St Thomas's Church, Stourbridge, hosts celebration to mark restoration project's completion

Dignitaries including The Mayor of Dudley, Councillor Dave Tyler, and Archdeacon of Dudley, Nikki Groarke were among the special guests at the event at St Thomas's Church on January 19.

Funded thanks to a £149,100 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund - plus £10,000 from the National Churches Trust, £5,000 from the Garfield Weston Foundation and £3,000 Allchurches Trust and funds from VAT refunds and the parish - the work to the Grade I listed church included vital repairs to the external stonework carried out by Midland Masonry, a new entrance ramp with ornate handrails on the south side of the church, new internal automatic doors and a new toilet inside the church.

A solid wooden door from the south porch into the body of the church has also been replaced with a more welcoming part-glazed door as part of the project to make the building more accessible to the community.

The £208K scheme has also seen new tour guides trained up to organise tours of the church and give talks on the history of the Georgian building which was built between 1728 to 1736 by public subscription to serve the people of Stourbridge.

Retired English teacher Wendy Gwynne (pictured below with the Mayor of Dudley) has taken on one of the tour guide roles and has also written a booklet on the history of the church - A Journey Through Time which is available for a £5 donation from the church.

She is also offering speaker visits to organisations and schools to help raise the profile of the church.

Meanwhile - new director of music, James Thomas, is organising organ recitals and join-in and sing choral performances to help raise funds to restore the church organ which is still in need of repair.

There's also a host of other refurbishments planned to help enhance the historic venue.

Church warden Wendy Hemming said: "Further work on the fabric of the building will include cleaning the stained glass windows, replacing the inappropriate 1960’s lighting, completing the redecoration and most importantly for the community re-ordering the inside of the church to make a welcoming community social space under the tower and allowing the main body of the church to be used for concerts and other community events and for different forms and ways of worship.

"Out of these probably the restoration of the organ is the most urgent."

The church is now open six days a week - from 9.30am to 5pm Tuesday to Friday, 10.30am to 1pm on Saturdays, from 9.30am until 7.30pm after Evensong on Sundays or until noon if there is no Evensong. And on Wednesdays ahead of the 11.30am service - the church now hosts a drop-in coffee session for all.

Go to https://stthomasstourbridge.org/ for more details of events or to find out how to become a volunteer at St Thomas's.