New Projects

In the continuing aim to serve God in this parish & community the Parochial Church Council (PCC) is continually considering ways to make the buildings more attractive and welcoming to visitors and congregation.

To this end the PCC has embarked on a number of re-furbishment projects

The first recent project was to fully refurbish the daughter church of St.Luke‛s at Willaston. This was completed and paid for by personal donation from church members and users. Facilities for disabled people were incorporated into the building.

This was followed by the refurbishment of St.Mary‛s church hall in 2004 at a cost of £60,000 by a combination of personal giving, contributions from users and significant external grants. A major part of the re-furbishment involved changes to meet the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).

The re-furbishment of the choir vestry at St.Mary‛s church was done in 2006. New kitchen and toilet facilities were installed with internal re-decoration to give an atractive welcome. The £22,500 cost was met from gifts from friends of St.Mary‛s and church members. The choir vestry is also being developed as a welcoming area for visitors and congregations attending regular and special services. This area will accommodate displays, books and publicity materials. Again a major part of the re-furbishment involved changes to meet the requirements of the DDA.

The interior of the church building i.e. the nave, the chancel, the south transept, entrance porches and the bell ringing chamber and stairs were re-decorated in 2008 in a colour scheme to present an light and attractive welcome to visitors and church members alike. New lighting was installed in the chancel to highlight the altar table and to show the fine oak wainscot, reredos and other furniture which together form an attractive feature of the building. The cost of this project was in the region of £13,000 which was met by donations from church members, local organisations and church reserve funds set aside for this work.

Further projects which will be considered by the Parochial Church council include improving the steep access to the north of the building (which would be very expensive), restoring the choir vestry floor and varous security improvements. Additionally, as with all buildings, work has to be carried out to maintain the building by replacing features damaged by weather and corrosion and wear and tear.

If you would like to contribute to the cost of these further projects to maintain and improve the building which is the Parish Church of the people of Wistaston and Willaston, we would welcome your contributions. Cheques should be made payable to St.Mary‛s, Wistaston PCC. If you are a tax payer may we ask that you use one of the special Gift Aid envelopes, available at the church or church office, enabling us to claim a further 28p for every £1 given from the Inland Revenue.

Our thanks to you all in faith.