CASE STUDIES
Festival Churches in Action
Festival Churches come in many different shapes and sizes. Below are a few examples to help you explore whether the Festival Church Model is right for you.
If you still want to find out more or you have a specific question then do get in touch by either filling in the online form or drop us an email.
RAMPTON, All Saints
Rampton is a village to the north of Cambridge with a population of 448. All Saints is a Grade II* listed church which is now a Festival Church in the benefice/parish of Cottenham and Rampton. The church has no WC or kitchen and inadequate heating for winter use. There is one full time vicar for two churches.
WHAT ISSUES HAD TO BE ADDRESSED?
- Declining congregation;
- No Churchwardens;
- Friends Group reluctant to take an active role in managing the building;
- Lack of facilities for wider use;
- Some repairs needed (£50k);
WHAT DID THEY DO?
The Archdeacon called a village meeting which 30-40 people attended. The Ramption Action Group (RAG) was formed from 3/4 existing church members plus wider community members with various expertise.
HOW DOES THE GOVERNANCE WORK?
RAG is constituted as a sub-committee of Cottenham with Rampton PCC. The Rector manages the relationship between RAG and the PCC. RAG works well with the Friends Group - RAG manages while the Friends Group fundraises.
WHAT WERE THE KEY DRIVERS?
The key driver for RAG has been heritage rather than mission. However, people on the RAG who were not previously attending services now do come to festival services. The residents did not not want to lose their church - they want it there for when they need it.
FESTIVAL SERVICES
There are 6 services a year. The services get a much bigger turnout than before (but this includes people coming from the parish church at Cottenham). The services include:
- Pimms and Hymns in August;
- Choral evensing given by the Cottenham Choir;
- Harvest;
- Carols;
- Songs of Praise;
- Easter Day;
- Midnight Communion on Christmas Eve;
All these services are led by the Rector as she feels it is important she leads all services and is visible as Rector.
AMBITIONS
The RAG Group would like to see basic kitchen and WC facilities installed in the church but this would not necessarily increase useage as there is a modern village hall opposite. There is still some concern over volunteer succession as several RAG members are older. Further works are needed to repair the building which the RAG is keen to push forward with.
Click on the link below to read a detailed case study about All Saints, Rampton
RAMPTON, All Saints
HAVERLINGLAND, St Peter
Haveringland is a village of 187 people in the Broadland District of Norfolk. The Aylsham Benefice has 17 parishes and 18 churches, with 3.5 clergy (0.19 FTE per church). St Peter’s is a Grade II* listed church with a C11 round west tower, the reminder mainly re-built in 1858. The church has no water or drains. There is electricity, but no heating.
WHAT ISSUES HAD TO BE ADDRESSED?
Back in 2015, the church was heading towards the Norwich Diocesan trust. It had a Monthly service in the summer only, with very low attendance. The Team Rector wanted to explore different solutions.
WHAT DID THEY DO?
The Rector attended the Parish Meeting (there is no Parish Council) and spoke about the idea of running the church differently. The Meeting was fortunately well-attended due to a contentious planning matter. He asked the Meeting: “If we do special things for the village in the church, will you come?” and got a pretty resounding “yes!” There was also interest about the church as a venue for other things – there is no village hall.
The Chair of parish meeting lives close to the church and was keen to get something going. This resulted in the Haveringland Church Action Group (CAG) being formed. This began as an events planning group and has since got involved in fabric maintenance, churchyard and funding applications. CAG has also set up a "friends group", which is a mailing list of people who will attend events but don’t wish to take part in the work.
The Rector highlights the importance of publicity and marketing via print and social media and also local radio. A church in the middle of a field needs to draw an audience from elsewhere. The first important event held after declaring Festival status was: Heritage Harvest Festival. 150 people attended. The Rector felt this proved the model – do less, but do it better.
The success of this provided the impetus to try more things. Historic links to Swannington Airfield were explored, leading to the successful 40s in the Fields events, held annually.
HOW DOES THE GOVERNANCE WORK?
Consideration was given to forming a separate charity, but there was no appetite to do that locally. Therefore, from its inception, CAG has been run as a sub-committee of the PCC, the “PCC” consisting of the ministers licensed to the benefice. Since 2020 that model is no longer permitted so alternatives for oversight of the CAG are being investigated.
One option for future governance is to ask members from the CAG to become a full PCC - the only concern for the Rector in that is the pressure of too many PCC meetings to attend across his various churches.
The church in the large village of Cawston has resisted joining the parishes so both can be managed together - everyone wants to avoid paperwork and process.
WHAT WERE THE KEY DRIVERS?
CAG’s strong suit is heritage, particularly the links with the airfield. Community is also an important driver because Haveringland has no other community building.
Mission has been overtly on the back burner during the formative period of CAG, but the real missional value is in the cross-pollination between the secular and church events – people who come to community events then turn up for the carol service; people who would never have come before. Attendance at community events gives the vicar the opportunity to meet the people of Haveringland, which is otherwise very spread out.
FESTIVAL SERVICES
Up until present all festival services have been led by the Rector:
- Shared silences with wildlife
- Harvest festival outdoors
- Rogation walk
- Remembrance
- Advent carols
- Walk of witness
AMBITIONS
The Rector has an ambition to step back from his direct leadership role at Haveringland – he feels the group is now bedded in and can do very well without so much direct assistance.
The CAG has ambitions for a WC and servery and a sophisticated heritage offer related to Swannington. They want to have the church open every day (currently kept locked due to its remote location). There are plans for a digital genealogy and heritage console in the church
They also want to be able to host the parish meeting there. They want to do book and jigsaw swap (inspired by the same at Cawston). They are investigating hosting a “History Mystery” game, similar to one already taking place at Blickling.
Watch the video below for more details.
HAVERINGLAND, St Peter
RICHARDS CASTLE, All Saints
All Saints is a large Grade I listed church, designed by the renowned architect Richard Norman Shaw and built in 1892. The parish has 120 dwellings and a population of circa 400. It is the within the Herefordshire Diocese, and situated in very beautiful countryside.
WHAT ISSUES HAD TO BE ADDRESSED
Like many rural churches, All Saints experienced dwindling congregations and income with an increasing demand for Parish Offer at Diocesan level. In October 2020 five of the eight PCC announced at the APCM they were stepping down and recommended closure of the church. Two long standing church members decided to seek views from the community, Diocese, and explore the financials in depth for possible solutions.
WHAT DID THEY DO?
Online research led them to the Association of Festival Churches and to seek support from the Hereford Diocesan team. Very constructive and helpful input from the Finance Team, and others opened up the real possibility of Festival Church.
The financials revealed that both the income and expenditure had to be improved and that this was not insurmountable but needed urgent attention. The community had started to express their wish that closure must not happen. Personal contact was made with over forty local residents in the parish explaining that they must support the church both financially and with their time and skills.
A Parish Giving Scheme was launched as an online pilot which raised £4000 regular giving. The Diocese accepted that a cut in Parish Offer of £8,000 was necessary. A new budget prepared.
The two enthusiastic church members were co-opted to the PCC and they became the drivers of the FC project.
They spoke with the Village Hall Committee, WI, and two local Parish Councils, all were supportive. Regular monthly updates in the Village Magazine took place as it was agreed that engagement was key. A draft Vision Statement was created and shared with the community.
HOW DOES THE GOVERNANCE WORK?
It was vital to ensure good governance and due diligence was applied, in accordance with the CoE Regulations. A new Treasurer and Secretary were appointed, from the new PCC and in addition another new PCC member with drive and community engagement has also joined the team. Interestingly, the new member had not been baptized and this led to conversations with in the Diocese about putting in place a mechanism to allow such appointments to take place easily and quickly in the future. The PCC meets a minimum of four times a year to ensure oversight.
WHAT WERE THE KEY DRIVERS?
The need to remain a mission and Christian presence in the community is one of the key drivers, however, it is recognized that most of the community value the church as a community heritage asset. The new PCC are committed to being creative and are not afraid to take risks. Regular and real community engagement is needed to make the Festical Church a success.
FESTIVAL SERVICES
Christmas, Mothering Sunday, Easter, Harvest Festival, All Saints, and Remembrance.
These services are organized and led by both laity and clergy. In addition, the church plan to have community events e.g. concerts/ exhibitions / family days and services e.g. Pet Service.
AMBITIONS
There is great potential for this heritage church in the community, but we need to upgrade the facilities. The PCC is in the process, working with the DAC, to remove excess pews to create space, install an indoor toilet, and provide kitchen and catering facilities. The grounds will be used use for community events, and importantly ensure that whatever they do will be in response to community needs.
There is also ambition that the number of worshipping members of the church increases – even if they never return to the traditional pattern of worship.
SNAILBEACH, St Luke
St Luke Snailbeach, in an unlisted church forming part of the Stiperstones Group of Churches in Pontesbury Deanery. The church is close to the Stiperstones Mountain in South Shropshire, in the Diocese of Hereford. The church was erected in 1872 as a chapel of ease to Minsterley, There is also a Baptist Church and a Methodist Church in the village. St Luke’s stands at the boundary of the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty close to a range of designated heritage assets associated with historic lead mining at Snailbeach, The church is very close to the village hall which has good facilities and the car park.
WHAT ISSUES HAD TO BE ADDRESSED?
There had been an issue of very small congregations, usually only 5 people, meeting for worship, with concerns the sustainability of the church from the PCC.
WHAT DID THEY DO?
An open village meeting was called to consider the options, one of which was closure. However, the community seemed to want to support the church and to keep it open and small group was formed to look into options. The local community held a deep affection for the church and liked seeing the church on their way into the village.
After the meeting, the group undertook some online research into different models and options and agreed that they would remain open as a Festival Church. They also agreed to develop their offer to visitors and tourists, creating an exhibition of Mary Webb a local author who lived in Snailbeach. They also contacted the BOG Visitor Centre and developed a mutual relationship with them, which included mutual marketing. They also consulted other organisations in the community. The group from the community were keen that the church remained a resource for the whole community.
HOW DOES THE GOVERNANCE WORK?
The PCC at Minsterley is still the governing PCC, but the festival approach has eased some local tension as some of the locals disliked the feeling that they were being told what to do. Now there is some local autonomy and this seems to have improved working relationship and also removed some of the onerous responsibility from Minsterly PCC.
WHAT ARE THE KEY DRIVERS?
One of the key drivers was to keep the church open and present in their community. The village very much saw the church as a community and important heritage asset. A further key driver was also to remove the pressure from Minsterley PCC who had pressures of their own and concern over the church building in Minsterley. There was also concern about pressure on diminishing clergy numbers and the need to bring forward the skills and gifts of the laity to lead worship and mission.
The result has been that concern and worry about the church has diminished considerably. The small local group are managing the building, the exhibition, the cleaning, and volunteers have come forward to help from the village who did not connect with the church before.
FESTIVAL SERVICES
Six services have been agreed with the local community and are advertised on the church notice board, and have been agreed as the services that could be delivered easily by local people:
- Mothering Sunday,
- Easter,
- Remembrance,
- Christmas and Carols,
- Stiperstones Festival Day.
The services are predominantly lay led; however, a priest is able to come for the Eucharistic services.
AMBITIONS
Attendance has increased from an average of 40 per year to 265 per year, which has led to growth. There are plans to increase the number of services and to explore adding additional facilities in the church if the number of people attending continues to grow. There are plans to raise the profile of the church as a visitor and tourism destination and to install signage from the main road to the church. There are also plans to join the Shropshire Churches Tourism Group and to upload their information onto the web site.
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The Association of Festival Churches has been generously supported by the Church of England's Buildings for Mission Fund and the Benefact Trust
The website has been developed using information contained in the Guidance "Becoming a Festival Church". We are grateful to the Diocese of Ely and the Cambridge Judge Business School for their kind permission to use the information.
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