Update on Royston Church

Credit: Jenni Goldsmith

Update on Royston Church

Since our last update, work within the church has been continuing at a pace although work on the rebuilding of the main arch was delayed due to the problems with sourcing the replacement stone. We are pleased to report that this has been resolved and work is now expected to be complete by early July. This will finalise the work on Phase 2.

In the meantime work has commenced on the final phase of the restoration/refurbishment. As previously reported, this is anticipated to be complete by February 2022. Currently work has been in progress to re-install the floors within the bell tower as well as other high level works in the main body of the church. Cleaning of the smoke damage to the roof timbers has been completed with excellent results. At the same time the plasterwork damaged in the fire is being removed and replaced.

Later this year work on the refurbishment will commence including the installation of the new under floor heating as well as the new floor which will be slightly higher than previously in order to accommodate easier wheelchair access. In addition, all new wiring will be installed ready for the new energy-efficient LED lighting, new audio/visual system and the new digital organ. The work will be completed with a new kitchen and servery, and toilets, including one for the disabled which will be on the same level as the rest of the church.
We are looking forward with excitement to seeing the work completed when we will have a modern, welcoming and friendly place for the community of Royston as well as the restoration of our beautiful house of prayer.

Needless to say none of this comes without significant cost as we have alluded to previously. It is estimated that our share of the costs will be in the region of £400,000 and whilst we have to thank the people of Royston for their generosity so far we do still have a long way to go. Currently our “Sponsor a Chair” scheme has been well received and we have collected donations amounting to the equivalent of 144 chairs (£36,000). This is over half of our requirement but anyone who wishes to take the opportunity to provide support in this way, please see the details on the church website. In addition to the chair scheme, we have also received around £65,000 in donations as well as £24,500 in grants.

Following our recent market stall, at which we sold a number of different pieces of merchandise, we are hoping to enhance our fundraising with further activities in the coming months, as restrictions from the pandemic are further relaxed.

On the worship front, we have been able to revert to Eucharist services on a Sunday at the Town Hall at 9am and 10.15am with the latter streamed live on our Youtube channel. The demand has been so successful that we continue to offer the two services as the size of the congregation for such meetings is limited under Government guidelines. There is, however, a booking system, the details of which can be found on our website.

To keep up to date with progress on the building works as well as other information on our fundraising schemes please visit
www.roystonparishchurch.org.uk