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Grant for Norwich church to become community hub

St Edmunds Costessey by Simon K
Costessey Parochial Church Council is delighted to announce that St. Edmund’s Church in Old Costessey has received a confirmed grant of £192,100 from the Heritage Lottery Fund for its ‘Celebrating The Past – Ensuring The Future’ project.
 


The project aims to secure the physical future of the building by re-roofing the entire Nave and Chancel in slate, as well as offering a wide range of new and exciting opportunities for the local community to learn about, discover and enjoy the building. Local builders and craftspeople will be engaged on the re-roofing of St Edmunds as well as in providing new rainwater goods and drainage to prevent future flooding.

Teachers from the local Costessey Cluster of Schools will research, create and design a new exhibition to be housed in St. Edmunds, telling the story of the local community and of famous local characters and a new Heritage Detective’s Trail for children and families will be produced to help uncover the hidden secrets of the church and of the surrounding area. As well as this a ‘Hard Hat’ day will provide an opportunity to meet the project architect, archaeologist and craftspeople engaged on the project, to learn about the skills required and to see practical demonstrations of conservation techniques in situ.

The mainly 14th century church of St. Edmund is Grade I listed and sits at the heart of the newly designated conservation area of Old Costessey. It is therefore ideally placed to enable exploration and discovery of an area rich in heritage. Old Costessey is referred to in the Domesday Survey of 1086 and contains many fine 18th and 19th century buildings reflecting the social, cultural and industrial heritage of the area.

The Revd Nicholas Parry, Vicar of Costessey and Chairman of Costessey Parochial Church Council (PCC) said, “We’re delighted that the Heritage Lottery Fund has given us this grant. St Edmunds church will now become a hub for the local community to learn about and enjoy its heritage and we want to encourage everyone to get involved in helping help us create the new exhibition and heritage trail. This project is about people and their contribution to our community over time – and St Edmunds church is a great repository of our community’s history. It is wonderful that the funding from the HLF will help to secure the future of this great building for us all to enjoy.”

Robyn Llewellyn, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund East of England, said: “We’re delighted to support this project which, thanks to National Lottery players, will not only carry out essential repairs for St Edmunds but give people of all ages the opportunity to get involved in the bright future of a church which has been at the heart of their community for centuries.” 

Photo by Simon K www.flickr.com/photos/norfolkodyssey


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