St Richards Church, Ham
Project news: January 2026
We are thrilled to announce that The National Lottery Heritage Fund have awarded us a grant of £248,000 to develop our heritage project, and invited us to apply for a further grant of £2,828,000 to deliver the project.
This is extremely encouraging and a vote of confidence that we have a building worth saving, a story to celebrate and a future to anticipate.
We are very grateful to National Lottery players and to everyone who has contributed to the Restoration Fund in any way. It is their generosity that has enabled us to partner with the Heritage Fund in this exciting venture.
This grant, matched by £59,000 from St Richard’s, means that we have already appointed:
· a Project Manager to oversee the development of our project;
· a Heritage Consultant to prepare a programme of events and activities;
· a Fundraising Manager to help raise the additional funds needed.
It will also enable us to:
· Prepare a comprehensive plan to bring the building up to today’s standards of welcome and comfort;
· Carry out further surveys of the roof and complete the plans for the restored building.
St Richard's has been the parish church at the heart of Ham Riverside since the 1960s. Our vision is to worship God, welcome everyone and build community. On other pages you can read about our leadership team, our mission, our iconic building and how to support our restoration appeal, as well about the different groups that meet and the various events that take place here.
CHURCH HAS MOVED!
Due to the temporary closure of St Richard's Church while our structural engineers undertake urgent maintenance work to prop up the roof, Sunday services have moved into St Richard's School hall. They are at 5pm each week, with holy communion. Other activities in the church building have had to stop, but Seedlings toddler group has also moved into the school hall (see below). We are told the church should be able to reopen in May, and will keep you posted here and on our Facebook page.
Vicar Simon Coupland has recorded his Sunday sermons reflecting on how the gospel speaks to our situation in the season of Lent, which you can find here .
SEEDLINGS
We are delighted to say that thanks to the generosity and flexibility of St Richard's School, SEEDLINGS toddler group can meet in the school hall on Wednesday mornings in term time. The timing is 9:15 to 10:45am - please bring your own coffee cups for yourself and water bottles for your children.
Project news update - March/April 2026
We are hugely grateful to Historic England for a grant of £428,384, which will go towards the cost of installing internal structural support and an external scaffolding canopy to safeguard the roof until the main programme of repair and restoration can be carried out. The church unfortunately has to remain closed until the internal props are in place, and they will stay there until the repair works due in 2027-28. We hope to be back in at the beginning of May, and activities can continue while the roof canopy is being put up.
You can read the BBC's report about the grant here, and enjoy some wonderful pictures of the church taken by Historic England here.
This is all great news, but the not so good news is that it does add significantly to the amount that we have to find in matched funding, meaning we have to raise an additional £100,000. If you'd like to contribute to saving our iconic building, any donation, however small, will help! Go to the giving page, where you can give either to general funds or specifically to the project.
Our services are on Sunday and Tuesday mornings at 10am, alternating between holy communion and morning worship. Once a month, usually on the first Sunday, there's a contemporary service at 4pm. We'd love you to join us!
We also value our strong relationship with St Richard's CofE Primary School next door.
Find us:
Ashburnham Rd, Richmond, TW10 7NL
Contact us:
By phone:
02085461438