ST CUTHBERT'S PROJECT

In June we had our first meeting with our Heritage Interpretation planners, Jo Scott and John Smart, and with our Archaeologist, Richard Carlton.  We hope that many local residents will meet and get to know them over the coming weeks and months. Norham Church will be closed for most of July, August and September, while major electrical work is undertaken.  We hope to re-open the church with a concert on Saturday 3rd October, and the Harvest Thanksgiving Service on Sunday 4th October.  In the meantime, services will take place in the Village Hall. The church will briefly re-open for two concerts as part of the ‘Music at Paxton’ Festival on Saturday 18th and 25th; an exhibition of artwork by the children of Norham Primary School and Longridge Towers School; and an auction on Saturday 25th July.  ‘All hands on deck’ will be needed to help clean and clear the church on 17th, 18th and 26th July, and ‘move back in’ on 1st and 2nd October.  Any offers of help would be gratefully received by the Churchwardens, Lucy Carroll, 07974 416692, and Nick Ellis, (01289) 382754, or the Vicar, Rob Kelsey, (01289) 382325. We are grateful to all our benefactors, including the Barbour Foundation, the Benefact Trust, the Blake Family Trust, the Catherine Cookson Charitable Trust, the Community Foundation (Barmoor Wind Farm), EDF, the Garfield Weston Foundation, the Liddell-Simpson Trust, the Northumberland Historic Churches Trust, the Rothley Trust, the Steel Family, and the William Leech Charity.

We are now making good progress towards our initial fundraising target of about £369,000, with the help of the following generous contributions: Barbour Foundation - £2,000 Benefact Trust - £22,000 Catherine Cookson Charitable Trust - £5,000 Community Foundation (Barmoor Wind Farm) - £10,000 Garfield Weston Foundation - £30,000 Liddell-Simpson Trust - £2,000 National Lottery Heritage Fund - £245,000 Northumberland Historic Churches Trust - £10,000 William Leech Charity - £5,000 An anonymous donation of a Brittania 1oz gold coin and other fundraising activities should help to make up the shortfall. We are grateful for all that has been received and achieved to date, and are now turning our minds to the additional works in phase 2 of the project. A very positive meeting took place on 20th April, involving a representative sample of the groups and organisations in the wider community. Lots of ideas were generated, which will help to shape our heritage interpretation. More information to follow!

We now hope that the building works will get done in the latter part of July and August, not least because of a wedding, concerts and other events that are due to take place in June and July. One such event is an exhibition featuring a painting of Norham Church by the portrait painter, Susan Ryder (https://www.susanryder.co.uk), around the middle of July. The exhibition is being planned in collaboration with Norham Arts, and is expected to include artwork by pupils from Norham Primary School and Longridge Towers School. The Standing Committee of Norham PCC (Parochial Church Council) acts as the steering committee for the St Cuthbert’s Project. We recently recruited an adviser to help with managing and evaluating the project. Her name is Lyndsey Clark, who describes herself as being ‘dedicated to helping organisations create outstanding exhibitions, interpretation and engagement projects.’ The cost of this role is covered by the grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The role of the adviser will include: Engaging the wider community and potential heritage partners. Supporting the PCC to connect to other heritage destinations. Supporting the PCC to recruit specialist heritage advisers. Reviewing feedback from project participants, visitors, and the community. Supporting the PCC to be reflective and learn from the project. Identifying key areas of learning to be shared with other churches. Producing a final project evaluation report.

The grant of £245,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund has been formally accepted, and we have recently received additional grants from: The Catherine Cookson Charitable Trust The William Leech Charitable Trust The Benefact Trust Further grant applications are in progress or being planned. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of the Standing Committee, we have missed out on the opportunity to reclaim VAT from the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme. This is because the scheme is due to close at the end of this month; it is only possible to reclaim VAT on payments that have already been made; and the limited funds available have already been allocated. Thus, we now need to find an additional £15,500 to cover the cost of VAT. Despite this, the Standing Committee have agreed in principle that we should ‘aim high’ where the heating provision is concerned (in the expectation that where there’s a will, the funding will follow), rather than scale back our ambitions. The current aspiration is to complete the building works by the middle of July. We are in the process of recruiting an advisor to help with developing the heritage interpretation at Norham Church, in partnership with other groups and organisations in the wider community. The cost of this role is covered by the grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.