Fenland church counts its blessings after receiving £363,200 funding for urgent repairs

National lottery players have made a Fenland church a major winner with news this week it is to receive £363,200 funding.

The grant announced by the National Lottery's Heritage Fund means St Peter's and St Paul's Church in Wisbech will get the urgent repairs it needs as well as a new kitchen facility and toilets making it fit for the 21st century.

It has taken three years of hard work by the Parish Project Team and the church's trustees for their funding bid to be successful and has been made possible thanks to a groundswell of community support.

Part of that support has been made possible thanks to this newspaper working alongside local schools to raise awareness of the church's predicament among pupils,who have played a role in making the bid a reality.

A generous £58,000 bequest by former Wisbech mayor Ann Carlisle to the church she attended also gave a boost acting as 'seed' money for match funding. Cash raised at the last two Rose Fairs in 2018 and 2019 has also been put towards the bid together with money from two local charities: the Robert Hall Trust and the Elizabeth Wright Charity.

Spearheading the bid was former teacher and church treasurer and project co-ordinator Val Spriggs.

She is delighted with this week's announcement. Val said: "It has taken us three years of hard work to win this funding and we are thrilled. It means we will be able to repair the church's leaking roof and also the masonry and drainpipes on the outside. Inside we will create a new kitchen facility and instal toilets making St Peter's a church for the future.

"We are extremely grateful to the whole community, including the Fenland Citizen, who has supported us on this journey. The school children have been fantastic with their enthusiasm and interest in the project, and that has gone a long way to helping us impress the National Lottery Heritage Fund."

Pupils at three of the the town's schools have been involved in the project almost from the outset: Nene and Ramnoth, the Orchards and St Peter's Schools.

With the help of Citizen reporter Sarah Cliss the children have penned newspaper articles highlighting the urgent need for repairs to the church and the need to modernise it so it is fit for purpose.

Their stories have also outlined the trustees' plans to make the church more of a community hub with the proposed new kitchen offering better opportunities to help the town's homeless by providing hot meals, and the toilets allowing the church to host more major events such as music concerts and art exhibitions among many others.

Val said now the 900-year-old church has the money it needs to finally proceed on the £600,000 project, work will begin imminently with installation of scaffolding so the roof repairs can be done. Those are expected to take around 12 weeks to complete, but it does depend on the church's bat population - they can't be disturbed during the breeding season.

Work inside will start later in the spring and the whole project is expected to take a year to complete.

The final piece of the project's puzzle will be the availability of a guide aimed at younger visitors created by the school pupils, who have also taken photos of important relics and interesting parts of the church to be included in it.

It will not only be available in hard copy within the church, but it will be on the St Peter's website and will also include an audio version.

And next summer it is hoped to hold the church's first summer arts festival to celebrate completion of the project, which will be dedicated to the memory of church stalwart Lesley Mardle, who died last year, but had begun the work on creating just such a festival.

Val said: "Dedicating it to Lesley will be a fitting tribute to her and will recognise her dedication to St Peter's."