Dudley church group looking for sponsors for hall redevelopment
A church preservation group in Dudley is looking for help with modernising some of its facilities.
The St John's Church Preservation Group has put out an appeal for people to sponsor items it is looking to install at the former St John's School, which it rents a space in.
The multi-purpose facility is currently used by the group for its shop and group chair Deb Brownleee spoke about the facilities on offer.
She said: "We have a small room that could be used for treatments and another which could be used for meetings or charity surgeries or advice sessions.
"What we want to do is refurbish it so that we can offer people the community room for things like friendship, educational and craft groups."
The group has set a list of items it is looking to install in the building, which was built in 1846 by William Bourne, to modernise it and make it more comfortable for groups to use.
Items include five dehumidifiers to reduce the need for so much heating and the levels of damp, new flooring, an electric imitation log burner and electric water heaters and tea urns.
Mrs Brownlee said the items range in cost, from £40 for each tea urn to £120 for each dehumidifier to close to £1,000 for the new flooring at the hall.
She also said it would help to make the project more part of the whole community.
She said: "We want people to give us expressions of interest for using the rooms when we are able to reopen and we can then discuss what they want do with the rooms.
"This includes how we can help with moving things around to make the facility more accessible.
"All of the funds raised will go towards the restoration of the church, but we also want to make the whole project more accessible to the public."
To find out more about sponsoring an item for the hall, call 07522 184461 or email savestjohnschurch@hotmail.co.uk
