Restoring the Murals
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Murals Restoration Appeal The paintings on the walls and ceiling of St Mary’s chancel were attributed to Ward and Hughes and designed by Thomas Curtis. The North wall paintings were completed by Easter 1893. Sadly they have recently suffered grave damage. Water had seeped in, causing material in the roof to deteriorate and salts in the wall to expand to displace pigments. This problem was first noticed in 2016. The cause of the water damage took some time to determine, but was eventually traced to poor guttering. This was rectified in 2018 but it has taken a long time for the walls to fully dry. We obtained advice and a quotation from restoration experts recommended by the Diocesan architects but much work is needed. Two phases are involved. A grant of £4,000 from the Church of England Church Care Council plus £2,500 from church reserves allowed us to stabilise the remaining paint and wall surface (phase 1). We plan to ask them for a second grant, to actually restore the paintings (phase 2), but that would only be for up to their maximum of £10,000. We are also looking for other potential grants. Unfortunately, we will need about £55,000 (including VAT and scaffolding) to complete the work. Please feel free to look at the damage yourself after one of the services. This is one of the wall panels in 2017, soon after damage became apparent
The damage is across most of the North wall of the chancel and also affects some of the ceiling panels above that wall. We are making an initial appeal to the congregation towards paying for the restoration of these once beautiful parts of our shared heritage. We hope to apply for further grants and organise fundraising events but would be very grateful for any donation you feel able to make. If you would like to know more or become involved in helping with fundraising events contact Alan Keeler, Clem Sutton or John Beale.
How to donate: By Bank Transfer to the church account –St Marys Plaistow PCC, 60-04 -02 42417198, using the reference “Murals Fund”. By cash or cheque – put in a retiring collection or sent to the Treasurer, Jill Atkinson, 8 Sandringham Rd, Bromley, BR1 5AS. Cheques should be made to “St Marys Plaistow PCC.” Please indicate that the money is for the “Murals Fund”. By using the SumUp machine at the back of church during & after services – this takes a payment from your credit card. However, in this case, please also send a message to the treasurer - jilleatk@aol.com saying that your gift is for the murals rather than for general church funds. By using the Donate link on the church website, again saying that you wish your donation to be used for the Murals.
If you are a taxpayer, then please also consider gift aiding your donation, as this makes a big difference to its value. For example, a “tax efficient” donation of £20 results in the church receiving £25. If you have already completed a gift aid declaration, we shall assume this applies to your Murals donation too, unless you tell us otherwise. If not, you could put your donation in a gift aid envelope, or complete a gift aid declaration form – they can be downloaded from the website.
If your gift isn’t eligible for gift aid, charities can now claim for any individual gift up to £30, so if you wish to donate more than that, it would be worth doing so spread over several occasions |
