In March, St Michael and All Angel’s Church received the wonderful news that the Heritage Lottery Fund are supporting the development phase of a project to restore St Michael and All Angels’ historic tower with a £19,300 grant.

St Michael’s would also like to thank the residents of Shefford for their generous support for the project so far.

If all goes to plan, the tower should be restored by late summer/autumn 2018, provided the application for full grant funding which will follow the development phase, goes through.

St Michael's Tower with Safety FencingTwo months on, and work is about to start on the development phase. Tuesday 6th June should see a scaffold erected against the west face of the tower to allow loose masonry to be removed and emergency patching to be carried out as necessary.

The scaffold will also give access for a survey by our architect and stonemason, allowing them to produce a detailed plan and costings for the full restoration.

This is likely to leave some areas of the render patched and somewhat unsightly; we will still be a long way from the finished article!

The Heritage Lottery money will go a long way but the church still needs the community’s help – financially and in other ways too, so that St Michael’s can continue to serve and contribute to the life of our community.

Find Out More...

On Saturday 10th June we are hosting the Shefford Prince & Princess event.

We will have a display of information about the tower restoration so that you can find out more about the project.

We will also be running the Teddy Bear Zip Wire which we have decided to make a free event this time, as a small "thank you" to everyone in Shefford. Bring your bear (if it's brave enough).

The Shefford History Society will also be launching a new book about the history of Shefford - all profits are generously being donated to the tower fund.

See you there!!

Date: 4th June 2017

Source: Patricia Goulding