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Events for the Church Repair Fund

A lot has been happening since we learnt that we were successful in our Lottery grant application in June 2020. Lockdown because of the Covid-19 virus had already lasted for the previous three months. We have been unable to do many of the activities that we had planned, although we have managed some of them in different ways.

For instance in September 2020 we had an online virtual Bat Walk taken by Nigel Mortimer of the South Devon AONB. In November we started the Church Blog. This has allowed us to paint the picture of what is happening to St Sylvester’s Church as the renovations take place.

As the UK begins to return to normal we are able to start planning events. On 20 May (postponed until 27 May) there will be a dusk bird walk with Adam Davison from the AONB for an evening walk around some of the paths and green lanes of Chivelstone. It is run in partnership with the Chivelstone Church restoration and community project, and there will be a short update talk about the renovation at the start.

Numbers are strictly limited. Please book your place to get your free ticket from the AONB website and bring it with you to register on the day. Anyone without a ticket will not be able to join us on the walk. Register for your free ticket here. This event will be run in line with the current COVID-19 restrictions at the time. Meet at St Sylvester’s Church, Chivelstone, TQ7 2LY.

We are also planning on having a hard hat day on 25 May (postponed until 22 June). Westcountry Stonemasons, who are doing all the work to the Church, will conduct short guided tours to show the work they have been doing and answer any questions. These will be 20 minute sessions, but we can only have five people at a time, so we will have to allot time to anyone who wants to take part. If  you are interested in taking part please can you email katejennings02@gmail.com.

Part of our commitment to the National Heritage Lottery Fund is to raise awareness of all aspects of the Church and its surroundings. The PCC (Parochial Church Council for St Sylvester’s) and the East Prawle History Society are, therefore, planning a variety of events for this purpose. For instance, it is enormously helpful that we are talking to the AONB, who will help us with it by organising and/or joining in a few events.

One area of the application to the National Lottery Heritage Fund is to produce an “Activity Plan”. We have therefore carried out several activities (some of which can be accessed from the bar on the left). This also involves writing a very detailed Activity Plan which must cover everything that we have done regarding an activity: what the subject is, how many volunteers, who is leading the activity, what is the success of the activity and therefore the prolonged sustainability, and more.

This is proving difficult and time consuming. However, we are working as hard as we can in the hopes that we will be successful in our Round 2 application to the Lottery for the rest of the funds we need for this stage of church repair and restoration work.