KIRBY MISPERTON & MIDDLETON PARISHES

Re-Ordering of St Laurence Kirby Misperton with support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund

A number of faithful churches worshipping & working in unity together to reach out and embrace our communities with the love of Christ Jesus

St Laurence Reordering Project – Update May 2025

The steering group delegated by the PCC is made up of Rosemary Sellers, Ian Garfitt, Jackie Cray, Graham Cray, and Rob Barker (who is kept informed.) We have also recruited James Haxton from Little Habton onto the steering group. James is an architect with particular experience of heritage buildings. He is on the St Laurence electoral roll.

We received a request from the Lottery Heritage Fund for an update, as they had not heard from us for some time. This has been completed with great help from Anne Irving from our former consultants Irving Patrick. Their continuing services have been secured by the diocese of York, which is paying their fees to help ensure that the project can go ahead. For this we are especially grateful to Keith Halliday, the Diocesan Buildings Advisor.

The faculty application is now with the Chancellor, having been open for public comment for the statutory four weeks.

Graham Cray has now taken over from Nigel Brotherton as the primary contact with the Lottery. We are grateful to Nigel for all the work he put in to planning this project.

The Lottery requires progress reports on the agreed environmental and community projects which have to be developed alongside updates on the capital works.

So far we have
• Consulted the Rydale Environment Group and Kieran Holliday, the Conservation and Research Officer for Flamingo Land on the rewilding of the area behind the church and pruning some overhanging branches. The Parish Council, which is responsible for the mowing of the church yard has agreed to close strim the area in September in preparation for sowing.
• Received a positive feasibility report on the church being part of the first stage of the geothermal heating project proposed from the Third Energy site.
• Begun exploring separate sources of funding for the solar panels
• Begun to gather the historical information required for both the planned historical displays and the material for schools
• Contacted the education officer of Flaming Land who is happy to advise
• Arranged a fund raising evening: ‘Prince George and Master Frederick’ for May 16th with special thanks to Rosemary Sellers.
This also contributes to delivering ‘a public engagement programme exploring the Saxon and Medieval history, church relationship with FLR, churchyard grave markers and monuments.’
• Contacted a computer expert in the village about the digitisation of the churchyard and monument records.

Next steps

We have had a series of meetings about the project in the last few weeks which have provided clarity around what we need to do to successfully deliver the capital works, and the consequent implications for the budget and timetable.

Having reviewed the information coming through from CeriPhi, we believe there is an opportunity to substantially reduce the capital cost by using ground source heat instead of air source (both of which can be supplemented by solar panels). (CeriPhi are a specialist geothermal company working in this village and the surrounding area.) We will have confirmation by the Autumn if it has secured funding for the first stage of the geothermal project, which includes St Laurence’s.

We therefore propose carrying out the following tasks between now and the Autumn:

• Commissioning an independent Monitoring & Evaluation Consultant to advise on the implications of installing solar panels and an air source heat pump, versus solar panels and a ground source heat pump, including an assessment of efficiency, running/maintenance costs. The Diocese of York has offered to cover the cost of the M&E Consultant for us.

• Seeking additional grants to make up the shortfall in funds. Applications are in the process of being drafted but it may take 4-6 months before match funding is confirmed.

• Seeking advice about which energy-saving materials and heating equipment are zero-rated or reduced-rated.

• Confirming the capital budget and programme based on the above.

The current end date for the NLHF project is this June, so we are requesting that this is extended to June 2027.

Funding allowing, we anticipate the capital works would start in April 2026 and take 6-9 months to deliver.

The lottery pays in retrospect, but a diocesan loan, repayable once the project is complete, can be made available prevent cash flow problems.

The Lottery has policies concerning volunteers, media and publicity, and evaluation of the project - which are mandatory, and which we will follow on behalf of the PCC, but the PCC is required to minute their acceptance.

Media and Publicity

The National Lottery Heritage Fund requires all grantees to publicly acknowledge their funding and support throughout the life of the project. This includes both visual branding and public communications such as press releases, social media, on-site signage, and digital media.

Volunteer recruitment

At the moment we are simply consulting local people with appropriate knowledge of expertise and keeping a record of time given. (Something the Lottery requires.)

As the project progresses there will be

Clear role descriptions
A volunteer sign up form and a volunteer agreement
Ongoing support

For roles involving contact with children or vulnerable adults, follow the Church of England's Safer Recruitment guidance:
▪ Check if Basic or Enhanced DBS clearance is required
▪ Conduct reference checks if required
▪ Ask the volunteer to complete a Confidential Declaration Form.

All volunteers should receive:
▪ The Safeguarding Policy
▪ Details of the Safeguarding Officer
▪ An induction on keeping people safe.

A risk assessment will assess potential risks for different volunteering activities.

Graham Cray on behalf of the group. May 2025