Photo Gallery & Project Updates
Below we share our project updates taken form our Bi-weekly church E-newsletter, which include further information and photos showing the progress of the structural repair works, events and our community engagement work
Start of March 2026 – External drainage work begins
Mid March
Thanks to the dry weather, digging out the drainage trenches and soakaways is going well, with one soakaway still to be excavated.
Behind the east wall what appears to be a part of a path has been discovered, or possibly the foundation of the original boundary wall as the land on the north side was donated to expand the graveyard in the 1800’s. The site Archaeologist will review and log this as part of the works.
End of March
The drainage works are nearing completion and the scaffolding has been put up ready for replacing the guttering and restoring window ‘frames’ on south side, this will include any repairs or replacement of external stone work as required. The replastering internally has started and has been going well, this is being done to help prevent further damp and damage to the walls.
April 2026
The external work on the church has been continuing and you may have seen the scaffolding up in the grounds to allow for this to take place. The hoods, which are shaped mouldings above a door or window, have been repaired over windows on the south side. These have been rebuilt and the one over the west door is almost finished too.
The plastering has now all been completed. The limewashing on the ways is well on way to be finished. Five coats are needed! So this can take some time, allowing for it to dry before starting the next coat. This is due to be completed by the end of April.
We will also be looking for other volunteers to support the ongoing project work and activities at All Saints Church. This will involve sharing the rich heritage of the church, assisting with visiting groups and ongoing community activities and events, supporting the work of the Friends of All Saints who work to preserve and maintain the Church and more.
Start of May 2026
All of the internal work including the lime plastering is now completed and it has now been possible to put the church furniture and items back in place which had to be moved or relocated temporarily during the building works.
Over the next two weeks we will be giving the church a through clean and tidy, so it will be ready to reopen again soon.
A group of willing volunteers helped on two mornings to clean the Church. They dusted, washed, hoovered, polished and helped move items. It is starting to look more ready to welcome visitors again in time for our first public open afternoon on Saturday 16th, where a talk will be given and both architects who have worked on the project will be there to ask questions and find out more about the works which have been completed and to learn more about the rich history of All Saints Church.
As part of the project we have appointed a Heritage Programme Manager for a year. Jenny Glanfield started this month and will be working part time be working with the project team, evaluators to help deliver the project outcomes, which alongside the building work will include community engagement, the development of new interpretation to share the rich heritage of All Saints and more.
Mid May update
A big thank you to all those who again last Thursday to clean the Church and help make it look more presentable for the open afternoon. We are very greateful for your help. There will be further cleaning required at some stage; we’ll let you know when we need a helping hand.
Our first opening of All Saints Church took place on Saturday. Great timing as May celebrates Local and Community History month!
Lots of people visited, excited to see what restoration and repair work had taken place and to find out more about our The National Lottery Heritage Fund project and what was planned
Rev. Sue Brooks, Project Lead gave talk about the church history, leading onto the need for the current works. This was followed by the opportunity to meet with the Project Architect from Thomas Ford & Partners, some of the project team and the stonemasons from Prestigious Stonemasonry who gave two small group tours to view the current work in progress and the completed work on the windows and window grills, alongside up close to several of the stain glass windows – the detail was amazing!
‘Lovely’, ‘Absolutely brilliant’, ‘Amazed at what has been done’, ‘So Interesting’, ‘I could see a face in the stained glass!’, ‘Amazing to see the difference’ and ‘I was amazed to how light the church now looks’ were just a few of the comments received.
Additional work is needed on stonework and to replace some of the worn roof tiles. The new gutters have arrived and are being painted before being put up in the next week. The photos below show a small section of the roof where some of the tiles are starting to wear away or have broken, so the really worn ones will be replaced with newer Kentish peg tiles. You can also see the state of the guttering which has rusted an is broken in parts, so was in need of replacement. So these repair works will help ensure the church continues to be well maintained for several more years to come.
End of May/ Start of June update
The gutters are new now gutters are going up around the building, supporting the improved drainage system. The stonework on the south window has now been replaced/repaired, so we no longer have holes and draughts coming into the church! There are still a few other pieces of work which need to be completed with the stonework and windows and then once this is finished the scaffolding will be removed from around the church.
We have begun our community engagement work and have started working with some of our local uniformed groups. So over the next two weeks we are being visited by the Rainbows, two Brownies groups, Cubs, two Beaver groups, and the Scouts. They will be learning about the rich biodiversity of the churchyard, and between them will get the chance to do different activities including hunting for minibeasts, identifying different insects, plants and trees. Teaching them news skills and and giving them the opportunity to learn more about caring for our local environment, wildlife and plant life. Several of the groups are using their visits to count towards the young people’s environmental or wildlife badges.
Our yearly ‘Journey of Life’ sessions with year 6 pupils from the local primary schools are also taking place. This links in to the rich history of the church and pilgrimage, inviting the young people to explore different reasons for journeys, as they too are about to embark on a period of change and transition to secondary school. As well as exploring what a pilgrim is and Christian symbols often linked to pilgrimage.
Man Walking Image by Mabel Amber, who will one day from Pixabay
The work is all possible thank to grant The National Lottery Heritage Fund has given us as part of our All Saints Church Project. With thanks to the National Lottery Heritage Fund and National Lottery players.
Mid June Update
The Scaffolding is due to be removed by Friday 19th June as the majority of work needing it has now been carried out such as the masonry repairs and replacing the guttering. There are still some window grills to be delivered and put in place in early July which will then complete all of the physical restoration and repair works. The organ is being uncovered and retuned this week, so by next week we will be back to normal with our regular 8am and once a month 5pm service taking place.
The community engagement work is now in full flow, so our project team and green team volunteers have been very busy the past three weeks and we have visits and future events and activities being planned too.
Over the last two weeks we have welcomed over eighty young people from the Snodland Uniformed groups; Rainbows, Brownies, Cubs, Beavers and Scouts and over 30 helpers. Volunteers from the Church Green team have been busy across many evenings leading special ‘Count on Nature’ sessions. This has been an extension of our annual ‘Count on Nature’ survey event run as part of the Gods Acre Project. The young people and their leaders have really enjoyed visiting and the chance to explore the churchyard at All Saints which has been rich in wildlife and plants/flowers where we leave areas unmown and left to nature. This has meant they found a huge array of insects, spiders and bees, butterflies, moths and damselflies which they recorded, as well as looking at the huge array of different things growing there. Many of the young people had not visited All Saints Church before, so it was great to welcome new faces.
We have also welcomed over 120 year 6 pupils from St. Katherines and Snodland CEP Schools. Who have taken part in our ‘Journey of Life’ sessions. The young people are invited to explore different reasons for journeys, as they too are about to embark on a period of change and transition to secondary school. This is linked to pilgrimages and the spiritual journeys people may take for a number of reasons; being closer to God, for healing or a challenge. The pupils learnt All Saints Church is situated on the Pilgrims way and has welcomed Pilgrims for many years and still does regularly. As well as exploring what a pilgrim is, Christian symbols often linked to pilgrimage and then finding these depicted on several stones as part of the prayer walk around the churchyard, where one of the classes this week found an amazing Privet Hawk Moth, which was huge!
