Church in Eastham is getting £40,000 facelift to make the place warmer

Oct 5 2011 by Linda Foo Guest, Bromborough and Bebington News

BUILDING work has begun on a £40,000 facelift for a church in Eastham to warm up worshippers.

St David’s United Reformed Church is being transformed into a warm and energy-efficient venue for community activities.

The project will remove the church’s 1950s oil-fired boiler and replace it with multiple gas-fired high-efficiency condensing boilers.

The current oil-run system which serves the church and community rooms is inefficient, leaving visitors cold in the winter.

Separate heating systems will be installed in both buildings to give more flexible temperature control.

Funding for the improvements has come from private donations, the All-Churches Trust’s grant of £750 and The Veolia Environmental Trust, which awarded a grant of £13,500 through the Landfill Communities Fund. The shortfall will be covered by church funds.

The work follows improvements last year when the walls, roof and windows of the hall were insulated. As part of the current work, the hall’s large windows will be further insulated using a secondary layer of glazing.

The hot water tank and immersion heater will be replaced with eco-friendly systems which serve each wash-hand basin and sink separately, giving instant hot water.

The hall is a popular venue with community groups such as Busybodies for carers and tots, Zumba classes, badminton, Brownies and other projects.

Church secretary Sheila Pugh said: “The improvements will complement the previous work to make our buildings a warm and attractive venue and, hopefully, allow us actually to reduce our heating costs – savings which will be passed on to our users – an important factor in these days of sharply increasing energy prices.”