£5,000 boost for Appleshaw Church fund-raising

A nationwide poll among the friends of a UK grant-awarding charity has given Appleshaw Church a much-welcomed boost of £5,000 to its fund-raising appeal.

The National Churches Trust asked its friends nationwide to choose between four finalists – one of which was St Peter-in-the-Wood, Appleshaw. In the end we were the runner-up behind St Machar Cathedral in Aberdeen.

The National Churches Trust is dedicated to supporting places of worship of historic, architectural and community value. They provide grants for urgent repairs and community facilities. It also runs award schemes to highlight the importance of church buildings. Further information on the NCT can be found on this link: https://www.nationalchurchestrust.org/

Appleshaw Church was initially awarded a Cornerstone grant of £10,000 by the NCT in 2019. http://appleshawchurch.com/2019/12/12/10000-grant-for-renovation-and-repairs-from-the-national-churches-trust/ This win enabled us to enter the NCT competition this year and we are delighted to have been awarded a further £5,000 from a competitive review.

In the spirit of full disclosure, we should confess to having an advantage – a ‘secret weapon’ to deploy – in the form of Appleshaw resident, Bruce Parker, a former BBC TV presenter. The NCT competition required the submission of a video to explain to the judges why the church should be awarded a further grant… so Bruce (presenter) and Suzanne (director & cameraman cameraperson) Parker shot the video in the summer on an iPhone. A big thank you to Bruce & Suzanne: five grand is quite a win.