The lucky winners of the Grand Draw held by Holy Trinity ChurchPaulton, in aid of the organ refurbishment fund have now been informed, and some are already enjoying their prizes!

The fund is aiming to raise £30,000; though as this estimate was provided by Harrison and Harrison, (the organ builders), in 2018, we suspect there may be some inflationary cost increases to add in. The money will pay for the re-leathering of the organ bellows, cleaning of pipes and the installation of a new second-hand wind-blower. To reach the bellows, the organ builders will have to take extract over one hundred pipes, which forms a key part of the refurbishment works.

The raffle tickets were printed just before Russia invaded Ukraine. Given the immediate demands for support and relief to Ukraine and the people fleeing the senseless violence, ticket sales were postponed until after Easter. Since then we’ve had the additional headwinds of energy prices soaring, the cost of living going through the roof and our Sovereign, Queen Elizabeth, passing.

Yet despite these headwinds, over two thousand tickets were eventually sold, boosting the appeal fund by just over £2,400. Kevin Burnett, the Church organist who organised the raffle commented: “We are all extremely grateful to the kind and generous people who purchased raffle tickets for the Grand Draw. In these very challenging times we were very uncertain as to whether we would even raise hundreds of pounds, let alone over £2,000.”

Kevin Burnett also went on to extend his heartfelt and sincere thank you” to the local businesses who supplied the prizes for the draw and made it all possible. Over £200 worth of prizes were donated to the draw from the following local businesses in Paulton: Central Garage; Murco Garage; Paulton Co-op; Taylors the Jewellers; Poppies of Paulton; Sweet Spot and the Dog Groomery. The lucky prize winners were informed the week after the draw – drawn by Rev. Adam Pitt on New Year’s Day. You can find a list of winners and their prizes on the Paulton Community website at: https://paultoncommunitywebsite.co.uk/news

For now, the fundraising efforts continue and we hope to hold another valuation day in May and a visit by the Mendip Male Voice Choir sometime after Easter.