Refurbishments to be begin on St John’s Church in the New Year

Work to assure the future of St John’s CE Church in Hopwood will take place in January.

Restoration work involves the West wall which faces Manchester Road and will last around 16 weeks starting on Monday 12 January.

Repair work will include fixing long term damage caused by water ingress, re-pointing the spire and re-plastering the inside of the wall. Large windows will be removed and re-leaded and the external wall will be re-pointed.

Rev Matthew Carlisle said: “It is really good that this work can go ahead to make the building much more secure as we look to the future. Church buildings are notoriously expensive to repair and maintain – we had to weigh up the pros and cons of attempting to do this work but we felt that overall it was a project that would make secure a beautiful building that is in generally good repair and is used on an almost daily basis.”

The work will be undertaken by Lambert Walker of Bamber Bridge with support from architect Andrew Ruaux.

Members of the Hopwood parish raised £134,000 for the work by way of a grant and their own fundraising efforts.

Over £20,000 was raised by parish members from church fairs, sponsorship and a gift day with grants from Viridor Credit Environmental Company, Manchester Diocese, National Churches Trust, Allchurches Trust and the Duchy of Lancaster.

Rev Carlisle added: “It goes without saying that we are immensely grateful to everyone who has supported our fundraising. In particular, we would like to thank Viridor Credits Environmental Company, the Diocese of Manchester, National Churches Trust, Allchurches Trust, the Duchy of Lancaster Benevolent Fund, and last but by no means least the congregation and other supporters for their kind generosity and imaginative fundraising efforts!

“Doing this work now means that we can look to a future where the building can continue be a sound resource for the church and the community. It will also mean that we can shift our attention away from the demands of repairing the building and focus on ‘where next’ for us as a Church community.”