We’ve been successful in our bid. The Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded St Peter’s, Preston Park £64,000 to clean and conserve the Edwardian stencilling in the chancel. You may know that we’ve been working towards this for years, so we are delighted.
The funding for this year-long project will also aim to raise awareness of our beautiful local church. We will be engaging people in its heritage through a programme of free activities, workshops and events based around the wall stencilling and its conservation. The overall aim is to promote the building as a community asset that is open and available for use to all.
We have chosen renowned Conservators Hare & Humphries from a number of applicants. Hare & Humphries has a large number of prestigious projects in their portfolio, including the British Museum, St Pauls Cathedral, the Royal Barge Gloriana, St Pancras Hotel, the Royal Academy ... the list goes on. On the right are some images of their work ...
They will start work in early 2018 and will take about 4 months to complete. The church will remain open during this time – the conservators will welcome visitors.
So, take a look at the chancel next time you’re in the church. You’ll see that the stencilling is currently in a very poor state. Just imagine what it will look like when it’s repaired – as the Churches Conservation Trust mentioned: it will be a jewel!
We hope to have a representative from Hare & Humphries give an explanatory talk as part of Heritage Open Days on 8 September at 7pm in the church.