Haworth Church Restauration Fund

The Haworth Church Restoration Fund shares with BrontëBlog readers their goals and their fundraising efforts. 

The last time the church was rebuilt was just after Patrick Brontë's tenure in 1879. The church building, which is still very much a part of the local community, is now in dire need of restoration. Our roof is leaking throughout the building, but especially over the organ console and over one of wall plaques. As the roof, disregarding occasional patching, is the original roof from the last time the church was rebuilt, the slates have finally reached the end of their useful life. In addition to the replacement of the south roof, as the first stage of our major restoration work, we are also hoping to restore some of our historic wall paintings to their former glory.

As it has been previously reported, English Heritage have been very generous and have given us the sum of £115,000, however this amount has to be matched through fundraising efforts by the church and local community. To this end, we have been running a series of fundraising initiatives including a Spring Fayre, a Cook Book and Church Christmas cards, in addition to a calender of concerts and talks to take place later in the year.

The weekend of the 14th and 15th of May 2011 was 1940s weekend in Haworth Village. St Michael and All Angels held a 40s themed Spring Fayre entitled 'Your Church Needs You!' This fayre was primarily advertised using social media and internet channels, utilizing our new Facebook and Twitter feeds as well as our newly updated website. The fayre comprised of a number of stalls selling plants, books and cakes as well as more original concepts such as our 'Cuddly toy evacuees', 80 assorted cuddly toys who were individually named and visitors were invited to choose a evacuee to take home and look after. This fayre could qualify as one of the most successful single fundraising events we have ever held, as from this single day we raised nearly £2000.

On going fundraising efforts at the moment include our Church Cook Book and Christmas Cards. Recipes were gathered from the congregation and the local community and pictures were contributed by the local Haworth Primary School. These books are now on sale in the church and at church events and have thus far proved very popular. In addition to the books we are also selling Haworth Church Christmas cards with a picture taken by local press photographer Paul Barker. We are also planning to hold a variety of events over the next few months including a 'Brolly Folly' at 1960s weekend, a number of concerts and talks from local historians.

If your readers would like to contribute to our effort to restore the historic Bronte Church to its former glory, then a donation button is available on our website, www.haworthchurch.co.uk. You may also be interested to visit our website in order to keep updated with our progress.

Catherine Prince
Volunteer Social Media and Internet Publicity Officer

You can follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

Categories: Haworth