£70,000 window repairs to start at church in Whitchurch

Fundraisers aiming to pay for repairs to the three huge windows at St Alkmund's Church in Whitchurch have so far raised £50,000 of the £70,000 needed to pay for completion of all the window work.

The church's rector, the Reverend Canon Judy Hunt, said that with £50,000 received, they are well on their way to their target and the project will now be able to start, with scaffolding going up as soon after Easter as possible.

The William Warrington windows have been needing repairs for some time and some parts are held together only by masking tape.

The money has come in through a mixture of sponsorship, grants and fundraising by friends of the church.

The Rev Hunt said: "We have met our target for the £10,000 we wanted to raise from our 'sponsor the window' campaign – that has been met now.

"We are so grateful – the generosity of people in the Whitchurch area and also other areas as well has been lovely, and we are so pleased."

On top of the £10,000 raised from inviting people to sponsor a section of the main stained glass window, the church has been able to secure a number of grants.

It has been awarded up to £10,000 from the ChurchCare Trust along with £7,500 from Shropshire Historic Churches Trust and a further £2,500 from the National Churches Partnership.

The Friends of Alkmund's Church has raised £20,000 which can be used on the project, and the church has also been assured that more funding can come in from other groups as a last resort.

The minister said: "Cash flow may be a problem as we have to pay for the work before we are given grants.

"In total we will have to pay out £60,000 to 70,000 for the windows.

"We are nearly there and we have been told that if we don't manage to raise any more we will be able to have some cash from another body.

"But we hope to be able to spend that money on things like a disability ramp.

"However, this does mean we can book the company to do the work. They are massive windows so they will need to book it into their schedule.

"We will book it for as soon as we are able to after Easter."

Along with the remainder of the window target, the church has about £300,000 of ongoing repairs to the building to complete.

The current St Alkmund's is the fourth church building on this site since Whitchurch church was founded around 900AD.

The current church has grade I listed status. It was the first of Shropshire's grand neo-classical style churches and was built in 1712.

Rev Hunt added: "People are still asking about our 'sponsor a section of the window' campaign.

"Although we have done all the sections of the main window, we are still working on getting sections of the other two windows.

"We don't want to put people off giving.

"We have got another £300,000 of work to do on the church – that isn't going to stop.

"The windows have caught people's attention but the stonework will also need a lot of attention."

To help the church reach its fundraising target or for more information about the windows email rev.judy@btinternet.com or call in at the church.