A clean slate for St John Date: 12-07-2010 The sun is shining on Slimbridge St John’s Church in Gloucestershire, after the urgent work of re-slating the Chancel roof has now been completed, thanks to a generous grant of £10,000 from Ibstock Cory Environmental Trust (ICET). The Church had raised £3808 already towards the project but was still a long way from reaching its target, with the roof rapidly deteriorating and the heavens opening above them! Having looked to other funders, it was ICET who came to the rescue and the ICET Trustees were delighted to fund the essential replacement of felt battens, the supply and fitting of new Welsh slates and ridges, as well as extruded guttering on the Chancel roof. St John’s is a popular ‘hot spot’ with its 1500 worshippers from Slimbridge and the surrounding area. For the congregation and organisations that use the building on a regular basis, it has come as a great relief to know that their sacred meeting place has been saved. These include the two youth groups, ‘Bright Lights’ and ‘Liquid Lights’, who meet at St John’s on a regular basis to socialise and take part in numerous activities. David Carrington (Child Youth Officer), organiser and leader of the ‘Bright Lights’ youth group said: “St John’s has been a place of refuge for many young people, where they can come to meet other members and build their confidence. It provides an alternative to hanging around street corners and prevents young people from getting into trouble.” She added: “We are overjoyed now the Chancel roof has been re-slated thanks to ICET. Without its support none of this would have been possible.” Roger Meredith, the Churchwarden is very pleased that the much needed re-slating of the Chancel roof has enabled the church to remain open for use by the local community groups. There had been fears that the church would have been closed to such users, owing to health and safety concerns. He said: “Were so relieved and delighted that all the community organisations who rely and value St John’s, will not be prevented from making use of the facilities. It’s a lovely sight to see the long-awaited 90 Welsh slates on the roof at last. The completed work looks marvellous, maintaining the warm and welcoming image of the church we all know and enjoy. The ICET grant has made a lot of people happy!” Angela Haymonds, Secretary of ICET, said: “This project has been fundamental for St John’s because the Church is such a big part of the community and, as such, we are pleased to have funded the essential re-slating of the roof so that the community of Slimbridge can benefit greatly from the durable, long lasting slate on the roof.” Angela continued: “This is just one of the many community projects Ibstock Cory Environmental Trust has funded through Landfill Communities Fund (LCF). The scheme offers funding to projects that benefit communities living within 10 miles of a landfill site. Groups interested in submitting projects should visit our website to find out more.”

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