The St. Augustine
Living Heritage Network
The Living Heritage Appeal: One Year On
Let me begin by thanking the many people who have come along and supported our Living Heritage Appeal over the past 12 months. Your support has been given to the sponsored bike ride to Paris, a pilgrimage walk to Canterbury, jumble sales, concerts, a café and other events to raise funds toward the underpinning of the church. Tenders are now out and we expect the work to begin in the late spring or early summer.
The cost for this portion of the work is in the vicinity of £200,000. This is to ensure the future of the building. To fund this work, we have had the blessing of a legacy and the offer of funding from English Heritage and number of other groups willing to help us restore the church. Our goal twelve month goal in fundraising to bring us up to the projected costs for the project was £50,000. Even with help and hard work, we have fallen somewhat short of our goal but we hope to achieve it very soon.
To this end we are planning a number of events at the church which we hope the community will support. The church is here to serve the whole community and many people do call upon us from time to time and make use of our facilities
The first event is a Gala Concert on Saturday, 29th March which will draw to a close the year of fundraising. This should be a wonderful concert of thanksgiving and celebration. It will also be an opportunity to make a contribution to the Living Heritage Appeal.
Once we have the date for the underpinning to begin, we plan to have our open day. We have held this event for the last few years and it has proven to be an enjoyable day for all the family. More information about this will be available soon.
What is the Living Heritage Network?
The Living Heritage Network is the network of people who are a part of the congregation, a part of the community served by the church and others who are interested in the life of St. Augustine.
Having reopened for worship four years ago and now having had two years of regular Sunday morning worship, it is clear that St. Augustine’s Church is living and growing. It is a place and resource for the whole community; a place of peace and tranquility for prayer and worship; rooms available for events, meetings, and conferences; and a venue for concerts and other gatherings, We want to ensure that St. Augustine continues to have its place amongst us.
One aspect of the Living Heritage Network is 'The St. Augustine Living Heritage Fund'. The Living Heritage Fund is a way to ensure that we are able to maintain St. Augustine; in particular to make the major repairs now urgently required. We have been offered a generous grant from English Heritage toward the repair and strengthening of the church building. This offer of funding is totally dependant upon the church raising similar funds over the next 10 months (end of March 2008). Our initial aim is to raise in the neigbourhood of £50,000. As we are a resource to the whole community, we are inviting the surrounding parish community to participate with us on this exciting enterprise.
The proceeds of the Parish Festival during May and June, as well as the proceeds of other concerts and events to take place before the end of March 2008, will go directly to build the St. Augustine Living Heritage Fund.
There are already a great many people who have indicated that they would like to help with this project and we have expanded our team to take the project forward. As we determine the opportunities for people to participate, we invite your donations of ideas, of time, of talent, as well as your financial support.
We plan to give regular updates on the scope of the required work and on our progress in building the fund. This will be accomplished mainly through our parish website at www.augustineonetreehill.org.uk There will also be periodic leaflet drops to every home in the parish which will detail forthcoming events, special services, and regular activities at St. Augustine. Of course, there is no better way to find out what is happening that just having a fine chat about it all. If you would like to know more about the Living Heritage Fund or anything else about St. Augustine’s, you can telephone or email. Telephone 020 8699 5303 or Click Here to Email
We look forward to sharing with you and hearing from you.
With every blessing and good wish,
Stephen Laskey
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