Restoration Fund
ERDINGTON ABBEY NEEDS YOUR HELP PLEASE
Thank you to everyone for your generous donations to the Abbey Church Restoration Fund.
You will have noticed the scaffolding around the church where the restoration and essential works are being carried out. Your donations and fund-raising events are helping to ensure we secure the church exterior.
As you can see from the photos, there is still a lot to do and the Restoration Fund Committee are working hard to look at further fund-raising activities. Again, your generous help is very much appreciated to restore our beautiful church.
We will get there!
Thank you
Stained Glass Window Restoration
Earlier work restoring the Stained Glass Windows
Work will be done to the stonework surrounding the window. The roofs around the window, St. Joseph's Chapel, Sacristies, link corrider and Choir room and roof over the organ room have also been completed.
This means the whole area around the Shrine should be secure. In time we could begin to renew the decoration of the Shrine area.
Time Capsule Placed Into New Roof
Father Kieran placed our Time Capsule into the roof where the work has been ongoing for some time now.
The time capsule contains the names of all who have bought slates. Names of priests of the abbey past and present. A history of the abbey since 1843 and information of our abbey today. For posterity. Thanks to the continuing work by many to raise funds. Especially to Nicholas Bartleet, Ron Heeley, Ronnie Sweeney and Caroline McGonagle for the various ways they have helped this particular project to be realised.
Well done to Father Kieran for braving the dizzy heights and placing the Time Capsule into the roof for further generations to find.
July 2023 - Update
Want to donate to the Restoration Fund?
Progress so far!
We are pleased to inform you that the first phase of the vital external restoration work on our beautiful church has commenced and we would like to share with you some of the photos from the architecture. As you can see from the before and after photos, the building is in a poor state and thank you to everyone who has contributed so far. We still have a long way to go and your continued support is so important to ensure we have the funds to complete all of the work.
Before
After
WHY?
To help raise £600,000 to pay for the work that is needed to repair the roof.
WHAT FOR?
The Diocese had architectural
experts carry out a survey on the
church. This identified a
considerable amount of repairs
required both inside and outside
of the church. No significant work
has been carried out since the
late 70s. The church is over 170
years old and essential
maintenance is now urgently
needed to protect and preserve
its heritage for the future.
Quotes have been received to undertake the external repairs and these
have come in, in the region of £300,000. When the external phase is
completed further work to repair the inside of the church, including
heating, electrical, IT installations, asbestos removal and decoration are
all needed and this is also expected to cost at least £300,000.
Events that have taken place to raise money for our restoration fund...
GOSPEL BELL FUNDRAISER FOR THE RESTORATION FUND
What a wonderful time we all had on the evening of Friday 29th September. There was laughter, dancing and many a tale as we wheeled into the night. Take a look at some of the photos of our night below.
Sponsor A Slate Appeal
We are proposing to repair the roof above St Joseph's Chapel and surrounding area, including replacement of many slates.
To help fund the work 500 numbered slates have been made available for sponsorship at £25 each.
Please
contact Nicholas Bartleet for further details:
nicholasbartleet@blueyonder.co.uk 07778 857369
Payment can be made at the Parish Office. All cheques to be made to Erdington Abbey Parish Account and marked Slate Appeal.
Sponsored Bike Ride
Congratulations to the Sponsored Bike Riders challenging for raising a staggering £4940. What a fantastic achievement and a huge thank you to everyone that has donated. It was a sweltering hot day but our great achievers battle through to complete their journey. A fantastic achievement by all involved. Well done.
Click on each image to enlarge them.
AFTERNOON TEA
A fabulous afternoon had by all. Ticket sales, raffle, stand up bingo
and cake sales generated a combined total of £974.60 for our restoration fund - Fantastic!
Thank you to all who helped organise this amazing day and for all the donations of cakes
and gifts for the raffle.
AMAZING!
A huge thank you to everyone who supported our coffee and craft morning, and a massive shout-out to all our talented crafters for their generosity. You generated a welcoming, warm atmosphere in the hall and together we raised …….£631.10 for our parish restoration fund - FANTASTIC!!!
Photos to follow...
Easter Egg Raffle
The Easter Egg Raffe raised an amazing £433. A huge thank you to everyone that supported us so generously. The raffle winners have been contacted and their Eggs have been delivered. A very special mention to the Cox family for their very generous and kind donations.
Happy Easter to you all.
SHARING CULTURES EVENING
The Abbey at its best, united and vibrant, was on show at our evening of sharing cultures, Friday 10th February 2023.
A full-house enjoyed an enriching experience of word, song, dance and cultural food, from the breadth of our community....WONDERFUL!
We thank all the participating groups for their support, particularly all the children who performed on the evening - you were amazing!
Our community is already looking forward to the next sharing cultures event. We raised £1,238.90 towards our church restoration fund. WELL DONE!
SOUL & Motown Night
3rd March 2023
Thank you to all who came and danced the night away!! A total of £450 was raised towards the restoration fund.
Watch out for more events coming soon!
Oh What A [Quiz] Night!!!!!
Tremendous!!!
The Abbey Parish Hall was rocking at the quiz night......yes, the quiz night! Thank you to all who came along and joined in the fun!
A huge thank you for Eleanor & Paddy Jordan's generosity, providing scrumptious cuisine for all. Also, many thanks to Mary & Mike Tierney, our quiz masters for the evening. Yet another wonderful, restoration fundraising event shared in our community....apologies to those who tried, but were unable to book tables - it truly was a full house!
Thank you to Barbara Johnson and all those involved in the organising of the event. It was truly a memorable evening had by all.
Abbey Christmas Fayre 2022
What a fantastic day. Once again a tremendous ef-fort by all concerned. A grand total of £6,774.86 was raised in support of the Restora-tion Fund. Thank you to all who helped and supported this day. A special mention for the Kerala community who raised an amazing £2,000. A list of prize winners can be found in the church porch.
Take a look at some photos of the day...
Sponsored Walk - Saturday 24th September
The 5-mile sponsored walk was completed by a group of 20 including Fr Isaac in beautiful autumn sunshine. The Knights of St Columba thank everyone who supported the walk.
Sponsorship forms and money collected can now be taken to the Parish Office during normal office hours.
Sponsors may also contact Nicholas Bartleet on 07778 857369 who can arrange to collect sponsor forms and money.
Online donations can still be made using: https://gofund.me/f2ca26b9
Erdington Abbey and Sifa Fireside will benefit equally from the monies raised.
Below are some photos of the sponsored walk.
Soul & Motown Night
Again, another big thank to everyone who supported the recent Soul & Motown Night. A total of £380 was raised for the restoration fund. It certaily was an amazing evening remincising the old songs and a great singalong too.
Afternoon Tea Fundraiser
A huge thank you to all our October afternoon-tea guests and volunteers (in all capacities.) It was a wonderful afternoon shared in for our community. A total of £1,107 was raised for the Abbey Restoration Fund. Everyone had a great afternoon and a great chance for everyone who attended to meet and speak with our local parishioners... FANTASTIC!
A huge thank you to all the amazing bakers and happy, helping hands - it would have been impossible without you!
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
- Send a cheque made payable to Erdington Abbey Parish Account. Please put your address and contact number on rear and indicate that this is for the Restoration Fund
- Send cash in a sealed envelope clearly labelled "Restoration Fund"
- Pay by BACS to Sort Code 30-14- 74 Account number 96709152
- If you are in the fortunate position that you pay income tax you can "Gift Aid" your donation by completing a Gift Aid Form and enclosing it in your envelope. Gift Aid forms can be obtained from the Parish Office. This will increase your donation by 25p for every £1 that you donate with no cost to you.
- A group of parishioners is being formed to organise and coordinate this huge fundraising effort and you can help by joining this group, especially if you have previous experience fundraising or promoting the need to everyone.
Please contact:-
Parish Office: 0121 373 0143 stthomas-stedmund.bham@rcaob.org.uk
Parish Priest: Fr Elias Gweme CSsR 07378648048 fr.elias.gweme@rcaob.org.uk
Parish Treasurer: pt.stthomas-stedmund.bham@rcaob.org.uk