St John the Baptist Church Update – July

July Update

Work has commenced, and is almost complete, on the “Enabling Stage” which is the clearance of debris, resulting from the fire, and the inspection of stonework etc.

Bakers of Danbury have been sympathetically carrying out this operation whilst ensuring that all items of importance are carefully preserved and protected. All the pews have been removed and are currently being stored in the chancel to enable investigative work to be carried out on the floor which incurred some subsidence. At the same time involvement of archaeologists has been necessary to determine and register any historical issues prior to reinstatement.

As previously reported the bells suffered major damage and all have now been lowered for examination and re-casting. This has been done with the help of John Taylor & Co.
Discussions have also commenced on looking at the way forward as far as the church organ is concerned with all options being considered including a new pipe organ v an electronic one.

Whilst the work on the church has been moving apace, support from the community has continued, particularly from a financial point of view.

A great example of this is the recent concert by the Royston Town Band the proceeds from which, amounting to £412, were for the benefit of the church. We were also delighted to hear that our refurbishment project had won the vote under the Tesco Bags of Help scheme resulting in a grant of £4,000. These, together with other donations means that the Church Refurbishment Fund has grown to over £30,000 – a great big “Thank You” to everyone involved.

If you have any questions, please speak to our Church Warden,
Nick Hindle: 01763 324325
or Treasurer, Phil Burchell: 01763 848937