£250,000 needed for repairs at churches St Mary Magdalene New Milton, St Peter’s Ashley and St John the Baptist Bashley

MORE than £250,000 of building works are needed to stop three New Milton churches from falling into disrepair.

Fundraisers are calling for the public’s help to pay for vital maintenance at St Mary Magdalene in New Milton, St Peter’s Church in Ashley and St John the Baptist in Bashley.

Marion Brehaut, deputy churchwarden of the parish of Milton, said St Mary Magdalene alone needs £150,000 of attention.

She said: “There’s damp coming through the building’s south wall. It’s already had some treatments but it hasn’t been enough to tackle it yet.

“The drainage works need looking at, some of the pipes need replacing and some of them are blocked.

“The pointing on the south wall needs renewing and it has to be done in lime mortar, which is expensive.

“Plaster is falling off the ceiling in the gallery and throughout the building.

“We also have to take the window out of the south chapel to put a new frame in and replace a rotting door frame on the south wall.”

Marion said St Peter’s Church needs around £50,000 of repairs to its roof and other minor works.

St John’s also needs around £50,000 of work, including drainage.

Ms Brehaut said: “We can carry on using our church buildings at the moment, but with the damp and a window frame rotting, it could fall out in time.

“That probably wouldn’t happen for quite a few years, but in time that’s what will happen if we don’t raise this money now.

“People come into St Mary Magdalene for weddings, funerals and even concerts and I know I wouldn’t feel very comfortable if I were them having to sit in a building with damp coming in.”

The parish of Milton is running fundraising events in the coming months.

On Sunday 16th October there will be a Last Afternoon of the Proms event at St Mary Magdalene at 3pm.

People can also buy tickets to enter a grand prize draw at around 11am on Sunday 30th October with a first prize of £300.

Tickets are £1 each and are available from the parish office or from fundraising team members.

On Saturday 19th November a quiz afternoon will be held in St Mary Magdalene Church hall.

Ms Brehaut added: “All of these works cost so much. We’ve applied for grants, which we’re waiting to hear back about, and we’re doing our own fundraising.

“We’ve already raised £3,000 through a quiz night, a jubilee afternoon tea and our church fete, which raised over £2,000.

“We need this money as soon as possible.”

Donate at justgiving.com/crowdfunding/parishofnewmilton