Can you help?

St Michael’s & All Angels New Marston is a well-known local landmark, as a place of worship and community asset.  It’s been a welcoming space for many throughout its 70 years.  Over time we’ve extended its resources, so that now a wide variety of local groups can use the Pastoral Centre, with its well-appointed hall & kitchen, and the upstairs offices.  Hundreds of people come into the buildings for a host of different reasons: regular worship, baptisms/christenings, weddings, funerals, the Garden of Rest, and the special joyful celebrations at Christmas and Easter and St Michael’s School Services.  And, of course, all the social get-togethers: ballet schools, music groups, Keep-Fit, barn dances, plays, concerts and many, many, more.

We have recently refurbished the front steps, installed handrails and repainted the entrance room (funded solely by the generous giving of the Sunday congregation). We are working towards more provision and welcome for our community for the next 70 years.  But, alas, we also need to do some urgent and essential repairs on the foundations of the church building – they are beginning to collapse!  The church building is under serious threat.  It’s being monitored regularly by a structural engineer to ensure we can carry on using it safely.  The problem is one common to many buildings in these days of highly changeable weather: recent very hot, dry periods have caused the original buttressing system to fail.  We urgently need to be underpinned; our insurance doesn’t cover it, and although we have some financial reserves they are nowhere near enough to meet the bill.  The underpinning will cost at least £100,000 to fix.  Please would you help us to save St Michael’s Church?

You can donate directly from the website homepage - thank you for supporting us and our wider community.