Friends of St Dunstan’s Parish Church, Mayfield
The Friends’ objective is to provide an avenue for people in the village to assist with the ongoing finance and upkeep of the parish church building, whatever their creed or beliefs. The Friends remit is therefore focused exclusively on raising funds for the preservation and maintenance of the church building and it was set up as a charitable trust for this purpose in 1994. Find out more about the history and architecture of the Church Building.
The Friends have successfully raised over £150,000 in support of these aims, with a number of worthwhile and interesting projects to our name. These include the re-leading of the chancery roof, the refurbishment of the church’s drains and gutters and the cleaning and rehanging of a number of monuments in the Church, to name but a few.
The Friends of St Dunstan’s is a charitable trust which was set up to raise funds for the preservation and maintenance of the church building. The Friends is deliberately secular in nature and we would like to enable everyone, whether a regular church-goer or simply an admirer of the architecture of this medieval building, to assist in ensuring that the church survives for future generations.
Projects supported by Friends of St Dunstan since 1995
Total : Around £150,000
1. Memorials
Two marble memorials in the Chancel:
These memorials were close to falling off the wall because the iron mounts had rusted.
They were removed, cleaned and restored before being re-fixed with stainless steel mounts.
Iron memorial on South Aisle Wall:
This memorial was completely black and illegible. It has been gently cleaned although further cleaning could be undertaken in future.
West End marble memorials: These two memorials were in a very bad state with pieces missing and the lettering illegible.
Friends assisted with the re-lettering in black and the cleaning of these memorials.
2. Windows
Re-leading of windows in the Lady Chapel: The leaded light stained glass windows in the Church all need to be systematically re-leaded to prevent water entry.
Friends has supported the complete re-leading of two windows so far.
3. Parvis Tower
The tower above the South door, the Parvis Tower. has been the subject of a number of projects. Friends have supported the re-leading of the tower roof and also the restoration of the entrance door. This latter project was supported by a generous grant from Mr and Mrs Holding.
4. Tower
The Church undertook a major project on the bell tower about 10 years ago. This involved raking out the old hard cement mortar and re-pointing the stone work with an appropriate lime mortar mix. The buttresses were also strengthened as part of this project. Friends were able to provide a generous sum to start the fund raising for this project.
5. South Chancel Roof
The South Chancel roof has been completely re-paired and re-leaded with the support of Friends.
6. Electrics
The electric wiring system in the Church was very old and Friends has supported a project to replace all the old wiring and electrical fitments to bring them up to a modern standard.
7. French Drain
Despite being on a hill, the Church has suffered from problems of damp for some time. The church architect recommended that a French Drain be laid along the outside of the North wall of the Church. Friends contributed a significant sum towards this work. The drain is reported to be working well and the moisture levels in the Church have been significantly reduced.
8. Gutters
The Architect further recommended that all the Church’s gutters and down pipes be replaced. The new pipes and gutters are larger than the old ones, have been rerouted in a more appropriate manner and are made of cast iron; this therefore represents a considerable improvement on the old system. Friends has provided a significant grant to the Church for this work.
Future Work
The maintenance of a building as old and as fine as St Dunstan’s Church requires a continuous programme of planned work.
Join The Friends of St Dunstan’s Parish Church today and do your bit to help.
Contacts
Chairman: Annette Nabavi
Treasurer: Charles Marshall
Email: c.h.marshall@btinternet.com
Joining leaflets are available in the Church, or contact Charles Marshall via the email above.