Spire appeal gets big boost
An appeal to save the spire of one of England's most historically important churches has been given a £40,000 funding boost.
St Mary de Castro's spire appeal has been given the money by the charity National Churches Trust.
Described as the "jewel of Leicester's churches", its spire is in desperate need of repair after six-metre cracks were discovered on four of its six faces.
The money donated will go towards the SOS (Save Our Spire) fund-raising appeal, which was launched in September and is looking to raise up to £500,000 to fix the damage.
Church member and appeal co-ordinator Rosemary Mason said the award was a timely boost for the appeal.
"We are one of only eight church projects in the country to be awarded one of these grants, so it's a big coup for us," she said.
"It helps a tremendous amount towards paying for essential repairs and in building up momentum behind the appeal."
Claire Walker, chief executive of the National Churches Trust, said: "We are delighted to be providing funding – a £40,000 Cornerstone grant will help fund major repairs to the church spire of this nationally significant church."
The grade I-listed St Mary de Castro is on heritage watchdog English Heritage's 'at risk' register.
King Henry VI was knighted in St Mary's in 1426 and it is also thought Geoffrey Chaucer was married there.
King Richard III's body is believed to have lain in rest in the church after his death at the Battle of Bosworth.
English Heritage has already offered to pay £187,000 towards the spire repair, with supporters raising more than £2,000 since the appeal's launch.
"The appeal is going really well," said Mrs Mason.
"Our Sponsor a Stone scheme has had a very positive take-up, with about 45 people signing up and more people approaching us every day for the chance to have their names recorded in the church archives for posterity.
"It's been a fantastic response and we're grateful to everyone for their continued support."
De Montfort University students have adopted the spire appeal as part of the university's Square Mile (Mile2) regeneration project, supporting the communities of Woodgate, Tudor Road, Fosse Road and Newfoundpool.
Mark Charlton, Mile2 manager, said: "St Mary de Castro historically served these areas and our students wanted to be part of the SOS campaign.
"We organised a fundraising carol concert in the church and students will stage a vintage clothing fair in the spring."
Work on the spire is expected to begin in the new year.
www.stmarydecastro spireappeal.co.uk
This afternoon I attend a meeting convened by Ash Sakula Architects, presenting their Adaptable Futures project for Frog Island. The meeting is being held at the Marmara café, Northgate Street. Despite having the full address and postcode of the venue, having looked it up on streetmap.co.uk and (or perhaps despite) having it on Google Maps on my iPhone, it takes me ages to find it. I walk up and down Northgate Street twice - on both sides of the road - before I finally see where it is. Marmara is on the forecourt of a former petrol station, which is now being used as the site of a car-cleaning and valet service. The building which is now the café is converted form the forecourt shop - as you'll see from the photo above.
I met three members of staff from Ash Sakula at the last CreativeCoffee Club and expressed interest in this project then. I'm glad to have been invited along to this meeting, among what is rather distinguished company. Chief among today's guests are Sir Peter Soulsby, Mayor of Leicester and Ted Cassidy, Assistant Mayor and Cabinet portfolio for Economic Development, Culture and Tourism. Sir Peter spoke briefly and positively about the importance of this part of Leicester since the beginning of the city's recorded history and offered some ideas about its potential future.
Frog Island is one of the most neglected areas of Leicester and is clearly in need of renewal. Until recently, the expectation was that large parts of Frog Island would be razed and subject to comprehensive development from the ground up. This isn't going to happen now, given the current climate, and the much-needed regeneration will have to come from within what is already there. Although this sounds like it's going to be hard work and everyone's wondering where the money will come from, still it's a relief to many. Frog Island has some of the best industrial architecture in Leicester and is testament to some of the city's most prominent former glories. It would have been a shame to see those sites vanish. I used to stay not far from here and the area is a great one for walking. Its proximity to some of the most heavily featured new developments in Highcross. Indeed, it's Highcross Street that joins the upmarket shopping precincts with the run-down downbeat Frog Island.
This project, under the aegis of Ash Sakula and Loughborough University, will complement De Montfort University's Square Mile project, which is also at work in this area of the city.
The following organisations, each with its own stake in this project, are represented here today:
- Blueprint
- Business Base
- De Montfort University
- Dominoes
- East Midlands Economic Network
- Groundwork Leicester and Leicestershire
- Homes and Communities Agency
- Igloo Regeneration
- Inland Waterways Association
- Jubilee Worship Centre
- Ken Mafham Associates
- LCB Depot
- Leicester City Council
- Leicester & Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership
- Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce
- Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust
- Loughborough University
- Transition Leicester
- University of Leicester
From a particular Council of Faiths perspective, Frog Island has a notable absence of the diversity of places of worship and faith-based community centres that typify other parts of Leicester. Leicester Christian Fellowship, which meets at the All Nations Centre is arguably the most prominent faith community presence in Frog Island. Here today, I'm pleased to meet Bernard and Washington from the Jubilee Worship Centre in Soar Lane. We manage to have a brief word and make tentative arrangements to get together again in the near future.
Leicester Waterside has a Facebook page, which includes a number of photos taken at this event today.
