On Thursday 13th May 2004 we successfully complete our sponsored walk from the Iron Bridge in Brabyns Park to the famous Iron Bridge in Shropshire. The purpose of the walk was to raise money towards match-funding needed for the second phase of the restoration of Marple's Iron Bridge, which is explained in more detail at the bottom of this page.

The walk was a great success in terms of sponsorship. Initially we thought £1,000 might be an achievable target but we were delighted by the level of support received whenever we asked and the final total actually reached £3,024.55 including Gift Aid. For latest news on fundraising visit the Project Diary.

Unfortunately we don't have room to mention everyone who has sponsored us individually, but some notable contributions have come from the following sources:

If you would like make a donation towards the restoration phase of the project, please send us a cheque made payable to Marple Local History Society. If you are a tax payer and you send us a letter with your donation declaring that you would like us to use the Gift Aid it scheme, the History Society will be able to claim back an additional 28p for every £1 you donate. To help with this we've created a standard Gift Aid it form that you can download and send with your cheque, but you can make the same declaration in an ordinary letter if you wish:

Gift Aid it Form

All cheques should be made payable to Marple Local History Society, who are a local charity and act as the project's banker for community raised funding.

All donations and correspondence should be sent to:

The Marple Website
72 Woodville Drive,
Marple,
Stockport,
Cheshire
SK6 7QX

Please contact us if you have any questions or need further information:

 Peter (0161 427 1861) or Mark (0161 427 4955)

ironbridge@marple-uk.com

Additional Information:

Purpose of the Sponsored Walk
A project planning grant of over £30,000 has already been awarded by the Heritage Lottery Fund towards Phase 1 of the project and this work is currently underway. Phase 1 will determine exactly what is wrong with the bridge, develop a detailed scheme for its restoration and establish the cost of completing that work during phase 2, so that a second grant application to the HLF can be made towards these costs.

The second grant application to the HLF, if successful, would provide a maximum of 90% of the funds required. Provisional estimates identify that the phase 2 restoration will cost in the region of £150,000, which means we will need to find at least £15,000 of match funding from alternative sources. The purpose of the Sponsored Walk was to raise money towards the 10% of match funding required.

About Gift Aid
Gift Aid is a scheme that allows donors to increase the value of their donations to charity. Provided you are a taxpayer, Marple Local History Society will be able to reclaim from the Inland Revenue the basic rate tax paid on your gift, boosting the donation by 28%. So a gift of £10 from you is worth £12.80 to the Iron Bridge Restoration Project. All we need is a simple declaration from you saying that you want us to use Gift Aid, which is included our Gift Aid it form. For more detailed information visit the Inland Revenue pages.

To learn more about Marple's Iron Bridge and the campaign for its restoration, visit the Project Diary and Campaign Diaries using the links below:

Project Diary - Phase 1 (from August 2003)

Campaign Diary - YEAR 2 (July 2002 - July 2003)

Campaign Diary - YEAR 1 (June 2001 to June 2002)

To voice your opinion about restoration of the Iron Bridge,
please visit the Local Issues section of the forum and noticeboard.