Funds needed to repair Black Country church where the Tipton Slasher is buried
Church campaigners have launched an urgent appeal for donations to help cover a five-figure insurance bill and enable vital repair work to resume.
St John's Church Preservation Group needs to find more than £4,000 to finish paying its annual premium for the grade II listed building in Kates Hill, Dudley
The group, which re-opened the church in 2016, has been forced to put restoration projects on hold while it works to generate the required funds.
With the help of supporters, it has been able to raise more than £400 but still needs around £4,016 to clear the remainder of the bill.
Chairman Deb Brownlee said: "We urgently need to clear this as the church has sprung new leaks and some of the stonework has failed further and is letting water in.
"We really need to be able to not have to put almost every penny of our funds raised in to insurance instalments. We would rather it went in to urgent building repairs.
"We’re really trying to get the message out to St John’s supporters that the project urgently needs funds, and we especially want to invite people to become Friends of St John’s.
"These regular givers can be the life blood, indeed the saviours of the charity and help smooth out peaks and troughs of funding availability.”
"The largest gift so far has been £100 and the smallest £5. They all make a difference and we are more than grateful," she added.
The church, which first opened in 1840, is where bare-knuckle fighter William Perry, known as the Tipton Slasher, is buried.
The St John’s Preservation Group fought a long battle to gain control of the church, which had fallen into disrepair after more than a decade lying empty.
It was closed in 2002 as it was deemed to be unsafe but later surveys revealed that the nave and chancel at the church were structurally sound and in a better condition that originally thought.
The preservation group was finally handed the keys in 2016 and have been busy since bringing the building back up to scratch.
Making the roof watertight and tackling overflowing gutters and years of pigeon waste were among the first jobs on the to-do list.
The group hosts a number of events throughout the year and in October a pet blessing service saw more than 100 people bring their dogs to church.
