Christ Church is an open, friendly church and we are delighted to keep our doors open every day of the week. The 420 pupils of the local primary school use the church for their end of term services, concerts, carol services and festivals. Teachers often use the church as a teaching space, and Open the Book and Collective Worship run by the church is a regular part of the school week. We also run a toddler group and a weekday morning coffee group. But while we have full disabled access and hearing induction loop, as a Victorian building, we don't have a toilet (having to rely on the use of toilets in the nearby Mount Pleasant Centre) and the only sink is in the vestry. Following open meetings and consultations with the local community and having obtained the relevant permissions from the Diocese of Salisbury, we have been fund raising for these renovations so we can offer the church building as a community space with opportunities for use by local groups. The work has been split into two projects, Discover Christ Church! and Future for Christ Church.
Discover Christ Church! aims to become a thriving community hub for the people of Bradford on Avon that is fit for the 21st century. We are celebrating as work will start soon, having successfully raised the funds needed for this community project to explore, restore and celebrate the heritage of this fine Victorian landmark building. So a big thank you to The National Lottery Heritage Fund for a grant of £239,761, together with generous contributions, donations and grants from the Bradford on Avon Preservation Trust and the Pilgrim Trust/Church Care, our community and Parochial Church Council, our own fund-raising events and members of our congregation. Bradford on Avon Town Council has awarded a £2,000 Environment Grant award towards improving the biodiversity of the churchyard. And huge thanks to all of Christ Church’s School’s Year 5 pupils whose ideas underpinned our application. The Community Outreach Officer and Project Coordinator for the Discover Christ Church! project began work on 17 April 2023.
Restoring and repairing the building. Completed: # Restoring, regilding and restarting our landmark spire clock. # New energy efficient lighting. # Repairs to the spire and tower. # We have also made biodiversity enhancements to the churchyard. Scheduled for early 2025: # Conserving & cleaning the nave walls and rare wall paintings (those at the east end were restored in 2000-2001, but our three archangels at the west end are somewhat grubby and ill-lit).
Running alongside the work on the building is an 18-month programme of inter-generational and inclusive community activities, which has been co-designed with young people. 'Open House' during restoration work, both in church and online, enables people to follow work in action. Celebration days have demonstrations by craft workers and information on progress. Conversation & Craft sessions in church bring together primary school students and older people to make items such as bug houses, decorating plant pots and and making cards with silk paintings. Enhancing the churchyard. The young people have surveyed the plants in the churchyard, designed a new bench for the churchyard, planted native snowdrops, daffodils and bluebells, and planned new planters at the west door. And having allowed the grass to grow in 'no-mow' May, we were rewarded by the appearance of some purple orchids; it is thought they were here when the churchyard was a pasture field. The churchyard is much appreciated by the many passers-by who walk through the churchyard every day.
Future for Christ Church. This project will see toilets (including an accessible one), a kitchen, an office and storage space at the rear of the nave, with flexible open spaces for community use between these areas and the pews. We are also getting the necessary permissions in place for the repair work to the bells and bell tower. This work is part funded from proceeds from the sale of our parish rooms, which were no longer health & safety compliant, and required substantial repair and redecoration too. In addition we have raised a substantial amount through local effort, but inevitably some estimated costs have gone up, so we still had to raise around £150,000 to carry out the work in full.
July 2024: we have now raised 86% of the funding needed, but are still £44,000 short.
The parable of the talents has inspired the congregation to be creative in using their talent over the past two years. Sales of homemade marmalade, jams and chutneys (sold out very quickly), a range of greetings cards, knitted scarves and packets of flower seeds have all proved popular and added to our total. The Ark Toddler Group parents are very supportive and keen to see the improvements to Christ Church go ahead. Their January coffee morning and bring & buy sale raised £320.00. This was a great success and an enjoyable morning. Our 2023 Crib Scene Christmas Cards made a profit of £81 after printing costs. The leaflets that were sent out with the Parish Christmas Cards will have helped raise awareness of our projects and have so far raise raised about £650.00. There is also a lot of hard work going on applying for grants.
We celebrated the Coronation on Monday 08 May with a community fun day. While the plant stall stayed outside under a gazebo and attracted passers by, the rest of the stalls, games, teas and a raffle went inside the church, where brave soft toys took the Teddy Zip Wire from the tower room to the end of the central aisle. And we raised just over £1,000 towards the toilets and kitchen.
Can you help?
Donations of any size would help us reach our target sooner. So if you know Christ Church, maybe were baptised or married here, attended Sunday School or got to know us through our close links with the school, could you please consider helping our efforts by donating via our Give A Little campaign.
https://givealittle.co/campaigns/348fecb5-74e7-4c75-90ad-be78d59210da
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