A Tale of Two Churches
News reaches us from two parish churches we pledged grants to in 2021 to kickstart their fundraising. They represent both ends of the spectrum in terms of profile in the county: St Mary’s Aisle, the remnant of the church, incorporated into Truro Cathedral and St Grade on the Lizard.
St Grade requires £300,000 to re-roof the building and has passed the first milestone of £50,000 which enables application to other grant giving organisations although many of these require matched funding to which end they have a “Buy a Slate” fundraiser running from as little as £10 https://www.friendsofstruanandstgrade.co.uk/product-category/fundraisers/
St Mary’s Aisle has raised £116,000 in donations and grants towards the total needed of £404,500.
Large capital projects are primarily dependent on grants and they too are focussing fundraising efforts on stewardship and encouraging donations from visitors. If you visit the Cathedral you will see new banners asking people to “Please give what you can”. In addition to the fabric, the choir needs additional funds and they have recently launched a scheme inviting individuals and companies to “Sponsor a Chorister”. Anyone who would be interested in this scheme, which is seeking to attract ongoing sponsorship in the region of £1000 p.a. and upwards, is welcome to discuss this with their Director of Music, Chris Gray.
“The preservation of historic buildings is a one-way street. There is no chance to renovate or to save a historic site once it’s gone and we can never be certain what will be valued in the future. This reality brings to light the importance of locating and saving buildings of historic significance because once a piece of history is destroyed, it is lost forever.” Steven Piccione commenting on Jack Neely’s article, “Nine Practical Reasons to Save Old Buildings.”
To help other churches of all denominations please become a Friend of the Cornwall Historic Churches Trust, application form here.