We Won An Award!
I'm so proud of, and pleased for, my 'little' parish of Elsfield today. At this evening's award ceremony of the Oxford Preservation Trust, the development at Elsfield Church was given an award, and a plaque: the highest kind of recognition from the Trust.
Elsfield is really only a hamlet, outside the Northern Bypass, with a population of probably less than 100. Yet over the past eight years they have raised about £200,000 to re-order their 13th century church building, build an extension with kitchen and toilet, take out the rear pews, and turn the space into a handsome village room to serve the whole community, which has no other public amenity space.
Elsfield Church
The new screen and village room beyond
They raised the money not only from grants, but also by holding an annual plant sale over a weekend in May, a whole-village venture selling plants brought on from seeds and cuttings, selling teas etc. To give an idea of the result, this year's record breaking total raised was in the region of £8000. I can't think of a more deserving project for an award, and I feel privileged to be their vicar.
The excellent churchwarden, Carolyn, who really held the vision and saw it through, announced at Monday's PCC that we're now going on towards Phase 2, which is the more 'churchy' restoration of the East end and sanctuary, the tracery of the E. window, and the 1860s mosaic by Salviati.
For the satirically minded among my readers, I am happy to note that the Oxford Preservation Trust reported that the Heritage Lottery Fund have awarded them a grant of £3.7 million towards the Oxford Castle Restoration project. Just 5% of that amount would have nearly paid for the Elsfield project in full. How much do you suppose they actually gave us? Nothing. Could it be, just possibly, that they are not interested in small community projects that hardly anyone will notice, but only the grand, high profile ones that everyone will look at, admire, and forget that it's all done by gulling millions of people out of their money week after week after week? Surely not.
Elsfield is really only a hamlet, outside the Northern Bypass, with a population of probably less than 100. Yet over the past eight years they have raised about £200,000 to re-order their 13th century church building, build an extension with kitchen and toilet, take out the rear pews, and turn the space into a handsome village room to serve the whole community, which has no other public amenity space.
Elsfield Church
The new screen and village room beyond
They raised the money not only from grants, but also by holding an annual plant sale over a weekend in May, a whole-village venture selling plants brought on from seeds and cuttings, selling teas etc. To give an idea of the result, this year's record breaking total raised was in the region of £8000. I can't think of a more deserving project for an award, and I feel privileged to be their vicar.
The excellent churchwarden, Carolyn, who really held the vision and saw it through, announced at Monday's PCC that we're now going on towards Phase 2, which is the more 'churchy' restoration of the East end and sanctuary, the tracery of the E. window, and the 1860s mosaic by Salviati.
For the satirically minded among my readers, I am happy to note that the Oxford Preservation Trust reported that the Heritage Lottery Fund have awarded them a grant of £3.7 million towards the Oxford Castle Restoration project. Just 5% of that amount would have nearly paid for the Elsfield project in full. How much do you suppose they actually gave us? Nothing. Could it be, just possibly, that they are not interested in small community projects that hardly anyone will notice, but only the grand, high profile ones that everyone will look at, admire, and forget that it's all done by gulling millions of people out of their money week after week after week? Surely not.
posted by Tony at 10/05/2004 07:47:00 pm
2 Comments:
Never mind the Lottery....this is truly splendid, and you all deserve heaps and heaps of congratulations for such an excellent achievement. Not surprised you are proud of them...but I suspect your own contribution was not insignificant too :-)
My Essential Piece of Advice is: leave the fund raising to the lay people. They are better at it, and if they know that the vicar doesn't DO money, fabric etc. it frees you up to do the stuff you want to do. (And frees them to get involved in being the church.)
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