Project Manager, Roger Cordey, said: “We are very pleased that The National Lottery Heritage Fund has given us permission to start. We are raring to go! We have already selected our Architect and Activity Consultant after a formal interview process. The funding will allow us to install better facilities and to keep the church safe and in use for present and future generations. Our thanks also go to the National Lottery players.”
The award is for the ‘Caring for our Roots’ project, transforming the church into a sustainable heritage, community and worship hub for the village of Deopham and for the wider area.
‘Caring for our Roots’ will explore the importance of place, identity and inclusion to a community as expressed through the distinctive and valued heritage of its parish church. This will be achieved both through urgent repairs to the church’s fabric in order to remove it from Historic England’s ‘Heritage At Risk’ Register and through a series of engaging new activities and resources, designed to explore, celebrate and nurture the ‘roots’ of our community – its built, social and environmental heritage. These activities will culminate in the launch of a new ‘Caring for our Roots’ exhibition, co-created and co-curated by the most disadvantaged pupils from our local schools in partnership with the Norfolk Record Office.
The formal permission to start allows the PCC of Deopham St Andrew’s church to appoint specialists to help them devise the best options to secure the future, among them an Architect, Activity Consultant, an Evaluation Consultant and various specialists in church buildings, conservation and wildlife.
High Oak Parochial Church Council was awarded a Development Grant of £48,955 by The National Lottery Heritage Fund for restoration work and to deliver a range of new activities and resources at the at-risk church in Deopham, Norfolk. This permission allows the PCC to access the money to pay for the various evaluations that will be needed before the final bid for a Development Phase grant.