Sixteen churches across the diocese have received grants of between £10,000 and £100,000 for urgent repairs to their church roofs, gutters and drains in a second round of awards from the Listed Places of Worship Roof Repair Fund.
They are among 400 listed places of worship across the country which will benefit from a £25 million funding package given by the Treasury. This follows the first rpound of awards made in Spring 2015.
One of the churches to receive a grant is St John the Evangelist Bilton (pictured right), which has been awarded £68,000. Vicar, the Revd Simon Dowson, said he was ‘surprised and delighted’ to receive the award.
“This is the second stage of our roof repairs” he said. “The church rood was completely renewed five years ago at a cost of £400,000, but there wasn’t enough money to repair the tower so we put together an application which we are delighted has been successful.”
The church at Bilton was designed by George Gilbert Scott and built in 1856. Simon said a further £20,000 would still be needed in total, but he added, “ As part of our ongoing commitment to preserving the church for present and future generations, the PCC is delighted to have been given this award.”
Sir Tony Baldry, Chair of the Church Buildings Council, said: 'It is fantastic that almost 300 more church buildings will receive significant help with roof repairs from government and we are hugely grateful to the Chancellor. We now need to ensure a sustainable way of funding church buildings in the future and this is a question to which I hope the government's English Churches and Cathedrals Sustainability Review will find viable and deliverable answers.'
The Fund, administered by the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, was announced by George Osborne in the 2014 Autumn Statement and subsequently extended for a second round due to heavy oversubscription. Overall, the Treasury has allocated £55 million to the scheme.
Awards made in our diocese:
Ripon Episcopal Area (EA)
St Wilfrid's, Burnsall nr Skipton £68,100
St John the Evangelist Church, Bilton, Harrogate £67,800
St Matthew's , Leyburn £36,900
St Andrew's Church, Aysgarth £27,300
Holy Ascension Parish Church, Settle, £30,700
St. Andrew's Church, Kirkby Malzeard, £21,200
St. Lambert’s, Burneston £43,000
Christ Church Skipton £22,500
Bradford EA
All Saints Church Horton, Bradford £19,200
St Stephen's Church, Steeton with Eastburn £57,500
St Gabriel's , Stanbury, Haworth £33,800
Holy Trinity Church, Low Moor, Bradford £10,000
Leeds EA
St.Matthew's Church, Chapel Allerton (pictured right) £48,600 
St.Mary's Church, Swillington, Leeds £36,800
Wakefield EA
All Saints' Church, Darton, near Barnsley £62,700
Huddersfield EA
St Mary the Virgin, Honley, Holmfirth £79,800