Up To 250k Lottery Cash For Church Restoration Is Spurned
A church in York is putting its money where its mouth is – by rejecting lottery funding for its rebuilding work.
St Michael le Belfrey, next to York Minster, is raising money for a major restoration of its west front. But the church council has decided not to seek money from the Heritage Lottery Fund, because the fund promotes gambling. The church needs about £500,000 and says it is relying on its congregation to raise the money, without the need for lottery grants.
This is my church – and while I don’t agree with the PCC’s decision not to accept lottery funding, I believe we do have a responsibility to maintain this ancient building in working order. The congregation was delighted to move into it when David Watson was made the rector in the ’70s, so now we have to do our part in a long line of history to repair the stonework so that we can pass it to the next generation as our heritage.
What most people will find staggering is that we have pledged to raise double the sum needed so that we can give away as much as we spend on repairs. Watch this space.
This might not look like the average Mothers’ Union meeting as we know them in Britain, but in terms of peacefulness, good works, child-centredness and Christian goodness, the Mothers’ Union branch in Harare is no different from its UK counterparts. Having known more hardship, its members are probably even more good than the unsung English stalwarts who keep the churches here upright in every sense. There can be no true explanation then for why, shortly after this photograph was taken, this meeting was broken up by Zimbabwe riot police.
A desperate cry from the hearts of