Grace Church meeting successful

Nineteen individuals showed up to show their interest and support of the Inglis Historical Society, the group responsible for the church.

Many of those who attended the meeting had some kind of personal connection to the building, ranging from being married in the church, to having a relative who once preached in the church, to simply sharing an interest in preserving the county's heritage.

The love of the church is not only limited to Western Head either. In fact, there were individuals from all over the county who came to show their support.

The group went over what the society has accomplished so far, such as creating a Facebook page, brainstorming possible uses for the church, and looking at some of the things that need to be done immediately with the building itself like the roof and the carpet.

Currently the biggest task for the society is to get a contractor to come and assess the condition of the building, what needs to be done, and in what order. The society has found a contractor who has volunteered to look at the church as soon as possible.

Phaedra Chartlton-Huskins, member of the Inglis Historical Society, says the society plans to have a meeting quickly after the building is assessed to present what the contractor says. Once the state of the building is known the group will know how much they need to fundraise.

"We will have to look at fundraising no matter what," she says. "But if we need only $10,000 it will be different than if we need $150,000."

Thoughts of a benefit concert have been kicking around within the group, as well as the idea to sell memorial bricks. Charlton-Huskins says there have even been instances where other churches across the country, even other parts of the continent, help fundraise to save churches in need.

"If we all keep to the core of why we're doing this, we love this church and we want to keep this building standing, we'll be able to actually save it." - Phaedra Charlton-Huskins

"There was actually a church in Montreal, if I'm not mistaken, that was saved by a congregation in the United States," she says. "They did bake sales, white elephant, all that, and sent the money to this church. So we could look at doing that."

The meeting also talked about the historical society itself, which was formed to save the deconsecrated church from destruction in 2005, and the possibility of a membership fee. However, the fee will be determined at a later date.

Charlton-Huskins says she thinks the meeting went really well, and she was happy with the turnout.

"If we all keep to the core of why we're doing this, we love this church and we want to keep this building standing, we'll be able to actually save it," she says. "I'm really positive about it, and really looking forward to it."

The date of the next meeting has not been decided yet, but Charlton-Huskins says she hopes it will be within the next couple of weeks.

"I would like to get this going. It's stood empty for too long," she says.