Why the Appeal?

So why the appeal to save Christopher Wren's masterpiece?

In simple terms the spire is falling down!

Benefits:

• St Bride’s is one of the finest examples of Christopher Wren’s work which has stood for more than 300 years.
• Wren’s tallest City church has survived world wars, decades of smoky chimneys, storms, gales and lightning, defiling by birds and post-war pile driving: no surprise then that its walls and tower have needed periodic strengthening.
• Rusting of Wren’s original iron cramps, which hold the stones together, is breaking stone faces apart.
• Damage to stonework causing falls of stone from the tower has now become of serious concern.
• Grime has built up since the last cleaning 40 years ago and carbon more than an inch deep in places has accumulated in the iconic spire.
• The interior of the church, untouched for more than 30 years, sorely needs attention.
• The parish has to start fundraising now to carry out the vital conservation work during 2013 so essential to ensuring the future of St Bride’s through the 21st Century.

Why it matters

St Bride’s Fleet Street has a special significance for many people, located as it is in the heart of the City of London:

The City landscape is punctuated with historic buildings, many of them churches. A few are fine examples of Wren’s best work. They are the glue that holds the Cityscape together and helps make the ever-changing property skyline what it is today.

Sir Michael Bear
Master of the Worshipful Company of Paviors,
Late Lord Mayor of London

Architecture can be symbolic as well as functional, a reminder of the past as well as an amenity for the present, and aesthetic as well as technical. Wren’s St Bride’s Church, with its distinctive spire, is a timeless example.

Paul Finch OBE
Chairman
Design Council Cabe

The Challenge

Wren’s Spire has inspired for over 300 years and continues to INSPIRE! today.

We need to raise £2.5 million – for this vital programme of restoration. We have committed £300,000 from our current reserves to this task.

St Bride’s is a working church; a building that is constantly in use seven days a week, with an active congregation of residents and local business people. As well as the daily life of St Bride’s there are regular weddings, christenings, memorials and concerts. The association with Wren ensures that there is also a regular overseas visitor profile too. All this is serviced by a small staff and with the help of a team of volunteers.

St Bride’s walls and tower needed to be strengthened earlier in the last century as well as during the 1950’s programme of restoration. Since then they have survived smoky chimneys, lightning, stormy gales, acid rain, extensive pile-driving and defiling by birds. This damage to the stonework has now become a serious concern as pieces of stone are falling from the tower and are a danger to the public.

It is also forty years since the tower’s last cleaning, and the grime of London life has again built-up and is obscuring much of the beauty of Wren’s masterpiece. St Bride’s is one of London’s most beautiful and inspiring structures. It has been at the heart of printing and the media for over 500 years and buildings on this site have been in use for nearly 2000 years. It now sits amongst one of the great centres of London commerce and finance.

We need your help to ensure that St Bride’s continues to play an active part in the life of the City of London and remains a fully working building in Fleet Street, with a clear focus that stimulates, interacts with and contributes to the congregation that includes the media, the financial sector, large and small local businesses, the passing tourist and you and me.

The Venerable David Meara
Archdeacon of London
Rector of St Bride’s

How you can help

INSPIRE! Donation arrangements and complementary offers

Introduction

• Any donation can be payable (contracted) over three years rather than all at once, if that is what a donor wishes.
• Donations are intended to help the primary purpose of the appeal, but will attract complementary benefits.
• All donors will be invited to a service of thanksgiving specifically related to this appeal.
• All donors will have their names recorded in the church in some form.

By individuals

Gift Aid donations increase the value of a cash gift by 25%, and higher rate taxpayers receive a personal allowance reducing the net ‘cost’ of their gift.

Gifts of assets including shares and securities, units in unit trusts, shares in open-ended investment companies, interest on offshore funds, and property.
– Donations from Trust Funds

By companies

Gift Aid for cash donations, but different rules apply on tax refunds. The value of donated shares and securities are treated as a deduction from company income. There can be tax exemption and relief from Corporation Tax on a gain, or relief against future Capital Gains Tax from a loss.