Here on the Isle of Wight we are facing the joys of a hosepipe ban. Our lovely green island is beginning to look a little brown, and my vegetables are having a horrid time of it. But despite that, the British summer continues to delight, and the glorious sounds of leather on willow, horses clip clopping along a country lane and, above all, church bells calling to the faithful, provide solace to a troubled world.
We have just enjoyed an outdoor performance of the Merry Wives of Windsor on the grass outside our church, with picnics, laughter, and copious glasses of chilled rosé. The church is rightly held to be, still, the centre of our local communities, whether well attended on a Sunday or not. Those who give up their time to look after these buildings, and to help with the organising of services and events, are often run ragged at times, and as a churchwarden myself, I sympathise. Yet is there anything more satisfying than seeing people in and around our churches, living their busy lives, as they have done for centuries before us?
We recently asked people to send us photographs of churches, and we have selected 12 of these to go on our 2027 Church Calendar. But going through the pictures, and there were hundreds of them, I was struck by the sheer beauty of these buildings. And I was struck, too, by the passion and enthusiasm for each and every one of the churches, in the emails that accompanied the entries. It made me realise: our job has real value. We must not, we can not, give up on what has been for so many hundreds of years the focus of our lives. And anything we can do to preserve this great heritage for future generations will be effort well spent.
And so on we go, doing what we can, and who knows – we might even persuade some of those coming after us to volunteer to take on the mantle!
This is so pertinent and congratulations to those who organised “Merry wives of Windsor”
Many churches are struggling as you rightly say. Volunteers are getting older, sadly also dying with few newcomers to take up the mantle. Our churches are suffering. However, we must have hope and faith and with love added we will recover in time I am sure. It’s a lovely summer in spite of vegetation finding it tough without water. I do hope the fire raging on the IOW as I send this, is not causing irreparable damage. We had one here in 1976 which destroyed 200 acres of our heathland. It recovered and is now more beautiful than ever.
Have faith, hope and love.
With best wishes
John Field
I do so appreciate the Year Book1
Thank you John. Yes, I remember the tarmac on the roads in Surrey melting in that summer of ’76. And the fires on the continent as I write are truly terrible.
Those of us blessed to serve our Church mostly appreciate the beauty of our buildings as well as the importance of the service they provide for the community. It is sad for me though, to feel that some parishioners seem to have forgotten that their parish church mainly runs on volunteer work. Of course, this volunteering is increasingly essential to compensate for what tends to be ever decreasing church incomes as congregations too often dwindle and money coming in from them decreases.
Despite the faithful few volunteering for everything from baking cakes for the community cafe, running free community creches and local youth groups, offering free singing and instrument training for youth and adults through its musical activities, serving during church services, cleaning the church, mowing the churchyard grass and the many other jobs that need doing weekly, the emails and messages from non-congregational parishioners complaining about this, that and the other to do with church upkeep seem to be ever growing. Random phone calls and emails about the state of the churchyard, the noticeboard, an overgrown hedge, a rickety fence etc seem to be increasingly frequent. Often these can be quite vociferous.
I personally see our churches as largely no less tidy or less well looked after than they ever were, but the entitlement of some people in the general population to make negative remarks, find problems and expect someone else in the community to resolve them can be a little disheartening. But, perhaps this was the way it always was, but as Churchwarden we are simply more aware of it.
I really enjoyed the blog! It is great to hear that your church was such a beautiful backdrop to the Merry Wives of Windsor. Churches are still at the heart of a community and we must never lose sight of that when we are feeling run ragged maintaining these sanctuaries, not only for our regular (and often small) congregations, but also for those who visit and find peace and rest from the bustle of life.