The team at St James kicked off their appeal to raise funds for a new roof in May with a dinner (cooked by Cllr.Gerald Vernon Jackson) and an excellent speech about politicians given by Father Hugo – currently vicar of Paulsgrove but formerly of St James and before that, a civil servant in the cabinet office in Downing Street.
Stella Wansborough said, “This project has been in development for a few years now, and hopefully we will be starting in late summer. We have to raise about £1.8M which will cover our main roof, two side roofs, some of the windows which are in quite a dangerous state, a lot of the brickwork which needs repointing, some around the windows and all the window sills in the church. Over the last few years, when we have had rain, it has leaked into the church, running down the walls, so the guttering will also have to be replaced. This will then make it watertight. We will need to have much scaffolding put in place, and this is probably almost the most expensive item!!!
We have started our Fundraising appeal and aim to have lots of events to carry on this work. We hope all of Milton (and beyond) will want to get involved with the project as it is their Church.”
In addition to the concert detailed opposite, there is the Summer Fete on Saturday 21st June, 10.30am-1pm and the Open Day on Saturday 19th July, 10 am–4 pm when the Grand Raffle will be drawn at 3.30 pm.
