Completed by: Caroline Watson, Church Warden
What is the context of the church?
St John’s is the parish church for Ben Rhydding on the edge of Ilkley opened in 1905 and is actively involved in the local community including running a welcome spaces cafe, supporting a project for people with learning difficulties and taking an Open the Book team into local schools. We run a service once a month “ The Ark” for people with learning difficulties and their carers which is attended by people from other areas of the Diocese. We have a varied worship pattern through the month and welcome families to Messy Church.
What was your project?
The project was to remove the roof on the north aisle as the underlying pegs holding the roof stones were failing. This gave us the opportunity to install good insulation for the first time under this roof and means all the roofs of the church are insulated helping to reduce heat loss and thereby our carbon footprint.
Why did you do your project?
The roof had to be done before we had a water ingress. St John’s is an eco church and working towards net zero. Being able to include high quality insulation has helped us take another step on the journey.
How did you do the project? Please tell us a bit about the works.
The project was professionally managed by the church architect and went through a formal tendering process to appoint a firm of builders who carried out all the work.
How did you fund your project?
Mixture of grants, donations and a wide variety of events which drew in lots of the local community who otherwise wouldn’t normally enter our building.
What support did you get for your project? Who did you speak to about it?
Spoke to the environment funding officer, Fran, to confirm we were eligible to apply and then received support from the panel to increase the amount we had asked for.
What went well with your project? What difference is it making?
The project ran to time and budget as it was closely managed and well run. We now know all the church roofs have been redone and insulated helping reduce our gas usage.
What did you learn during your project? What would you do differently?
The importance of communication- eg letting the builders know when there was a funeral in church so they could plan accordingly. Using steel sheeting to restrict access each night kept our insurers happy.