The annual Heritage Open Days will be taking place across Tameside.
8 February
Dry rot repairs - Temporary relocation of weekday services
Please note that Wednesday Communion serviceswill take place in the Coffee Room from Monday the 16th of February. This is because the main church building will be out of action Monday to Friday for essential repairs.
The dry rot repairs to the south wall and roof, along with improvements to the electrical system will be undertaken over 3 weeks. It is anticipated that Sunday services will take place as normal in church.
6 October
Ashton
Big Lottery award brings community facility nearer
Many of you will know that we’ve been waiting with baited breath for the result of our application to the Big Lottery Fund’s Community Buildings Programme. Finally, last Sunday, we were able to announce that we’ve been awarded a grant of £500,000 towards the cost of building the Community Centre.
This is great news, and takes us one step closer to having a centre that will serve all the people of our local community, from the youngest to the oldest (including everybody in between!). The Centre will have a large hall, café area, kitchen/bar and flexible meeting rooms, all put together in a totally environmentally friendly building. If you haven’t seen the plans yet, do have a look at the project website www.4ccommunitycentre.org.uk, and there will be plenty of opportunity for everybody to comment on them as we move forward.
We’re hoping that this award will help us secure another £700,000 worth of grants to complete the project, with local businesses and fund raising activities contributing around £100,000.
During the planning stages, we considered carefully a number of locations for the Centre, but building it in the grounds of the Church proved to be the only viable option in the end. Unfortunately, this will involve relocating about 240 graves, which contain about 880 burials. Most of the burials date from before 1900 and 90% of the churchyard will not be disturbed.
The Church of England and the Government lay down strict procedures for relocating graves, designed to ensure that it is done with dignity, respect and the full blessing and ministry of the church. We’re fully committed to following them, and at each stage of the process there will be plenty of opportunity for anybody with concerns to make them known.
When the time comes, each individual burial will have Christian prayers said as re-burial takes place in a currently unused part of the churchyard; the Bishop will rededicate the graves in a special service of thanksgiving; and as a mark of respect a new memorial stone will mark the new burial area.
The Centre is, as many in the community have already said, sorely needed and it will provide wonderful opportunities for local people, but we would like to assure everybody that as we move forward it’s going to be with complete sensitivity and respect.
Jonathan, Tom, Richard, Janet, Revd Lee, and the project committee
