Images: Mark Newman (Burnham-on-sea.com)
There were celebrations at St Peter and All Hallows Church in West Huntspill this July as a £1.1million project to restore the church and create a community hub was completed. It marks the end of a ten-year journey that has not only safeguarded the building’s heritage but has also created a special place for the community.
Much of the restoration was funded through a £678,200 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund in 2022. This was backed up with a further £247,000 from 21 additional funders. Local support and perseverance were also important in ensuring the completion of the project.
Revd Christine Judson, Rector The Huntspills and Mark, reflects on the 10-year project: “My predecessor Revd Tonya Nixon initiated this decade of change, and a small but effective team consisting of Project Leader David Lemon, Grants Guru Sara Puddy and Treasurer Mel Wall carried it forward, supported by the faithful church congregation, through an extended vacancy and the multiple challenges of covid! Eventually, with the support of a vast professional network, all was in place for the building work to take place.
“Commencing with the internal refurbishment enabled us to open the Café and begin to expand our activities to support our local community, which is where Ginny’s expertise and enthusiasm as Activities Co-ordinator came to the fore. This church has 800 years of history behind it - proclaiming the love of Christ through word and deed.
“Thanks to the National Heritage Lottery and all who have provided match funding, we have been able to protect this heritage. Now an equally important and exciting future lies ahead, to which we look with great hope – trusting in God and working together with our whole community.
Ginny Power, joined the team in 2022 as the project’s Activities Coordinator, echoes Christine words. She says the success of the project was only made possible by the dedication and hard work of the whole Project team who worked tirelessly over the years to make it happen and were supported in that by the local community. Ginny says, “It’s gone from being a very one-dimensional project on a piece of paper, to very much a three-dimensional, all-in-the-same-community effort.”
That was reflected in the celebration as more than 60 people attended the party including funders, local volunteers, architects, and builders, who all joined the festivities to mark this special milestone for the project.
The National Churches Trust says St Peter and All Hallows, “Is often called the Cathedral of the Levels. There has been a church on this site since 1194.”
Once considered at risk, with masonry falling from the church tower, the Grade I listed church now has a thriving community hub right at the heart of the village which welcomes visitors and hosts a variety of weekly events. The project called ‘Saving the Heritage – Sustaining the Community, not only brought about big changes to the church building, it also served to unite the community by creating something that everyone can be a part of.
At the heart of the transformation is a reordering of the church interior. The pews in the rear of the church have been removed to create a flexible, open space for the hub. There is now a modern kitchen, and accessible toilets. Meanwhile, the church tower has been repaired and strengthened.
The church now opens daily and hosts The Huntspill Hub café every Monday morning; a community café regularly drawing 50 to 60 people, many of whom live alone. Ginny says straight away the community were enjoying using the hub, “We’ve got an honesty café open 365 days a year, including Christmas Day. It’s addressing loneliness, isolation, mental health. Some of our visitors don’t see anyone else all week.”
Inside the church a new touchscreen display, souvenir heritage booklets, and wall panels tell the story of the building’s 800-year history. In the churchyard, new nature walks, and conservation projects are underway.
There’s also a biodiversity initiative created by the Wilder Churches and involving the Somerset Botany Group.
The church also hosts activities for different age groups, farmer meetups, and Ginny says they have even begun preparing a community cinema. The project, she says, didn’t just save a building. “It brought about a fundamental change in opinion. Some said, ‘I don’t like churches being messed around with, having pews taken out.’ But some of those people now say, ‘I didn’t think it would work, but it works beautifully.’” Ginny says it’s a shift that’s resonated throughout the community, “People who aren’t regular churchgoers now come in just for quiet, or for coffee.”
Ginny also credits the legacy of collaboration for helping to bring the community together. “It started as five people around a table. Now we have volunteers running cafés, organising the Christmas Tree Festival, managing talks. It belongs to the community.” She adds that others are inspired by their work and the team at West Huntspill are delighted to share what they have learned with others in the diocese. “Churches have come to us and ask, ‘How did you do it?’ We welcomed a visitor from Porlock who wanted to learn from our experience. That’s the legacy I’m proud of. We weren’t professionals. None of us had managed a project like this before. But we made it happen.”
Asked what she would say to others thinking about embarking on this journey Ginny simply says, “You can do this. We did.”