St Michael & All Angels
Organ and Parish Rooms Project
Update by Jane Trigle, churchwarden, Advent Sunday 2012.
Construction
- The building works in preparation for the new organ are now complete. The reordered Vestry and the new Sacristy above it are back in use, complete with a new staircase.
- The Organ itself is nearing completion in Switzerland (right) and will be delivered after Easter 2013. All 1600-plus pipes will need to be hand-tuned, which can only happen in the summer holidays. After settling in, it will be ready for use at Michaelmas 2013.
Finance
- We have now paid the building costs in full - £290,000 including VAT, which is within our budget figure.
- We have also paid half the cost of the Organ - which in total will cost 750,000 Swiss francs or c. £532,000. We still have to pay c. £250,000 in the first half of 2013. Professional fees have been agreed as well.
How have we paid for it so far?
- Between 2008 and January 2012, we saved c. £266,703 from the income from St Michael’s Parish Hall and profits from
the Bedford Park Festival (including Green Days, right) and
the Butterfly Ball in 2010.
- The Hymnathon in February (right) raised over £50,000 and other events have raised a further £10,000.
- The Pipe Up! campaign has raised £75,000 so far, easily beating the target of £65,000 by Christmas - but we hope for more!
- We have received £10,000 from the Garfield Weston Foundation 
and a grant from another Charitable Foundation which will total no less than £300,000 by next year.
- In addition to this income, we have received an interest-free loan from the St Michael & All Angels Bedford Park Trust of £135,000, and loans from the congregation totalling £41,000 so far. These have to be paid back (see below).
How will we raise the rest?
- We are now about £200,000 short of the total costs. We plan to raise this through further fundraising from Trusts;
The Mardi Gras Ball in February 2013;
concerts and other special events; income from the Hall and profits from the Bedford Park Festival (including Green Days) in 2013 and 2014.
- We still have to pay back £176,000 in loans. If we can raise £100,000 in 2013, we can become debt-free sooner than anticipated, which will allow us to get on with other important projects for St Michael’s and the community.
Thank you to everyone who has donated money and time and talents to the project. We’re not quite there yet – but we are much further forward than we expected at this stage!
Jane Trigle, December 2nd 2012
Back to Organ & Parish Rooms Appeal page
How the Project was announced in 2009