WORK has started on restoring the 1,000-year-old Great Malvern Priory after a successful community-backed crowdfunder raised the £350,000 needed.
And, after months of partial and full closures of the historic building, the renovation should be completed in time for a full programme from Good Friday and over Easter.
A multitude of activities have helped generate the cash, including Rita – the wife of the Priory’s vicar Rev Rod Corke – raising £7,000 by undertaking a daring aeroplane wing walk.
Other members of the community held a variety show and an auction.
The nave floor has been undergoing major building works to make it level and address a 150-year issue which has seen the aisle to the altar flanked by wooden platforms, creating a safety hazard and limiting the use of the space for community activities.
The wooden flooring on the north side is now complete with work starting on the south side on Tuesday and underfloor heating now installed.
Select services are already being held at the Priory after a full closure earlier this year, while others have been held at the Malvern College Chapel.
The community has been involved throughout the works with a time capsule placed underneath the new nave flooring at the Malvern Priory.
Town churchgoers placed 77 different items in the capsule, which will now not be opened for a century.
Items included a letter to the future from the vicar of Malvern, Rev Corke, the master plan for the development of the Priory, a copy of the church magazine and many photographs.
The capsule was laid by two of the Priory’s youngest members of the congregation, Iolo and Martha who are both aged just three, along with 92-year-old fellow worshipper, Edwina Hawker.
The Priory’s communications coordinator Philippa Lowe said: “We’ve had lots of social events and everyone pulled together on this project.
“The idea for the capsule came from our vicar, but we didn’t have much time because the team working on the floor has been brilliant and got on so quickly with the work.”
