West Midlands

The following few case studies, some of which were used in the report Building Faith in the Future, are from the West Midlands 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

Thousands of clay figures in the famous Anthony Gormley installation, Field for the British Isles, which attracted 20k visitors to the church of St Mary the Virgin in Shrewsbury, a Churches Conservation Trust church.

CHURCHES AS THE CENTRE OF VOLUNTARY AND COMMUNITY ACTIVITY

New Bilton, Coventry is a parish in a designated ‘area of renewal’. St Oswald’s Church was a co-founder of the local Community Association. Facilities to accommodate the  many activities, were desperately lacking. Realising that funding for a new hall was unrealistic, the church decided to adapt the church and separate off the nave and lady chapel to create a flexible community space suitable for the use of many community and voluntary groups including the local school, council, Community Association and CVS. Money could then be found for a new kitchen, disabled toilet, ramp, car parking spaces and a new PA system.

St Paul’s at the Crossing, Walsall is an award-winning venue which includes, as well as a church, a nursery, a shopping mall, a coffee shop, conference and training facilities, function rooms used also for exhibitions and concerts, and office space in the heart of Walsall. The coffee shop and shopping mall generate a footfall of more than 2000 people a week, and users of the function rooms include a bereavement, a cystic fibrosis and an alzheimers support groups. Also used by the local council and college of further education, an alcohol-abuse awareness group, and a local charity supporting carers as well as by groups from the local business and retail community. The Day Chapel is open from Monday to Saturday offering a place for private prayer and quiet reflection in the middle of a busy town centre while the Upper Room is used for worship on Sunday mornings and other church services as well as weddings, funerals and other meetings and events.  Up until the first half of the 20th Century this was a residential area which was then demolished and replaced by civic and commercial buildings. To engage with this changed environment and the rich diversity of Walsall town centre, young and old, business and local government, leisure and trade, different races and faiths, the church was radically re-ordered in the mid 1990s. According to the British Urban Regeneration Association, The Crossing is “an outstanding example of best practice in urban regeneration” in which “the quality of design and construction is of an exceptionally high standard”. (BURA 1995)

The Crossing is now within a few years of paying off the debt. St Paul’s will then be in the position of having to decide what to do with £50,000-£80,000 annual profits.

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THE URBAN CHALLENGE

Churches reach out to all sections in the community. Black and Asian Christians emphasise an inclusive culture and outreach to young people. The Good News Asian Church in Birmingham is one of several Asian Anglican congregations which has built its own new church building: funded by the congregation and by local Muslims and Sikhs and others, it provides a community focus for all with a strong emphasis on hospitality.

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THE RURAL CHALLENGE

The success of the Rural Churches in Community Service Programme scheme, under which 99 churches in rural areas from all Christian denominations throughout the UK received grants from the Millennium Commission to assist them in adapting their church buildings to enable them to be used for community activities, underlines the potential of church buildings in rural areas. 66 of them were within Anglican churches.

St John the Baptist, Whitbourne is situated 12 miles from Worcester and 15 miles from Hereford. The population is 1,100 and has a primary school, a village hall, a Post Office and shop and two pubs. The church of St John the Baptist dates from about 1180 and is listed Grade II*.

The project, which cost £61,600 reordered the north aisle to provide a meeting/social area in the north aisle and provided kitchen and toilet accommodation at the west end of the north aisle with a small first floor meeting room above.

The church is now used for existing community events - Concerts, Flower festivals and exhibitions where attendance has increased due to provision of refreshments and availability of toilet facilities, an art club, a teenage discussion group, Riding for the Disabled committee meetings, meetings of the WI, the Police Community Consultative group, Age Concern and the Garden Society, and a drop-in for members of the Ramblers Association. The school uses the church regularly since the provision of toilet facilities. Recently a meeting about Drugs was held in church for young people and their parents, a good example of the church connecting with the wider community on important issues in a very caring way.

The church provides the community with a complementary venue to the new Village Hall and there is sufficient activity for both venues to be successful and well used.

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TOURISM AND VISITORS

The Go West Teme Valley Project was launched in July 2002, this initiative which is designed to help develop rural tourism along the beautiful Teme Valley which stretches for 75 miles from Worcester through the counties of Worcestershire and Herefordshire, Shropshire and into Wales. The project was set up to harness the history and heritage to be found in and around the 45  church buildings mostly of Norman origin and use it for the economic and social benefit of the church and the local rural community.

It is an initiative of the Chaplaincy for the Agricultural and Rural Life in the Diocese of Worcester. Launched as a rural regeneration project, its major partner is the Diocese of Hereford.  Its volunteer Steering Group includes representatives from  University College Worcester, the Local Authority, other tourism, archaeology, countryside and commercial organsiations and church bodies.  The Volunteer Project Manager works in partnership with church and community bodies in the three Dioceses of Worcester, Hereford and Brecon and Swansea.

Already produced are a series of 8 full colour leaflets called Wanderer’s Companions full of information for visitors. There is also a Website containing full visitor’s information including local events.

Go West is mindful that it does not own the Teme Valley story but it also recognises that the big picture is more that the sum of its parts.  For this reason Go West proposes to offer its visitors new ways of looking at the church and the countryside.  It has selected themes that run through the whole of society but find their particular expression in the specialness of individual places. It aims to bring town and country together and to find ways for each to listen to and learn about each other and so contribute to greater understanding between people. Through its Cluster Group activities the GWTVP proposes to involve local people in the gathering of information and in the selection of the places and routes visitors are invited to explore.

Go West is now looking to create a sustainable future for Go West and its work in the areas of heritage education, heritage tourism and lifelong learning. The aim is to develop a social enterprise that earns income from the sale of educational activities based on the unique heritage of church and countryside in this beautiful area. The hope is that the enterprise will benefit the local community and meet the core costs of its own organisation. The concept is considered highly innovative and if successful could provide a model for other areas.

Speaking about the new scheme in July 2002, the Bishop of Worcester, the Rt Revd Dr Peter Selby, said: "I am delighted that such an imaginative initiative has been started which will bring together local churches and community groups to help regenerate this magnificent part of the region. I wish the project every success and hope that the launch will demonstrate the church’s commitment to rural regeneration."

The Bridgnorth Deanery Tourism Project, Diocese of Hereford produced, with help from Bridgnorth District Council, the Diocese of Hereford Parthership Fund and the Churches Conservation Trust, a two-sided glossy A3 brochures which gives information on the 33 churches in the Deanery who agreed to take part. The information provided for each church is name, date and dedication, a brief history of important features, when open and where to find key, time and type of services, OS map reference. A drawing was produced of each church. The finished brochure “Explore the Churches of Bridgnorth Deanery” was distributed in the Spring of 2003 to all the churches and tourism outlets in Shropshire.

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MAKING THE BEST USE OF BUILDINGS; ENABLING AND MAINTENANCE

The Diocese of Coventry Development Team assists parishes and projects with their vision, business planning, fund-raising and project management. Specialists in church project development, faith buildings funding and community development funding have enabled parishes to access over £3million of external grant aid in the past 12 months.

The team of four is increasingly working with other dioceses and welcomes  other denominations, community groups and statutory agencies to take part in its development training for both clergy and laity. Capacity building training in all aspects of projects and particularly buildings development is provided in tailored sessions for parishes, deaneries and regular conference events. This is supported by a range of printed Action Guides that are freely available on the Diocese website. They include how to develop a vision and business plan, 20 steps to fund-raising, disability access, charitable status in the C of E, developing church owned buildings, community research and working with statutory agencies.

Holy Trinity Church, Hartshill, a village on the edge of Nuneaton, supported by the Coventry Development Team have been undertaking 12 months of planning. Working with the Parish Council and other local organisations, they have just got the results of one of the most successful community research projects carried out in Warwickshire in recent years. 3,000 questionnaires were sent to every household in the village and 400 responses were received. (14% which is a good return rate when the norm is usually 4%). The aim was to seek community information for both a statutory Parish Plan and potential developments on the church site. The results have pointed to a range of community projects from litter-picking to the possibility of a new community centre. They also identifies groups in the community, for instance, who need to be engaged in other ways to ensure they have an effective voice. The Church sees itself as working for the benefit of the Hartshill community and is developing partnerships and dialogue with people who it would not normally meet.

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© The Archbishops' Council of the Church of England, 2004