Work on rebuilding All Saints Parish Church, Fleet will start in early June … almost six years after an arson attack gutted it on 22 June 2015. It is hoped that the church will reopen in Summer 2022.
Since the fire the Vicar, Rev Mark Hayton and his congregation has been negotiating with authorities and conservationists to get the green light to rebuild not just the church, but an annexe to make the building more flexible for town and church community use.
Finally, approval has been given and rebuilding can begin. Although insurance will cover much of the church rebuilding costs, a £950, 000 appeal was launched in 2018 to raise additional funds for anything in the church not covered by insurance and for the annexe.
Although the full cost of the church is now covered the church still has some way to go before work on the annexe can start. It has raised some £600,000. “But ,” says Mark: “Our intention is for the whole project, including an annexe to provide new facilities for the whole community, to be completed as soon as possible.”
“We are hoping that once people see builders at work they will feel even more encouraged to donate. “ He adds: ”It has been a long struggle but we never doubted we would get there in the end. At the moment it will be just wonderful to get our church back, but we are looking forward to when we can also offer the town a community facility and also increase our opportunities for Christian outreach.”
Donations can be made to the project via our VirginMoneyGiving site.