Churches delighted with crucial grants

SUDDEN wall collapse . . . repair work needed in St Stephen’s and All Martyrs Church

TWO local churches are to receive part of a £645,000 rescue package from the National Churches Trust.

St Stephen and All Martyrs at Lowermoor and St Patrick’s RC Church in Union Street West, Oldham, will receive £60,000. Around £40,000 will help to repair the Grade-II listed St Stephens after substantial damage in a wall collapse in 2012. The grant will repair the wall, provide new leaded glass and allow conservation work elsewhere in the building.

St Patrick’s will receive £20,000 to help repair sandstone window surrounds and two stained-glass windows.

The churches are two of 130 helped by the trust in the past year. The trust founded in 1953, is an independent charity and receives no financial support from church authorities or government.