Fundraising campaign aims to help bring Black Country church back to life
A fundraising campaign has been launched to help secure the future of a church and community centre.
Holy Trinity Bilston, which is part of the St. Newman Cluster of churches, has been closed since December last year after it was discovered that part of the roof had collapsed.
Further inspection found that the rest of the roof was close to collapse and would need to be replaced, but the church’s insurance was not able make a claim due to poor original workmanship.
Father Craig Fullard, parish priest of the cluster, said the church had appointed a company to undertake the replacement works, but said the funding of the project was a major issue.
He said: “The contractors and builders are starting work next week to help replace the roof. The only problem is we don’t have the £143,000 in the bank that we need to pay for it, so the Diocese has agreed to loan us £100,000 alongside the £43,000 we’ve received in donations and grants.
“We have four years to pay the money back, so the quicker we can pay the money back, the cheaper it will be for us.”
Father Fullard said the expenditure was worth it for a building he described as an important one to many people around the community.
He said: “It is important to so many people as it’s where baptism, marriages and funerals have taken place and where, pre-Covid, more than 250 people would come together each weekend."
It does so much in the community and we really want it to be able to be back up and running as soon as possible.”
The St Newman Cluster has set up a funding page to help people to donate towards the new roof.
To find out more and to make a donation, go to portal.mydona.com/assets/webPay/index.php?cid=248
