Grant of £50k gives church lifeline

Father Phil Sumner, in praise of all the hard fundraising work

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A GENEROUS £50,000 grant has helped secure the future of a Grade II listed Catholic Church as Oldham faces a series of proposed closures.

Vital restoration works can now be carried out at St Patrick's RC Church, which was recently spared closure.

Winning the landfill grant came as welcome news to the 400-strong congregation after four nearby Roman Catholic churches were earmarked to be shut down.

Internal redecoration will take place at the Union Street West site to restore the sanctuary to its original 20th Century style.

The church congregation has already secured around £46,000 for the project but are "immensely grateful" for this latest contribution from Viridor Credits Environmental Company which enables them to progress with their plans.

Father Phil Sumner, the Parish Priest, said: "This is a tremendous boost to our fundraising efforts. The parishioners have already donated more than £40,000 towards this work.

"However the proposed scheme is relatively complex and therefore expensive.

"It was fantastic news to received the full £50,000 after our application to Viridor. Now we can genuinely start thinking about the next steps."

Exploratory work was carried out by a group of professionals, involving the removal of several layers of paint, which uncovered earlier elaborate stencil work on the walls of the sanctuary.

The parish now hopes to restore some of this stencil work or to copy its style in other parts of the sanctuary.

An estimation revealed that just over £100,000 was needed for the ambitious undertaking.

Donations have poured in from church members, some of £3,000 or more. The congregation, which represents around 35 nationalities, took home cardboard boxes to collect change for the project.

One young couple asked for donations for the restoration work rather than wedding presents. Another Filipino girl asked for money in place of 18th birthday gifts. Father Sumner also played his part by asking for donations instead of presents to mark forty years as a priest in 2016.

Father Sumner said every effort would be made to ensure that services continue as normal and that the impact of construction work would be kept to a minimum.

However with large scaffolding towers being used for the duration of the work it may be necessary to hold some mid-week services in the house.

Father Sumner said: "It is grants from organisations such as Viridor Credits that sustain a lot of listed buildings of either archaeological or historical importance.

"We are immensely grateful and most excited about the whole project."

He added: "These exciting plans for redecoration give our members great hope but we recognise that this is at the very time when other Catholics in the area will be going through a grieving process at the proposed loss of their church.

"I hope we show sensitivity to their grief while still having hope for the future of Catholicism in the borough," he said.