St Stephen's Roof Renewal

Securing the future of our thriving community in Rednal

Our church roof is in urgent need of significant repairs. We need to raise £250,000 to complete extensive work across our building - replacing six sections of our flat-roof.

Securing and replacing these failing roof sections will safeguard a well-used community asset and allow the church to continue providing vital support, activities and hospitality for the Rednal community.

St Stephen’s Church was built in 1951, providing a simple but practical design for a growing post-war community. Over the following decades, the building expanded to include a sacristy, offices, meeting rooms and a large community hall. This growth has resulted in seven flat roofs across six levels, all of which now require full replacement.

Flat roofs, unlike pitched ones, have very little slope, which can lead to drainage problems. Challenges have included debris clogging up what drainage we have, pooling water seeping through cracks, and leakages inside the building in a number of places

The current Trocal (PVC) membrane—installed in 1990—has exceeded its service life. Ageing of the material, combined with internal fixings rising through the membrane, has led to regular leaks. Water ingress causes damage to ceilings, the parquet flooring and interior fittings, often requiring drying-out periods, temporary closures and cosmetic repairs. Although a volunteer undertakes regular inspections and minor patch repairs, the issues are now beyond what temporary fixes can sustain.

Make a donation

We are currently accepting donations online via The Church of England's Parish Giving Scheme.

Make a donation via bank transfer

HSBC Account name:: Parochial Church Council of St Stephens the Martyr

Sort code: 40-11-47

Account number: 31086790

You can also make cash and card donations in person.

Upcoming fundraising events

Project updates

May Update

Thank you to:-

Rev Chris and Fenella Johnstone for leading the 75th Anniversary Party and to Victoria’s School of Dance, Debbie Millington and the choir, our welcomers, cake bakers, kitchen team and many stall runners. You did a great job of keeping people fed, watered and entertained and even the sun came out to party! You were amazing, everyone had a great time, and a profit of £833 was made for the Roof Renewal.

As at 30 April 2026 St Stephen’s Roof Renewal fundraising totalled: £85,497.

April Update

First the sad news….

Our application to Birmingham City Council’s Pride in Place scheme was not successful, although we were the highest ranked of the churches that applied. Thank you to Paul Finnemore and Lizey Thompson from the Diocese for putting this together, it has laid the groundwork for further applications.

Then the good news…. thank you to:

Rhianna Frost and participants for Midsummer Night’s Dream and Sunday cake sale. An enjoyable morning with some wonderful acting and a total of £138.80.

Debbie Millington for her Easter classics mini concert, which was enjoyed by all and raised £58.75, plus £25 from the Do Drop In raffle. These half hour performances are on the first Thursday of every month at 11.15am and all are welcome.

An anonymous donor who has committed to donating £150 a month (additional regular amounts will help us to plan) and to all our givers great and small. If we all give a little it adds up to a lottle….

The Trustees of the Bernard Piggott Trust for their grant of £10,000. Amazing!

The Diocesan Property Team for a Quick Wins Grant of £2,000.

Please continue to give what you can and keep your prayer hats on as we await the outcome of the grant application to the Garfield Weston Foundation and the completion of the one for Biffa.

As at 20 April 2026 St Stephen’s Roof Renewal fundraising totalled: £84,618, and we have spent around £25,000 on repairs so far.

March Update

Our building vocabulary continues to grow. We are all familiar with buckets but we have now also

had to instal “leak diverters” to protect cupboard contents and rooms for Sunday Schools and

Playdays. The weather hasn’t helped lately, what with Storm Goretti, snow, wind and rain….

Our Roof Renewal Group has recently completed applications to Birmingham City Council’s Pride

in Place scheme and to the Bernard Piggott Charitable Trust. Rev Chris has written to the Bishop.

We were blessed with a large collection from the Oversight Area service and have received other

support since, including several generous anonymous donations. Large or small, every gift

counts. Thank you all, you know who you are!

As at the end of January our Roof Renewal fundraising totalled : £63,200.

We have made amazing progress with Roof Renewal Phase 1. Our contractors have replaced the

roofs over the Lady Chapel, boiler house and back offices and Rob Smith has cleaned walls and

replaced internal ceilings and lights, making the Lady Chapel a beautiful serene place for quiet

prayer which is available during and after services.

Thank you to everyone who has supported our appeal for Roof Renewal, to Paul Finnemore and

Lizey Thompson from the Diocese for Pride in Place, to all who staffed the Office during Phase 1,

to our contractors, to Rob Smith for his oversight and restoration work, and to Rev Chris and our users

for endless patience.

Sacristy roof repairs completed

10 February 2026

Emergency repairs to our sacristy roof have been completed. This has included a new covering to the outside of the building, improved insulation, and work to restore the suspended ceiling inside.

The cost of these repairs to this portion of the building alone has come to around £25,000 - with emergency support from The Church of England - Birmingham and funding from our church community. The photos below show the new exterior coating, which will hopefully reduce the severe leakages to this vital part of our building.

Leaking in our cupboards

2 February 2026

Unfortunately, continued water damage has affected a number of our store cupboards around the church over the past week. Temporary emergency sheeting has been put in place to protect items we need to store, with the aim of also diverting water into buckets.

Storm Goretti and many buckets

9 January 2026

The snow from storm Goretti in early January 2026 severely impacted our already struggling roof. Sadly, the sight of buckets throughout the Church has become increasingly common in recent years, and even more during times of bad weather.

The heavy snowfall, widespread frost, and subsequent thawing created new cracks, leading to new areas affected by water damage throughout the building. As well as the outer layer of the roof, several internal layers of the roof also need replacing

Sadly, we had to cancel our regular Sunday worship, and close The Pantry on Sunday 11 January as a result of the damage.

Work on the emergency repairs is due to start imminently, but our fundraising efforts are continuing, to ensure we can complete the restoration and renewal of our roof.

Water pooling on the flat roof

Autumn 2025

The following photos, taken in 2025, show extensive pooling across our flat roof. Volunteers from the church community have worked tirelessly to patch repair visible holes in the roof to reduce leaking, but a far more substantial solution is now required.

Regular leaks inside the church can be seen on our suspended ceilings, with damage to the floors and internal plasterwork.