A primary school in Bilston has partnered up with its parish church to help raise £100,000 for a new ceiling.

Carroll McNally, Headteacher at Holy Trinity Catholic Primary School, has pledged the school’s full support to the fundraising campaign now underway at Holy Trinity Catholic Church.

She has written to parish priest, Fr Craig Fullard, outlining the school pledges to commit £5,000 of fundraising over the next four years.

Last December part of the ceiling collapsed at Holy Trinity, forcing an immediate closure of the church.

Detailed investigation of the damage by experts revealed the whole of the church ceiling needs to be replaced, at a cost of £100,000.

Fortunately, Holy Trinity is part of the St Newman Cluster, a group of four churches serving Wolverhampton and Walsall, and so the parishioners of Holy Trinity are able to worship elsewhere.

But all are determined to reinstate Holy Trinity to its former glory, as Fr Craig explains:

“We all know that our church is much more than just a building. It may be of no great architectural merit (so can’t be listed to attract other grants) but it is such a special place which is held dear in the hearts of so many. When it is being used for what it was built for, it truly comes alive, and all who enter it come away feeling touched and loved.

“Most importantly it is the place where we have seen over 188 years’ worth of loved one’s baptised, it is where today we continue to meet Christ in the Sacraments, it is the place where we have said our ‘farewells to loved ones’.

“It is the place where we are inspired to serve our community by the many fundraising events we usually hold for different charities. It is a community hub for lots of different age groups.

“In the last 16 months alone, as part of the St Newman Cluster of parishes, we have raised over £31,000 for external charities.

“There is so much more that could be said about why we want to save our building - ask someone who joins us and they will tell you lots!”

A loan of £100,000 has been agreed so the work can begin, and the church has four years to pay the money back. The quicker the money can be paid back, the cheaper it will be for the church.

So lots of fundraising is now taking place - most recently a sponsored walk which raised over £6,000, with half going to the roof fund and half to the local charity the Good Shepherd Ministry.

Parishioners are also invited to pledge money over the next four years.

Mrs McNally, headteacher, said: “The importance of this church building, to our school community and to the wider Catholic parish and friends of other faiths across Bilston, can never be underestimated.

“Our school pledges to commit £5,000 of fundraising over the next four years in order to try to play our part in bearing the debt for our future generations. Our youngest children are three years old; we want Holy Trinity Church to be standing for their grandchildren.”

Find out more about the £100k ceiling challenge

The Holy Trinity community wants to go from this (above) back to this (below)