The Richard Chartres Fund for London was established in January 2017 to ensure there is a flourishing church at the heart of every community in London. Funds are being raised to support Capital Vision 2020 initiatives as well as to fund youth workers, apprentices and two parish building projects. With support coming in from a huge number of supporters we are very thankful that with the recent donation of £50,000 from Allchurches Trust our total has now surpassed £900,000!
These funds will enable us to fit out a new church, St Luke’s, Millwall on the Isle of Dogs which will open in Spring 2018. Millwall is a very poor ward in the riches of Canary Wharf and the new centre will enable the church to develop their children’s work, possibly open some services for the homeless and do more work to address the high levels of domestic violence within the community. It will also provide a much better home for the growing congregation of over 120 adults and children. It will enable us to support a new music ministry worker for St Augustine’s Church in Barnet, a church in a forgotten North London estate where the hopelessness is tangible. Father Joseph Gabor wants to use music to bring in aspiration for the children and young people and develop a strong music-based ministry in the church.
With support from Allchurches Trust and working with the Bishop of London’s Mission Fund we will be able to invest in more youth workers. It costs around £20,000 per year to provide a part-time youth worker in one of our parishes. These talented people develop activities for the young people in the church and those not in church; help young people to explore and deepen their faith, while also providing much needed holiday activities and after school clubs to keep young people off the streets.This includes people like Keith. Keith works on the notorious Broadwater Farm estate in Tottenham with young people who’ve had a number of difficult situations, have often spent time in prison and are trapped in a cycle of poverty. Keith who himself came from the estate then worked in the city before returning to his work with the church, helps them to build real ways out, to provide them with hope and aspiration.
Allchurches were delighted to support the fund as it ties well with their vision to help churches in deprived areas to make a real difference in their local community. Jeremy Noles, Allchurches Trust Grants Officer said “Bishop Richard was inspirational in encouraging parishes across London to respond creatively to the needs of their communities. We’re glad to be able to contribute to the fund established in his name, to help realise the vision he began and see even more people benefit from the wonderful work being done by churches across the city.”
We are very grateful for Allchurches Trust support of this work as well as to our other funders including the generous donations of the Mercer’s Company and the Kirby Laing Trust. There are many more parishes across London that really need your support. We continue to fundraise for the Richard Chartres Fund and you can donate today by clicking here.
This is written by Sarah Webster, formerly of the Fundraising Team.
