St Mary's Church repairs and restoration, phase 2

Thursday 19th June 2014

Preston on Stour St. Mary’s Church update

You may have noticed the scaffolding aroundSt Mary’s Preston on Stourand be wondering what is going on?

Vital stonework that was required commenced last year. What was in the first instance hoped to be a small amount of repair unfortunately escalated due to the severity of the poor structural conditions discovered when work began. 

The phase 1 of the stonework cost £17,225 and was partly paid by a fund raising event held at Alscot Park. 

Now, phase 2 of the repairs & restoration is underway. This is to remove and then securely refit the upper stonework of the "New" part of the Church facing the Village Green.
A team of experienced stonemasons is carefully removing the old stones at the very top of the walls on three sides, making sure their location is repaired and made solid before resetting each large piece of stone. This makes the construction safe, strong and weather tight. This is not an easy task and entails using traditional materials and skills as demanded by such an historic, listed building.
The metal cladding around the scaffolding is an Insurance requirement to prevent access to the roof by way of the scaffold poles during the work.

We are always conscious of the limited funds available so the general running cost of the church is kept to a bare minimum, however, phase 2 is expected to cost in the region of a further £17,000 which will make a sizeable hole in the limited reserves St. Mary’s Preston has.

Whilst we are always trying to source financial contributions from the wider community, local people’s support is always appreciated.  Therefore if you can help either with fund raising or ideas please contact Phil Grellier (Warden) at phil.grellier@btinternet.com or 01789 450644. 

We really appreciate and are very grateful for the contributions the Church already receives, but may we please ask all interested parties to consider donations or pledging legacies to help keep the church safe and open. If you feel you can help, please contact Karen Kennedy (Treasurer) in confidence at info@karen-kennedy.co.uk or 07973 705954

During the work, Services of course continue, and we welcome all to join us in worship. Details of Services and an update on the repairs can be found on the Preston on Stour web site.  www.prestononstour.org

Phil Grellier