History comes to aid of church (From Tewkesbury Admag)

History comes to aid of church

2:05pm Thursday 19th October 2006 in News

A church's own fascinating history will help to pay for the restoration of the building.

A recently updated guide to St Benet's RC Church at Kemerton is one of the items available at an auction of promises.

The church was built in 1843 by volunteers on land donated by a local benefactor.

However, no work at all has been done to it for the past 50 years and now it is desperately in need of restoration.

It is suffering from woodworm, wet rot and dry rot and all its windows need re-fixing. It has no insulation and the heating system needs a complete overhaul.

Church member Christine Collins said: "We do not know how much it is going to cost yet, but the surveyor was with us all day and his face was just getting longer and longer."

However Ms Collins is already raising money for the work. She wrote and researched a history of the building for its 150th anniversary 13 years ago.

She has updated it and included full colour illustrations and is now selling copies at £5 each. These will be available at the auction of promises in the parish hall on November 5 and at the church's Christmas fair on November 16.