They're lovin' it
120 delegates from all over the West Midlands and beyond came to Carrs Lane in Birmingham to learn how to love, fund and keep their church buildings into the future. The West Midlands was well represented but we welcomed people from all over the country who made the journey to hear from funders and known practitioners in their field.
Andrew Mottram, Heritage Buildings and Community Officer from the Diocese of Worcester, spoke about the importance of good stewardship and maintenance planning and why asset management plans for all parishes are such a good idea.
We heard from English Heritage about how the Places of Worship Repair Grants Scheme works regionally. The Heritage Lottery Fund were there, as well as the Senior Registrar from Entrust, the Landfill Communities Fund regulator, who explained how the sometimes confusing LCF funding works in principal. It was encouraging to learn from them both that funding for Places of Worship is high on their agendas – they both like to invest in projects that acknowledge the church building as a valuable asset to the wider community whether it’s a heritage building or not.
Wendy Coombey, Community Partnership and Development Officer from Hereford Diocese, came to share her extensive knowledge of managing church development projects and writing funding strategies and Helen McGowan, who facilitated the event, rounded off the day with a challenging session on how we can be creative with our church buildings, using them as an important part of our church’s ministry of welcome every day of the week.
This was a well-received event and there were plenty of challenging questions put to the speakers. The feedback indicates that the topics we covered were appreciated. We were left in no doubt that the role of a Church Building Support Officer is valued nationally – many parishes just don’t know where to go to get practical help.
We are extremely grateful to Engligh Heritage and to the AllChurches Trust for funding the event to make it entirely free to participants. Both funders appreciate that accessing funding and identifying sources of practical help and advice for those working at grass roots level in our parishes is not always easy.
Presentations from the day, supporting information and downloadable resources.
