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.