Co-ordinator: Tony Mossman
Paris Project awarded Lottery funding:
Our parish project to carry out repairs and restoration of our church building can go-ahead thanks to the award of a grant by the Lottery Heritage Fund. The grant of £504,500 will help cover the cost of the building works and our programme of heritage related activities.
Opened in 1953, our church was designed by the noted Liverpool architect Francis Xavier Velarde and is nationally recognised and designated Grade ll* by Historic England for its architectural design. Velarde designed 18 churches of which 14 are in the north west with 4 in the London area.
The first phase will include re-roofing the church’s pitched and flat roofs, provision of extra toilet facilities and an upgrade of the heating system. The planned heritage activities include the production, in printed and digital formats, of a history of the parish, an exhibition illustrating the life and work of Velarde and information panels for heritage open days and group visits. We will host talks by architectural and heritage experts and heritage groups will be invited to visit the church. Our heritage events will be open to the local community as well as people who live further afield. Students from local primary and secondary schools will also learn about Velarde through art and photography projects. There will also be family heritage days and events for older members of the community who remember the building of the church and the development of the parish.
Once works are underway we will start planning the second phase of the project which will include the replacement of windows, repairs to brickwork, redecoration and other minor works. The heritage activities will also continue with some new ones introduced.
It is thanks to people who play the National Lottery that projects such as ours can be supported by the Heritage Fund.