St Peter and All Souls wins Historic England grant

With the help of the Diocese, St Peter and All Souls in Peterborough has won a grant of £20,000 for vital repairs on the church. Parish Priest Fr Adam Sowa explains the significance.

For some years, the parish of St Peter and All Souls, with the assistance of the Diocese of East Anglia, have embraced the costly and onerous task of repairing the subsiding church building. The Diocese appointed the construction engineers, Canham Consulting, conservation architects Caroe Architecture as well as a fundraising consultant, to assist the parish in raising the funds and keeping the momentum going.

The total project cost would be over £1 million, and it would completely surpass the resources of the parish; therefore, it needs to come to completion in little steps. The recent Covid-19 period did not completely stop many efforts to realise this worthy project, but slowing it down gave the parish time to think it through more deeply. Also, the Steering Group and the diocese made more applications for funding.

I am delighted that we have been successful with our grant application to Historic England, which awarded our parish with £20k this month (January). 

This generous grant will pay for an asbestos refurbishment survey to enable future necessary works to the church. It will also pay for clearance of rainwater goods as well as for a surface water drain survey to identify location and condition. Remedial works to drains, as identified in the survey, will be covered by the grant, too.

The Parish Steering Group is meeting via Zoom online to consider the next steps and how our parish can help to further the reparation of our beautiful church building. The parish Finance and Resources Committee is also meeting on regular basis to keep the parish solvent and plan for the future.

Duncan Wilson, Historic England Chief Executive said: “Historic places across the country are being supported by the Government’s grants awarded under the Culture Recovery Fund. This funding is a lifeline which is kick-starting essential repairs and maintenance at many of our most precious historic sites, so they can begin to recover from the damaging effects of COVID-19.

“It is also providing employment for skilled craft workers who help keep historic places alive and the wheels of the heritage sector turning. Our shared heritage is an anchor for us all in these challenging times and this funding will help to ensure it remains part of our collective future.”

Pictured above is St Peter and All Souls Church

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