CHURCH PROJECTS

RESTORATION

The current Church Project "RESTORATION" aims to raise £100,000 towards roof and structural repairs to the Church structure that are essential in ortder to maintain a Christian Methodist presence at the centre of Maidenhead. Over many years the Congregation has raised money for many worthy causes but now the time has come to put our own house in order. Some of our past projects are listed below:

The church committed to raise £25.000 to be shared equally between the Community project at Trinity at Bowes Methodist Church in North East London and the Methodist Church in Sri Lanka to provide "tools of their trade" to rebuild lives and communities in the wake of the Tsunami. The project has been completed and the target exceeded

The Home and Away project had three objectives - to raise funds for two sister Churches, the one in Plzen in the Czech Republic and the other in Sheffield, and to raise funds to refurbish our own Wesley Hall virtually untouched since being built in 1972. The project's financial target of £28.000 was split equally three ways.

During the Communist era, the Methodist Church in Plzen was converted into a lecture theatre with tiered seating - hardly suitable for a modern place of worship. Work was needed to restore it for worship and social outreach.

The Victoria Methodist Church in Sheffield is a Grade II listed building with a large £800.000 redevelopment programme

The Wesley Hall is that part of the High Street Methodist Church premises that is in constant daily use for a variety of Church and community activities and it was dedicated in the presence of the mayor of Windsor & Maidenhead on 1 March 2003. Three photos of the event are available:

In January 1998, the Church set a target of £50,000 towardsthe National Children's Home "House our Youth 2000" appeal. Each day up to a quarter of a million young people aged between 16 and 25 sleep rough every night. Many are victims of family breakdown, or are teenagers leaving Local Authority care. Being homeless robs them of their future, it leaves them vulnerable to illness, street violence, drugs, prostitution and alcoholism. It is a waste of human potential. The Church's target was exceeded thanks to the generosity of Church members and the local townspeople. The Project terminated at the end of 1999 when £56,500 had been raised.

THE CHURCH INTERIOR

The idea for a Wallhanging started about Easter 1997 when Gill Watten, a Church member, was inspired by the story of a Peace Quilt then running on "The Archers" !. Her wish was that all sections within the church at High Street would work on the project together. As the end of the Millennium was approaching, it was decided that we would make a Millennium Wallhanging depicting our hopes and fears for the next thousand years. The theme of "The Rainbow" was chosen, representing God's covenant and hope. The rainbow colours form the background to all the designs. Ideas were gathered from all the groups , but then, tragically, Gill was taken seriously ill and she died in 1998. The project might have died with her but for the chance (?) discovery of a verse from Isaiah 46:11 "What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do". This verse was the inspiration to continue. The Wallhanging was dedicated to Gill Watten's memory in the High Street Methodist Church on 2nd January 2000. It is now on permanent display in the Wesley Hall.