St Nicholas Church Blundellsands 

Click Here to view the restoration update (20th Jan 2012)

Click Here to view the restoration update (3rd Jul 2011)

St. Nicholas has been awarded a grant from English Heritage Lottery Fund. The money for the first stage development has been spent on a digital survey and proffessional fees for the architect, quantity surveyor and structural engineer. The project is to repair the stained glass windows and masonry at the West end of the church which is where St. Barnabus chapel is located. Each pane of glass is to be removed and identified prior to replacing the crumbling masonry and supporting stonework. The glass is then to be returned to their original locations.The second stage develpoment grant awarded to us is £163,000. This figure had been reduced due to the constrictions of the economic climate and lower than expected bids. Following a tendering process in which five firms were invited to bid for the contract, a selection has been made with a company named Lambert Walker. We are hoping to have a site meeting on the 27th May when discussions will take place regarding the mandatory obligations of both ourseves and Lambert Walker. If all conditions are approved, we hope to sign the contract with them.The Engish Heritage architect, Tim Wilkins is the liason with this project and must be kept informed of all detail regarding the restoration of this Grade 2 listed building.
We are still awaiting permission from the Diocesan Registry in London who analyse applications for renovation and restoration of listed places of worship. This is known as a petition for faculty. The initial application has been processed and recommended unconditionally by the Liverpool faculty officer at St. James House. The proposals were accepted by the Diocesan Advisory Committee.
Stict criteria has to be met in order to achieve a successful application from English Heitage. They include a maintenance plan, public access arrangements, an access audit, financial solvency and proof of fund raising. The services of an accredited architect are key and obligatory. With the services of our architect  Robin Wholley, the Q.S. Neville Beech and structural engineer, Fred Tandy our application was accepted. One of the main reasons that it was a successful application is that the priority works were predominately high level with the beautiful stained glass windows in severe danger due to the crumling supporting stonework.
The west end of the church is the most exposed to the marine atmosphere and the stonework was not of the best quality when the church was constructed in 1874.
The five windows at the west gable are fine examples of stained glass by Kempe, Wilkinson and Powell. As well as the windows, the old, rusty guards are to be replaced by powder coated stainless steel ones.
The works are expected to take around 24 weeks and we expect them to commence in late June when scaffoloding will be erected internally and externally
A legacy left to us may enable the windows at the West end of the North and South isles to be also renovated.
It seems a long time age since the application had to be submitted by 30th September 2009. However this journey has much more mileage as we look forward to a further grant application to contiue the programme of restoring our magnificent church to its former glory.

Stephen Green