Rev-ving up for new place to fill a space in Gaywood
A West Norfolk rector is revving up to fundraise for a new community space which will help a cause close to her heart.
Rev Julie Boyd, team rector at St Faith’s Church in Gaywood, is set to learn how to ride a motorbike for a sponsored trip to Scotland in aid of the project.
The church is creating a new support centre and meeting place in a bungalow at the Gayton Road site, in order to fill the gap in the community’s needs.
Rev Boyd said: “We’ve spent a lot of time looking at the gap and we feel that there is a need for a meeting place, for action groups and support networks as well as for church groups.
“We want to fill that gap and support the community to the best of our ability.”
The building, which will have a new church office, a drop-in centre and a café, will be used by groups such as West Norfolk Mind, who will be given free use of the space for their weekly meetings for the first three years after the centre is opened.
Rev Boyd said once the funds are raised, it will take about six months of work to create the space.
“We have already had offers of support from people which will bring the cost down,” she added.
Local support groups and networks will be able to use the café and its private consultation rooms in the grounds of the church.
But before work on the project, which is currently called Gaywood’s Action Promise (GAP), is started, funds need to be raised to support it.
For Rev Boyd and her husband Matthew, helping causes such as West Norfolk Mind is important, as their son Andrew took his own life late last year.
“My husband and I are really pleased that this new space provided by the church will be able to help so many vital community projects including West Norfolk Mind,” she said.
Rev Boyd said the sponsored ride to Scotland would be in memory of Andrew, who was a keen motorcyclist.
“He often suggested that his sister and I should both learn to ride and join him and his dad on the road,” she added.
“At his funeral last year we made a promise that we would do exactly that and now the time has come to fulfil that promise.
“Andrew left behind three motorbikes and so his sister and I will be learning to ride and then all three of us will be riding up to Scotland to raise money for this project.”
The journey begins on Monday, August 13. Anyone who sponsors the Boyd family will be supporting the creation of the new centre.
Local organisations and interested parties are invited to attend an information evening as the fundraising initiative is launched on Monday.
The event will take place at St Faith’s at 7pm.
To donate to the cause, visit their Virgin Money Giving page at https://bit.ly/2MbRZ7L or cheques can be made payable to ‘St Faith’s Gaywood Church Council’ and sent to St Faith’s Church Office, Gayton Road, King’s Lynn, PE30 4DZ.
