Community is clocked on to church challenge
A COMMUNITY in Yorkshire has rallied to raise thousands of pounds to restore the clock at a church which has links to the medieval era.
The timepiece at St Mary’s Church in Beeston, Leeds, stopped suddenly a year ago.
The vicar, the Reverend Lindsey Pearson, explained that efforts to leverage grant funding for the £3,000 estimated bill to get it working again and give it a facelift had proved fruitless.
It was at this point that the Save Our Beeston campaign group, which started on Facebook, came to the church’s aid.
Founder Sean Sturman said: “The people of Beeston came up with the goods. The response has been staggering.”
The plea for help led to a number of local fundraising events being held, and 40 people took part in a sponsored walk last weekend.
One person donated £200 of concert tickets, and there was also a 10 hour bucket collection at the local supermarket. A final fundraiser will be held on Saturday with a table-top sale in the church’s hall to help push towards the final £3,000 target.
The Rev Pearson said: “The great news is that we’ve got enough money to start some of the repairs.”
There is evidence of a place of worship on the St Mary’s Church site since Norman times. Before the present church, there was a smaller, separate chapel building. The current church was built in two stages in 1877 and 1886.