A massive appeal to renovate a major Huddersfield church in time for its 200th anniversary has brought in almost £145,000 so far.
The original appeal was for £500,000 for vital repair and restoration work at the 193-year-old St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church on New North Road near Huddersfield town centre but costs are spiralling after it was discovered more work is needed on the roof than first thought.
The appeal began in May 2025 and the hope is that all the work is done by 2032, exactly 200 years after the church was built.
There are three churches in the Holy Redeemer Parish of Huddersfield – St Patrick’s, Our Lady of Lourdes in Sheepridge and Holy Family in Slaithwaite along with two schools, St Patrick’s Primary Academy in Birkby and Our Lady of Lourdes in Sheepridge.
So far £144,693 has been raised from pledges, one-off donations and several events organised by the church, parishioners and the primary schools.
Rosaleen Hird, who attends the church and is on the newly appointed finance committee tasked with raising the money, said: “Extensive stone work on all sides of the church including to the roof and replacing the gate piers on the entrance to the church grounds at the front is now complete.
“The scaffolding has been removed and the church is looking beautiful but major repair works are still needed on the roof which we hope will start later in the year, plus guttering and all the interior work which can’t be started until the roof repairs are complete.
“St Patrick’s was built in 1832 and is a huge piece of Huddersfield history so we are determined for it to stay that way.
“We’d like to encourage the people of Huddersfield, whether parishioners or not, to be part of the restoration project and get involved in our efforts to ensure the physical appearance of St Patrick’s church reflects the strength, love and inspiration of the devoted community of the Holy Redeemer Parish.”
Other work still to do includes restoring St Patrick’s statue outside in the courtyard, repairing the stained glass in the west porch, redecorating inside the church, new lights, improvements to the heating system, repairs to internal plaster, repairing a water damaged floor and remodelling the narthex and confessionals.
The next major fundraiser is a dinner dance at the Accu Stadium on Friday, October 2 at 7pm. Tickets are £50 per person or £360 for a table of eight and to buy them phone Rosaleen on 07738 174102 or email rosaleenhird@gmail.com
There will also be a Christmas Fair at the Irish Centre on Saturday, November 7 and a festive afternoon tea on Saturday, November 28.
To help with the fundraising go to https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/stpatshudds
Written by ANDY HIRST who runs his own Yorkshire freelance journalism agency AH! PR (https://ah-pr.com/) specialising in press releases, blogging, website content, copywriting and ghost-writing autobiographies.
