Many of our local churches have angels in their roofs: these are at St Wendreda’s in March. But our roofs are under threat and they could do with some real life angels to help them as well as wooden ones. Could that be you? Here is a guest post from Denis Payne, Appeal Secretary for the Cambridgeshire Historic Churches Trust, that is trying to find the funds to make a real difference:
Did you know that there was a problem with church roofs that are lead covered? And one that can be solved with a just bit of help?
Many historic churches have lead roofs – it does the job superbly, it’s low maintenance and it’s part of the historic, listed, structure. It’s also valuable – about £1,000 a ton – and can easily be recycled. A church roof can be 7 or more tons of lead – and far too many are finding that thieves are stealing that!
You might think that insurance would cover the costs of repair and reinstatement (all the more costly for listed buildings, of course). But insurers insist on a specialist roof alarm. Without it, the only support a church might get from an insurer is to put in place a temporary cover.
To help churches put the necessary alarms in place (at a cost of around £5,000 each) the CHCT is trying to put together a funding package to pay half that cost. Seventeen churches are already being helped at this level. And the Police and Crime Commissioner for Cambridgeshire has just promised £10,000: that’s great news and means there are six more churches we can help.
But we believe that around 25 further churches still need this protection: and we are urgently appealing for further funds to allow us to help them – and as soon as possible, as a major source of funding only runs to the end of this year.
Can you help? Every gift of £1,500 means that CHCT can offer a 50% grant to the cost of another alarm and protect another Cambridgeshire church and community. Please contact me, Denis Payne on 07450 850970 or at chctappealsec@gmail.com if you or a trust you know are able to help. We and the churches of Cambridgeshire will be most grateful.
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