Grant is huge boost to repair work at church

The future of a Hebden Bridge church looks bright after it received a huge cash boost from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Community open day at the refurbished Hope Baptist Church, New Road, Hebden BridgeCommunity open day at the refurbished Hope Baptist Church, New Road, Hebden Bridge
Community open day at the refurbished Hope Baptist Church, New Road, Hebden Bridge

Further repair and restoration work is now in the pipeline for Hope Baptist Church, New Road, thanks to the £226,200 grant.

The project will complete repair work started with previous Heritage Lottery Fund support and will involve re-roofing Sunday School rooms and weather-proofing a gable wall on the chapel.

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A team of volunteers will also catalogue and digitise a collection of documents and artefacts about chapel life over the years at the Hope chapel and other Baptist churches in the area. It’s hoped the work will be completed before the end of autumn this year.

Project leader Gerard Liston said: ‘Hope chapel is one of only a few old chapels in the area that is largely intact and is still used as a place of worship.

“Over the past 10 years, we have progressively planned and invested nearly £1m to bring this great building into good order and to create a distinctive community resource.

“It is frustrating that building problems have stopped progress with our development plans, but this new grant from Heritage Lottery Fund is a huge step towards getting things moving again.”

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The team at the chapel say the new grant is a huge encouragement after months of difficulty.

The church, like many other homes and businesses in the upper Calder Valley, was badly flooded on Boxing Day. This resulted in more than £65,000 worth of damage to ground floor rooms, including the chapel area.

Just two months earlier, plaster fell from the ceiling after problems with previous repair work.

Hope Baptist Church opened in 1857 and in the modern day has been used for a variety of events.

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