How To Help

Your donation contributes to our current appeal to raise £250,000 to help buy the Chapel buildings which are being sold by the owners this year (2024).

This means that your donation will be used towards the sale price of the Chapel once it is listed on the open market along with helping meet the costs of the expertise and skills needed to plan for the Chapel’s future repair and restoration costs. As well as the costs of the much needed resource to support our volunteers to keep the doors of the Chapel open. 

If we are successful with our donation target and in receiving grant assistance we will be able to confirm to the Chapel owners that the charity would like to purchase the building.

Because the Chapel is a recognised ‘Asset of Community Value’ the charity has 6 months to try and purchase the Chapel once it is listed for sale, before anyone else can proceed with an offer.

If we buy the Chapel then our plans for the future are outlined below.  

If we are unsuccessful at raising the funds and the building is sold to someone else the charity will need to decide if it can continue with our charitable purpose. 

Donors to our current appeal will be contacted using the information they gave when they made their online donation or cheque donation and asked if they would like their donation returned, or if the charity intends to continue, asked if they would like their donation to support the charity moving forward.

If the charity does not continue to operate our Charitable Constitution ensures that our charity funds (e.g. donations from this appeals fundraiser events, collections and donation buckets) will be transferred to a local charity with similar objectives to the Chapel. 

Looking ahead with optimism to 2033 and the Chapels 200th anniversary…

We will be preparing for what we need to do to make sure the Chapel doors remain open and welcoming over the next 10 years. It is a big and complex task. To help us navigate this task we have a simple route map with 3 milestones that we need to reach. 

Milestone One –  where we are right now

Raise the funds to buy the buildings and get us prepared for what follows…

Milestone Two

Find gifted support and earned income streams to restore and repair the buildings. An important part of this will be to understand what renewable energy options we can use to help maintain and preserve the buildings, keeping costs down.

Milestone Three 

Understand what the Chapel means to our different audiences to ensure that the Chapel is useful and inspiring to a wide range of people, and transforms into a space where we all work collectively together to make things better for our community.

The Methodist Church will continue to own the graveyard, and the safeguarding of its graves, gravestones and memorials is fully protected by law.

If the charity is able to progress with the purchase of the Chapel the upkeep and maintenance of the graveyard will be a priority in our discussions with the owners.