Shropshire Star

Shropshire church needs to raise £300,000 for urgent repairs - video

About £300,000 needs to be raised over the next year to save St Mary's Church in Highley.

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Campaigners want to raise the money to repair St Mary's Church and said they need to do it within at least the next 18 months to prevent it from crumbling into disrepair.

The loss of the church, which is more than 900 years old, would have a huge impact on the village, according to fundraisers.

They have already raised £35,000 but said there was still more work to be done.

A committee has been set up in a bid to raise the funds, which is now looking at getting lottery funding and other grants to help pay some of the costs of repair.

But it is also looking to the community in Highley to come up with ideas to raise more cash to help with the work.

David Rayner, a committee member who is helping with the fundraising, said: "Basically the church is over 900 years old and it is a case of time taking its toll.

"The problem we've got is that the tower seems to be moving to some extent, so we have some structural problems there which are a bit of an unknown.

"The roof on the tower needs replacing, the lead gully, the down pipes – there is a whole raft of work relating to it.

"Because it is an old church, there is nothing to stop the water going into the floor and the walls, so parts are very wet and it has caused damage to the stonework which is quite noticeable in some areas. We want to put drains around to reduce the water levels and some of the down spouts don't go into any proper drains.

"The heating was also condemned and we think all of this work will cost around £250,000.

"There is also no toilet in the church, and we'd like to add one.

"Because of the structural issues with the tower, the bells have not been rung for a number of years, so that will need work.

"And there are things like putting a sound system in the church. All of those things will cost about £50,000, maybe up to £80,000. So in total, we're looking at well over £300,000."

The committee is now looking to put in an appeal for a lottery grant which, if successful, could bring in about £170,000.

Mr Rayner said: "There are a couple of other funding bodies who won't give us grants until we've got about 50 per cent of the funds in the bank.

"So once we've got the agreement letter in principle from the lottery, the committee can start approaching them.

"But what we're doing is putting out an update and asking people in the village to come up with ideas of what we can do to raise a bit more money."

Anyone who has any ideas for fundraising for the church should email stmaryshighley@gmail.com

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