Sheffield church begins roof repair project after securing over £130,000 in donations
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Cemetery Road Baptist Church, in Sharrow, said it is “praising God” after it received funds totalling £134,000 to carry out work on its main roof.
The church originally secured £130,000 in donations from funding bodies such as the Veolia Environmental Trust, Sheffield Council’s Community Infrastructure Levy Fund and The Bernard Sunley Foundation but a further £4,000 raised through its 180th birthday appeal has allowed the project to get underway.
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Hide AdThe funding has now allowed work to commence to replace the Grade II-listed building’s porous concrete roof tiles with natural slates, improve its roof insulation and install solar panels in a bid to reduce the church’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Peter Kennett, fabric officer of Cemetery Road Baptist (CRB) Church said: “For 20 years our architects have been stressing the need to replace the failing 1960s concrete tiles with slate, as originally used in 1859, but we could not raise sufficient funds to do so.
"Thanks to the generosity of various trusts, we can now carry out the work, and an unforeseen benefit of the delay means that solar panels, which were only in their infancy 20 years ago, can now be installed, to make our church’s contribution to helping to save this world’s resources”.
The church’s next fundraising challenge is to replace the building’s inefficient gas heating boilers, repair and upgrade its hall windows with double glazing, and refurbish its Napier Street entrance and welcome areas.
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Hide AdThe work is part of a masterplan to return the building to the heart of the community
Coun Jim Steinke, representative for Nether Edge and Sharrow, said: “CRB Church have consistently demonstrated a community spirit, which is exemplary in our view.
"A significant number of activities have originated from their passion to engage with the different communities that make up Sharrow and surrounding areas, which have vastly enriched those communities.
"The need to provide these from a building with better infrastructure is clear and they have demonstrated commitment to trying to raise funding from a wide variety of sources, including the Council’s Community Infrastructure Levy Fund”.
