Appeal Update: June 2019

Progress since the last update report

We have made steady progress since I last sent out an update in April this year. We are now about £50,000 short of our target of £471,000 to complete all our planned work before March 2020. We have had one disappointment this month, in that the National Lottery Heritage Fund turned down our application for funds. We were never very optimistic about this source of funding, as we were applying for funds for conservation only, and not to directly engage ‘with a wider range of people’. We will be making another application for Lottery funds later in the campaign. But the good news is that in the last month we have been the beneficiaries of grants from the Idlewild Trust and the Society of Antiquaries of London.

A new Patron for Quest 2020
We are delighted to announce that the Bishop of Salisbury has agreed to act as a second Patron to the Quest 2020 Appeal. We are very pleased to have the Bishop’s support, and look forward to welcoming him to some of our events. As you will probably be aware, we are also fortunate enough to have the support of Dan Cruikshank as a Patron, so we are doubly blessed.

Funding from events
We held two fund-raising concerts in May. The first was a concert given by the Sarum Six. The music from the first half of their programme was based on the theme of the Pater Noster, while the second half was a series of beautiful and moving arrangements of African-American Spirituals and British Folk Songs, finishing with a dose of Lennon & McCartney. Our second concert in May was a piano recital by Anita D’Attellis, and she gave us a varied programme including works by Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin and Debussy. We had a good audience for this event, which was particularly encouraging, as the Salisbury Festival had started so we had some fierce competition! These two concerts were not only enjoyable in their own right, but raised more than £1,500 for Quest funds.

Our June event was our Quest 2020 Cycle Ride, organised by Netia Coupe, who had put a huge amount of effort into arranging this day on two wheels. All the cyclists enjoyed themselves, and we are very grateful to all the helpers who assisted with cake-making, serving tea, and acting as marshals along the route.

Anticipating the start of work in the church
You will have seen the notices in the weekly news sheet about the two phases of work planned in the church. The first of these starts in July, when the scaffolding will go up to enable the Doom painting to be restored, and work to be done on the clerestory and nave ceiling.

 

John Bruce-Ball
June 2019
 

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