The Catholic Church of Saint Gregory the Great

Cheltenham

Completing The Good Work

Copyright: © 2017 Saint Gregory’s Catholic Church, Cheltenham.All rights reserved.

Booth & Bomford (Evesham) LtdUnit 2, Mead Park Ind. Est., Mead RoadCheltenham, GL53 7EF.Phone: 01242 588220

Cheltenham Music Festivals109-111 Bath RoadCheltenhamGL53 7LSPhone: 01242 537292

CIA Fire and Security LtdSecurity House, 82c Chesterton Lane,Cirencester, GL7 1YD.Phone: 01285 651025.

Floods Painters & DecoratorsStanway Road, Benhall Cheltenham, GL51 6BUPhone 01242 698787

Mason & Stokes Funeral Service54 Hewlett Road, Cheltenham, GL52 6AHPhone 01242 224877

Stokes & Sons Security Ltd The Security Centre, 1A Gloucester Place,Cheltenham, GL52 2RJ.Phone: 01242 515465

Our grateful thanks to the following sponsors of this booklet:

donAtions

I would like to donate to the internal refurbishment and re-decoration of Saint Gregory the Great. I am able/unable to Gift Aid my donation. (If Gift Aided please place your donation in an envelope together with the fully completed and signed Declaration overleaf). Kindly address envelope to “The Jericho Appeal”. Thank you.

Lighting Control Panel - £650.00 ( )Central Data Control - £500.00 ( )Main Church Spotlight - £150.00 ( )Inner Sacristy Spotlight - £100.00 ( )Outer Vestry Spotlight - £50.00 ( )

Other: ………………………………… ( )

General Donation - £50.00 ( ) £25.00 ( ) £10.00 ( ) £5.00 ( )

Other: £............................. ( )

Please make cheques payable to: “St Gregory’s Jericho Appeal”

Name: …………………………………...................…. Date:……………...…

sAint GreGory the GreAt2018 refurbishment Project

Listed below is a selection of costs for the 2018 internal refurbishment and decoration of our Church, which will commence shortly after Easter. You will have noted from reading the brochure, that this project is expected to cost in the region of £440,000.

We are fortunate to have funds in the Jericho Account which will help us part finance the project. We are also in the process of applying to various Trusts for grants. There will, however, be a significant financial shortfall and I am therefore asking you, the parishioners of Saint Gregory’s Parish, to assist us in whichever way you can. In the break down of possible contributions there is a particular focus on the new lighting that will be installed and an indication is given of what contributions of a certain amount might be able to buy. There is of course all sorts of other work that needs to be funded, such as re-plastering, restoring stencilling and renovation of the sacristy. You have the opportunity to donate to our appeal by sponsoring an activity below or by simply contributing to the overall project in whatever way you can. I am sure that as in the past we will rise to the occasion and help fund this very necessary work in our Church.

Yours sincerely

Fr David Mills

(D2)

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Gift Aid declArAtion

clifton diocese (a company limited by guarantee)Company No. 10462076 Registered Charity No. 1170168

I want the Charity to claim tax on my donation of:

£ ...........................................................

Please make cheques payable to: “St Gregory’s Jericho Appeal”

I am a UK taxpayer and understand that if I pay less Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax in the current tax year than the amount of Gift Aid claimed on all my donations it is my responsibility to pay any difference.

Title ............... Forename .......................................................................... (Mr, Mrs, etc)

Surname .......................................................................................................

Full Home ....................................................................................................Address ...................................................................................................

................................................................................................... (Full address must be entered)Postcode ...............................

Signature........................................................................................................

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For office use only

Parish Amount:(D1)

The Presbytery10 St James Square

CheltenhamGL50 3PR

7th January 2018

Dear Parishioners and Friends,

Completing The Good Work

When Pope Gregory the Great sent Augustine to England to preach the Gospel, Augustine at first hesitated. Writing to Gregory he asked to be excused from the mission to the English. Gregory wrote back:

From Gregory, the Servant of the Servants of God, to the Servants of Our Lord.

“Since it is better not to begin a good work than to think of giving it up once you have started, you, my beloved sons, ought diligently to complete the good work, which, by the help of the Lord, you have undertaken”.

Augustine, to become the first Archbishop of Canterbury, began his mission around 1600 years ago and today Saint Gregory’s church, Cheltenham continues that work and mission. Not only does the church welcome over 900 parishioners on Sundays, with daily services, it is open every day for prayer and contemplation. In addition, it welcomes children from local schools, hosts high profile concerts and offers its facilities to a variety of voluntary organisations which include Alcoholics Anonymous, Age Concern and Narcotics Anonymous. We are now in the exciting position of completing the good work which we have undertaken since the restoration of the tower and spire. This will involve an internal refurbishment of Saint Gregory’s. I commend this endeavour to you as we continue the mission entrusted to us by Saint Gregory the Great. Sincerely in Christ

Fr David Mills, Parish Priest

Your support

Whilst all donations to the cost of proposed work are welcome we will be detailing precise costings of all the work. It will therefore be possible to “sponsor” a particular aspect of re-decoration or work. This will range from lighting of a particular area of the Church to the restoration work in Saint Benedict’s Chapel; the cost of a new sacristy cupboard to a section of the chancel stencilling. Please see a donations sheet on the reverse.

For more information please contact:

Mike Raftree Parish Property CoordinatorSt Gregory’s Parish Office10 St James SquareCheltenhamGL50 3PRTelephone: 01242 523737

Clifton DioCese (a company limited by guarantee)Company No. 10462076 Registered Charity No. 1170168

Saint Gregory’s in 1924

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Major Previous Works

In 1972 the exterior of the Church was cleaned and between 2000 and 2003 the tower and spire were restored. In 1977 an extensive scheme of re-decoration in the church was undertaken. As part of these works the ceiling in the Nave, Crossing and Transepts were “insulated” and painted hardboard was secured to the timber sections. This work created a barrel-ceiling effect and obscured the original roof structure. The tiles of the northern pitch of the Crossing and the Sacristy roofs were re-laid in 1998 and 2005 respectively. The Lady Chapel was restored in 2003. In 2007 the entire church floor was re-laid with oak floorboards and limestone pavement slabs and underfloor heating was installed.

Continuing the Good Work

As parishioners we have all come to accept the phrase “The Jericho Appeal” as part of our lives. The Appeal was launched several years ago to raise money for urgently needed repairs. As the building is once again requiring restoration

and re-decoration the financial demands will be significant. It is apparent to all, that areas of the Church are now in desperate need of restoration and re-decoration. It is 40 years since the last major internal re-decoration project. High level areas and painted surfaces in the western bays of the Sanctuary arch are peeling and spalling. The dated existing light fittings bathe the church in an orange glow which detracts from the setting of the listed building, as well as making it difficult for many to read. The existing hardboard ceiling is sagging at the joints. This hardboard obscures the original 1850’s boarding and scissor brace roof structure and it is considered that re-decoration of this hardboard would fail. It is

therefore proposed to remove the hardboard suspended ceiling and re-instate the original ceiling visible from 1857 until 1977, but obscured for the last 40 years.

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Lighting

While the re-instated ceiling will look dramatic, it will be darker than the existing suspended and lined ceilings. A new lighting system will therefore have to be carefully designed to counteract this and make the structure a feature. Advances in lighting technology mean that the darkness of the original ceiling boarding will not have quite the detrimental effect it had in the 1970’s, and the ceiling can be spotlit as part of the lighting scheme adding drama to the building.

Sacristy

The outer sacristies are in a poor state of repair. Plaster is spalling and the linoleum flooring is tearing-up. The cupboards are difficult to access as doors are limited, impeding access. It is proposed to replace them with better quality oak joinery and refurbish the area thus ensuring the sacristy is functionally useful.

Re-instatement of Stencilled Decoration to the Sanctuary Arch

The likely original stencilled decoration around the Crossing arch to the Sanctuary has been found to still exist under two layers of modern paint. The decoration was still visible in 1950’s photographs so it is likely to have been painted over before the 1977 restoration.

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It is proposed to remove carefully the modern paint and conserve the decoration beneath. All areas trialled revealed that the original scheme appears to be in good condition and that an uncovering project is likely to be visually rewarding. Work to reveal and conserve the arch decoration has been estimated at a maximum figure of between £25,000 – £30,000.

Recovering of the Crossing Dais Floor

The existing dais carpet was laid in 2009. The carpet will have to be taken-up and re-laid to erect scaffolding. This will provide the opportunity to re-visit the decision to lay so much carpet in the Crossing, and it is proposed to lay new engineered-oak floorboards across the dais to match those in the Nave and Aisles.

Scaffolding

Scaffolding in the church is complicated by the timber suspended floor, which will not be able to withstand a high scaffold load. The current intention is to scaffold the Nave, Crossing and Transepts by installing aluminium ladder beams across the church clerestory level, or higher. These beams will then have secondary beams spanning between them to support a suspended deck and scaffold platforms stacking into the carpentry structure above. This will hopefully mean that the Nave scaffold will not have major supports on to the Nave floor, except to the west where there will be stair tower structure, and in places in the Transepts. The Nave floor beneath should be clear for use for most services. The aisles will be scaffolded with a simpler, traditional floor-mounted scaffold as the height and consequently, load of the scaffold is not huge.

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Estimated Budget(as advised by the Architect, not the Contractor)

Repairs to Nave, Crossing, Transept and Aisles £75,645.00Dais Floor & Sanctuary (includes conservation of arch stencilling) £46,936.00Repairs & Refurbishment of Sacristy Link Corridor £19,600.00Repairs & Refurbishment of Outer Sacristy £23,025.00Repairs & Redecoration of Saint Benedict’s Chapel £4,600.00Repairs & Redecoration of the Baptistry £2,940.00Mechanical & Electrical (includes new lighting) £77,400.00Preliminary’s (includes scaffolding) £109,578.00Contingency & Inflation £47,843.00

*Total Anticipated Contract Sum £407,567.00Note - Costs exclude professional fees.

Walls, Arches & Columns

There are areas of the church that require restoration and re-decoration to walls, arches and columns. This is particularly noticeable on the rear of the North wall and in Saint Benedict’s Chapel. Remedial work will be carried out to address these areas.

The Damaged Walls Damp Plaster