Fire at Christ Church Lille

Christ Church Lille was sadly damaged by an accidental fire in the morning of Monday 20 April. Here is what we heard from Rosemary Ulyett, secretary at Christ Church Lille.

We are so grateful for all the messages, people are so good and it keeps us going when it would be easy to get depressed. But the building is not the church, the church is the people and the community we have here, which continues.   

Thanks to an alert neighbour, the fire brigade were called before it was too serious, but the altar was destroyed, the stained-glass window at the back of the Church smashed and there is extensive smoke damage throughout.  

We are going to hold services in the Catholic Aumônerie opposite the church, thanks to the support from the Diocese of Lille; this will be until the end of May at least. Local churches are offering to help, including friends at the Protestant church, which has been a great support to us.  
We are working hard to make our church ready to use again as soon as we can.  

We thank the many of you who have sent us a message of support. We are very grateful to the Town Hall (which owns the church building as is the case for many in France) but inevitably not everything is covered by insurance, whether theirs or ours.

(This story was taken from the Diocese in Europe website)

A fund has been set up to help with the many costs associated with the clean up and recovery of our church. If you are able to contribute we would be hugely grateful. 
https://www.helloasso.com/associations/christ-church-lille/formulaires/1