Saint Faith's has gone public in an attempt to find someone with the necessary skills and time to offer their services to our drive to raise badly-needed funds to meet new legislation and finance other projects for the church and the community. Read below a local newspaper article and an earlier piece from the parish magazine.
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Got a Head for Figures?
Church needs funds for vital restoration work
By MARYELLEN CLARE (Crosby Herald, September 2nd, 2004)
St Faith’s Church in Waterloo is looking for someone with a head for figures to help bring the building in line with new disability laws.
Alterations must be made to the church building so that it complies with the Disability Discrimination Act, which comes into force in October, 2004.
The church finance committee has decided that they need a professional fund-raiser to join the team and manage all efforts to find the cash.
Churchwarden Margaret Davies said: ‘We shall have to build ramps up to the entrances of the church hall and the south porch of the church, where the level of the floor will need raising.
‘Also, the ladies’ toilets will have to be redesigned to provide a toilet for use by the disabled. One estimate for this work is for £27,000. We don’t have the means of meeting that kind of expense and shall have to raise funds.’
Father Neil Kelley said: ‘Many churches are in the same predicament. It is already a nightmare raising the necessary funds to maintain and insure a large Victorian church building for a relatively small congregation to worship in, to say nothing of the ever-increasing amount of money required by the Diocese.
‘As well as this we try our best to set our sights further and support the work and mission of the church overseas.
‘We simply do not have resources to try and raise thousands of extra pounds. I hope that by searching for a professional fundraiser we might find a way forward. If we can’t, we need to ask serious questions about the future viability of our parish. And I guess there are other churches in the same boat.’
For more details about the role ring 924 6484.
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A week or so before the Crosby Herald gave
the appeal a welcome wider audience, Margaret Davies wrote an article for
our Parish magazine Newslink, reproduced below. Her piece provides
extra details about the requirements of the legislation, and widens the
context to include the need to do something about such things as the church
heating system and a mini-kitchen for the church - and expresses the hope
that, if we found the right help, we might be able to set our sights considerably
higher.....
‘Anyone know a retired bank manager?'
On October 1st changes in the Disability Discrimination Act come into force: changes which will require all public service providers (which includes churches) to make reasonable efforts to ensure that ‘access, use and exit’ is the same for the disabled and the able-bodied.
At our last two meetings, the members of the Finance Committee have considered the implications for St Faith‘s. Briefly, we shall have to build ramps up to the entrance of the Church Hall and to the South Porch of the Church, where the level of the floor will need raising; in addition, the Ladies’ Toilets will have to be re-designed in order to provide a toilet for use by the disabled. One estimate received to date for this work is for £27,000!
Needless to say, we don’t have the means of meeting that kind of expense and shall have to raise funds.
We have also discussed the urgent need to replace
our existing church heating system, which is not only unreliable but is
also slowly but surely damaging both the reredos and the organ.
With these necessary improvements in mind -
to say nothing of the aim of converting the North Porch of the church into
a mini-kitchen and toilets - and since none of us in the team (or in the
congregation) has the time, energy or financial skills to raise funds of
this size, we have decided to insert a short piece in the local papers
advertising our need for a professional fund-raiser. With financial wizardry
to aid us we might even raise £300,000 - who knows?
Margaret Davies
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