Protecting your Church from Metal Theft - Ripon - Wednesday 6-9pm

This is just a reminder that the course will be taking place at the Holy Trinity Church, Ripon on Wednesday between 6pm and 9pm. If you would like to attend it would be helpful if you could let me know at alice.ullathorne@riponleeds-diocese.org.uk or phone 0113 2000544, although you can just turn up on the day.

The course is practical training in how to reduce the risks of metal theft from your church and will include presentations from the Church Building Support Officer, North Yorkshire Police, Ecclesiastical Insurance and English Heritage with a panel for questions at the end.

Inspired or Fazed? - Maggie Durran - This Saturday at Houghton-le-Spring

At St Michael's and All Angels Church, Houghton-le-Spring near Durham this Saturday between 10am and 3.30pm Inspired North East are holding and event called "Inspired or Fazed? Planning for Church Development Projects". It will be run by the renowned author and church development consultant Maggie Durran. This will be an excellent and practical course about managing church projects at a cost of merely £10, which can be paid on the door.

Details can be seen at:

http://www.inspirednortheast.org.uk/page/current-events/planning-for-church-development-/1027/ 

Protecting your Church from Metal Theft - Leeds - Wednesday 3-6pm

This is just a reminder that the course will be taking place at the diocesan office on Wednesday between 3pm and 6pm. If you would like to attend it would be helpful if you could let me know at alice.ullathorne@riponleeds-diocese.org.uk or phone 0113 2000544, although you can just turn up on the day.

The course is practical training in how to reduce the risks of metal theft from your church and will include presentations from the Church Building Support Officer, West Yorkshire Police, Ecclesiastical Insurance and English Heritage with a panel for questions at the end.

Listed Places of Worship Scheme Update

We have received the first information from the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme to suggest the likely payments that churches will receive from the scheme. The scheme previously repaid the whole cost of VAT on repairs to church buildings. From March 2011 the budget has been capped to £3 million per quarter due to cuts within the department of Culture, Media and Sport. In the first two quarters of 2011/12 financial year (running up to 30th September) churches have received 71.7% of the amount they have claimed for.

Unfortunately, because of the huge demand for the scheme before March 2011 money from the 2011/12 budget has been taken to pay for shortfall, which has meant the budget will be pushed even further.

The key things to remember when making a claim to the scheme from now on is that claims have to be made within a year and that the 2011/12 budget will be £7 million in comparison to the £12 million budget for 2012/13. Therefore, of your claim can wait it might be worth putting it in after March 2012. As we have not seen a whole year of applications it is currently difficult to be able to suggest which of the quarters is best to put a claim in but I will continue to update you on the figures as they are released.

Protecting Your Church from Metal Theft Seminars

Next month we shall be running two seminars to give you practical guidance about how best to protect your church from metal theft. There will be representatives from Ripon and Leeds Diocese, Ecclesiastical Insurance, English Heritage and the police.

The first seminar will take place at the Ripon and Leeds Diocesan Office in Leeds between 3pm and 6pm on Wednesday 16th November.

The seminar will also be held at Holy Trinity Church, Ripon on Wednesday 30th November between 6pm and 9pm.

To book a place for either event you can email me at Alice.Ullathorne@riponleeds-diocese.org.uk or phone me on 0113 2000544.

Hot off the Press - English Heritage Guidance - Theft of Metal from Church Buildings

Published this month is updated guidance from English Heritage regarding the Theft of Metal from Church Buildings:

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/professional/advice/advice-by-topic/places-of-worship/theft-protection

The guidance is in two parts: the first offers advice for congregations on the significance of lead, how to protect it, and how to respond to thefts; the second offers detailed practical information about selecting the material to be used for historic church roofs and making it secure.

The guidance makes it clear that English Heritage will try to balance the ideal - which means like-for-like replacement to maintain the significance of a building - and the pragmatic, which recognises another material might be more likely to secure the continued use of the building and the well-being of its structure and contents.

As way of advanced warning we will be holding events in each Archdeaconry in November about Metal theft and how you can help reduce the risk to your church.

Communications Training at the Diocese in Autumn/Winter 2011

October 12th and December 14th secure your place(s) byNovember 5th (Social Media—benefits and risks) please book by contacting

Coming this autumn.... Practical Essential Media Courses for Churches.

These courses are designed to aid you to find your way through traditional and modern media to help communicate the message of your church. The practical sessions can help you to understand and use new media.

Details of the courses can be seen at:

 http://www.riponleeds.anglican.org/pdfs/cms-MM-Sept11-CT.pdf

For all dates booking is essential..

For 

contacting Canon John Carter: john.carter@riponleeds-diocese.org.uk or phone

(01423) 530369

Please indicate which date you wish to attend, the name of your church, and names

of all participants you wish to book in - together with a contact phone number/email

address.

For

Liz Williams: liz.williams@riponleeds-diocese.org.uk or phone (0113) 200 0556