About The Appeal

• Why The Appeal
• How The Cathedral Is Funded
• How The Money Will Be Spent
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Why The Appeal?

The Save Canterbury Cathedral Appeal was launched to protect and enhance Canterbury Cathedral's future as a religious, heritage and cultural centre. Every five years the Cathedral carries out a major structural review. The last one made very clear that a combination of centuries of weathering, pollution and constant use had taken its toll on the building. There are some serous problems that need urgent action.

Conservation

Much of the Cathedral's stonework is damaged and crumbling, the roofs are leaking and much of the stained glass is badly corroded. If action is not taken now, the rate of decay and damage being inflicted on this unique building will increase dramatically with potentially disastrous results. The current damage caused by continuous erosion would get worse and eventually lead to closures of large sections of the Cathedral in order to guarantee the safety of the million plus worshippers, pilgrims and tourists who visit the Cathedral every year. The closure of parts of the Cathedral would be seen as a significant loss of part of our architectural heritage, but also a huge limitation on all the activities and services currently provided by the Cathedral.

Development

As well as restoring much of the historic beauty of the Cathedral, we are planning a number of enhancements to our visitor facilities and investment to build on our great musical tradition. We wish to refurbish the organ and have already completed the refurbishment of the Choir House to provide better better facilities for our choristers. We are also planning the introduction of state of the art technological improvements to the Cathedral's audio-visual and lighting systems which will significantly benefit visitors including the disabled, visually impaired and hard of hearing. These vital enhancements are designed to ensure that visitors will be able to take much greater advantage of the Cathedral as a place of education and learning as well as heritage and history.

The project is massive and inevitably very expensive. The Cathedral is largely self financing, with a spend of £14,500 per day (including £9,000 of daily running costs). Our regular income cannot support the costs of the work required for example the conserving of the fabric will be the largest cost at £30 million alone.

In October 2006, a £50 million Appeal was launched to fund these projects. Fundraising for the Appeal will take place over a number of years both nationally and internationally. The Cathedral has supporters all over the world for its role as the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and part of a World Heritage Site.