For hundreds of years there have been problems with the roof at St Edmund's. It is recorded in the Parish Vestry Minute Book of 1853 that an extra £14 was allocated to cover, amongst other things, repair to the ceiling of the church.

The cost of repairing the roof in 1980 was a major part of the reason that the Parochial Church Council had seriously to consider closing the church. It was only the success of the Crofton Old Church Appeal in raising sufficient funds to make the roof watertight that prevented this happening.

Following on from the Appeal, the Friends of Crofton Old Church (FOCOC) came into existence in 1982. One of the ongoing problems was the condition of the roof. In 2005 following even more falls of plaster the FOCOC Building Sub-Committee was tasked to resolve the roof problem once and for all.

In order to do this it was necessary to have a full roof survey to ascertain the amount of work and hence cost of any repair. The survey was duly carried out and provided the data required when applying for grants from English Heritage and other agencies.

As can be seen from the grants listed below, sufficient funds were raised to permit the work to be undertaken.

The pictures (in the slide show - see below) indicate the extent of the work. As can be seen this included securing the church from the elements as well as creating a false floor above head height within the church. This permitted work on the roof to continue at the same time as allowing services to be held during duration of the work.

The Roof Survey commenced in April 2006 and was completed in November of that year. There was then a wait until July 2007, when grant monies had been received before the repair work could be started. The repair took nine months finishing in March 2008 and a Service of Thanksgiving was held on 22 June of that year.

ALAN EVANS MEMORIAL TRUST	£1,500
ALLCHURCHES TRUST	£200
BUDGENS	£250
COUNCIL FOR THE CARE OF CHURCHES	£4,000
ENGLISH HERITAGE	£130,000
FAREHAM BOROUGH COUNCIL	£1,500
GARFIELD WESTON FOUNDATION	£5,000
HAMPSHIRE & ISLANDS HISTORIC CHURCHES TRUST	£4,000
HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL	£3,000
HMS COLLINGWOOD	£100
VEOLIA ENVIRONMENTAL TRUST (LANDFILL COMMUNITY TRUST)	£35,000
FRIENDS OF CROFTON OLD CHURCH	£35,000
TOTAL COST ex VAT	£219,550

Click here to see a slide show of pictures taken during the repair