Project Welcome Phase 2 Fabulous News

We are delighted to announce that our application to Veolia Environmental Trust for a major grant towards phase 2 of Project Welcome has been successful.
We have applied for and will be receiving £75,000! (£74,999 to be precise!)
For those of you who have waited patiently for some further progress towards the reopening of the front door, this is especially good news.




​Phase 2 of Project Welcome comprises

• removal of the old toilets that are currently still in the original entrance area behind the bricked up front door
• restoration of the original main entrance facing Clifton Road
• establishment of full external and internal disabled access
• improvement of internal circulation
• opening up the church auditorium for more community use by creating a new door between the church hall and the worship space
• creating much-needed storage space for user groups
• creating a purpose-built audio-visual room
• improving the lighting in the church hall.

We are thrilled to be able to make further progress towards our ambition of making our building better reflect the welcome we seek to give to our community.
For many years the bricked up front door has been a source of sadness for many people in our community and it has sent out the unhelpful message that “we are closed”. We really believe that creating a more welcoming entrance as well as the rearrangements internally will revitalise this essential community asset which is so well placed to continue to serve the people in our parish.
Further information about the total cost of this phase 2 will follow shortly as well as a timeline of how we hope the work will be completed.
For now, we rejoice and praise God as well as, of course, expressing our thankfulness to Veolia and everyone who helped us towards this bid: local councillors, headteachers, community hall users.

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The image below shows Phase 1 (the new loos, already completed) and phase 2 - the lift will not be done but is part of Phase 3!