The background

What matters………who cares?
by Delia P


It had been raining for days when I went into All Saints and discovered a wet floor and plaster missing from the ceiling and saw daylight through the hole. The vicar, Rural Dean and architect were none too pleased and recommended closing the church. Not an idea that appealed to me. We were just coming up to Christmas, 2016, and it wouldn’t be the same with nowhere to celebrate.

The insurance company, however, agreed we could continue to hold services with safety precautions in place. With help from our then treasurer we wrote to everyone in the village inviting them to a meeting to discuss what to do with our crumbly church. Rev’d Joseph Wolff, who built the church, without doubt was sitting on my shoulder urging me to find a solution which would keep his legacy to the village safe for future generations. Wolff had served the village with love and care for over 20 years. His church was an old Saxon building close to the water by the Mill. This building was in a very sad state and as one historian said ‘very badly pewed’. It was not considered worth repairing. Joseph Wolff was offered land for a new church but then had to find the money to build it.

The Archdeacon and our House for Duty vicar, who was shortly to retire, attended the village meeting and much to their surprise, and mine, about two thirds of the village turned up. It was standing room only.

Well, I had told them What Mattered, but would anyone Care?

Questions came thick and fast, opinions and grievances, criticisms and aggravations and much steam was let off. The Archdeacon, looking for the positive, was surprised how much people cared. Decisions were made at the meeting, we would keep the church, we needed it.

We needed a village social space, we could combine the two. If these two needs could be put together we might have a dry restored church building and a safe warm place as a centre for the social life of the village.

Volunteers agreed to form a steering group to meet soon and get the ball rolling.

Who cares? The Village cared.

Now, almost four years later, we have a restored and safe building, a new roof in its bright and distinctive original colours, an indoor space for our village activities, a servery and two loos. The Chancel will now be almost like a private chapel. Sacred, warm and intimate where most of our services will be conducted. No matter how few we are we will no longer feel a bit lost in a big cold empty nave. Our Rector, Rev’d Phil Denison, has been of enormous help giving wise advice, ideas and encouragement. He is now looking froward to holding services without many extra layers of clothes in winter. The steering group led by John Boulter, with his funding and planning team of Jenny Boulter, John and Jane Simpson and David Gale, the PCC treasurer, have remarkably raised circa £700,000. This has enabled the church building to be put into good safe order, with modern facilities, including heating, lighting and audio visual equipment. We are looking forward to an exciting future for our village, building on the heritage Reverend Joseph Wolff left us.

Please read more about the history of bringing this project to fulfilment and see the Book of Thanks which lists the grant bodies and numerous people and the who have supported our project. Who cares indeed! You can see more about the history of the village and what was happening in Rev’d Wolff’s time. For the places he would still recognise follow the village Heritage Trail. You can also read about the fascinating life of Joseph Wolff and his missionary adventures in the Middle East. We are delighted to be able to save an interesting building created by a very unusual Victorian.

The restoration

As soon as John Boulter had gathered his team of fund raisers and planners, they began looking at the church in detail realising that the quinquinial reports of the last 20 years were probably under-estimates of the scale of work required. Having been put on the At Risk Register indicated real problems.

They also set about selecting an architect from the Diocesan Advisory Committee to undertake the project. The chosen architect was Mark Taylor who then suggested the three Diocesan acceptable builders who specialised in restoration of heritage buildings, employing skilled craftsmen.

Three churches were visited by the team to find out what might be done. Mark Taylor drew up plans for the repairs and creating a social space within All Saints. The plans were reworked several times and finally a scheme settled on and the project went out to tender. A Builder was selected from the Diocesan list. Following a survey an estimate of costs was prepared, a large sum of money was needed.

Most fortunately The Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage were very helpful and provided promises of grants. This gave comfort to other grant givers so the project could become a reality.

Many problems were encountered along the way. Items were found that had not been discovered in the survey. There were areas in worse condition than originally thought. Problems which revealed themselves included crumbling stonework, rotted woodwork in the spire, electric power supply and drainage. As a result the total cost was much higher than the architect’s figure.

With great patience and perseverance the team fought their way through these and other hindrances. Finally the builder left the site in November 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic was no help and had delayed progress. 

We now have bright lights and warmth, whitewashed walls with black scissor beams, making the ceiling look much as it did in Wolff‘s time. The restored east window and repainted quotation on the east wall look spectacular (see details of the work). We also have two loos and a servery.   

Our first service did not take place until Christmas Day 2020, and long after our original plan. No great celebration party at the time, but rather masks, sanitiser, social distancing and ‘track and trace’. Nonetheless a joyous start to our wonderful restored building, continuing the legacy of the extraordinary Dr Joseph Wolff.

Our Grant Providers

For this restoration project to come to fruition, we are indebted to the following who have provided the necessary finance and support to raise the £737,508.

All Church Trust

Bath & Wells FCG

Beatrice Laing Trust

Clark Foundation

Fairfield Charitable Trust

Garfield Weston Trust

Heritage Lottery Fund

National Churches Trust

National Lottery Community Fund

Somerset Community Fund

South Somerset District Council

Stoate Charity

C E C Bush – Private Donation