As you may be aware, because of the increased building costs of our planned project we had applied for a grant from Your Fund Surrey to put alongside our own significant contribution.
They have now advised us, that, with regret, this has been declined. Whilst they say “they were supportive of our ideas and can see that they could provide some valuable benefits to the community, the additional benefits to the broader community are not sufficient or broad enough” for them to contribute.
This is obviously disappointing, but there is much good news: we now have the certainty of our new Vicar in Patrick, and we continue to see the growth in various newly-created activities. And because of people’s generous giving, we do have the money to deliver some considerable enhancement and improvements to our buildings, and indeed we are now free from any obligation to outside funders.
We have therefore decided to move forward, and we are already engaged with our advisers and contractors to produce a more modest, but still exciting scheme.
We hope to bring you news of more detailed plans and dates in the coming weeks. We are optimistic that work might be able to start this summer, and appreciate your ongoing support and prayers.