Grants available for C20th churches

In December 2014, the National Churches Trust awarded 30 churches and chapels in England, Wales and Scotland a share of grants totalling £550,000. The funding from the National Churches Trust will support major restoration projects including repairing roofs and stonework. It will also help pay for providing new facilities such as kitchens and accessible toilets to enable greater community use of places of worship.

Churches receiving funding ranged from those dating from the 12th century to those built in the 1960s and 1970s and included St. Paul, Bow Common, London E3, winner of the 2013 Best Modern Church Award. The church, built to the designs of Robert Maguire & Keith Murray in 1958-60, is widely regarded as the most architecturally important post-war parish church in the country. The Grade II* Listed Building received a £50,000 National Churches Cornerstone Grant to help fund a major restoration project.

The National Churches Trust’s grant programmes re-open on 12th January 2015, and the charity is hoping that more 20th century churches will apply to it for funding.

The Trust is the only national, independent charity dedicated to supporting and promoting places of worship of historic, architectural and community value used by Christian denominations throughout the UK. The Trust does this through the provision of grants for repairs and modernisation, support, advice and information and campaigning to highlight the cause of church buildings and the value they provide to communities.

Grants go to fund urgent repair works, and new facilities that enable the building to be more widely used by the community, such as kitchens and toilets. Any Christian place of worship in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland is eligible to apply, provided it is a denomination that belongs to Churches Together in Britain and Ireland. As well as funding listed buildings, the Trust also considers applications from non-listed buildings.

Details of the grants programmes are available on the website of the National Churches Trust at http://www.nationalchurchestrust.org/our-grants