Gander Grants

One of the grants issued in 2025, was to the team maintaining the Churchyard. The request, was for some money to help towards the cost of new lights, to light up the trees and archway into the churchyard.

The old lights had been damaged by weather and time, and the Church & Chapel Group wanted to replace them to ensure the churchyard remained a welcoming and safe space for visitors, especially during the darker months. This is the article written by Heather and Andy Dobinson, who are part of the team that applied for the grant and have been working on the project.

Back in 2022, a suggestion was made along the lines of "wouldn't it be great to light up the trees lining the path to the church." So, after local businesses were contacted and along with sponsorships from Friends of Goxhill Church, we made it happen!

Fifty sets of lights later, along with a lot of batteries, it proved to be a big hit with the villages in receiving so many compliments, how could we not do it again in 2023 & 2024.

Over the years we seem to have mastered the art of decorating the trees, despite having to replace several sets of lights along the way. We began with 50 sets of lights increasing over the past couple of years to now lighting up the archway and the porch into the church.

While we have in the past received a small donation towards the cost of the batteries, we have now been fortunate enough to be successful in being awarded a Gander Grant which will be a great help to this years lighting at the Church. This alone will alow us to purchase additional sets of lights and cover the costs for this years batteries.

We are greatly appreciative of the grant, consequently adding more lighting this year.

Thank you to all on the Gander Team in allowing us to continue the Christmas lights, we are truly grateful.