Binscombe parishioners head towards £1.7m church rebuilding target
By The Editor
7th Feb 2021 | Local News
Parishioners in Binscombe who have been raising money to rebuild their Barnes Road church are mounting a final push to hit their fundraising target.
Church members have been working hard to raise the £1.7m needed to replace the 1960s building with a bigger premises with more space for the growing number of people wishing to meet and worship there.
They have raised an impressive £1.2m, and are now on the final straight – with just under £500,000 left to go before they hit their £1.7m target.
Pastor Pete Hitchcock told Godalming Nub News the decision was made to rebuild the church on its corner plot around eight years ago.
Rev Hitchcock said: "Our church family has been growing over the past few years and we came to the point of being 80 to 90% full most Sunday mornings.
"We had to decide between running multiple services on Sunday mornings or running them elsewhere."
Church services moved to Broadwater School in 2018, with around 120 people attending each one. Services are temporarily taking place online during the pandemic.
"We decided to investigate the possibility of extending the building," said Rev Hitchcock.
Plans.
A feasibility study in 2013 was followed by the granting of planning permission in 2015, and some work has started at the site. Pre-Covid, five different youth groups met at the church during the week, with meetings for older people as well as a popular coffee morning. "The way that people connect and engage is very different from when the church was built in 1965," said Rev Hitchcock. The new plans envisage a big social entrance hall, a cafe space and meeting areas for all the different groups that use the building.. Funding.The fundraising target to meet the cost of the new building seemed ambitious, but the parishioners are 71% of the way there.
An application is being made to a community fund run by Surrey County Council, and Rev Hitchcock is hopeful that some funds will be forthcoming.
A large chunk of the cash already in the coffers has come from church members, he said: that's around 70 households.
"We have done a lot of praying for money to come in, and God's answered our prayers in many ways," he said.
"We want to start as soon as we can, but we have to wait for the money."
Click here to see the plans for the new building and to make a donation to the project.
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