St. John the Baptist, Old Malden, awarded a grant by The National Lottery Heritage Fund
Today, St. John the Baptist, Old Malden, is announcing a £250,000 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund that will allow us to make urgent repairs to our historic building.
The Restore Project:
St. John the Baptist, Old Malden, awarded a grant by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to save our 400-year-old Church Tower, thereby keeping our building open and accessible. This is thanks to the National Lottery Players.
Today, St. John the Baptist, Old Malden, is announcing a £250,000 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund that will allow us to make urgent repairs to our historic building. This will enable us to preserve our heritage resources and share them more widely with the community.
The Project will provide for the digitisation of our historic records to make them freely available to all. We will also launch the Old Malden Nature Hub utilising the ecological resources of our churchyard and the adjacent Hogsmill River, an endangered chalk stream. This will facilitate educational projects with schools, community groups, and provide a base for volunteering groups working to preserve the river and its habitats for nature. As part of the London Loop and the rewilding initiatives of Kingston Borough Council, this grant allows St. John’s to do its part in protecting and conserving both heritage and natural resources sustainably for the enjoyment of future generations.
St. John’s was founded before the Norman Conquest by monks from Merton Priory, being rebuilt over the centuries. The present Jacobean building (one of only a dozen in England) sits on mediaeval foundations, with a large Victorian extension built to accommodate the population expansion at that time in this corner of southwest London.
Our building is a much-loved and well used community facility. This grant is key to funding the works needed to preserve our building for the future, keeping it as an amenity open to all. Without this funding the building would have to close due to safety concerns over access (falling masonry and water ingress).
The educational opportunities are across the generations, sharing the importance of local history and sharing best practice for ecological conservation and minimising our impact on fragile nature. The Nature Hub, heritage resources, and community engagement (Bat Walks, Hedge Hog Watch, Heritage Week) serves the whole community irrespective of faith background, in an increasingly diverse community. It enables a sustainable future through this engagement and our social care initiatives (Bereavement Café, Dementia Carers Support group, mental health outreach). It will increase the use of our premises through the week, meeting local needs, and giving focus to our outreach.
Fr. Michael Roper, Vicar of St. John’s, said, “The National Lottery Heritage Fund grant has made all the difference to our Restore Project, without it we would not have been able to make the Project happen. Thanks to the National Lottery we can restore our Church Tower and keep St. John’s open, while serving our community in new and exciting ways, making the most of our unique heritage and the natural resources on our doorstep. This is truly an exciting time for us, our congregation and the wider community.”
About St. John’s
St. John the Baptist is the ancient Church of England parish church of Old Malden in the Borough of Kingston upon Thames, part of the Diocese of Southwark on the edge of Greater London. We are a diverse and inclusive Christian community serving the wider community for over a thousand years.
About The National Lottery Heritage Fund
Our vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future. That’s why as the largest funder for the UK’s heritage we are dedicated to supporting projects that connect people and communities to heritage, as set out in our strategic plan, Heritage 2033. Heritage can be anything from the past that people value and want to pass on to future generations. We believe in the power of heritage to ignite the imagination, offer joy and inspiration, and to build pride in place and connection to the past.
Over the next 10 years, we aim to invest £3.6 billion raised for good causes by National Lottery players to make a decisive difference for people, places and communities.
Follow @HeritageFundUK on Twitter/X, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLottery #HeritageFund
Further information
For further information, images and interviews please contact Fr. Michael Roper at St. John the Baptist, Old Malden on 020 8337 2817 or via email at administrator@stjohnsoldmalden.org.uk
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