Repairing to Prepare

How did all this start?

The intention had been to give the sanctuary a coat of paint to smarten it up as it had been a while since any redecorating had been done.  Before getting the paint brushes out it was suggested that perhaps we should get an architect to check the roof and high elevations as there was evidence of water leakages.  That slightly changed things.  The architectural report indicated that a lot of work needed to be done to make the building wind and water tight.  £500,000 worth of work in fact.  Faced with a different set of circumstances the Kirk Session sat down to review the situation.  A few obvious questions suggested themselves.  Could we afford to do the work? (The accounts did not hold a spare half million)  But even if we could afford it was it the right thing to do to spend so much money on repairing an old building?  The answer was “yes”.  It is a List A building and sits in the centre of Falkirk and it was the Church that gave the town its name, but was it our problem? After a lot of discussion and deliberation the decision was taken to go ahead and try and raise the funds to repair the building.  A very important caveat was attached to this decision and that was the project was not merely an architectural renovation project, but that it formed part of a decision to look at how we minister to the community of which we are an integral part.  Fixing the roof and carrying on as before was not an option.  The vision was for a radical ministry that reached out to all the people who live, work, shop or simply pass through our town centre.  As one of the team put it “we were repairing the Church to prepare for the future”. The next stage How do you raise half a million pounds?  You ask people, starting with the congregation, and encourage them to become part of the process.  There is no doubt that without the assistance of Historic Scotland in particular the project would never have been completed.  The £188,000 they awarded us along with the £62,000 awarded by the Heritage Lottery Fund meant that we were halfway there.  It takes a lot of coffee mornings to raise even a quarter of a million pounds!  The congregation showed its inventiveness by holding not just coffee mornings, but many activities such as Italian lessons, a Valentine’s disco, selling tablet, choral events, a Christmas Fayre and many more.  The Boys and Girls Brigades have made contributions as did the local council who very generously donated £25,000.  We also received some generous donations from funerals. And, of course, the congregation responded magnificently to the appeal and many donations were received and many continue to be received.  When it was all added up there was enough to do the work and as the spring approaches the new roof is taking shape, the tower has been repaired, the gutters have been fixed, the upper lead work replaced and we should have a building protected against the elements for many years to come. 

Having undertaken the external work a decision was taken to look at the interior which was where we started this story some time ago.  Discussions are now at an advanced stage with the General Trustees and hopefully permission will soon be granted to commence work on renovating the interior of the sanctuary.

Watch this space!