The Belfrey awarded £130k grant from Benefact Trust
St Michael le Belfrey, a thriving Grade I listed church in York city centre, has recently been awarded £130k from Benefact Trust, a national grant-making charity. The Trust provides essential support to protect and enhance churches, in order for them to make a positive difference to people’s lives.
The award is a valuable contribution towards The Belfrey’s major repair and renovation project called ‘Impact’ and a further encouragement to the church as it continues its fundraising campaign.
Having recently been awarded planning permission and listed building consent for the external features of the project, this will be the church building’s first major refurbishment in more than 150 years. The Impact project will create a far more welcoming, flexible, and accessible church, with greatly improved facilities, to ensure the building is sustainable for generations to come.
The Benefact Trust’s sizeable grant will contribute towards significant repairs and key new features such as a new roof and two new doorways at the west end entrance.
Chair of Impact and Associate Vicar Andy Baker comments; “We were delighted to receive this generous grant from Benefact Trust. It is another important step in our Fundraising campaign as we seek to raise around £1.5m to complete the finance required for Impact. We are so grateful to Benefact Trust for their support. We look forward to keeping in touch with the Trust on our progress.”
Benefact Trust is one of the UK's largest grant-making charities and awarded more than £23 million to churches, charities, and communities in 2022. Its funds come from its ownership of the Benefact Group.
Andrew Bass, Grants Officer for Benefact Trust, said: “We’re delighted to be supporting this major refurbishment project, which will not only ensure the future if this historic building, but will increase its usability, and enable the church to make a real impact in society. The improved space will mean the church can host a range of services to support community need – such as debt advice, counselling, and work with young people.”
A major fundraising campaign was launched in autumn 2022 for this c£10.5m Impact project, to help beautifully transform the church for future generations. The church building is currently inflexible, inaccessible and in desperate need of modernisation. Internal renovations, which have to be approved through the Church of England’s Faculty process include a cafe and servery area, new gallery and lift and meeting spaces. An accessible full immersion baptism pool is planned for use by The Belfrey and churches throughout the area.
The Belfrey expects the Impact project to support the delivery of numerous outcomes such as expansion in its work with children, young people and students. The church can deliver a more effective social action programme for the city, including the expansion of the newly opened Christians Against Poverty (CAP) Debt Centre, and soon to be launched counselling service. It will offer a beautiful mid-sized venue for the city of York (available for hire) and The Belfrey predicts it will double the number of people who visit.
ENDS
For Media Enquiries and Further Information: Please contact Gillian Shepherd, Impact Project Manager on 07795 644680, email gillian.shepherd@belfrey.org. Or visit www.belfrey.org/impact
Notes to the Editors:
St Michael le Belfrey (known as The Belfrey) is a thriving, vibrant Anglican church in the heart of York, situated next to York Minster. The Grade I listed medieval church has an average of 600 weekly worshippers across four services and a significant congregation of 18-30 year olds (a demographic often missing in churches today). It attracts over 35k visitors per year.
A resource church for the Diocese of York, The Belfrey helps to support churches across the Diocese, develop leaders, plant new churches and reach out to the city and beyond.
The c£10.5m Impact Building Project to repair and reorder/renovate the church directly supports The Belfrey’s mission to ‘Serve God’s Transformation of the North’ and bring wider investment into the Church and communities in the North of England. It will offer a stronger foundation to help fulfil our five key aims: Serve York, Make Disciples, Nurture Disciples, Develop Leaders and Plant Churches.
About Benefact Trust
Benefact Trust is one of the UK’s largest grant-making charities: our funds are derived from ownership of the Benefact Group - a specialist financial services organisation.
As a caring Christian trust, Benefact Trust supports the work of churches and Christian charities to help the most vulnerable people in our society; making a positive and transformative difference to lives and communities.
The Trust awards grant funding to Christian organisations that support those in need, particularly projects that tackle homelessness, poverty, and social exclusion. Not only do these grants help to give such initiatives a welcome boost, experienced Grants Officers are also on hand to provide advice and support.
In these difficult times, Benefact Trust is committed to making a significant impact on society – giving people, communities and places a renewed opportunity to flourish.
Follow Benefact Trust on Facebook and Twitter @BenefactTrust, or visit our website for more information.
St Michael Le Belfrey Church, The Parish Centre, 11-12 Minster Yard, York, YO1 7HH
Tel 01904 624190. www.belfrey.org/impact Charity Number 1130866