Community spirit and goodwill have enabled a Norwich church to undergo a number of improvements for its future in recent times – and Christ Church's latest landmark is two new gardens.
The Eaton place of worship now has a new Children's Garden and Memorial Garden, and yesterday the Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Rev Graham James, dedicated the gardens after he led a service at the church.
The Rev Patrick Richmond, vicar of Christ Church, explained the gardens were among a number of developments being undertaken at the church thanks to the help of the local community.
He said: 'The Children's Garden is a wonderful opportunity for us to welcome children to play outside and keep them safe, and the Memorial Garden provides the opportunity for people to have ashes interred there and for people to come there in memory of loved ones.
'Both the gardens have been possible thanks to donations that have been made.'
Colin and Audrey Way funded the Memorial Garden which is on the south side of the church.
The Children's Garden, on the north side, was funded by donations in memory of the late Professor Brian Funnell, and also the late Joan Ellis.
Following on from the dedication of the gardens yesterday, Bishop Graham also visited Christ Church's parish hall in Colman Road which has recently undergone about £50,000 of improvements thanks to grants from the Norfolk Community Fund.
The church successfully applied for a £45,160 grant to refurbish the parish hall kitchen and roof, and a £2,779 grant to update the disabled toilet.
While the church still owns and is responsible for the parish hall building, in 2010 a new lease was agreed with the Beehive Childcare Group taking on day-to-day management and caretaking of the hall which is used by lots of different community groups including Brownies, dance and Aikido.
Dr Richmond said the new leasing agreement helped to pave the way for the new grants and improvements to the hall. He added: 'I'm delighted that we've received these grants so that our hall can be an even better asset to the local community and I'm grateful to all those involved in the management and day-to-day running of the hall.'
Christ Church's next project is to restore the historic church's stained and plain glass windows.
The church has already raised £59,000 from its Be A Pane campaign, which has seen the windows divided up into different sections and people invited to sponsor the different parts.
A further £6,000 is needed to fully fund the project that is due to start at the end of this month and be completed by March next year.
For more about Christ Church or how to support the fundraising for the church, visit www.eatonparish.com/CCEpages/christchurch.htm
For information about Eaton Parish Hall or to hire the venue, contact Karl Tutt on 07972 059610 or eatonhall@yahoo.co.uk
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