Over the past few years, the community of Eaton has raised funds to create a community hub in our church, All Saints, as there is no village hall. Pews have been removed and a kitchenette and an accessible toilet with baby changing facilities added in order to create a usable indoor social space. This work, which was completed in May 2023, has transformed both the worshipping and wider community. Popular Christmas and Spring Fayres have been held, and the community has enjoyed coming together for a screening of the King's coronation, refreshments for the Tour of Britain, a book launch by a local author, a harvest supper as well as monthly coffee mornings. With refreshment and toilet facilities in place, worship in church has also been expanded to include children's/family services and activities.

However, it has become clear that the church's outdated heating and lighting systems now need to be upgraded to meet these new demands. Installed in the 1970's, the current light fittings are crumbling meaning that bulbs cannot be replaced which has resulted in only half of the lights currently working. The heating is also extremely inefficient (it needs to switched on at least an hour before any event in church which is expensive, and even then does little to warm up the space). In order to improve the heating and lighting, reduce the running costs and also reduce our carbon footprint, we are proposing to replace it with infra-red radiant heaters which will provide instant heat alongside LED lighting. Both are specifically designed for churches and will be sympathetic to the Victorian gothic-style architecture of All Saints.

The total cost of purchasing and installing the heating is £18,500. We have already raised over £6000 towards this amount through fundraising events and activities as well as generous individual donations, but now need to raise a further £3000 in order to be able to apply for grants which require 50% of the funding to already be in place. Any donations towards this amount would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your support.