Date: July 12, 2008

LATEST PROGRESS.

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STOP PRESS (12 July 2008)

Further to the information below the Tripartite Group has obtained a grant of £7,500 towards the cost of the Options Appraisal from the Architectural Heritage Fund - we are awaiting news on further bids.  You will understand more about the Tripartite Group and the Options Appraisal by reading on.

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The restoration of the twin Victorian terracotta Mortuary Chapels are of course our major long term aim, and as we always say and make no apologies in continually repeating, this project will take considerable time, expense and expertise.

You will have noticed that during 2006 and 2007 some work was commenced on the basic and preliminary clean up of the Mortuary Chapels.

The Friends continue to work hard in the fund raising area, and with kind assistance from the Brandwood Ward 'Community Chest', and in partnership with the City Council Bereavements Department and the Urban Design Department, we had sufficient funding and logistics to clean out and make the chapels safe.

The Chapels have now been cleared out of the years of rubbish that had accumulated; the windows are now properly boarded over (the orange paint continues to fade!); and, the perimeter safety fencing was replaced.

This was not an extravagant move but was an essential first step in our journey - by making them safe!

Let's be very clear what we mean - NOT safe enough to open to general public viewing, but safe enough for specialists to undertake the necessary assessments for us to move to the next phase.

In essence we have simply removed many years of unwanted vegetational growth together with the inevitable results of natural decomposition and degradation. 

Nevertheless, this IS significant progress!

We have now moved on to the next stage, that of assessing what work needs to be done in the long term, in order to review our options in respect of the repair and restoration of this beautiful Victorian terracotta Grade II Listed Building. 

This will involve a full architectural survey and the use of a wide range of specialists. This specialist information is essential if we are to succeed in obtaining the further funding required.

To this end we have formed a tripartite group consisting of:

• the Friends of the Cemetery;
• the City Council's Bereavements Department; and,
• the Birmingham Conservation Trust,

in order to review the current position and produce a set of options for further progress.

In February 2008, the Tripartite Group sent out a document to those firms with the necessary architectural expertise in the restoration of historic buildings inviting the submission of an 'Options Appraisal' in respect of our Chapels. 

Those Appraisal Options were submitted during March 2008 for consideration by the Tripartite Group.

We will now have to find further funding to enable us to progress one of those Options.

Part of that future Options Appraisal will be to consult with the 'Cemetery Community', as you are the ones who visit it on a regular basis.

So, if and when we do have questionnaires and surveys, your co-operation would be greatly appreciated in giving us just a few minutes, to help us to help you to improve the cemetery - its general environment, as well as the Chapels themselves.

As part of the Options Appraisal process we shall also, on a date to be announced in the future, be holding a further public meeting, at which we hope you will attend and give your opinions on what the experts propose. 

In its widest interpretation, the Chapels belong to both the immediate local community and the wider community who use the cemetery - these Chapels are part of your heritage from our Victorian and Edwardian predecessors.

Of course, none of this rhetoric restores a single brick BUT all of this process is absolutely essential in forming a sound base for any future bids for large scale funding - let us not ignore the very significant fact that any restoration project will take a considerable sum of money.

If we are to bid for funding, for example from the Lottery Fund, then we must have plans that are based on skilled expertise and public consultation.  

'Wish Lists' are nice but do not attract substantial funding, particularly in a period when sources like the Lottery Fund are reduced in what funding is available, due to the commitment to support the Olympics, and of course other competing and equally desireable bids from other similar projects across the whole of the United Kingdom. 

None of this is easy; far from it, BUT we are determined to pursue this project.

Our journey has begun and YOUR continued support is both essential and welcomed.