A Brymbo group has come together to help raise £20,000 to pay for repairs at St Mary’s Church.
Friends of St Mary’s Brymbo, a group consisting of local trustees and members, have begun their ‘Buy A Slate’ Campaign where they hope to raise money over the next year.
It comes after discussions into the future of the church looked into the need for significant investment for the roof, which may need hundreds of thousands of pounds to improve.
Concerns are that if the roof is allowed to go into disrepair, access to the churchyard, which is still active, will become limited. Regardless of the future of the church, Friends of St Mary’s Brymbo are committed to keeping the building in a good condition.
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The group is separate from the church, but the church has been supportive and helpful.
The decision was taken to raise money gradually and make the repairs bit by bit, and after the Brymbo community showed it was interested and committed to helping the church during a Christmas light switch on in December 2021, Friends of St Mary’s Brymbo was formed.
Joanne Hennessey is one of three current trustees of the group, who launched the Buy A Slate campaign last week, and has already seen hundreds of pounds donated despite the group not pushing the campaign.
On the campaign Joanne said: “There have been people, two builders in the village, that have been doing a lot, and for free but these are not now little patches these are big sections that are going to need doing so we can’t keep asking local people to give time for free.”
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Cllr Paul Rogers, the County Councillor for Brymbo Ward, is supporting the group.
He said: “It is important that (the church) stays open in some form going forward because we’ve seen too many buildings close in this community over many years and you can drive around the village and still see some of those former chapels which are boarded up and we have had many buildings in the community that have been lost and its important that we don’t lose another one.”
Fundraisers for the church have already seen success, with a charity bingo night raising over £1000 and a fundraising darts competition in one of the local pubs raising £432 separately from the Buy a Slate Campaign. Brymbo pubs also have charity boxes at their bars.
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Cllr Rogers added: “Whilst people might not go to the church there are a lot of people who do care about it because of their connections and I think what we’ve seen is this huge generously since the beginning of the year and I think that will continue.”
There are more plans for the end of the year to fundraise more, and the church itself will be celebrating 150 years since it opened on September 10 this year, so celebrations will be held that weekend away from the fundraising.
To donate to the appeal, visit the JustGiving page here.
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