St James’ Brightlingsea, the Church in the High Street, is a much-loved space for worship, private prayer and for the many and varied activities that serve both young and old in the town. As many of you are aware, the church is being ‘reordered’ (i.e. the space is being reorganised) to create a more flexible building fit to serve the needs of our community both now and for generations to come.

Our forebears had a vision of how the church could be better used, and they put aside funds for the day when their dream could be realised. Now we have picked up the baton previous generations have left us, taking their work forward and drawing on the financial gifts they bequeathed to us.

Plans are coming to exciting fruition to turn the existing vestry and sacristy into one, large, insulated (warm!) room which will become the new Lady Chapel, open every day for private prayer and small services even when community activities are taking place in the main part of the church. The former organ loft will become the new sacristy but with a mezzanine floor to provide much needed storage space.

Over the years, we have carefully stewarded the funds left to us in order to meet the costs of the work. However, because of a change in VAT exemptions for places of worship and the rising cost of materials and labour, we cannot complete the reordering unless we raise another £15,000.

Like our forebears, we too have a vision for our church: for it to remain the community’s one free space, open every day of the week, offering spiritual refreshment, WiFi hospitality, physical comfort (when the building is open, so are our toilets and available for anyone in need) and a wide range of events many of which are free. The reason we cannot self-fund all the renovations is that we want to keep offering what we do for free.

Can you help us to bring those two visions together? Any gift, however small, will make a difference. You might like to sponsor something specific: the re-siting of a cupboard; a new beam in the sacristy; the mezzanine floor; the flooring in the sacristy or the Lady Chapel; the new lights in the Lady Chapel. These are just a few suggestions and many other sponsorship opportunities can be found, along with creative ways to acknowledge the donor.

If you can help, please contact any of the following:
revcarolinebeckett@gmail.com
revjudithgibbons@outlook.com
treasurer4stjames@gmail.com

Thank you.

Every Blessing, Judith

(Rev Judith Gibbons, Associate Priest)