How a community grew in generosity and rescued St Helen’s Church
St Helen’s Church is a hidden jewel in the crown of Barnoldby-le-Beck village. But beneath its beauty lay a serious challenge. It was on the brink of financial collapse.
Read the storyWith the support of the Diocese of Lincoln’s Transformation Fund, a summer holiday project at Utterby Church has created a welcoming space where families can explore different hands-on activities, bringing the heritage of Utterby and its church life. It has been a great success for the church and families who enjoyed the chance to take part.
Micki Carey-Slater, Diocesan Children, Youth and Families Enabler for the Diocese of Lincoln, has told us about her first-hand experience of visiting this inspiring grassroots project in action.
Micki’s experience
Immediately, I was welcomed outside the church, with offers of coffee and cake and a chance to speak to the lady whose brainchild this was, Poppy Rhodes. Poppy has encouraged the church to hold a pumpkin trail over the past couple of years, as well as an Easter trail, but wanted to extend into the summer holidays.
“It was set up in the context of providing a safe space for families in the holidays, where there was no pressure to spend a lot of money, where children are allowed to explore the church for themselves.” (Poppy Rhodes, Church Team)
The vision was to bring the heritage of Utterby and its church to life and that was evident in the activities of potion brewing with herbs (like nuns used to), making crosses from natural materials, and creating stained glass windows.
It was important to Poppy that children and young people had the freedom to choose and develop the activities in their own way, and there was certainly lots of choice! From Lego and playdough to watercolour painting and sewing, archery to bug hunting, every child and young person I saw was diving in throughout.
Spreading the news
The event ran for three Tuesday mornings, with families returning and bringing their friends. There were lots of people who came along. I counted 38, all accompanied by an adult, who came that morning, from babies to teenagers.
A notice board on the main road attracted one family, who said that they kept passing it and it reminded them to come along. Another family came all the way from Cleethorpes because they’d seen it, too.
As well as through local conversations, the event was advertised with the local school. And this important relationship continues to grow. In the next academic year, whole classes will be coming to explore the heritage of the church and village – one volunteer has been known to dress up as a nun to bring storytelling to life!
Collaboration at the centre
With volunteers manning refreshments and activities, and welcoming and chatting to families, it was clearly a project that brought people together.
The team even received raving reviews from families who joined in. They lauded the kind welcome, safe environment, range of activities and friendly volunteers.
“I hope Poppy and her team are both proud and excited about the impact of their summer project on their church, children, young people and community.” (Micki Carey-Slater, CYF Enabler)
As I reluctantly left just after the end of the session, there were still lots of children and young people involved in activities, families talking and laughing together.
I came away inspired, with lots of ideas for my own context. I was encouraged by the warmth at the heart of the project and the way it is helping to build lasting relationships between the church, school and wider community.
The Transformation Fund
This project benefited from a grant from The Transformation Fund, as a new mission project, which supported purchasing craft and activity materials. Find out how the TF could help your CYF ministry here.