Deopham & Hackford Parish Council

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Deopham STAR is the name given to the project team working to restore and repair St Andrew's church, Deopham and to deliver a range of new activities and resources around the church. Working on behalf of High Oak Parochial Church Council (which is responsible for the church) the project team has been awarded a Development Grant of £48,955 by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

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The award is for the ‘Caring for our Roots’ project, transforming the at-risk church into a sustainable heritage, community and worship hub for the village of Deopham and for the wider area. This will be achieved in partnership with local schools, the local community, the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, the Norfolk Record Office and others.

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What is ‘Caring for our Roots’?

‘Caring for our Roots’ will explore the importance of place, identity and inclusion to a community as expressed through the distinctive and valued heritage of its parish church. This will be achieved both through urgent repairs to the church’s fabric in order to remove it from Historic England’s ‘Heritage At Risk’ Register and through a series of engaging new activities and resources, designed to explore, celebrate and nurture the ‘roots’ of our community – its built, social and environmental heritage. These activities will culminate in the launch of a new ‘Caring for our Roots’ exhibition, co-created and co-curated by pupils from our local schools in partnership with the Norfolk Record Office.

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What is the development award for?

The initial National Lottery Heritage Fund award is being used in the project’s development phase, to pay for further investigations into the church’s condition and to build project activity ideas. This will then lead to a further, much larger, application to The National Lottery Heritage Fund for a grant to deliver the project and its outcomes.

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First, we need to establish what is wrong with the building and how much it will cost to put it right. To this end, the STAR group has appointed specialists to help them devise the best options to secure the future, among them an activity consultant, an architect, a project manager and an evaluation consultant (a requirement of the NLHF is that we evaluate all our actions). The architect is responsible for sub-contracting many more specialists, such as an archaeologist, structural engineer and an ecologist to advise first and foremost on the many colonies of bats that we have in Deopham church.

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Second, and almost before we can have many more activities in the church, we need to investigate making the church interior more welcoming for people. So we are looking at upgrading the electricity supply for the heating and lighting systems and installing an accessible toilet within the church. We are also looking at making the whole building more accessible.

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The group has also surveyed some Norfolk churches to see what they gained by improving facilities, with some interesting results. All churches surveyed said they would install toilet and refreshment facilities if they were to start again. Almost all would recommend that other churches do the same as they have found the facilities cost-effective and they allow for increased use as a community venue. Moreover, the facilities make the church a more welcoming environment for those attending church services.

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How do you know this is what the village wants or needs?

The most important part of deciding what we want was informed by a consultation with our local community (a Deopham-wide survey with a good response rate). We have also gone wider than just Deopham as we recognise that the project’s activity outcomes will be for all ages, including adult learners and for those visiting Deopham.

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Those we have consulted and sought advice from include:

• Deopham community

• The Norfolk Record Office

• The Norfolk Wildlife Trust 

• Historic England

• The Inspired Classrooms project 

• Caring For God’s Acre

• The Gralix Hall, Deopham

• Hingham Toddler Group and Coffee Club

• Deopham Parish Council

• Norfolk County Council

• Informal consultations with groups and individuals already using the church

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What activities have you done so far?

Morley and Tacolneston school pupils, with our Activity Consultant, have had two trips to the Norfolk Record Office in which they looked at resources that the records office has and learnt how to use them. They also started thinking about investigating Deopham’s “roots” as part of the “Caring for Our Roots” project.

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Primary school pupils have also spent half a day at the church with specialist volunteers, learning about the church as a record of the past and the churchyard as a place to nurture wildlife with the support of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust.

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Further, the group put on a successful harp concert in the church by Margaret Watson, an established and popular harpist. The range of music that she played was quite incredible and dispelled some of the myths about the harp. The feedback that we received was very good and urged us to try and put on other events. This suggests that the village and beyond will attend events as long as we have the correct environment and the appropriate events.

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When will you apply for the bigger grant?

High Oak Parochial Church Council and the Deopham STAR group realistically now have until the end of November 2024 to complete their work before applying to The National Lottery Heritage Fund for the larger delivery phase grant in March 2025.

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About The National Lottery Heritage Fund

National Lottery Heritage Fund grant applications over £250,000 are assessed in two rounds. The Caring for our Roots project has initially been granted round one development funding of £48,955 by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, allowing it to progress with its plans. Detailed proposals are then considered by The National Lottery Heritage Fund at second round, where a final decision is made on the full funding award of £352,271.

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Using money raised by the National Lottery, we Inspire, lead and resource the UK’s heritage to create positive and lasting change for people and communities, now and in the future. www.heritagefund.org.uk. 

Follow @HeritageFundUK on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLotteryHeritageFund

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Since The National Lottery began in 1994, National Lottery players have raised over £46billion for projects and more than 670,000 grants have been awarded across the UK – the equivalent of more than 240 lottery grants in every UK postcode district. More than £30 million raised each week goes to good causes across the UK.