Restoration Appeal
"My grandparents were both christened and married in this church. It has been a focal point for worship, celebrations and prayer for the people of Greenwich for hundreds of years. It is architecturally, without question, one of the finest churches in London."
- Jools Holland, Patron of the Appeal
"Since I first attended St Alfege after its restoration in 1954 I have marvelled at its beauty and peace. This feeling has never left me."
- Jean Smith, parishioner
"Each of Hawksmoor’s six great churches uniquely fitted the locality it enhances. When designing began in 1711 the new Romney Road was being laid eastwards past the Royal Hospital. His noble portico, unprecedented for its date, is in full view."
- Prof. Kerry Downes
"As a congregation we work hard to keep the building in good repair. The east portico is a crucial feature in the Greenwich streetscape, and acknowledged as a high point of Hawksmoor’s work. Its cornice, urns and stonework are deteriorating, as are the carvings on the drums in front of it. We have inherited this beautiful church, the product of previous generations’ benefactions. Now it is our turn."
- Vicar, Revd Chris Moody
Our plans
The restoration of the tower was completed in 2010, thanks to a generous legacy from a parishioner, Daphne Caton.
The lower level restoration and landscaping works, facing onto Greenwich High Road was completed in 2012. This included the restoration of the ‘cherubs’ on the drums at ground level. We are now looking at funding to carry out the higher level cleaning and restoration of the East Portico.
Our appeal target is therefore £550,000. So far we have raised £165,009.83 without any government or lottery funding. Please give generously.
We are planning a bid for a major Heritage Lottery Fund grant to help cover a large proportion of these costs. If this is successful we will be in a position to consider cleaning the north and south sides of the church as well. The bid will take around eighteen months to go through its various stages and require an element of match funding.
Click here to find out how to give.
Upcoming events
Open Gardens planned for 2 and 9 June 2013 - For details and gardens information please visit our news page. In June 2011 this event raised over £8,000.
Recent events
House to house collection in the parish - over fifty volunteers went door to door in the three weeks at the end of November and beginning of December and raised £8,277.16. As well as collecting a large sum of money, it raised consciousness among local residents about the importance of the building as part of our unique architectural heritage in Greenwich.
Cheese and wine tasting - the Mayor of Royal Borough of Greenwich, Cllr David Grant held a cheese and wine tasting event at Davy's Wine Bar Cellar to raise money for the appeal. Many took the opportunity to listen to a talk on cheese and wines and took part in a raffle. This event raised £1,246.