ROOF FUND APPEAL PROGRESS REPORT 2
FROM 11 JULY 2004 TO 9 DECEMBER 2004
St Peter and St Paul, Exton, Rutland

This Report follows on from Report 1, up to 10 July 2004, and should be read in conjunction with it (attached below)

Funds raised (including firm promises) to date (9 December 2004).
Fund-raising and donations within the parish £ 12 500
English Heritage Stage 2 Grant see Note 1 below £110 700
Grants and promises from Foundations, Funds and Trusts:
The Alan Evans Memorial Trust
The Allchurches Trust
The Chase Charity
The Cory Environmental Trust for Rutland
The Francis Coales Charitable Foundation
The Garfield Weston Foundation
The Headley Trust
The Historic Churches Preservation Trust
The Jill Franklin Trust
The Mercers’ Company
Rutland County Council
The Rutland Historic Churches Preservation Trust
The Trusthouse Charitable Foundation
The Wolfson Foundation/Council for the Care of Churches
£ 43 200
Refund of VAT on tender costs to be paid by English Heritage (see Note 1) £ 18 300
Ditto ditto ditto Exton PCC £ 6 100
Ditto on ‘ineligible’ works ditto Exton PCC £ 7 800

Less Exton PCC contribution towards English Heritage Stage 1 (£ 3 200)

TOTAL £ 195 400

Note 1: VAT. We are reclaiming VAT under the Listed Places of Worship Scheme.
The English Heritage Stage 2 Grant of £129 000 includes £18 300 VAT so net of that tax it is worth
£ 110 700. It covers 75% of the high-level work and none of the rest.
Our 25% of the cost of such (“eligible”) work is £43 000. The VAT on that is £6 100, which we will reclaim and retain.
We must also pay £44 500 on “ineligible” works (low-level work and contingencies not grant-aided by English Heritage but which we must carry out). The VAT on these comes to £7 800, which we will reclaim and retain.

Costs (including VAT and architect’s fees), based on tenders accepted November 2003:
Spire/tower repairs and re-leading high-level roofs £164 000
Re-leading porch roof (Nov. 2002) £ 4 500
Ground works (see Progress Report 1) £ 20 000
Contingencies (see Note 3) £ 23 000
TOTAL £211 500

Note 2: E. & O.E. All figures are rounded to the nearest £100. Costs and estimates are liable to change as the months pass - especially the cost of re-roofing the aisles and transepts, which have not yet been de-leaded but could well show the degradation of timbers revealed by the de-leading of the nave.
Projected shortfall at 9 December 2004 £ 16 100.
Note 3:
This figure for the shortfall is very optimistic but is the best we can do at the moment. We have already had to spend all the sum allocated above for Contingencies. When the roofs of the aisles and transepts have been stripped and the state of the woodwork evaluated we expect costs to rise, even possibly to the extent of not being able to afford to re-roof one of these.

Work completed ( these timings are approximate and a guide only).

July 2004: Scaffolding erected and temporary roof begun.

August 2004: Temporary roof over nave erected.
Tower works begun.

September 2004: Tower work completed.
Tower scaffolding partly dismantled (the rest later).

October 2004: Nave roof lead removed, exposing underlying roof timbers.
Treatment or removal of rotten wood begun.

November 2004: Roof timbers being replaced as required.

December 2004: Re-leading due to start, after completion of timber repairs.

February 2005: Re-leading of the nave roof due to be completed.

April 2005: Work on the aisles and transepts due to be completed.
Then the ground works begin.

ROOF FUND APPEAL PROGRESS REPORT 1
UP TO 10 JULY 2004
St Peter and St Paul, Exton, Rutland

Historical Background.
Though parts of the church date from the 13th and 14th centuries the spire was struck by lightning in 1843 and much of the west end of the building was destroyed. Stonework fell through the roof of the nave and much damage was done to the windows. The present roof and much of the tower date from the mid-19th century and both, after a century and a half, are in poor condition. Water has got into the tower stonework (causing extensive cracking and other damage) and the roof leaks beyond the “patching will cure it” stage.

The Appeal.
In April 2002 the Bishop of Peterborough led a Service of Dedication of the then recently-restored monuments.
(Note: the cost of the work, nearly £100 000, was borne by the Exton Monuments Restoration Fund, a Registered Charity, financially completely independent of the Parochial Church Council. None of the small surplus has been given to the Roof Fund. The lighting of the monuments won an award).
At the service the Bishop announced the start of an Appeal to re-roof the church. In August 2002 we were able to stage a (village) Public Launch of the Appeal. We set ourselves for 2003 the target of “one local fund-raising event each month on average” and in fact managed 13 of these in that year. Some were large (Auction of Promises £1330, Casseroles by Candlelight £660, Bridge Day £670); some were small; some were shared with other groups; all kept the Roof Fund in the public eye. We reduced the target for 2004 - there are limits to what a community of about 240 households can manage without overkill - but since our start in 2002 donations and fund-raising events have brought in nearly £9 000. We are doing our best!

Committee and Architect.
The members of the Committee, which is a sub-committee of the P.C.C. and reports to it regularly, are:
Patron: The Rt. Hon. The Earl of Gainsborough.
Chairman - T.C.Swinfen MA BSc FRSC, Deputy Churchwarden (Churchwarden 1994-2002) and formerly Head of Science, Uppingham School, Rutland.
Secretary - Mrs Lynda Hamilton BA (formerly Languages Dept., Oakham School, Rutland).
Treasurer - Colin H Hagger (formerly Bank Manager, Barclays Bank, London)
Committee - Mrs Patricia S Hagger, Churchwarden (formerly Bank Manager, Barclays Bank, London)
- Mrs Judith Swinfen, Secretary of P.C.C. (freelance artist).
Architect: Peter McFarlane B.Sc, B.Arch, Dip.Cons, RIBA, 19 North Parade, Grantham, Lincs NG31 8AT.
Tel: 01476-564049 Fax 01476-592416.

Planning.
English Heritage awarded us a Stage 1 Grant, essentially to find out what needed to be done, what it would cost, etc. We sent the relevant documentation to EH comfortably before its deadline. This study was completed to the satisfaction of EH. Stage 1 cost £12 906, of which the EH grant covered £9 680 and Exton PCC Roof Fund the rest. This brings us to the end of 2003.
English Heritage has increased our Stage 2 Grant to reflect increased costs since 2002 and extra work (e.g. a temporary roof) which EH decided is necessary. The new grant is £129 000, an increase of £32 600, for which the Committee is grateful.
In a recent Budget the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that for works such as ours VAT could be reclaimed completely. The EH grant includes payment of VAT covered by its grant (i.e. some £18 000) but we hope to claim back the rest.

Costings.
All subsequent figures are rounded to the nearest £100 and were correct at 10 July 2004 unless otherwise stated. The Architect’s estimates made in 2002 are inevitably lower than the actual tenders of November 2003.

Cost of the project (including VAT and architect’s fees).
Spire/tower repairs and re-leading high-level roofs £164 000
Re-leading porch roof (Nov 2002) £ 4 500
Contingencies £ 20 000
Ground works £ 20 000
(These are works required by English Heritage as a condition of receiving the grant above but not grant-aided by EH. They involve the altering of surrounds and channels at the foot of the walls and the replacing of the oil tank. We are allowed to do this after the scaffolding has been taken down, which is manifestly sensible, but to omit the works is not an option.)
Total cost of this project £208 500

Funds raised (including firm promises) at 10 July 2004.
Fund-raising and donations within the parish £ 8 800
English Heritage Stage 2 Grant £129 000
Grants and promises from Foundations, Funds and Trusts:
The Alan Evans Memorial Trust
The Allchurches Trust
The Chase Charity
The Cory Environmental Trust
The Francis Coales Charitable Foundation
The Garfield Weston Foundation
The Headley Trust
The Historic Churches Preservation Trust
The Jill Franklin Trust
Rutland County Council
The Rutland Historic Churches Preservation Trust
The Trusthouse Charitable Foundation
The Wolfson Foundation/Council for the Care of Churches
£ 40 200
Less Exton PCC contribution towards English Heritage Stage 1 (£ 3 200)
Shortfall at 10 July 2004 £ 33 700
Note: this does not take into account repayment of VAT on the work that we, as opposed to English Heritage, must pay for: 25% of the high level work and all of the rest. At this stage we are guessing at the figure but it could reduce the deficit by perhaps £10k.
We have applied for a grant from the Mercers’ Company. We will apply to any possible sources of help.
The work.
The contractors are K.G.Wright (Builders) Ltd. of Islip, Thrapston, Northants.
We had hoped to begin work in March 2004 but the need to get everything right with English Heritage and the Diocese forced us to hold fire. In the light of the Budget this delay was fortunate. The scaffolding is now being erected. Work on the tower has begun, to be followed by the roof, and should end in March 2005. The ground works will then follow.

Further works.
It may be tempting Providence to list here future plans, but it would be sensible to do so. (Costs estimated November 2002)
Bell frame repairs (our ring of six bells is out of action until this work is done) £ 4 000
Churchyard north gateway and nave east gable £ 2 000
Extensive window releading £ 20 000
General stonework repairs £ 4 000
Total £ 30 000
This report is now frozen and Progress Report 2 will carry reports of progress from August 2004 onwards.