Dear Sir,
Would you consider supporting St. Michael’s Church, Heighington in our efforts to install facilities.
About Us
St. Michael’s is central to the rural village of Heighington, both as a beautiful building, a centre of Christian worship and a focal point for the community. It serves both the Methodist and Anglican worshipping communities, following the closure of the village Methodist Chapel. In addition to the normal Sunday Services, there are frequent baptisms, weddings and funerals.
The church reaches out to the local community in many ways, eg: pastoral visiting, as well as providing a vital network of support to those in need through initiatives such as ‘street angels’, a community lift scheme and a collection point for local food banks. Conscious of the need to reach out, the church welcomes a number of groups, and acts as a meeting place for elderly residents for fellowship as well as providing an opportunity for agencies such as the police and fire service to contact vulnerable people.
The church also provides a facility for young parents with preschool age babies and children (“Stay and Play”).
The building is also used by other groups such as a weekly relaxation class, as the next door village hall is already used to its full capacity.
The Problem
The church has no toilet, which severely hampers our use of the building and hinders our plans to increase its use to make the church more sustainable in the future. It also puts off some parishioners, both young and old, from attending events and services and creates difficulties for the local church school when they bring children for weekly activities. We cannot safely prepare food in the building either, as the only facilities consist of a single sink in a cupboard!
Proposed Solution
We propose to install toilet facilities and a small servery, and to reduce the length of some of the pews, so that wheelchair access is improved, as there is currently nowhere, other than in an aisle, for a wheelchair to be located. We have all the necessary permissions in place and building work is due to commence next month.
The Cost
We have accepted the lowest tender of £55,376. In addition, we will have architect fees of £4,950 (both exclude VAT).
The church has been setting aside money for this project for some years now, but we are still £16,000 short of our target. Donations can be made either by cheque, payable to Heighington St. Michael Parochial Church Council, or direct to the church’s bank account (Sort Code 20-25-29, Account Number 50315435), reference: ‘new facilities’.
Further Information
If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.
Yours faithfully
Chris Enzor
(Project Leader)
07956 064580
