St Luke’s runs mainly on the goodwill, energy and commitment of hundreds of volunteers every week: contributing to services, making tea and coffee, singing in the choir, cooking church lunch, tending the garden, volunteering at Nightshelter, leading Sunday School and innumerable other tasks, see and unseen. Thank you.

Twice a year we have a Gift Day, when we ask people to think about their financial contribution towards the £175k that it costs to run St Luke’s each year. Half of this money goes to the Diocese to pay for clergy and vicarages, and for supporting other church communities around the country. The rest goes to keeping our C19th building safe and warm, our administration and music in good order with oversight from paid professionals, and supporting charities that share our mission locally and globally like the food bank, Amos Trust and Raising Voices.

For Gift Day this Autumn we're asking people to consider making a one-off donation to help us get going on an ambitious project in this 'No Ordinary Time'. Our routine building survey has identified structural problems on the South Wall, by the back garden. Renovating this wall, gives us an opportunity to embark on a plan we've had for several years - to restore our leaky south-facing roof with an array of solar panels. As well as upgrading the building, this will both reduce our carbon footprint and reduce our energy costs. It’s a big project, which will cost upwards of £50,000 and we've started to seek external funding from grant-giving bodies. To start the project we’ll need to fund a detailed survey, plan and costing.

Focussing on this in our Gift Day is an important expression of our response to the climate emergency; and showing our commitment to the project by part-funding the project will improve our prospects with grant applications.

Please can you support us now in raising £5,000 as a down-payment towards a new green roof, to get the scheme underway.

You can give easily online here or transfer from your bank using the details here.

We also invite you to consider your regular giving to St Luke’s. If you don’t have a Standing Order set up, it’s easy to do.

If you do have a Standing Order, you might considering increasing it, even by a small amount. As with things in our homes, all our costs go up by 2-3% each year; and next year we’re switching to a 100% renewable energy tariff that costs more than this. (If we achieve the goal of installing the solar roof, we’ll be able to generate some of our own energy.) Supporting St Luke’s in your regular giving makes it much easier to make these important commitments in service of our goals.