Urgent repair work being carried out

to the Nave floor tiles

at St Andrew's, Sutton.

This work has been

partly funded by the Trust

CHCT Grants 2007/08 News In our last financial year the Trust has offered 21 grants totalling £69,000, following a very similar pattern to previous years. 85% have gone to Church of England churches and by value, 50% were for roofs and other major structural work, 25% for heating and electrical projects and just 6% for disabled toilets/access. The location of the churches supported was similar too, with half in Cambridge and South Cambs. districts, 20% in Huntingdon, 10% each in East Cambs and Fenland and a geographically unrepresentative 10% in Peterborough and the north of the county. The last seven months have witnessed even more emphasis on the south of the county with no applications from Peterborough and the north at all.

Indeed, Trustees are concerned that we have received only half the finalised applications this year compared to the equivalent 7 months in 2006/07 -despite the fact that some 70 application forms have been requested by congregations.

WREN grants are subject to strict rules imposed by Entrust (the regulatory body for landfill tax money) governing what work can be grant-aided. In broad terms, restoration, repairs and heating projects are eligible but not maintenance, decoration, reordering of pews or the building of new facilities, except those specifically for the disabled. When we introduced CHCT grants to supplement WREN money in 2004, Trustees decided to keep things simple and use exactly the same criteria as WREN.

Inundated with requests for help with new disabled toilets, in 2005 we decided to limit our grants for this purpose to £1,000 to retain enough grant money for urgent major structural repairs. However, with the clear decline in requests for help with repair projects and the long term need to increase support for church buildings by making them more useful to their community, we have reviewed our policy. Many congregations are developing ambitious new projects creating kitchens, meeting rooms, play areas and toilets, which, when sensitively done, should we believe be encouraged. We have therefore decided to widen the scope of CHCT grants to cover such capital projects and to increase CHCT grants to a maximum of £5,000. WREN grants can still only be offered towards the disabled toilet costs of such projects (but could be offered alongside a CHCT grant up to £5000). Trustees will review this change again next year.

Mindful also of the increase in metal theft from church roofs and to encourage PCCs to embrace Ecclesiastical Insurance's Smartwater initiative, Trustees have also specifically set aside some CHCT money in 2008 for grants up to 50% of the cost of Smartwater roof treatment.

CHCT has now loaned a total of £1.74 million to 163 churches and chapels and currently has over £350,000 loans outstanding. So far, no congregation has defaulted.

We encourage every historic church in need of financial help with any relevant projects for which they have received tenders, to apply for a grant without delay, using our website cambshistoricchurchestrust.co.uk to download the application form or by calling Kevin Doyle on 01487 840834.

We are here to help and have money available NOW! Please spread the word, particularly northwards!

Kevin Doyle

Grants Secretary