Monthly Report for the Heritage Lottery Fund May 2021
St Sylvester’s Church Renovation and Community Project, Chivelstone Parish, Kingsbridge
Work during May covered external repair to the main church and tower and internal works to the toilet/shower and screen by Westcountry Stonemasons (WCSM). Work also focused on implementing the Activity Plan in line with the Covid restrictions.
Tasks carried out in the Month
Project Administration
- General project administration and record keeping was undertaken.
Financials
- The £100k loan from the Diocese was received in early May.
- With the easing of lockdown we were able to organise another outdoor church fund raising event on the village green and again raised in excess of £400.
Heritage Works
- This month the Project Architect and Contract teams have covered the following work;
- The stonemasons are well ahead with the repointing with one gang working on the church and another starting on the tower.
- The internal repairs to the South Porch are nearly complete.
- The stone gable cross at the east end has been repaired.
- The new cast iron rainwater gutters have been fixed and all lead work to the church is complete.
- The scaffold to the east end of the church and the high level lift to the north side have been removed.
- The timber and glass internal screen is now complete and looks stunning. Timber work to the new bell ringing chamber staircase has begun.
- Following the detailed window repair survey work to the most critical window will begin in late June.
- There have been no H&S issues and our adviser Health and Safety Associates has attended site.
- The Architect is on site every week and in close contact with WCSM day to day.
- The fifth months works valuation is complete.
- There are regular monthly progress meetings (zoom) between the PSC, Contractors and Architect/Consultants.
Communications
- The project website continues to be updated and we are still seeing a good level of hits.
- Our drone video of the church cloaked in scaffold has now been uploaded onto our Youtube channel.
- We held a Zoom meeting with other members of the Diocese to pass on our experience of applying for repair grants and our Lottery grant application.
Community Engagement/Activity Plan
- The difficult Covid 19 restrictions and current ‘lockdown’ are continuing to frustrate our Activity programme but we are actively adjusting our plan in conjunction with our partner, the South Devon AONB, to carryout virtual alternatives.
- In conjunction with the AONB a well attended ‘outside’ church bird walk took place at the end of May.
- The planned Hard Hat day at the church due at the end of May has been postponed until late June because of a small Covid outbreak in the village.
- We held a zoom Activity Plan review meeting with the Lottery Activity Plan adviser Laura Hetherington who was impressed with how we were managing to move the plan forward against the Covid restrictions.
- We have gone out to tender for an Interpretation Consultant and hope to appoint during June.
- We are in discussions with our Project Partner the SWMAG and their own Interpretation Consultant regarding the permanent Marine Archaeology display for the Church.
Volunteer Time
- Volunteer time this month was 64 hours mainly working on project admin and finances, fundraising and implementation of the Activity Plan. This gives a running total for the Project Delivery Phase of some 1127 hours.