Funds boost for Winchelsea, Broad Oak and Hooe churches

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Churches in Winchelsea, Broad Oak and Hooe are all set to benefit from a Â£22.9m repair fund announced today (July 6).

The Church of St Thomas the Martyr, Winchelsea, St Oswald’s Church, Hooe, and Trinity Methodist Church, Broad Oak, are all set to benefit from the Listed Places of Worship: Roof Repair Fund.

St Thomas will receive £54,000, St Oswald’s will receive £32,700 and Trinity will receive £24,900.

A total of 401 historic places of worship are set to benefit from the fund.

“Churches and cathedrals are a pillar of British life and we are committed to ensuring future generations will be able to admire and use these historic buildings,” said Chancellor George Osborne.

“Thanks to the work we’ve done over the last six years to secure Britain’s long term economic security, we are able to support the upkeep and repair of places of worship across the UK.”

Nationally, the historic places of worship will receive between £10,000 and £100,000 to meet the costs of urgent repairs to roofs and drainage.

Sir Tony Baldry, chairman of the Church Buildings council: “It is fantastic that a further 400 church buildings will receive significant help with roof repairs from government and we are hugely grateful to the Chancellor.

“We now need to ensure a sustainable way of funding church buildings in the future and this is a question for which I hope the department for culture media and sport taskforce on church buildings will find viable and deliverable answers.”

Today’s grants have been awarded through the government-funded Listed Places of Worship: Roof Repair Fund.

The fund was launched by the chancellor in his Autumn Statement in December, 2014, and the funding package has now seen a total of 903 places of worship across the UK receive a share of £55m.

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