Aim

We are raising money to bust the draughts in our community hall - keep the cold air OUT and the warm air IN!

Who we are 

We are Grange-over-Sands Methodist Church. Our town centre premises are brilliantly located and are used every day by community groups for all sorts of activities - yoga and fitness classes, Baby Group, youth theatre, monthly Repair Cafe and weekly community coffee mornings - to name just a few. 

Environmental sustainability is very important to us and we are an ECO church, Bronze level.  Our vision is to do it better and, we hope, progress to Silver.  But our building dates from 1874 and it is REALLY draughty!   So we are raising money now to install secondary double glazing and Bust those Draughts.  

The team leading this project are all volunteers.  We have had a very positive experience of fundraising with Aviva in the past to improve our carbon footprint and are really looking forward to doing more.  

What our project is about

We know we are wasting a lot of precious energy through the windows.  In winter, even after installing a new boiler, it is hard to get the temperature in our community hall above 15 degrees.  The boiler works its socks off – but the lovely warm air goes straight through the windows to heat the world outside!  

This is bad news for the environment that we care deeply about and want to protect.  It is also bad news for the energy efficiency of our building - and of course for our users.  Many local people use our premises for their activities and they are getting COLD. 

And so we are launching our "Draught Buster" project to fit secondary double glazing in our community hall. Keep the cold air OUT and the warm air IN! 

Here's what we are going to do

Our building has been here since 1874 and it’s Grade II Listed so it is pretty special.  But it isn’t just here for our own use.  It’s a resource for the whole community, used and valued by many people.  But it is ours to care for – to maintain and keep in good condition now and for future generations.  

Our Draught Buster! project neatly combines climate action with provision of community services and preservation of the heritage of Grange.  We have already made a start by installing secondary double glazing in our main meeting space.  It is brilliant!  Draughts well and truly Busted!  And SO subtle that you would hardly notice at first glance that it was there at all.

Here's the kind of thing we are talking about.  This window is in our main meeting space and has been double glazed.  It's very subtle - perfect for our Grade II Listed Building - and very effective.  We can't wait to do the same thing in our community hall.

Supporting Climate Action

Through this project we are supporting Climate Action by installing energy-saving measures (i.e. double glazing) which will cut our organisation’s carbon footprint and reduce the environmental impact of our well-used community building.  The Methodist Church owns the building and present improvements are all aimed at ensuring that we continue to be able to use our building to serve the community. We can only guess what impact climate change will have in the much longer term which is why insulating the building now increases our energy saving options in the future.

With your help we can reduce the cold air and draughts resulting from the large, old, single glazed windows in our community hall, by installing double glazing. This will help us to insulate the building and save precious energy. We are committed to ensuring that our community hall continues to provide a warm, draught-free meeting venue for the 4,000 people who live in Grange.  

Who will benefit?

First and most importantly, the climate!  By cutting heat loss through the windows we will save energy, improve sustainability of a community meeting space and cut our carbon footprint.  The UK Methodist Church has set a target to achieve Net Zero by 2030.  We are fully committed to working towards that and our Draught Buster! project will help us on the way.  

Secondly, our project will demonstrate the energy-saving measures that are possible, even in a Victorian building dating back to a time when the climate emergency hadn’t even been imagined.  We want to share our experience with others who care for heritage buildings – and of course with anyone whose home is old and draughty.  It IS possible to make it better!

Thirdly, we look forward to engaging more effectively with the community by providing a warmer and more welcoming meeting space where people won’t sit there feeling cold.

We host a whole range of Climate Action activities in our community hall.   Here’s an example.  This is our monthly Repair Cafe where volunteers repair broken objects to save them going to landfill.  They also teach people how to repair things for themselves.  If you look carefully in the top right you can see the draughty windows we want to double glaze.  

How we will use the money

The money will be used to hire contractors who will fit secondary double glazing to 2 large, leaded, plain glass windows in our community hall. Each window is a non-uniform shape. We have a contractor in mind who has worked with us before and can meet this specification.  We are very happy with his work - it is brilliant, and fully meets our needs.  Our building is Grade II Listed but this is OK as we already have Listed Building Consent for this work. 

Here are the windows in question.  They are big and let in loads of cold air.  But if we can raise the money our contractor can bust the draughts!

How we will fund this project

We will fund this project (about £10,000) by local fundraising and donations including, we hope, a match funding campaign with the Communities Fund.  If we can raise £5,000 from donations plus £5,000 match funding we will be there! There will be a huge celebration. 

Why we are crowdfunding 

We are crowdfunding because it works!  We have previously, in 2023, run a successful project through the Aviva Community Fund called "Open for Community". We are delighted to say that as a result we were able to buy and install the new boiler mentioned earlier.  The crowdfunding idea really caught people's imagination as they could immediately see their donation doubled.  This was a real incentive which appealed to many people.  Another opportunity such as this could not be missed.

How you can help

There are two simple ways to get involved and support our project:

1. Make a donation

Every pledge gets us closer to our goal. Early support can help build momentum and inspire others to give too.

2. Spread the word

Share our project with friends, family and your wider network. The more people we reach, the more likely we are to succeed.

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 6th August 2026 at 8:40am