Another fantastic donation to swell the coffers of the Redevelopment Fund for the Methodist Chapel was announced at Sunday Service this week. Members of the congregation were delighted to receive the news that the Benefact Trust has donated the generous amount of £52k towards the building works.

Readers of this website could be forgiven for asking whether they are reading the same story again as the Benefact Trust, an organisation founded in 1972 which has donated over £256 million to Christian charities throughout the U.K. & Ireland, was mentioned on these pages only a few days ago within an article about Ripon Men's Shed.

This latest grant money will be mainly utilised for the building of the shop and cafe, the fourth and final phase of these not inconsiderable building works, which began in the autumn of last year. Another £75k is needed to finish all the planned work, but discussions are currently ongoing with other grant providers who feel they may be able to help. The Chapel has certainly been very successful so far in its endeavours to source outside funding.

Senior Church Steward, Tim Abel, said “This latest grant has really given us a boost and a good start to raising the money for the shop/cafe, which, when it is finished, will be of benefit to the whole village community”.

Phase Three of the project, which is mainly the construction of the new entrance porch, will hopefully begin by the end of May. Phase Two, the fitting of a new kitchen and toilet, will commence after the porch has been built and once the paperwork for the grant of £98k from the FCC Community Action Fund has been completed.

The first part of the redevelopment was to reconfigure the schoolroom into a community space. This is now in regular use with just a few finishing touches remaining, including rehanging the curtains, fitting a new internal door and creating a hatch through to the new kitchen. The May meeting of the Men's Breakfast, held in the schoolroom on the first Saturday of every month, was the best attended it has ever been, participants obviously revelling in the facilities, the food and company on offer.

The last word can come from Tim who says “It’s really good to see the building used more and more by different groups”.