Projects CHURCH REFURBISHMENT Witham Church Schedule "A" 2003 Church Disability Access Improvements and Extensions Scheme. The Church Council agreed on 20 October 2003 to undertake a major scheme for improvement and extension of the church premises. This was subject to confirmation of anticipated Circuit and Connexional grants and availability of external funding to augment money to be raised by the congregation in addition to the surplus income over expenditure already accumulated for building purposes. The works proposed are: o Provide statutory requirements for disabled people to access the premises; o New toilet facilities incorporating hot water and vanity units, a disabled use toilet and baby changing arrangements; o A larger, more welcoming and attractive Entrance Hall providing common access to all parts of the premises and independent access to all facilities from each of the meeting rooms; o Build a small shop and store in Entrance Hall and facilitate use of hall as cafeteria and reception area; o Construct storage cupboards in corridor between the Halls, the former entrance to Guild Room and outside the Ladies Toilet; o New serving hatch and stable door from Kitchen into new entrance area; o Cookers relocated to existing hatch area; o More comfortable and versatile seating in the Church and meeting rooms; o Improved lighting, public address, music amplification and recording facilities; o Cable ducting and rectification of electrical wiring deficiencies; o Replace gas heater in Choir Vestry with radiator from central heating boiler; o Repair of Hall windows and re-mortaring of church concrete window frames; o Re-felting The Link flat roof and repair of leak in rear hall roof; o Repair defective timber in soffits and fascias; o Make-good gutters and down pipes and alter to sealed drain-entry; o Rectify manholes on drainage and install new yard gullies; o Replace door locks with key-pad and push bar operation locks; o Re-carpet Choir Vestry and Guild Room; o Re-decorate Hall internally and making good and decorate all altered areas.; o Re-decorate externally; o Re-pave yard to form a pleasant meeting and exhibition area; o Re-pave front access and eastern car park to visually integrate the areas. To achieve this it is necessary, so as to open the yard aspect, to demolish half the existing Vestibule and alter the remainder to serve as an emergency exit and occasional access and provide some storage capacity for the Church. The front window to be modified to serve as an illuminated notice board and the existing front doorway to be installed at the rear opening onto a short flight of steps into the yard. The worship area will be reversed and a new dais built at the north end of the Church. Normal access to the Church from the new Entrance Hall will be facilitated by enlargement of the existing rear doorway and removing most of the existing dais. A wheel-chair lift will be installed in the Entrance Hall. Cost. Chartered Architects and Town Planning Consultants John Finch and Partners have produced plans, elevations and sections from a complete survey of the premises necessary since the original drawings have not been found. A revised budget quotation has been obtained in a letterl6 October 03 from Smith Construction and Design, after discussion with church representative and the architects to check the reliability of the evaluation of the work and to incorporate other work needed to rectify existing building defects. The quotation is £95,205 excluding fees, contingencies etc. that are expected to increase the cost to approximately £150,000. Community benefits and mission. The Vision:- The purpose of this scheme is to enable the Church to expand use of the premises by modernising the facilities and improving the quality of the accommodation to make it more attractive, flexible, welcoming, comfortable and accessible to all people in the community. Circumstances:- Witham is currently expanding with 850 new dwellings and substantial industrial expansion under construction on the Maltings Lane green field development and several hundred more dwellings on the redevelopment of the former Bridge Hospital site. The District Council is also considering housing development on the Spring Lodge community centre site with the consequent loss of a substantial part of the community ball area currently available for the town. We see this large population growth in the town as a significant opportunity for increasing the already substantial use and letting of the Church halls. That might be the basis for mission to bring a significant proportion of the existing and new population to the Lord. Improved and enlarged premises in a town centre location with parking and public transport reasonably nearby offer more appealing accommodation than the existing rather "tired' and uninspiring, though well loved, buildings. It would also enable a wider range of activities and scope for some concurrent different uses. Part of the project is therefore to make and recruit more use of the premises. A Church Development Group is to be established to plan and implement this fundamental element of the project. Community Mission:- The church has a number of associations with disabled folk and helpers, including the mentally ill and those with learning disabilities. We are considering whether this may be a direction in which to focus our mission and community development Other potential areas include the substantial number of elderly and single people in the locality and the scope for occupational therapy, learning and counselling. We also need to address ways to provide relevantly for, engage and attract young people and families. For the church itself there is acknowledged to be need for greater prayer life, bible study and spiritual development to be under-taken in parallel with and as part of the expected growth through mission. Pastoral care of the members includes support for the hard-of-hearing, poorly sighted, immobile, house bound, isolated and distressed. Environmental, health and safety considerations and opportunities. It is important to recognise the risks and opportunities in such a project for environmental impact and improvement and the hazards to health and safety for which the Trustees and individuals are Statutorily responsible and liable. These need to be assessed and addressed in the planning. Identification of the improvements in a wide range of environmental improvements in energy consumption, waste minimisation and control of water, economy and sustainability of raw materials use etc are important in their own right but can also improve the prospects of some external funding. A start has been made in outlining some environmental considerations and assessing H&S risks and mitigation measures and in the area of improvements in safety, security and health protection that can be incorporated in the project. Funding of the Building Scheme. The substantial financial cost and effort to raise funding represents a challenge and leap of faith for the Witham Church; a small congregation of which many are elderly, retired or invalid and few are financially prosperous. Nevertheless we are thrifty, generous, friendly and caring and have maintained a tradition of sound financial management. Church 'giving' roughly covers the Circuit Assessment and letting income has covered normal running costs even though 'rents' for community and social use by Groups with limited funds are kept affordable rather than economic. Hire charges vary according to our understanding of ability to pay. This will constrain the increase in charges that we might make to help pay for the improvements scheme. For many years we have run regular fundraising events including monthly 'coffee and Bring-and-buy" evenings or mornings raising several £00 per year. The annual Christmas Bazaar has yielded £1,000 in recent years. It is planned therefore to build on these efforts and introduce other means of income from the community such as running a regular Saturday coffee and lunch place using a roster as many people in the congregation as possible to "man" the operation. Boot, garage or home sales by individuals or members or supporters for church funds will be encouraged, together with craft, art, musical etc programmes, exhibitions and sales. Individual sponsorships on behalf of the scheme may also be possible. The Property and Finance Committee will be developing ideas and identifying opportunities for individuals to lend, donate, bequeath, pledge and so forth. Project Management. Responsibility for proper planning and management of this scheme will fall to the Property and Finance Committee. It is essential to deliver it within budget, on time and to required quality. The Architect needs to be instructed and required to produce a project plan and programme of work. In this it is desirable also to minimise disruption of use of the premise during the construction, not least to sustain income and retain tenants. We need also to determine all users wishes, expectations and willingness or ability to accept some change and unavoidable disruption. We will seek to assist temporary relocation where necessary and practicable. Not least we may investigate any opportunity for partnership with users in fund raising, especially from charitable external funding bodies. Delegation of roles, tasks and programmes is needed very soon. If you wish to help contact Pat Ripton 01376 516141 Donations may be sent to D. Gillespie at 18 Witham Rd., Wickham Bishops, Witham CM8 3NQ Please note that your gift will be worth more if you include a Gift Aid Declaration with your donation. This currently adds 28p extra for every pound donated. (You must pay income tax equal to the tax the charity reclaims on your donation within the tax year of the donation) A suitable form is given below or you may request one from David Gillespie How our Restoration Project will support and promote our Mission: 1. The renovation and revitalisation of our buildings' physical structures will reaffirm, visibly, our beliefs, faith and evangelism of our Mission. 2. The enhanced facilities will further support and encourage those organisations working within and for the interests of the community. 3. Our dedication to the process of outreach will be assisted by the provision of modern premises consistent with the expectations and needs of the community. We are determined to encourage new members from both the existing community and that being created through the new housing development. 4. As Trustees of our Methodist inheritance and of the property in our care, we are charged with good stewardship and husbandry. The proposed restoration is consistent with meeting the present and future needs of our own congregation as well as the wider needs of the community. 5. Careful consideration has been given to a number of smaller improvements and routine maintenance items, to ensure they might be most economically and beneficially incorporated within this larger scheme. Please remember to pray for the success of our project and that the future of our witness in Witham will be assured. Witham Church Building Scheme. A progress report is now appropriate to bring everyone up to date. The applications to the Methodist Divisional Property Committee were successfully made and approved before Christmas. This enabled us to review the scheme with our architects to take into account the feedback we had from the consultations on the initial ideas. Finch's new design incorporates improvements to the original concept. It involves demolition of the church vestibule and constructing a new concave curved front wall between the church and the hall. The new entrance will be in the centre of that wall with large glazed doors and windows and a convex curved canopy over the frontage forming a wide covered porch. The base of the vestibule will be retained within the new structure and extended to incorporate a staircase and a wheel chair lift. The internal doorway into the church will be slightly widened and an additional emergency exit to the eastern car park area will be built behind the curtain-wall to the rear of the pulpit. The new building in the space enclosed by the new frontage wall, will be covered with a modern, superior type of polymer flat roof material supported by steel beams and incorporating glazed roof lights, It will be a bright and attractive window to the premises.  The existing felted flat roof of the Link will be renovated, the toilet facilities expanded and modernised and storage cupboards enhanced. The floors of the new and existing low areas will be raised slightly to the level of the hall and appropriately covered. Some changes will be made to the kitchen including a large serving hatch into the existing adjacent corridor that will itself be opened into the new entrance hall to become the hub of the premises for access and circulation. No structural changes to the church are planned but we will replace the pews by chairs and further consideration will be given to lighting, sound and visual presentation systems and the incidental furnishings and décor. The same applies to the halls. Externally re-paving and landscaping is being planned together with alternative provision for waste bin storage at the rear of the premises. New signage and better notice boards and announcement facilities will be looked into as part of the scheme. We expect the architects to produce drawings for application to the District Council for Planning Permission to be sought in spring. Provided this is obtained and our fundraising efforts continue to be successful we anticipate being able to seek tender bids for construction and then start building in the summer. It is most encouraging to have many of our congregation actively involved in the scheme planning, fund raising, publicity and mission groups. Activity on all these aspects will need to increase significantly very soon and the integration, organisation and decision making will become more critical. More help will be needed. It is with much relief therefor that we received an offer from Revd Jean Dane to take on the role of Project Co-ordinator; the P&F committee has gladly accepted. Jean is an experienced Minister who has also worked in the architectural industry and been involved in several church building schemes; her help will be invaluable. It seems the Lord has answered our need and prayers, It is now down to us to get the job done to build facilities that will attract people here and enable us to expand our ministry to the community. That is the real challenge to our faith and the stewardship demanded by all those who have previously striven to build and maintain this Church. There is an increasing sense of confidence in the Church and the town that now is the moment for things to happen. If we only believe in Him, so it will! Patrick Ripton Current Funding Situation as at 18-01-2006 Revised local funding target is £116k. We have to have 50% of this before we can sign contracts, that is £58k. We have the following:- General Fund £35600 plus Building Fund which totals £53100. This together with existing personal loans total £56100. As by London Methodist Financial rules we need £58000 there is presently a shortfall of £1900. Once this is covered we can sign contracts and get the project started. Anyone who would like to help us by means of gift aid or personal loan is invited to contact Rev Jean Dane on 01376 521022 Ongoing financing means that we have to raise £58k over the next four years. Currently we have about £11k per annum excess of income over expenditure. That projects to £44k over four years so we need to raise about £14k over four years, i.e. £3500 pa in fundraising activities to cover the costs of the loan, plus an amount for interest accumulated. Redevelopment News 4-06-2006 The building work is now well under way with alterations being made to the kitchen, guild room and toilets. A new doorway has been inserted in the side wall of the church which will become a fire exit. The old porch has been demolished revealing an interesting straw and tar insulation in the roof. The area between the old an new church buildings has been excavated prior to levelling. Redevelopment News 7-07-2006 Work is advanced in concreting the space between the buildings and roofing over the enclosed area. New frames have been installed in the church hall windows and work is continuing on the kitchen and guild room. The project is generally proceeding according to plan and we expect completion within a week or so of the scheduled date. Redevelopment News 27-07-2006 At a recent site meeting we heard that the builders are making good progress running only 1-2 weeks behind schedule. This is partly because of problems which needed to be solved with the roof construction and of extra work requested by us. This comprises full internal and external decoration which it is thought will be more easily done whilst all the towers and scaffolding are on site. Floor coverings and colour schemes have been chosen in order to give a different theme to each of the meeting rooms.