Corsham Spire Appeal

First, a Bit of Background...

For a thousand years there has been a place of worship on this site. Over the centuries, there have been bits added on, sometimes bits taken away and many repairs. Now we need to do some major repairs and some improvements. The stonework on the tower is crumbling—we already have netting to prevent falling stones hurting people below—and the spire needs to be re-pointed as it is letting in water which causes further damage. We have damage to the stonework round some of the windows so they are at risk too.

Ironically, the present tower and spire were added in the final phase of alterations to the church when our Victorian predecessors commissioned Mr George E. Street to recommend a programme of works. The building at that time was in a perilous state but survived thanks to the zeal and devotion of our forebears.

We would like to provide a WC and refreshment facilities for when we have concerts and exhibitions in church. Our sound and lighting need improvement too. All these things cost money, although they will enable us to better serve the Corsham community and visitors to our historic church.

We launched an appeal in October 2006 to raise the money needed to do this.

• David Clowes raised an amazing £1050 from sponsorship for running the Bath half Marathon in March
• Shirley Green has given another £17 from making and selling her boxes
• The Easter Egg Hunt on Easter Monday, combined with a raffle and selling teas, made £172 and everyone had lots of fun!
• The Murder Mystery Evening made a profit of £545

• Kristina Pedersen gave £1859 from the sale of some of her house contents. We will miss you when you go!
• Thanks to Jessica Webb who took a stall at St. Aldhelm’s Christmas Fair and made £24.40
• The total raised by our Gift Day was £17,823. Thank you
• Thanks to Bishop John for raising £100 selling his preserves
• Thanks to Viva la Pizza who have raised £36 in customer donations
• Thanks to Pat Hoare for raising £33 with a coffee morning
• Thanks to Brian Cox for raising another £100 with his car hire
• Inspired Bridge in January made £269.50.Thanks to John Whittleton for organising this
• The concert by the Chippenham Male Voice Choir in January made £256.35
• In February, The French Breakfast raised £127
• Thanks to Corsham Ramblers who gave £20 for the loan of our projector

• John Osborne, the Farmer Poet entertained us on 18 October and we raised £123
• The Evening of Remembrance  on 8 November was a moving memorial  and raised £386
• A stall at the Doorway Project Winter Fayre  (a charity supported by this church) in Chippenham raised  £88
• Brian Cox has given another £300 raised by hire of his car for weddings and making key rings
• Shirley Green made and sold padded boxes and made £124
• Christmas card sales made £178. Thanks to all who designed them and to Roger Parry who printed them
• £118  was given by visitors to our Christmas Tree Festival
• Lyn Jackson has given £58  from making  and selling  greetings cards
• Margaret Heath did some sewing for Clare Raybould and donated the payment of £35
• Bishop John made his annual batch of marmalade and gave £50
• The concert by the Jane Lilley Singers raised  £356
• Donations at  Joan Watts’ funeral £55
• The Easter Egg Hunt combined with selling tea and cakes made £82
• Donations at Joan Webb’s funeral £380
• Jenny Gilks ran two creative workshops, one for children and one for adults, and made £131.50
• The Murder Mystery Evening made a profit of £592. Our thanks to all the shops in the town who contributed Stokes and Somerfield for a discount on food prices Corsham Bookshop for a discount on team prizes, Cinnamon for donating the raffle prize.
• Our Jazz Picnic in July made a profit of £115—A perfect setting and wonderful music
• Tony Hall has given £57 made by selling tomato plants and gooseberries
• The Ad Hoc Drama Group made a donation of £100
• Brian Cox has given another £750 from use of his vintage car for weddings
• Thank you to the Late Lord Methuen’s Charitable Trust for a gift of £10,000
• Teddy Bears’ Picnic August Bank Holiday. We made a profit of £285.66
• Thank you for the £50 donation from the Photographic exhibition
• Corsham Band concert in September made £224
• Thank you to Terry Waldron who organised a Golf Tournament which made  £6,270 and a raffle which raised another £420
• During this summer sales from our books and our Church Shop have totalled £470

You can help the appeal in any number of ways. In addition to making a donation, you could:

• bring yourself and friends to events (eg. concerts) held in aid of the spire appeal
  
• buy a souvenir from the shop at the back of the church
• join our 100 club
• have a photograph restored
• shop and search online through a special web site
• help organise fund-raising activities

We offer various souvenirs, including greetings cards, pens and pencils can be bought. Included among the items is our poetry book "Inspired Verse"—the first of a series of books we are launching to raise funds. You might be interested to know that the large collecting box at the back of the church was made of wood from the pews that were removed from the back of the church. We are very grateful to the clever carpenter who gave his talents freely to provide this splendid and beautiful example of recycling.

Every month, someone will win some money (about £30). Entries cost £1 per month. Phone (01249) 713725 for details.

Do you have any old family photographs that you would like restored? Pat Weaver can recreate worn photos, repairing cracks and folds, and correcting either colour or black and white. She will contribute time and materials: your contribution is a donation to Spire Appeal to reflect the time spent on your restoration. Phone (01249) 712175 for details.

Register with http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/spireappeal to raise money for the spire appeal at no cost to yourself.

Use easysearch when you search online and St. Bart’s Spire Appeal receives 50% of the fees paid by the advertising sponsors. You can find the search engine at http://spireappeal.easysearch.org.uk/.

If you wish to donate, you can put a cheque in the post to us and we shall be grateful for any amount received. All cheques should be made payable to ‘Corsham PCC’ and sent to:

Spire Appeal
Church House
3 Church Street
Corsham
Wiltshire
SN13 0BY