HEAT THE HEART OF KEYNSHAM: BUILDING OUR COMMUNITY

Aim

HELP US CELEBRATE 750 YEARS IN THIS KEY BUILDING AT THE HEART OF KEYNSHAM, WITH NET ZERO HEATING AND UPDATED FACILITIES FOR COMMUNITY USE

WE DID IT! THANK YOU SO MUCH! THIS MONEY WILL MAKE SURE WE GET NEW HEATING BEFORE NEXT WINTER FOR A BUILDING VERY MUCH AT THE HEART OF THIS COMMUNITY.  AVIVA DOUBLED YOUR DONATIONS AND IT MADE SUCH A DIFFERENCE!

YOU ARE WARMLY INVITED TO THE  KEYNSHAM V.E. DAY PEACE DOVE EXHIBITION IN ST JOHNS' CHURCH  ...MONDAY 5th MAY  FOR 2 WEEKS :  FREE ENTRY 

Have you seen all the doves outside church? They are just a foretaste of the major art installation inside St Johns.  Thousands of doves are cascading down  to celebrate VE Day.   Do please come and see for yourself! Many Schools and local organisations  have taken part in this, so do please come and see their work, and maybe add your own dove to the work?

The work is inspired by sculptor and artist Peter Walker, and used with his kind permission.  His Peace Dove installations have already featured in many British cathedrals.

 BUBBLY AND CANAPES 20th JUNE; TICKETS WILL BE ON SALE THROUGH CHURCH NOW

NEW HEATING BEFORE WINTER;

The largest public place in town has had no heating for the last 2 years.  With your support, we can now install ground-breaking new electric radiant heat panels this autumn. Not only will this be more efficient, it will help us lead the way to net zero in the fight against climate change. 

Funds are now needed towards plans to refurbish the building, with automatic doors, WCs, a servery area and more flexible seating.

. LOCAL COUNCILLORS SHOW THEIR SUPPORT !                                                                               Local councillors Dave Biddleston, Alex Beaumont, Andy Wait, Alan Hale and George Leach all visited the church to lend their support to this key community building. Pictured here with illustrator Anna, who designed our logo and publicity, and the treasurer Anne. We looked at where the new heating haloes will go in the church, and the proposed plans for redeveloping the building. They have all been to events here and experienced the unheated church so could appreciate how important this project is for our town.

We aced our first target in 4 days, our second in 4 weeks...and we ended up with over £31k... So now  we can start to look at much needed improvements inside the building, which will be the next project. We have consulted with a number of community groups.   You have told us what you would like, as we open this building and its amazing heritage up to the wider public, and develop a wider range of events open to all.                      

KEYNSHAM; YOU ARE AMAZING; THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT SO FAR, FOR THIS ICONIC BUILDING 

Despite the lack of heating, all our major town events have continued in this building: from the Remembrance service to the Christmas Tree Festival, concerts, and many school events. Thanks to you, we can continue with our plans!               ACCESSIBLE AUTOMATIC GLASS DOORS will keep the draughts out and enable easy access for wheel chair and buggy users.    WCs and SERVERY will give us more scope to run events and concerts in the building.  FLEXIBLE SEATING so that we can clear a bigger space for exhibition and events like the winter and Christmas tree festivals.           A COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT OFFICER   to develop more  events and celebrate the rich heritage of this building more widely.

COMMUNITY DISPLAYS AND EVENTS TO CELEBRATE OUR RICH LOCAL HERITAGE              These will be  key to our project.  Chances are you have already visited this building. Were you at  the Music Festival or Remembrance Day events, or the sponsored charity tower abseil?  If so, you will already know what a special place this is; the only grade 2* listed building in a fast-growing town.  It has a fascinating story to tell and we want to share it more widely with the town. Our strap line is  'St Johns 750; Local heritage, building community'.  

YOU DONATED... AND AVIVA MATCHED YOUR GIFT!  

A big thank you to AVIVA!  Aviva are supporting us because the heating  project is innovative; a new way to heat an old draughty building without using gas.  They are also aware of the potential of this building to reach the wider community in this fast growing town.

THIS IS WHAT IT WILL LOOK LIKE 

 We have researched all the options out there for this large building and the best solution is ground-breaking new electric radiant heat panels.  They are designed to heat the person, rather than warm up the air in this tall and draughty space! They come  mounted in halo chandeliers, in keeping with this historic building.  You would not even guess there are heating panels inside each halo!

This system is already successfully installed in public buildings around the world.  It will be cheaper to run, more efficient, and save us over 12tonnes of Co2 each year...We want to make this building  something the whole town can be proud of..so that others come to our town to learn from our example.

YOU SUPPORTED US!

- Aviva matched your first donation, up to £250 [we can claim gift aid on top of this!].                                                                                                                                                                       - The 'rewards' went well; thanks to the support of local businesses.  THANK YOU SO MUCH

 SUPPORT  YOUR ABSEIL TEAM!

THEPP AND ANNA, KATIE AND IZZY, JACOB AND SOPHIE--all abseiled down the church tower Saturday 26th April; you supported them so well; over £6000 of our funds came from this.

WORK HAS ALREADY STARTED AS YOU READ THIS! Here's what we have already done to make the plans a reality!!

And here are some pics of progress so far; installing a new 3 phase supply that can provide the larger amount of electricity this project requires.  We already use Good Energy, so all our energy is green sourced!

DREAM BIG

 Draft plans to upgrade the building are on display inside the church, so do pop in and take a look; it's open every weekday morning 9-12.

HELP THE DREAM COME TRUE...  KEYNSHAM HEAT YOUR HEART OUT!

This project successfully funded on 12th May 2025