A MAJOR fundraising campaign to repair and restore the heritage of St Chad’s Church Saddleworth is reaching an exciting stage with its official launch.
The ‘Seeing is Believing’ project is raising money for expensive repairs to the 14 beautiful stained glass windows at the church, with hundreds of thousands of pounds needed.
The project also aims to raise the funds to help ensure St Chad’s is a special place to visit, worship and treasure for many years to come.
Money has been raised for the project since the start of the year but now a special weekend of events on March 25 and 26 will mark the official launch.
Everyone is invited to join in the special weekend, which starts on Saturday, March 25 with a guest team of bell ringers from Essex ringing at St Chad’s from 11.30am – 12.15pm.
From 12noon coffee will be available in church, before an official welcome at 12.30pm from The Rt Revd Mark Davies, Bishop of Middleton and Saddleworth Team Rector, Rev Canon Sharon Jones.
Chairman of Saddleworth Parish Council, Cllr Pam Byrne, who has chosen the project as one of her charities to support this year, will also attend the event.
There will be a presentation of the winning ‘Seeing is Believing’ logo, picked from 60 entries from young people from schools, Sunday schools and churches across the area.
Then there will be short talks on the stained glass windows, looking at their history and importance, and the work and support required to complete the project.
A light lunch will be served from 1pm, with opportunities to ask further questions and look at the displays.
On Sunday, March 26 Saddleworth Players are giving a Charity Night performance of ‘The Graduate’ at 7.30pm at The Millgate Arts Centre, Delph in aid of the church’s project.
Tickets costs £12.50 including supper and are available from Alison Coates (01457 876760) and Liz Rooke (01457 810666). (For those with tickets already, supper only will be £5).
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