Warden’s notes – St Martin’s Re-ordering

Hi all,

We have been busy with re-ordering of our Parish Church again this month. The focus at this time is on getting the money to pay for the plans we have developed. We started in May this year with £122,000 to fund the initial stages of this plan, and this money will run out before the end of the year if we don’t get a significant injection of cash.

We have been:-

  • Chasing the Board of Finance about the money from the sale of the hall – £500k is on deposit in their funds, of which we have had nothing. No news yet. It is worth pointing out that if we cannot deliver accommodation to continue the educational activities happening in the hall, we will lose all of this money!
  • Applying for grants – CCBC, Big Lottery, Heritage Lottery – application forms went in June/July/August – awaiting response. More applications are being worked on.
  • Fundraising - as well as “normal” parish fundraising events, we have been holding special “re-ordering” events to raise money - £5.5k has been raised since we started in early May. This is on top of the “normal” fundraising for parish funds/charity giving!!
  • Requesting support - we have printed a three-fold leaflet, drafted letters and e-mails asking for donations and loans (debentures), and created new web sites on Facebook, and “Easy Fundraising”. Links to relevant information are now in the magazine and the weekly sheet – if you do online ordering, and you do it through our special website, the firms you order from will give a small amount of money to our cause, at no cost to you!!. Check it out!!
  • Requesting permission from the Diocese to do the work – plans have been sent in, and a visit carried out – permission has been given to dig exploratory holes, and further suggestions have been received from them – these are being worked through before re-applying at the end of August.

There has been a chapel/church on this site since Tudor times - at least 1552. It was rebuilt in 1822 because of dilapidation, and the first part of our existing church was built in 1878/9 on a plot alongside the old chapel (you can still see its outline in the churchyard today). The church was extended in 1905 and again in 1938 to provide space for the increasing population of Caerphilly. Now, although the population is still increasing with recent new estates all around the old town, the congregation is declining – we now have only about 100 people on Sunday, spread over 3 services, sitting in a church built to hold 500!! So, it makes sense to pull in our horns, re-use the space to draw people into this historic old building, not just for church, but for general community use, and thereby provide a platform for sustainability into the future.

We felt that we needed a name for the new community centre which is the dream and purpose of this venture. One suggestion from the project team is “S-MART” – a play on St Martin’s – to be referred to as “the SMART centre” – does that sound good to you – or do you have a better idea?? We propose a competition – please send in ideas by the end of September – there will be a prize for the best idea.

We need your help and support - this is not just our dream as wardens, PCC and clergy, but it is a vital part of guaranteeing the future of this church. If you have read the recent Church in Wales review, it makes it clear that churches that cannot support themselves through converting to multi-use will be candidates for closure. Our congregations are declining, despite all efforts to welcome new people into our church communities. There is expense involved in maintaining churches, and we get very little help from external funders for simple repairs and maintenance. St Barrwg’s in Bedwas has recently received £68k from the Heritage Lottery after 12 years of fundraising to try to address damp and water penetration problems. We are looking also at the Big Lottery – people and places, which is dependent on community use . We are lucky in that our giving and fundraising has largely supported this type of work in recent years, so we have not had to wait while the church falls down round our ears. But declining congregations will make this increasingly difficult.Appropriate rental for use of community space will help bridge this gap.

PLEASE think about how you might be able to support us. Expertize in this type of project is at a premium - people are so busy – can you give us some time?? Every little helps in our fundraising - every donation or loan, no matter how small, will be welcomed. Also, letters of support and appreciation would be very gratefully received, and would help us to obtain the necessary grants.

Together, we can make this work – and leave that legacy for the future that we are always talking about. The devil is certainly busy testing us with problems and uncertainties at the moment!!