Energy Project 2019, Clayton Brook Community Church

Good news, we have received a final grant offer from Biffa Award for over £48,000!

This allows us to begin the planned refurbishment of Clayton Brook Community Church.

We are replacing all the gas heaters with a duel fed boiler system, giving heated radiators in ALL rooms. Plus replacing ALL of the wooden window frames with PVC and double-glazed tilt and turn units with a poly carbon external pane.

The ceiling lights are being replaced with LED panels. The wall lights will also be replaced by LED fittings. The toilet cisterns are being replaced with a dual flushing system to reduce water usage and improve re-fill time.

This project was funded by Biffa Award as part of the Landfill Communities Fund, giving the full total we applied for - £48,148.40. Biffa Award is a multi-million-pound fund that helps to build communities and transform lives through awarding grants to communities and environmental projects across the UK.

Our user groups requested that we make improvements to heating, lighting and toilets in the building before this winter time. The windows also needed to be double glazed and the wooden frames changed to PVC.

The work begins on the 23rd of September running through to the third week of October. All user groups have been informed. We may need to have another week of cleaning up for church and user group use.

We give thanks for your support for this project. We hope that the building will continue to be used most days of the week by all in the community of Clayton Brook Village and the parish of St John's.

Philip Venables said: “As the vicar of Clayton Brook Community Church I am delighted that Biffa Award has seen fit to contribute a grant of over £48,000 towards renovating our building for community use. An important aspect of living out our Christian faith is serving the needs of our community in a variety of ways. This grant will help us to renovate our building so that it is more fit for that purpose. We are excited that we are now able to proceed with the work.”

Gillian French, Biffa Award Head of Grants, added: “At Biffa Award we are proud to support projects which are so integral to the life of their community, bringing people together and giving them the opportunity to share experiences. Projects like this provide the means for a community to thrive.”

The teenage group at Clayton Brook Church said: “We would like to thank Biffa Award for awarding us a grant to replace our antiquated and inefficient heating and lighting systems. As young people we are conscious of the need to protect our planet from the effects of global warming, while we cannot influence deforestation in Brazil and elsewhere, we can use the resources nearer home responsibly. Our new systems will be more energy efficient and cost effective. We believe we have a God given duty to protect His creation and use what we have been given wisely, therefore we should look for practical ways to do this and what better way to do this than improving our church building for the benefit of our group and the local community.”

From Alzheimer's carers’ teaching group. Carol writes: “This is great news, well done. It looks like it will be snug and warm for the winter and a new look with the windows too. When I think of Clayton Brook Community Centre, I think about one of the carers in particular who used the local bus service to be dropped off at the door. She said the carers’ information and support programme was ‘a lifeline’ for her. The lady was really struggling with supporting her partner of 20 years. Some of the quotes we have had include: ‘I really feel like I can do something to help my wife’, ‘I feel I am not on my own anymore’, and ‘Thank goodness for the workshop, I look forward to it every week’.”