As vicar of Holy Family Church, I am setting out with a couple of friends to walk 2022km over the next year, ending on 30th June 2022. Our aim is to raise £2022, towards the £1m needed to rebuild.

Why?

Blackbird Leys is one of the poorest wards of Oxford with unemployment four times higher than the city average and some 34% of children living below the poverty line.

The church was declared a dangerous structure in December 2018 and is therefore not able to be used, in August 2019, the roof collapsed, with significant collateral damage to the building, .... no Sunday services, no Weddings, no funerals or Baptisms.

The church has no way of raising funds from its own congregation for such a large amount of money.

As a consequence, the trustees, with significant and entirely pro bono support from elements of the Oxford business community, keen to see the regeneration of the Blackbird Leys district, have drawn up plans for a new church, vicarage, 20 local housing units and community infrastructure on the site – including incubator space for young entrepreneurs, a community hall/creche and café.

These plans meet modern environmental standards. The heritage report demonstrates that the high policy tests are met and clearly identifies the huge public benefits from delivering the new scheme, which has the support of the Oxfordshire Community Foundation – tackling as it does the key issues of poverty in east Oxford: loneliness and isolation, child deprivation and homelessness.

“We have a one-off opportunity to see the regeneration of our church and the community facilities that the church needs to support the local Blackbird Leys community, together with a new vicarage and local housing."