Fantastic fundraiser to help £2million project to rescue a church roof

On a pleasantly warm evening at St James Church, Milton, there was a fundraising event at the end of May to raise money towards the church’s Roof Rescue Project and its target of £2 million; there is still quite a way to go to achieve this so all donations, support for events etc will be very gratefully accepted.

The first St James church building was consecrated in 1841, becoming the church for Milton and Eastney. A new church was deemed necessary and was consecrated in 1913. The original church was subsequently demolished apart from part of the south wall, which can be seen a few yards from the entrance to the current church

Now, the “new” church building needs to have the ageing roof replaced and structural stonework repaired. St James is a large building with a long roofline, which helps explain why the costs are so high. In order to manage the overall roof and other works, the project has been broken down into phases with, it is hoped, more achievable financial targets associated with each phase.

With the first phase comes the Roof Rescue Project, in which fundraising has already begun in earnest, the latest of which was the visit of Tesoro, a distinctively unique easy listening and classical crossover duo comprising of Simon Long and Karen Barnett, supported by the Fine Voice chorus, for nearly two hours of songs from musicals from all corners of the earth from the last 100 years

The two halves were both a mixture of solos from Simon (including Maria, West Side Story, USA) and Karen (including Cabaret, Germany), duets from them (including Senza Catene, also known as Unchained Melody, Ghost, Italy) plus songs supported by the chorus (including O What A Circus, Evita, Argentina) but also some separate songs by the chorus (including Circle of Life, Lion King, Africa)

Other songs/countries included At The End of the Day (Les Miserables, France), Lonely Goatherd (Sound of Music, Austria) and, back to back from South Pacific, Nothing Life a Dame and I’m Gonna Wash That Man

The finale was Phantom of the Opera (France), O Mio Babbino Caro (Italy), Nessun Dorma (Italy) and Brindisi (the drinking song, set in France)

The evening raised nearly £500 towards the appeal  ; for more details please go to: St James Church stjamesmilton.org.uk/roof-rescue-project/   , Tesoro    www.tesoroduo.co.uk   and Fine Voice chorus  www.finevoice.co.uk   

Ken Ebbens

Fine Voice Chorus