St Michael & All Angels
Organ and Parish Rooms Project
Update by Jane Trigle, churchwarden, April 2013.
This is a tremendously exciting time for the church. After all the years of planning, saving and coping with the building works, we can see the new organ taking shape. We will be able to hear it at a special service of Blessing, presided over by the Bishop of London, on 26 September 2013. Full details of that service will be available after the Festival.
Money
We have paid the building costs in full - £227,308, which including VAT comes to roughly £290,000, which is within the budget figure we had set. I expect there to be a few more bills relating to extra works as we ease the organ into its space. But we do have some contingency for this.
We have also paid for over half of the cost of the Organ, CHF 750,000 – in sterling roughly £540,000 depending on exchange rates. We have the final amount of c. £200,000 still to pay during this 2nd quarter of 2013.
How have we paid for it all?
Between 2008 and January 2012 Hall income, profits from Greendays, Festival and the Butterfly Ball were saved, this totalled c.£266,703
The Hymnathon raised over £50,000, and other concerts before the Festival 2012 raised c. £5000.
Pipe Up! has so far raised £83,000 – which is an astonishing result. We hope to break the £100,000 mark before the Festival this year.
Just before Christmas we had a Baroque concert of Christmas music, organised for us by Katharina Sprecklelsen. It was a simply glorious concert, beautifully played and superb selection of music. The concert raised over £1200, which was an excellent result.
In January we kicked off the New Year with the Vicar’s Birthday Concert, celebrating one of those ‘0’ birthdays. It was tremendous fun and many of Fr. Kevin’s friends came and did a ‘turn’ for us. The concert raised around £5,000 from donations.
The Mardi Gras Ball took place just before Lent began, at the Union Bar at Chiswick Business Park. The evening was a riot and very successful. The profits from the ball were over £26,500 – which is a truly excellent result.
We’ve had an interest free Loan from the St Michael and All Angels Bedford Park Trust of £135,000 and loans from the congregation, so far totalling £46,000
We have received a grant from The Garfield Weston Foundation for £10,000 and we have received a grant from another Charitable Foundation, which will total £300,000 by the time the second payment is received in April.
How much more do we need?
All this income means that we are now only about £170,000 short of the total costs. However cash flow is very tight right now. We may just be able to squeak by without having to draw down an interest bearing loan from the diocese, but the next month is the test, and surprising items of expenditure do have a nasty way of cropping up.
You will remember the very cold snap we had during October, when our heating system broke down. This was just the sort of extra expenditure we did not anticipate... but fingers crossed no more surprises!
We’re not quite there yet – but we are much further forward than we ever anticipated. So a big thank you to everyone who has contributed so far. The support from you all has been exceptional.
Jane Trigle, April 5th 2013
Back to Organ & Parish Rooms Appeal page
How the Project was announced in 2009