Nettlestead St Mary church gets £100k restoration grant

Nettlestead St Mary church, near Ipswich, has won a Landfill Communities Fund grant of almost £100,000 from Valencia Communities Fund meeting the £265,000 target needed to repair and secure the future of the church.

The community has spent the last seven years fundraising the total.

St Mary’s is a Grade I listed building and in 2018 was in such a state of disrepair that it was placed on a list of buildings at risk by Historic England.

The project team at St Mary's. (Image: Maureen Gardiner) Early fundraising efforts along with local and national grants from  National Churches Trust and Suffolk Historic Churches Trust raised £108,000 allowing work to start on repairing the disintegrating roof and the broken drainage to start.

 By 2022 the church was weathertight and safe from further dereliction so work could begin to restore other damaged areas of the building.

Fundraising efforts along with a grant of £99,430 from Valencia Communities Fund means that £265,000 has been raised to complete the necessary repairs and restoration of the church as well as creating a new community space inside.

The Landfill Communities Fund is a scheme that allows landfill operators the opportunity to contribute money to organisations considered Environmental Bodies for community and environmental projects close to landfill sites. 

Parishioners led fundraising efforts for both phases along with the family and friends of the late environmentalist and peer Michael Blakenham in whose memory some of the money was donated.

Thanks to the money raised the church will have new heating and lighting while its monuments including its 15th century font will be secured for future generations.

Restoration work taking place at St Mary’s. (Image: Maureen Gardiner) The Valencia Communities Fund grant will also allow the church to develop a larger space for parish and community use including facilities to serve refreshments.

St Mary's is the only public building in the parish so with the restoration of the church there is hope that events can be held there as well as opportunities for visitors and local groups to use the new facilities.

The Reverend Eric Falla, Nettlestead’s Rector said that the fundraising efforts in the parish showed what was possible for a small community to achieve.

He said: "It is extraordinary that this building, whose dereliction was quite possible, will be brought back into full use.

"We are maintaining the heritage of previous generations and keeping it as a place of worship and in service to the whole community for those who come after us. 

"We are so grateful to all the individuals and grant funders who have enabled this to happen, and we will be having a real celebration next year. It shows what a small community can achieve."