Friends of St. Johns (FoSJ) was founded in 2017 to assist Tideswell Parish Church by raising funds towards fabric repairs, upkeep and improvements, and to promote awareness of its significance as a heritage asset and as a living place of welcome and worship. FoSJ does this in partnership with the Parochial Church Council (PCC) and the Restoration Trust. We have an exciting official launch with several events taking place.
9am St. Johns historic eight bells will be rung to welcome Bishop Jan MacFarlane.
9.30am Celebrate St. Johns, Friends of St Johns official launch service, with guest preacher the Rt. Revd Jan MacFarlane, the Bishop of Repton, joint Patron of FoSJ
10.30am Refreshments served in Church until the end of the abseiling
11am The Great St. Johns Tower Indoor Abseil as Bp Jan and Rev. Simon White (Vicar) descend the 40 feet.
The Abseil continues as long as there are people to participate, or until 3pm.
All day: Dress the Tower, unique community artwork on view in the churchyard.
Friends are also asking for support in the form of old long sleeved shirts, blouses and tops of any size and colour for the Dress the Tower artwork. Garments and donations can be left at Tideswell Pharmacy during opening hours. All re-usable garments will be given to charity or recycled.
Members of the general public aged ten or over can experience this unique descent for themselves, for a minimum donation of £40 to Friends of St. Johns, which will also secure them one years membership of the organisation. Participants are encouraged to boost their gift through sponsorship. Bookings should be made at www.cathedralofthepeak.org.uk by selecting "Register for an abseil"
Church Architect Richard Smith has highlighted a first package of urgent works to high level areas, to make St Johns weatherproof again: the lead covering on the south chancel roof slope and the tower roof, with repairs to tower gutters, turrets and pinnacles. The budget total for these is £31,000, needing to be done this year. The next round of works will follow as soon as possible, comprising further work on the tower, complete electrical re-wiring of the whole building, new lighting, and an accessible toilet and kitchen/servery to make the building community user-friendly, as a venue for concerts and other events as well as worship services. The current budget total for these works is around £600,000. Add the next round of masonry repairs (the Lady Chapel is currently closed because of a fall of mortar from a high level, for example), and a sum for contingencies, and the PCC, in partnership with Tideswell Church Restoration Trust and Friends of St. Johns, will be seeking funds amounting to £1m. Most of this will have to be from grants, e.g. The Heritage Lottery Fund, but local support is essential to enable us to qualify for such grant aid.
* Charities pay a small fee for our service. Find out how much it is and what we do for it.
