CHISELDON’S community spirit has shined bright this week as £29,000 was handed over to Holy Cross Church for much-needed restoration work – almost double the intended target.

The mammoth fundraising project was launched last January by the church committee because in recent years, rising damp has become a growing problem for the Grade I listed building.

They had hoped to raise £15,000 towards the £50,000 cost of the work by putting on a whole host of community events throughout the year.

But to their utter amazement and surprise, the team instead managed to raise £29,000.

Linda Sutcliffe, who was one of the committee team leading the project, said: “This amount of money has exceeded all of our wildest dreams and we managed to raise our target of £15,000 by May.

“We have all looked back on how we managed to do it and I think it was from the fact we ran an event every month.

“We’ve put endless posters around Chiseldon and the whole village has been aware about what has been going on and what we’re trying to achieve. The range of events we held, we tried to do something for everyone.

“One of the things we wanted to do through the project was try and raise the profile of the church in the village because the church itself is all well being pretty but it is also used for a lot of events.

“It became a village project.”

The Parochial Church Council have put aside the rest of the funds to help with the restoration work and now that all the pennies and pounds have been counted, work can begin.

As a result the church has closed for three months with the intention of reopening by Easter.

During this time, weekly Sunday services will be held in the adjacent hall while work is going on to the church which dates backs hundreds of years.

As well as treating the persistent problem of damp, which could cause lasting damage to the stone fabric, the money will also go towards paying specialist contractors to remove an emulsion-based paint which was used on the walls instead of a limewash paint.

From craft markets to a photography exhibition, and even a rock concert, the project team have been very creative in coming up with ways to raise the money – something that Revered Roger Powell was thrilled to see.

He added: “It is absolutely fantastic and a real tribute to the committee that organised all the events but also to the community of Chiseldon and beyond who have been brilliant.

“We’ve had great interest from people who come to church but also people who have never been and just wanted to donate or be involved.

“We have been praying for a restoration project for some time and now we feel that our prayers have been answered and the community have been astounding.

“It is a medieval church that has been here for hundreds of years and people value it and want to see it stay around for generations to come.

“For us this is such a boost and it has been fantastic to see how a little bit but often helps make such a difference.”