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St James Priory Project is the Charity which has responsibility for the Historic Grade 1 listed Priory Church which dates from the 12^th Century. It also operates the Café and St James House, which provides onsite Supported Housing accommodation for people in recovery from addiction. Walsingham House, in the grounds of the Church, is currently leased to St Mungo’s who provide a Men’s Mental Health Crisis Centre.

The impact of Coronavirus is widespread, well publicised and ongoing. The Charity has been adversely affected by this pandemic, especially financially:

• Our Café, an invaluable source of revenue, has been closed now since March.
• Our Meeting Rooms, also a key revenue stream, have been closed for the same period.
• Donations via the Church from visitors has ceased.

We estimate that these have contributed to a 2/3rds drop in revenue.

There seems to be no chance of an early return to the pre-Covid 19 status which means a longterm funding issue for the Charity.

Whilst we are hopeful of a limited return for some of our revenue sources – eg limited Meeting Room Hire – there seems to be little chance of re-opening our café, and this revenue supply, before 2021 at the earliest.

We are, therefore, appealing to our friends, followers and supporters to ask if you are able to consider committing to a donation to the Charity.

Donations can be made via our website and can be for one off or regular payments. There is also the facility to Gift Aid as well.

The donations link on the website is via the Virgin Money Giving button which can be found at the bottom of the Home Page.  www.stjamespriory.org.uk                                                             SJ                       04/08/2020

• The Church is open from 10am until 3.30pm on Monday to Friday; on Saturday from 12 noon until 2pm; on Sunday  from 7.30am until 9am with Mass at 8am. Mass is celebrated during the week from Tuesdai – Saturday at 1.05pm. (Confessions at 12.30pm).
• Our Cafe is still closed. The current Coronavirus situation means that we do not have the trade to allow us to open profitably. We intend to re-open when the situation improves.
• The Meeting Rooms are only available for smaller meetings where Social Distancing can be maintained. We are able to provide refreshments for booked meetings but not lunches at this time.

St James Priory is indeed a ‘hidden gem’ in the centre of Bristol. This classic heritage building provides peace, serenity and solace away from the hustle and bustle of the city centre.

Susan Jotcham, the Charity’s Chief Executive, received her MBE award from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace on 19th May.

On 6th January the crucifix, pictured below,  was stolen from the church. It is about 80cms high and was taken from the altar during the day.

If anyone has any information about this please phone; 0117 9338945.

The CEO of our Charity, Susan Jotcham, has been awarded an MBE for services to heritage and charity.

Mass will be celebrated on 25th July at 6pm .

All are very welcome.

On Saturday 30th April on Anneka Rice’s Saturday Breakfast show St James was mentioned in the “Pause for Thought” slot. Check it on on the BBC iPlayer Radio about 15 minutes into her show.

Here are some photos of the gardens that John, a fantastic volunteer, has created just inside the gates to the Church courtyard. MANY MANY thanks.

Check out this leaflet ….

Don’t forget that access to St James Church is available through the Cafe which is adjacent to Bristol Bus Station.