Final fundraising drive for £830k King's Lynn Minster project
Residents and business leaders in Lynn are being urged to support a final fundraising push to pay for restoration and improvement works at King's Lynn Minster.
Officials say work on the project is progressing well and they are hopeful of starting the next phase this autumn.
But to do that they need to plug an £80,000 financial shortfall in their £833,771 project.
Vicar, Canon Chris Ivory is asking business leaders for a donation of £21,000, fundraising events and individuals for donations totalling £18,000, and a national grant making body donation of £50,000.
He said: "We are currently working on restoring the north west choir clerestory, these are the windows at the top of the minster.
"The clerestory windows on the south side were taken out and restored in 2003.
"They have taken out, restored and put back in five windows on the north side and the other five are now being worked on.
"This is the first phrase of works to the minster, the second is the improvements. These include toilets and disabled toilets, wheelchair access, an office and a meeting room."
Canon Ivory expects the works to take around one year to complete and says building toilets inside the minster has been on the agenda for some 60 years.
"We are intending for phase one to be complete by mid September to early October," said Canon Ivory.
"We are also building another door, a fire exit, on the north side. This will increase the safe capacity from 300 to 500 people. This does not apply to services but it does apply to concerts.
"They say the final 10 per cent is always the hardest to come by, but we have already received so many generous donations so we are hopeful."
