The Heart of Greenwich project 

On November 2022 we held a special thanksgiving service for the Heart of Greenwich Place and People project as it moves into its next stage from January 2023. This page contains an overview of the project, including a list of benefactors and the project team, and a reflection on the project after its completion.
 

The Aims and Scope of the Heart of Greenwich Project

St Alfege Church received a grant of £1,836,800 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund for the Heart of Greenwich, Place and People project, thanks to National Lottery players.

The project aimed to reinforce the church’s position as a heritage asset at the heart of Greenwich, reveal and interpret our hidden spaces and heritage for visitors, school children, their families and a diverse local community. Vital repairs to the fabric were carried out bringing to light the splendid work of Nicholas Hawksmoor, access has been improved along with lighting,  enhanced landscaping, signage and interpretation.

Working with the University of Greenwich, the Royal Borough of Greenwich and schools, we will give students practical experience, recruit and train volunteer Heritage Ambassadors and provide a programme of heritage focused activities. We will strengthen St Alfege Church’s role as a resource for future generations. Custodian of the emerging story of the place, it holds the remains of significant figures in British history and plays an important role in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site.

Our Vicar at the time, Chris Moody, said: “This has been a culmination of years of planning and we are absolutely delighted at this generous award. I would like to thank everyone who has made this possible.”

Explaining the importance of the HLF support, Stuart Hobley, Head of HLF London, said: “The Heart of Greenwich project will see Hawksmoor’s building restored and the heritage of this well-loved church brought to a wider audience. It is great that this gift from National Lottery players will support this well-loved historic building, and we can’t wait to see what further exciting discoveries will be made”.

Heart of Greenwich included

• cleaning, conservation and lighting of the north and south elevations
• a new access ramp and creation of a new entrance visible from the street
• two wheelchair accessible toilets
• repairs to the roof
• landscaping and a community memorial garden
• immersive events in the crypt for schools
• other heritage related events and lectures
• an increase in the number and training of volunteers.
   

Benefactors of St Alfege, and the Heart of Greenwich Project

 
Over generations, benefaction has played a vital role in the flourishing of St Alfege Church and the social fabric of Greenwich. 

Among the first benefactors recognised on the church Benefactors Boards  is Joan Tallis, widow of Thomas Tallis who from 1587 donated 10 shillings annually to the running of Queen Elizabeth College, which had been founded through a benefaction from William Lambarde from the church in 1558. 

Since that time, successive generations of Greenwich residents have donated funds for church repairs or developments and for community projects. Notable recent appeals have included:
 
the church roof appeal in 1982 - a highlight being the actress (Dame Anna Neagle) and the Bishop (Rt Revd Michael Marshall) ignoring any risk to life and limb by taking tea together on the roof

the East Portico Appeal led by Tim Barnes and his team - Anne Broadbent, Philip Craig, Bryony Heap, Yvonne Horsfall Turner, Rachel Lethbridge, Penny Matheson, Chris and Gill Moody, Ian Pawlby and Adam Pollock.

The Heart of Greenwich Place and People project has been made possible through the donations of local people and trusts, who between them have provided match funding to secure a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, with the assistance of Wendy Foreman, Mark Harris, Lesley Hodsdon, Helen McIntosh and Gill Moody.

Our Benefactors:

• National Lottery Heritage Fund
• Allchurches Trust
• ChurchCare
• Dame Susan Morden Charity
• Garfield Weston Foundation
• Greenwich Neighbourhood Growth fund
• The Hobson Charity
• John Booth Charitable Trust
• Marshall's Charity
• The Mercer Family of Charities 
• Prudence Penn Charity
• Veolia Environmental Trust - for The Community Memorial Garden including replacement trees
• The William Boreman Foundation
   
• Merritt and Edith Aldrich (posthumous, arranged by Adriana Savargnani)
• Freda Cannon (posthumous)
• Peter Harris (posthumous grant from the Peter Harris Bequest, awarded by Tim Barnes)
• Jonathan Horsfall Turner (posthumous, arranged by Yvonne Horsfall Turner)
• Bob Vogt (Priest) (posthumous)
• Pam Williams (posthumous)
   
• Olayinka Adegbuyi
• Dermot Agnew
• Meshach, Mercy, Victoria and Joyce Ajoku
• Hélène Alexander
• Nigel Anderson
• Anonymous
• Ade and Olayinka Ariyo
• Anthony Austin
• Gordon Baker
• Richard Bancroft
• Daphne Barnett
• Chris and Irene Bishop
• Jane Birkett
• Stella Booth
• Rosemary and Tony Butler
• Gordon and Ursula Bowyer
• Andrew Van Buiten
• Ann Cochran
• Sue Corneck
• Lesley Curwen
• Naomi Delap
• Liz and Tim Delap
• Simon and Wendy Foreman
• Simon Gallie
• Ruth Gribble
• Lesley Hodsdon
• Olivia Horsfall Turner
• Keith and Moira Ison
• Paulette Johnson
• Gill Jordan
• Joan Jones
• James Kinman
• Martyn Lewcock
• Paulene Malaszek
• Dave Marnham
• David McEvoy
• Charles and Jo Mercey
• Eve Mitleton-Kelly
• Chris and Gill Moody
• Andrew Morely
• Carole Moses
• Christina Norbert
• Alison Palmer
• Ian and Sue Pawlby
• Nigel Perks
• Adam Pollock
• Ann Powlton
• Nick Raynsford
• Caroline, James and Grace Risdon
• The Robinsons
• Edmond Rose
• Debbie Sandringham
• Francis, Penny and Helen Saunders
• Elizabeth Sekweyama
• Jane and John Sharman
• Beverley Sharp
• Jean Smith
• John and Tina Stanley
• Gareth Steel
• Chris and Janet Todhunter
• Richard Upton
• Ian Wakeling
• Doreen Waller
• David Yunju

Thanks also to:

• Martin and Bryony Heap and those who provided auction lots and raffle prizes for the Autumn Bash with Bangers and Mash
• Theatre of Wine for their Parsons' Bumper wine tasting
• All those who have promoted or contributed to For your Convenience
   

The Heart of Greenwich Project Team  

This project has been made possible thanks to generous donations by members of the congregation, local people, legacies, grant making trusts and community organisations who between them provided matched funding to secure a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.  Full details of our generous benefactors can be found here. 

We wish to thank the Revd Canon Chris Moody and Gill Moody for their bold vision and inspiring leadership which has made this project possible.

We would also like to thank our partners, the Royal Borough of Greenwich, University of Greenwich and Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site, for their significant contributions to the Heart of Greenwich programme.

Heart of Greenwich Place and People Steering Committee from August 2016

Wendy Foreman, Project director from June 2019, communications and member of PCC
Simon Gallie, Project treasurer and member of PCC
Nick Hervey,Churchwarden (retired 2018)
David McEvoy, Reader
Revd Canon Chris Moody, Vicar (retired June 2019)
Gill Moody, Project director and fundraising (stepped down June 2019 on retirement of Chris Moody)
Revd Caroline Risdon, Assistant Priest
Chris Todhunter, Hon Surveyor and PCC (retired 2020)

Anne Burton, Volunteer Development Manager  (from Jan 2019) 
Rebecca Parrant, Heritage Interpretation and Engagement Manager (from May 2018) 

Mervyn Fernandes, Town Centre manager, Royal Borough of Greenwich
Professor Neil Spiller, University of Greenwich (to 2018)
Alison Fisher, University of Greenwich  

Project Design Team 

Rachel Farrer Bristow, Architect, Richard Griffiths Architects
Richard Griffiths, Architect, Richard Griffith Architects
Simon Hawkins, Glevum Consulting 
Katie Holt,  Glevum Consulting
Nick Gold,  Quantity Surveyor,  PT Projects
Ian Miller,  The Morton Partnership 

Contractors  

Rod Palmer,  Associate Director, PAYE Conservation
Alex Towle, Contract Manager, PAYE Conservation 
Spencer Hall, PAYE Conservation

Steve Ogley, AJC Limited 

Tony Marcham, Capital Electrical 

Andy Jones, DA Fabrications Designs 

Tim Bartlett, MTA Associates
Graham Cook, MTA Associates 

Giving thanks for the St Alfege Church Heart of Greenwich project

A reflection by Wendy Foreman, Voluntary Project Manager for the Heart of Greenwich project

Today we are celebrating the completion of our church’s major project – Heart of Greenwich, Place and People, a project largely funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund which awarded us just over £1.8m towards restoring the fabric of the building and opening up the building and its many stories to locals and visitors.

Much of the work is very visible. We cleaned and repaired the stonework on the north and south elevations, and relayed the paving around the church. An important part of the project was to make the church and the churchyard accessible, so we levelled the paths across the courtyard, put in a new ramp, and two new accessible toilets in the north porch. Less visibly we did internal redecoration, put in a new kitchen area and installed a fire alarm system.  We also made the north door the main entrance for visitors so that the tens of thousands of people who come to Greenwich can see that the church is very much open and keen to welcome them.  And we needed to do that. Many thanks to Richard Griffiths and Rachel Farrer Bristow, our architects and carried out by our wonderful contractors PAYE.

We have much improved signage and have re-landscaped the courtyard including the beautiful community memorial garden with its very comfy benches. We put in 460 new plants, 9 replacement trees and 20 metres of new native hedging all chosen to help wildlife. 

We also set out to reveal the vibrant history of the church and the extraordinary people associated with it through time.  ZMMA created a thoughtful interpretation scheme, telling these stories in seven interpretation boards in the churchyard and in an imaginative range of interpretation materials inside the church including a touchscreen display in the choir vestry. 

We have an ongoing programme of activity - talks on the church’s heritage and architecture, musical events, hidden spaces tours (tours of our amazing crypt and galleries) and tours of our bellringing chamber. We have also welcomed hundreds of primary schoolchildren who have benefited from the learning resources we have developed for them. 

We are truly privileged to worship in this building and to benefit from the vision and skills of the craftsmen who built and decorated this church three hundred years ago. And it has also been a real privilege to welcome the many skilled craftsmen who have worked on this project. Not only have they preserved the heritage of our building, but have made it fit for the twenty-first century. No mean feat. So, a huge thank you to the modern-day stonemasons, metal workers, carpenters, ground workers, plumbers, electricians, scaffolders, paper conservationists, painters … and one letterer. And of course, the architects, archaeologists, gardeners, plantsmen, designers, graphic designers, copywriters, site managers, project managers, quantity surveyors, web developers, interactive computer designers and so it goes on.

Another thing that has made this project so special is the dozens of volunteers who have made it all possible.  There have been and continue to be so many volunteering roles - research volunteers; archive volunteers; the heritage ambassadors who welcome visitors and pilgrims every day of the year; hidden spaces tour guides; the members of the steering committee (members of the church council and congregation) which met over 30 times; the volunteer gardeners including children and families; and the watering volunteers who helped our beautiful new trees and plants thrive.  That all adds up to over 10,000 volunteer hours.

Special thanks to Rebecca Parrant, Interpretation and Engagement Manager, and Anne Burton, Volunteer Development manager whose tenacity, creativeness, flair, commitment, sheer hard work and sense of humour have contributed so much to its success. And much of it during a pandemic.  

We would also like to thank our partners, the Royal Borough of Greenwich, the University of Greenwich, The Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust, The Greenwich Society, and our Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site Partners for their significant and many varied contributions.

If you look up when in the church – at either side of the chancel there are two benefaction boards, detailing charitable giving via the church that goes back five centuries. Benefaction, giving, has been at the heart of St Alfege Church and the social fabric of Greenwich for generations and it continues today. This amazing £2.6 million project was made possible not only by National Lottery players but also by generous donations by members of the congregation, Friends of St Alfege, local people, legacies, grant making trusts and community organisations such as the Peter Harris bequest.  See online benefaction board 
 
We wish to thank the Revd Canon Chris Moody and Gill Moody for their bold vision and inspiring leadership which has made this project possible.  Chris gave a wonderful sermon during the Thanksgiving service and it can be found here 
 
The formal funded part of the project has now finished. We’re giving thanks for that.  But it’s not all over. It is now up to all of us to continue the work of opening up the church to visitors, pilgrims and schoolchildren, and looking after our beautiful building and grounds.

Back towards the beginning of the project in January 2017 we did a comprehensive visitor survey. It showed that most local people and visitors to Greenwich thought the church was closed. Not anymore! Today St Alfege Church gleams, bright and visible as a clear symbol of God's presence at the Heart of Greenwich and as a welcoming beacon to worshippers and visitors alike.