South West

The following few case studies, some of which were used in the report Building Faith in the Future, are from the South West region. They follow the same order as the chapter headings in the report.  Please note that it may not have been possible to find case studies for every heading.  If you know of other cases which may be of interest, please let us know.

CHURCHES AS A CENTRE OF CULTURE

South West Church Leaders, Culture South West, Cathedrals and Cultural Investment, July 2002

This report was undertaken following the publication of the In Search of Chunky Dunsters, the cultural strategy document for the South West. It presents the results of a pilot study based on the six Church of England cathedrals in the government region of the South West: Gloucester, Salisbury, Bristol, Wells, Exeter and Truro which aimed to measure the cultural investment represented by these six cathedrals.

The following findings are noteworthy:

• much of the community involvement and cultural contribution is without any religious test;
• the cathedrals want to be seen as part of the region’s cultural life;
• they currently give to the community more than they get from the government;
• but, it should not be assumed that this pattern can continue indefinitely.

The survey revealed that about £10m annually (2002 figs) is spent by the region’s six cathedrals on cultural activities. Half of this goes towards the costs of historic buildings, music, library/archives and education. Income from members, visitors and fundraising etc..outweighs grants from public funds. Much expertise and access to a significant number of events is available to the public free or nearly free.

Links between the cathedrals and cultural activity are identified in the following areas:

• built environment;
• architectural and art history;
• cathedrals evoking human responses by visitors and creativity;
• visual and performing arts e.g. artists and writers in residence, art exhibitions, commissioning works of art, dance, flower-arrangements;
• Music: e.g. choirs, outreach with schools, voluntary choirs and associated choral societies, wider musical life of the city, musical infrastructure of the region, commissioned music;

(At the time of the survey, across all six cathedrals, there were 305 concerts (including 29 concerts given by the cathedral choirs) being given each year with an estimated total attendance of 122,049).

• Archives and libraries e.g. important books and manuscripts, free research access for scholars, local and natural history;
• Education e.g. all the cathedrals employ full or part-time education officers, school groups work on specialist units, work is accessible to children regardless of religious, cultural or ethnic background, a commitment to children with special needs, learning programmes for adults

(at the time of the survey, across all six cathedrals, there were 9 education staff employed and 146 volunteers receiving 39,749 students per year).

• Training and skills e.g. craftsmen and women such as stone-masons, other trades such as catering.

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CHURCHES AS A CENTRE OF VOLUNTARY AND COMMUNITY ACTIVITY

The C18th church of St Paul’s in Bristol, taken into the care of the Churches Conservation Trust, had been vandalised and neglected to the point where demolition was on the cards.  Its graveyard and the Georgian square in which it sits was a haven for drug taking and prostitution, and the area of St Paul’s, cut off from Bristol city centre by a 60s ring road, was infamous for rioting and disharmony in the  80s.  The church now has a new lease of life following a major grant from HLF, an inspirational partnership with a local circus and community development group, a vast amount of partnership building, fundraising and skilled craftsmanship which included craft skills training for local young people.

Inspirational performances will bring a beautiful space back to life.  The church will provide arts students and local young people with circus skills training, local residents and office workers with a space for events and meetings, and a quiet space will be set aside for reflection and prayer.

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THE RURAL CHALLENGE

Christopher Short, Rebecca Stickland, Countryside and Community Research Group,  University of Gloucestershire, A Vibrant Church: A Report of the Church of England in Rural Gloucestershire, Gloucester Diocesan Rural Group, February 2003

In August 2002, the Gloucester Diocesan Rural Group commissioned, helped and advised by the Countryside and Community Research Unit of the University of Gloucestershire, research to investigate the state of the rural church in the Diocese. Two questionnaires were sent out, one to each PCC Secretary of a rural parish and one to each Incumbent with a rural responsibility.

In the wake of Foot and Mouth and a growing recognition that the ministry of churches in some Gloucester villages was at a point of no return, the aim was to find out what the view of the members of the rural churches was to their present situation and their future hopes. This was in respect of the use of their church buildings, church services and parishes and benefices. 

“What we found was the joy that people have in their local parish church and their desire to make it a centre for community life”. (Source: Forward by Revd David Green, Diocesan Rural Adviser to the A Vibrant Church)

In an area, where 60% of Incumbents are responsible for between two and four churches and 27% are responsible for five or more churches, the survey revealed that 75% of the rural parish churches were already open every day during daylight hours for prayer and quiet reflection. 45% are already being used at least once during the week for other activities as well as for Sunday worship.  Worth noting that a total of 19 out of 155 parishes had no other building available for community use than their parish church.

56% of PCCs and  82% of Incumbents said they would like to see a wider range of uses in the main church building. Suggestions ranged from children and youth activities, other community and social activities, tourist information points, providing space for a counselling practice, a doctors consultancy, and OPA drop-in centre,  cultural events, concerts and other musical events, village meetings, a shop and a polling station. The most positive responses came from those parishes where the church building was already receiving regular use during the week. This suggests a positive cycle: where activity is strong, this in turn encourages positive pro-active attitudes. Among those who said ‘No’ were those who commented that either there was no need as other buildings were more appropriate, a lack of demand, flooding on an annual basis or that there were constraints in terms of lack of basic facilities or heritage factors eg: fixed pews. 

The responses illustrate that the church is perceived by the majority of PCCs and Incumbents to have potential use for the wider community. When compared to some of the  responses to a 1991 survey -  Church and Religion in Rural England (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1991) where five rural dioceses were surveyed, it “does seems that while church buildings have always been valued, there is now a clear willingness on the part of local people to think flexibly and laterally, and an openness on their part to consider potential adaptations to the building”.Quote: Revd Canon Andrew Bowden April 2004)

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Case Study: All Saints Church, Herodsfoot, Near Liskeard, Cornwall

With reference to the article on page 2 in the Autumn issue of ‘Profile’ I wondered if our experiences would be of some interest and of what we have achieved at All Saints Church, Herodsfoot Near Liskeard in Cornwall.

Firstly I must explain that our parish and village has a population of between 140 and 150 people over the age of 18, it is, I understand, the seventh smallest parish in the Truro Diocese.

We have no church hall, no village hall, no school, no pub, no shop, no Post Office and no public transport serves the village, indeed the nearest bus routes and other villages are some 2 – 3 miles away up narrow Cornish lanes.

However, what we do have is a wonderful community spirit.   Much of the history of the village, the church and a résumé of village and church activities can be found on the village website – address as at the top of this page.

After our 1998 Quinquennial it was very apparent that a considerable amount of repair and restoration work was urgently needed and our consultant, David Scott, of Scott and Co. produced a schedule of work necessary and an idea of likely costs which were pretty daunting for a very small parish such as ours.

In 1999 we started a programme of fundraising with events such as a 3 day Festival to celebrate our 150th anniversary, concerts, lectures, recitals and many other such events and we are still working hard, in October we have an evening reading about ‘Hawker of Morwenstow’ ( he started the Harvest Thanksgiving Festivals that we know today).   Most of the indoor events have had to be held in the Church, at times amongst scaffolding and other necessary building ‘clobber’.   We also approached numerous organisations, charitable bodies, banks etc;   we have had help from both the Cornwall Historic Churches Trust and the Historic Churches Preservation Trust, the EIG’s AllChurches fund, His Highness the Prince of Wales’ Benevolent Trust, our local authority, Caradon District Council, grants under the Landfill tax scheme and many others much too numerous to mention but nevertheless most generous with their help.

As a result we were able to start work on the exterior of the west end and the inside of the church in April 2001, just in time to get the 12.5% benefit from the VAT rebate scheme and by the end of 2003 we had finished the essential work to the interior of the church.   We then wanted to move on to the rest of the exterior but being a Grade II listed church we did not qualify for grant aid from English Heritage. 

Grade II buildings lie within the remit of the Heritage Lottery Fund though for a number of years there were no local authority areas in Cornwall that qualified.   Recently, however, the rules were changed and high level repairs were included so we applied in September last year.   In April this year we learned, much to our delight, that we were going to get a grant of £10,000 for preliminary reports, investigations etc with the prospect of an ‘in principle’ grant of £117,000 towards a complete re-roofing of the church.   These investigations and reports are now in hand and, hopefully, we will be able to start the last stage of the repair and restoration of the church sometime next year but we shall need to raise a lot more funds for our share towards the work especially as access to the church is difficult, a lot of scaffolding will be necessary and the roof is very steeply pitched.

That just about covers what we have achieved so far and what we hope to achieve but earlier I mentioned the complete absence of any place where community events could be held under cover.   However, since 2001 we have removed a number of the fixed pews, relocated some along the back walls and last year our large pipe organ, which had replaced an harmonium some years ago, was deemed to be beyond economical repair so we disposed of it and this vastly increased the space at the back of the church.   So with the aid of a grant from ‘Awards for All’ we have had a servery unit with sink made to match the existing church furniture, have laid on running water and drainage to the sink and replaced all our old stacking chairs with more comfortable ones.   We were very fortunate in being given an electronic organ to replace the pipe organ. 

All this means that the church is a much more flexible entity and can be used for community events as well as being able to provide refreshments etc. especially at Harvest Thanksgiving  supper and auction of produce and on many other occasions.

With our village website and with weekly reports of the events at All Saints in the Community News section of our local newspaper, The Cornish Times, we do our best to keep everyone informed.   We have figured in press reports from other local papers and the Western Morning News, BBC Radio Cornwall and Pirate FM especially, with news of our fundraising, the HLF grant and our efforts in the campaign to reduce the burden of VAT, and Carlton South West did a series on ITV about the Truro Diocese in which we figured as well.

We have had a great deal of support from our own community, from organisations from far and wide, we keep them all informed of progress but ‘raising the wind’ is not easy and does require an enormous amount of hard work.      

Received via email from Thomas Hall, Hon Secretary Herodsfoot PCC 29.9.04   http://www.herodsfoot-online.freeserve.co.uk

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