A TOWN church has received a funding boost for a facilities upgrade.

St Michael’s in Caerwys has received a £10,000 National Churches Trust Community Grant to help fund installing toilets and a kitchen.

It is one of 70 churches and chapels in England, Wales and Scotland that is due to benefit from rescue funding of £522,241 from the National Churches Trust, the UK’s church support charity.

Huw Edwards, broadcaster and journalist and vice-president of the National Churches Trust, said: “I’m delighted St Michael’s is to benefit from a £10,000 National Churches Trust Community Grant.

”This will ensure that this historic church can be used for a wide range of community activities and be at the service of the people of Caerwys.”

Currently the church has no indoor toilet or kitchen facilities.

There is a portable toilet in the churchyard and outside the church there is a tap.

The project is to provide toilet and kitchen facilities as part of a
re-ordering programme to include improvements to heating, audio-visual and reception facilities, and improvements to the chancel area.

Improvements will increase the use of the building, which will help maintain its condition.

Mother and toddler and Sunday School groups will use the church regularly if toilet and kitchen facilities are installed.

Concerts, lectures and exhibitions will be more frequent with facilities in place.

St Michael’s Church has a late 13th century tower and nave to which a chancel and a north aisle were later added.

The church has two lych-gates, one originally dating to the
15th century.

The earliest reference to the church is in 1244 when it was nominated as a meeting place between Prince David and King Henry III and was referred to again in 1284, when compensation was paid to the rector for damage caused to the church during Edward I’s incursion into Wales.

The rector, the Venerable John Lomas, and churchwarden Roland Ward, said: “We at St Michael’s Church are delighted to have been awarded this generous grant from the National Churches Trust.

“It will enable us to proceed straight away to provide much-needed kitchen and toilet facilities.

“They will help us serve worshippers and the community more fully for many years to come.”