Monday 31 January 2011

Invitation to attend a workshop on applying for a Repair Grant for Places of Worship

Every year English Heritage receive many applications for grants towards urgent repairs on places of worship. Some of the applications are unfortunately rejected.  This may be because the work applied for is not deemed urgent when considered against other applications.  However, some are rejected because the information provided is not sufficient, the form is not completed correctly or ineligible work is applied for.

The North West Regional English Heritage office are holding a workshop which will look specifically at how to fill in an application form for a grant, what information they require in support of the application, and what kind of repair work they consider to be eligible for a grant.

Details of the session are as follows:

Date :        Thursday 10th March

Venue :   Training Room, 4th Floor, Church House, 90 Deansgate, Manchester

Time :      

If you have a church building which is in need of repair and have been considering whether to apply for a grant from English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund, they hope that you will be able to join them.  

Please confirm your attendance by 1st March 2011 either via email to gillian.laybourn@english-heritage.org.uk or by telephoning 0161 242 1421.  If you have any dietary or access requirements, please advise by the same date. 
 

Friday 28 January 2011

Crossing the Threshold - Churches, Heritage and the Big Society - March 22nd

On a similar note Inspired North East are running a conference on Tuesday 22nd March called Crossing the Threshold:

Crossing the Threshold

The purpose of the day is to explore new insights and practical experience in the wider use of church buildings, including:Hosting community activities and services
  • Looking after our built heritage
  • Improving visitor access and welcome
  • Sustaining places for worship and community wellbeing.
The conference is aimed at decision makers, professional practitioners, church and community leaders, facilitators and social partners.

If you're planning to develop your church to incorporate community uses this course should give you really good practical advice about how to go about it.

Inspired North East

My role at Ripon and Leeds is part-funded by English Heritage's Inspired! campaign (the link is on the right if you're interested). There are currently 23 people employed through the scheme. The posts are with a number of diocese and national organisations, such as the Churches Conservation Trust and the National Churches Trust.

My nearest neighbours in terms of support officers have set up the Inspired North East Scheme. They do similar things to me in the Durham and Newcastle Dioceses. The reason I'm posting about them is that I think they have a really great website with very useful information and links:

Inspired North East

I think it's well worth having a look.

Thursday 27 January 2011

Faith in Maintenance - April 16 - Bedale

On Saturday 16 April there will be a Faith in Maintenance day organised by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) aimed to help congregations to identify and do simple maintenance tasks to help keep their churches in good condition.

The day will be held at Chantry Hall, Bedale (next door to St Gregory's Church - left) and will have talks as well as practical exercises in and around the church.

You can find out more and book at:

http://www.spabfim.org.uk/events/00145.html

Tuesday 18 January 2011

BIG lottery: Reaching Communities

The BIG lottery Reaching Communities programme recently changed their criteria for funding by opening a building stream of the programme:

http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/prog_reaching_communities?tab=3&regioncode=-uk

The programme will now fund new buildings or adaptation of existing properties that help address community needs. The funding for buildings began in mid December 2010 and currently has no end date. The application process involves an outline proposal of the works and a subsequent formal application. This means they can check whether the project fits in with their criteria before the applicant has spent a lot of time and effort.

The programme is targeted at the most deprived areas of the country and those areas the BIG lottery have not already funded. There is an eligibility checker on the website to put your post code in to check whether you are in an eligible area.

Successful projects will have to show that the buildings will help to address community needs in terms of outcomes. Outcomes are something that the lottery use to assess the difference that a project has made to people's quality of life. For example, helping older people live within their own homes by providing meals on wheels or lunch clubs might be an outcome.

The next question is why do you need to know all of this? If you have a church or buildings in an eligible area and you want to help the community, you might find that the BIG lottery will fund your project. If you are eligible for the scheme and you meet the BIG lottery's criteria you have a 1 in 3 chance of getting funding. If you need any advice, let me know.

Friday 7 January 2011

Funds for Historic Churches

One of the main aims of the blog is to help congregations to care for their churches. When I ask people about the training, events and services that they'd like from the diocese number one on the list is always funding advice. Now more than ever the funding climate for churches and heritage in general is challenging, both in terms of the funds available and the application processes.

On the blog I'll update you on funding programmes as they open and close as well as giving tips for how and where to get funding. I'll also give you links to what people have done elsewhere, what works and what doesn't and new ways of paying for facilities, such as ways of moving from funding to levering investment.

From March I will be producing funding bulletins to help keep PCCs and the clergy in touch with funding opportunities for their churches and subsequently I will organise some training in where to go, what information is needed and how to fill in application forms.

Hope this all helps and do let me know if there is other information or advice that would be of use to you.