Rural Shropshire church receives grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund helping to secure removal from the Heritage At Risk Register.
The Parochial Church Council of Nash and Boraston has received financial support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to repair St John the Baptist Church, Nash. The money will help complete work on the 13th-century tower, 16th-century spire and the south nave roof. Thanks to National Lottery players, the project aims to remove St John the Baptist Church from the Heritage at Risk Register and secure its long-term future as a place of worship and as a welcoming space for local people and visitors.
The Heritage Fund’s initial development grant of £30,804 will help Nash and Boraston PCC progress their plans to apply for a full Heritage Fund grant of £495,533 at a later date.
Revd. Mark Inglis, Team Vicar of the Tenbury Team Ministry (which includes the parish of Nash and Boraston) said: “We are thrilled to have received this initial support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players we can now develop our plans to both safeguard the church but also to create a revived space for worship and community use”.
He adds “The poor condition of the tower, spire and south nave roof has been a cause for concern for many years. The biggest issue is the spire which, because of its age and height and the church’s exposed location, makes it vulnerable to storm damage. The increasing frequency of storms due to climate change in the last 10 years has accelerated the rate of deterioration”.
This award gives St John the Baptist Church a brighter future, helping the PCC to stop the building’s downward spiral of decay and secure long-term funding for the future. In addition to saving the community’s heritage and preserving this lovely building, the project will develop a timeline that will put the milestones in its long history and its relationships with local people into context with local and national events.
There will be plenty of opportunities for local schools, charities and community groups to get involved, including a churchyard “bio blitz”. The project hopes to establish a management plan to protect wildlife and improve the churchyard flora, to initiate a parish wide tree planting scheme that will grow enough new wood in 100 years’ time to replace the timber used for these repairs, and to train local volunteers in conservation skills.
The Churchwarden, Mrs Bobbie Matulja, who will be responsible for the day to day running of the project, adds “St John the Baptist Church was added to the Heritage at Risk Register in 2015, although tackling the deterioration of the tower, spire and roof has been on the PCC’s “to do” list for much longer. We were ready to apply to The National Lottery Heritage Fund when the Covid Pandemic struck in 2020, and in the intervening years the spire and roof have required a succession of temporary holding repairs. Thanks to an anonymous donation, support from the Friends of Nash and Boraston Churches and a grant from Lasletts Charity, we were able to start some of the development work in 2021. I am thrilled that we are to receive this new award, which will put us back on track. We can now appoint building contractors and prepare an application for the final £495,533 we need to complete the whole project”.
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