Press Release
All Saints’ Church, Sandon receives over half a million pounds in funding from
The National Lottery Heritage Fund
All Saints’ Church in the village of Sandon has been awarded a grant of £558,268 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
In 2022, All Saints’ Church in the village of Sandon, was awarded a grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to carry out the Development Stage of a project to make available more widely the heritage of All Saints’ Sandon while securing its future. The church received funding of £82,930 to allow the heritage team at the church to widen the audiences to share this heritage and remove barriers to access through regular opening times, events and the development of a website to record the heritage and detail the conservation works. The Development money has funded several activities in the church including visits from schools, heritage groups and to support longer opening hours. It also funded the work of consultants and specialist conservators to develop our business case for the conservation of the rare artifacts in the church and a new website. The church website can be found at www.sandonallsaints.com
We are now delighted to announce that our application for funding to support the Delivery Stage of our project has also been granted with the award of £558,268 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. This funding has been made possible through the generosity of National Lottery players who pay the National Lottery each week and without whom the funds would not exist. The church is very grateful to both the Heritage Fund and National Lottery players.
All Saint’s Church, Sandon is one of 15 life-changing, diverse projects to be given a total of over £30 million by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to mark the organisation’s 30th anniversary.
Eilish McGuinness, Chief Executive, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said:
“Thanks to money raised by National Lottery players over the last 30 years, we have worked with those who care for heritage and helped transformed the UK’s heritage landscape, contributing to communities and the economy. Our funding benefits all parts of the heritage ecosystem, including visitors, volunteers and the communities which surround it, and I cannot wait to see what the future brings as we work to deliver our vision for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future.”
The Heritage Fund award is being matched by five other Trusts who have pledged to support the conservation work alongside The National Lottery Heritage Fund and the PCC of the church. They are the Leche Trust, Staffordshire Historic Churches Trust, the Benefact Trust and Garfield Weston Foundation who between them have pledged £31,850 towards this project. We are most grateful to the trustees of each of these trusts for their support.
Conservation work will commence at the beginning of 2025 and is expected to take two years to complete. As far as it is practicable, access to the conservation works will be given to allow
members of the public to share in this exciting work as it happens. We hope to have a celebration event at the completion of the project.
All Saints’ is a Grade I Listed church dating from the 12th Century and is Listed for a rare survival in this country, of an integrated display of post-reformation genealogical paintings on the walls, heraldic glass above the altar and the Erdeswicke family monuments and tombs spanning five generations from the time of Elizabeth I onwards. There is also a large Royal Coat of Arms from the 17th century and two later stained-glass windows in the style of Augustus Pugin, who designed the interior of the Houses of Parliament. The restoration of all of these is included in the project.
If anyone would like to join our expanding group of volunteers who support guided tours and opening hours, please get in touch through the Contact Us page on the website.
About The National Lottery Heritage Fund
As the largest dedicated funder of the UK’s heritage, The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future as set out in our strategic plan, Heritage 2033.
Over the next ten years, we aim to invest £3.6billion raised for good causes by National Lottery players to bring about benefits for people, places and the natural environment.
We help protect, transform and share the things from the past that people care about, from popular museums and historic places, our natural environment and fragile species, to the languages and cultural traditions that celebrate who we are.
We are passionate about heritage and committed to driving innovation and collaboration to make a positive difference to people’s lives today, while leaving a lasting legacy for future generations to enjoy.
Follow @HeritageFundUK on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use
#NationalLotteryHeritageFund www.heritagefund.org.uk