The Parish of Wanstead will be submitting an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund this month in a bid to preserve Christ Church.
It follows a questionnaire completed by over 600 people about the importance of the 160-year-old, Grade II*-listed building, which will be used as part of the funding application to demonstrate community support.
“The overwhelming majority of responses have been positive, although some feel a religious organisation ought not to seek to receive public money. In response, I would say the point of this bid is to restore a local historic building and to make it accessible to all people, not just we Anglicans who currently use it… I am incredibly grateful to the 40 volunteers who have helped to put together a brilliant bid – we now need the prayers of all!” said Revd James Gilder.
An estimated £600,000 is needed to repair structural defects in the church tower. The church interior will also be redesigned to enable greater use by community groups.
