Invitation to Tender (ITT) to contractors and Tender returns were achieved in the period. A significant amount of work was required by the Project delivery team in order to issue a detailed and robust ITT to our contractors. Thanks go to John Cunnington, our Architect, our subconsultants Tim and Anca of Shearstone Mechanical and Mason Clark Associates respectively and Lewis and Alex of RLB, our commercial consultants. The CCD project delivery team welcomed Steve Clarke as our project treasurer. While overall responsibility for all of CCD accounts naturally remains with Alison, Steve will have day to day responsibility for the project finances reporting through to Alison. Comprehensive and detailed tender returns were received from 3 contractors at the end of September and a process of review and interviews is underway now. We plan to have concluded our due diligence and nominate a preferred contractor by the end of October. Also at the end of August, Practical Completion of the Vestry roof replacement contract occurred. A number of additional items were added to that project scope which extended the contractors period on site and impacted the final value: these included removal of the church safe through the roof, renewal of a blocked and broken drain in the churchyard, the re-building of an unrecorded collapsed manhole and a long overdue replacement of the lead piped water supply to the church building. During September, the fundraising team continued their tireless efforts to attract grant funding. Unfortunately, to date with mixed success due to an altered economic landscape. However, that was outshone by the generous giving of the church congregation and a number of individuals in the wider village community in the recent “Step into the Light” 11 days of celebrating God’s gifts. These efforts have taken us beyond 75% funding at the time of writing. Exceeding this benchmark opens the door for us to be able to access further grant opportunities that are conditional on achieving 75% funding. Finally, we discovered recently what information would be required by the Diocesan Advisory Committee (DAC) to allow them to understand and approve our revised plans. This will entail a re-draft of the Statement of Needs and a site visit by representatives of the DAC in early November. The DAC then meets at the end of November to make a recommendation. This meeting is so close to Christmas that this has required us to delay the likely commencement of construction until early January 2024. Although this delay is unwanted, there are benefits that accrue from a delayed start: it allows us to organise ourselves well to commence the work, it provides an extended procurement and mobilisation period for our preferred contractor, it allows us to hold our Advent & Christmas services in the church building this year, it extends the window for grant submissions and, according to programmes submitted by our tenderers, should allow us to hold our Advent & Christmas services 2024 in a shiny new and re-ordered building. There are a growing number of positive signs that lead to increasing confidence in our ability to realise the delivery of the long planned Church re-ordering project. But there are some significant imminent hurdles to overcome too- the most important of which are DAC approval and achieving a fully funded project. Your continued generosity and prayerful support will be welcome as we seek to clear all the obstacles in lie in our path.
At the time of writing, the Church leadership is aware of an upturn in Covid infection in the UK as a whole and, in particular, in the region of Yorkshire and Humberside. We are also aware that Sheffield Teaching Hospital Trust has recently mandated the wearing of facemasks in all their facilities as a precautionary action. Taking this into account, the leadership of CCD have made the following recommendations in the control of the spread of Covid: · Face masks are to be made available for the individuals in the congregation to wear should they so choose. · Hand cleaning stations will be refreshed and maintained for those attending church to use. · Singing without face masks will continue to be practiced · A 2m physical separation between people in church is not required · People who have tested positive for Covid should not attend Church under any circumstances until either a negative test result has been returned or a suitable period of time has elapsed from the first symptoms · People who feel ill or ‘under the weather’ but have not tested positive for Covid, are requested that they avoid attending Church until they no longer have symptoms. · Those individuals in vulnerable categories are encouraged to obtain their Covid and influenza booster injections in this season This guidance is not intended to be exhaustive and will be subject to regular review over the Autumn/Winter period. The leadership of CCD are grateful for the support and consideration of all members of the church family in minimising the risk of Covid in our community.
The schedule of events is:21/9/23 10.30am Holy Communion service22/9/23 3.15pm to 5.30pm Teddy zipwire challenge (sold out)23/9/23 24 hours of prayer24/9/23 10am morning worship service: Gift day25/9/23 7.30pm Home Group Celebration evening in the Christ Church Dore Community Centre30/9/23 7.30pm to 8.30pm Step into the Light Show (tickets £5 on Eventbrite)1/10/23 10am Celebration Harvest service followed by Bring and Share LunchAll events are held in Christ Church Dore unless otherwise noted.
