I am delighted to tell you that after much hard work by members of the parish and several associates within the construction industry we received planning permission for our New Community Hall in early September 2025.
Fr Bob Davies ODC, Prior & Parish Priest
Reaching Out is our campaign to replace outdated facilities with a new Community Hall that will bring the church and local community together, strengthening community spirit.
The project includes:
- A modern, eco-friendly 250-seater hall, which can be divided into two soundproofed meeting rooms. It will feature a fully equipped kitchen, accessible entrances, toilets for all users, and ample storage.
- New storage and display space for St Joseph’s Furniture Market, along with a purpose-built facility including a toilet for volunteers. This will expand its capacity to support both the church and local charities.
- Relocation of two garages from behind to the front of the Priory to improve access to the new hall.
Find out more by downloading the leaflet here. The drawings and plans may be found on the Buckinghamshire Planning portal Reference: PL/25/1665/FA. Please look at our full fundraising brochure we are using to reach out to Grant providers.
HOW TO DONATE AND WAYS TO SUPPORT
- Make an internet banking donation to our account
Sort code 60-06-11
Account number 36303518
Account name ‘RCDN St Josephs New Hall’
Payment reference NAME
Please note your bank may say the account name is Roman Catholic Northampton Diocesan Trust. This is correct, as well. The account number directs it to the St Joseph's New Hall Account. The Diocese is the registered charity and the umbrella account under which ALL the parishes in the Diocese accounts reside.
- Send a cheque made payable to ‘RCDN St Joseph’s New Hall’
- Complete a Gift Aid Form*
- Organise a fundraising event
*if you are already donating to St Joseph's under Gift Aid you do not need to complete another form
NEW HALL UPDATES
December 2025
Dear Parishioners,
Here is the December update from the New Hall Project Team with recent progress on the New Community Hall.
Once again, we would like to thank all those parishioners who have responded to our appeal for donations. The new hall will benefit all parishioners and their families. It is desperately needed by our many parish groups and it will provide an attractive venue for parishioners’ special occasions. It will also mark the beginning of a new age for our life in the wider community. The London and Slough Charitable Trust, St Joseph’s Furniture Market, Chalfont Dementia Support and St Vincent de Paul all need the space and facilities to be provided by the new hall.
At this stage, all the action is on fundraising, because we cannot start work on the new hall until we have raised the full £1.85m required to complete the project. We are pleased to report that we have made substantial progress since the last update. The Parish Raffle raised £7,200. Many, many thanks to all of you who helped the huge undertaking to make the raffle happen and to all those who bought tickets, organised prizes and hand delivered letters.
A big thank you to Richard Cottle for providing an enjoyable Jazz Night with the Cottle Brothers, and further thanks to those who organised and supported t he raffle on the night. The evening was very successful and raised just over £2,000. The Christmas Concert at Holy Name in Denham with a mulled wine reception raised a further £1,400. All wonderful occasions to come together and celebrate but also raise funds for our much-needed hall. Thank you to all who are giving their time for these events and we welcome any further ideas. Support is available to make your ideas into a fundraising reality.
We can report good news on our grant applications. We have recently been awarded a grant of £250,000 by the Albert Gubay Charitable Trust. This, together with the Jazz Night, the Parish Raffle and parishioners’ donations, mean that to date we have secured £1,293,315, which represents 70% of the £1.85m funds required.
A condition of the Albert Gubay grant is that we have to match their funding. So, if you haven’t yet made a donation to the new hall fund, or even if you have, we need all parishioners to donate as much as they can afford to help achieve that match funding of £250,000.
Although we cannot start work on the new hall until we have secured all the funds, we can start work on the new garages for the priests in front of the Priory. This will start early next year when final paperwork is completed. The old garages will be demolished at the same time as the demolition of the existing hall for which we are looking to commence works in the summer.
We will be submitting more applications for grants in the new year and we will be
holding
other fundraising events. A Bridge Event has been arranged for
On Saturday 7th March we will be having a Barn Dance at the Chalfont St Peter Community Centre. Tickets will be available in January.
If we are to have a new Community Hall that provides the best facilities for future generations, we all need to dig deep with our donations, actively support fundraising activities and/or get together with friends (or within parish groups) to arrange a fundraising event. Every contribution, large or small, makes a difference.
We will continue to provide a progress update every month.
Very best wishes
Parish Priest
Project Manager
November 2025
Dear Parishioners
Father Bob and the New Hall project team are sending you this email to bring you up to date with our progress on the New Community Hall.
Firstly, we would like to thank all those parishioners who have responded to our appeal for donations. The New Hall will benefit all parishioners and their families. It is desperately needed by our many parish groups and it will provide an attractive venue for parishioners’ special occasions. It will also mark the beginning of a new age for our life in the wider community. The London and Slough Charitable Trust, St Joseph's Furniture Market, Chalfont Dementia Support and St Vincent de Paul all need the space and facilities to be provided by the New Hall.
All the preliminary work has been completed: designs, surveys, competitive tenders and planning permission. The designs are on display in the church. The next step is to build new garages for the priests in front of the Priory. This is necessary because providing the right approach to the New Hall will mean demolishing the existing garages. We hope to start the new garage build in the next two months. We have sufficient funds available to finance the demolition of the old hall but the exact timing is dependent on our ability to raise the balance of the funding required for the New Hall.
This is a huge project that will cost £1.85M. The funds raised by parishioners over the past several years, from the Annual Raffle, Parish Day, 200 Club and other Events have provided £148,000 towards the New Hall Project. The sale of the church in Chalfont St Giles and the approved future sale of land in front of the furniture market provides another £739,000. The recent golf day and parishioners’ donations to date bring the secured funds up to £1,014,000.
To raise the remaining £836,000, we have submitted 26 applications for grants from charitable trusts and we have 7 more in the pipeline. Our small events team have arranged a Richard Cottle Jazz Night on 7th December and are planning other events in the new year. The rest is down to all of us.
If we are to have a new community hall that provides the best facilities for our generations to come, we all need to dig deep with our donations and to help with our time. We need people to join our events team and if you have experience of construction work or applying for grants, we need you.
We will provide a progress update every month in the parish newsletter.
'You have to be in it to win it!' - the Parish raffle is being drawn on Saturday 6th December. Please support this fundraising towards the New Hall.
The Cottle Brothers are holding a Jazz Night in aid of the New Hall on Sunday 7th December. We hope you can join us!
Very best wishes
Parish Priest
Project Manager
CONTACT DETAILS
Malcolm Johnstone
newhall.stjosephgerrardscross@northamptondiocese.org
St Joseph’s Priory
Austenwood Common
Chalfont St Peter
Gerrards Cross
Buckinghamshire
SL9 8RY
01753 886581
