Introduction

St.Thomas' Church stands at the physical and spiritual heart of Lymington today, as it has since it was built in 1250. As part of the Church of England we have a statutory responsibility for all the people of Lymington, who have rights as citizens to the services of the Church. Despite this, we have no income from the government or other public bodies, and rely entirely on voluntary contributions to fund our activities.

We have always taken our responsibilities very seriously, and the buildings have been substantially remodelled over the centuries to meet the changing needs of the community of Lymington. St.Thomas' Church offers by far the largest indoor public space in the town, with the capacity to seat around 600 people. However, the current infrastructure of the building limits the possible community use severely, due mainly to issues of accessibility, lighting and flexibility.

This Renewal project is our way of reclaiming a more accessible and welcoming space for the people of Lymington, for whom St.Thomas' Church is both their parish church and an important part of their shared history. For the four hundred or more regular worshippers at St.Thomas' Church, this project is a visible and practical outcome of our desire to follow Jesus in reaching out to everyone, without making conditions or judgements. We commend the project to you, and ask that you would join us in supporting the Renewal Appeal as generously as you can

Our hopes for the future

Our hopes for the future hinge on renewing our buildings as the shared community space which was their original purpose.

• We want to replace the fixed, uncomfortable seating with flexible seating which can adapt to different uses. Imagine the huge floor area of the church being available for appropriate exhibitions, drama, workshops, collaborative working, concerts, conferences and the like; being able to arrange the seating, lighting and staging to suit the occasion.
• At the same time, we can also resolve some important issues with the infrastructure of the building:
  • the heating is inefficient and inadequate
  • The lighting is inflexible and far below current standards for illumination
  • The audio visual system is unreliable
  • The decoration is tatty and overpowers much of the historic beauty of the building
  • The toilet facilities are inadequate.

We have tremendous hope for the future of Lymington, and our role within the town. Our Renewal Project focuses on our buildings as a key community resource which we see being opened up even further, to everyone's benefit.

The Renewal project

To realise our hopes for the future, the Renewal project will focus on Flexibility, Accessibility and Beauty. It includes:

• Flexible seating and staging
• Better toilet facilities
• Redecoration using a new, more harmonious colour scheme
• Efficient heating system with intelligent control system
• Modern, low energy lighting system
• Rewire throughout for safety
• A wheelchair lift between the hall and the main area
• New floor covering, revealing original flooring where appropriate
• A modern audiovisual system including video screens in unsighted locations, e.g. the galleries
• A remote organ console to allow the organ to be played from the ground floor
• Glass doors into the main area
• Space for parking buggies (for the elderly and toddlers).

Finance

Costs

The total cost for the Renewal Project is approximately £774,000, made up as shown in the table below. These costs are estimates from our Architect and Quantity Surveyor based on their experience of similar projects.

Funding

From reserves the Church is able to commit £300,000 towards the total of £774,000. This would leave the Church with reserves of a little over £200,000. In these uncertain times it is important that the Church retains a financial safety net so that it can acquit its core responsibilities should there be any dips in regular revenue.

Target

The imperatives of the project therefore present a fund raising target at this time of approximately £474,000. How you can make a difference ...at a much lower cost than you might imagine A common feature of appeals that raise large sums of money is the incidence of a small number of substantial major gifts. It is recognised that few people can support at such levels, hence the two tables. All gifts will be greatly appreciated. It should be noted that all costs of the appeal will be borne by the Church or special donors, so that all donations will go towards the appeal's objectives.