UPDATED - Future of St Peter's Holtye
May 2007 - If you wish to contact the Parish regarding St Peter's Church in Holtye, please email hammerwood@gmail.com and your email will be forwarded to a churchwarden. Please bear in mind that the Parish has no influence over the future of the church in terms of what it may or may not be used for.
The Courier article can be found here - http://www.thisiscourier.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=142759&command=displayContent&sourceNode=142742&contentPK=17179059&moduleName=InternalSearch&formname=sidebarsearch
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The following article appeared in the September Parish Magazine:
Following meetings with the Bishop of Horsham and the Archdeacon, we were asked to consider the future of Holtye church and in particular to consider offering it to the Redundant Churches Board of the Church Commissioners.
This was put forward to the Parish in the May newsletter. In spite of comments being canvassed, the PCC has had a zero response.
In view of the lack of both financial and practical support from all but a very small group of Parishioners and the latest report from our Architect, which shows that large sums of money will need to be invested in the next few years, to maintain the fabric of the church, the case for closure has been carefully considered. To run and maintain two churches for a very small and rural parish is difficult to justify in present day conditions.
It is therefore with great sadness that at the Parochial Church Council meeting on the 16th August, it was unanimously agreed to offer St Peter's Holtye for redundancy.
What this means is that the Diocese and the Church Commissioners will present the proposition to the public, through the local press for consultation. They will then go through the process of considering alternative uses, closure of the burial ground and eventual disposal of the building. This process may take anything up to a year to be decided.
In the meantime the Parish will maintain the building and carry on with the limited services, which at present take place generally on the 5th Sunday in the month.
To put this into context, Hammerwood and Holtye with Cowden have three churches to maintain with a total population of just over 1000 of all creeds and persuasions. Church attendance in Hammerwood and Holtye is above the national average but still only means 25-35 people for each morning service every second Sunday. At Holtye services, this number is about 20-25 when joined with Cowden and just 2 or 3 if a morning Communion service.
These parishes are not unique in taking this decision. In the Brighton, Hove and Worthing areas some 40 churches have been made redundant in recent years.
(Site editors note - the decision to offer St Peter's church for redundancy would not have been an easy one to make. PCC members in their elected roles as representatives of the Parish have been agonising over the situation for many months but needed to come to a decision that best suited the Parish and its' future)
The Courier article can be found here - http://www.thisiscourier.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=142759&command=displayContent&sourceNode=142742&contentPK=17179059&moduleName=InternalSearch&formname=sidebarsearch
___________________________________________________________________________
The following article appeared in the September Parish Magazine:
Following meetings with the Bishop of Horsham and the Archdeacon, we were asked to consider the future of Holtye church and in particular to consider offering it to the Redundant Churches Board of the Church Commissioners.
This was put forward to the Parish in the May newsletter. In spite of comments being canvassed, the PCC has had a zero response.
In view of the lack of both financial and practical support from all but a very small group of Parishioners and the latest report from our Architect, which shows that large sums of money will need to be invested in the next few years, to maintain the fabric of the church, the case for closure has been carefully considered. To run and maintain two churches for a very small and rural parish is difficult to justify in present day conditions.
It is therefore with great sadness that at the Parochial Church Council meeting on the 16th August, it was unanimously agreed to offer St Peter's Holtye for redundancy.
What this means is that the Diocese and the Church Commissioners will present the proposition to the public, through the local press for consultation. They will then go through the process of considering alternative uses, closure of the burial ground and eventual disposal of the building. This process may take anything up to a year to be decided.
In the meantime the Parish will maintain the building and carry on with the limited services, which at present take place generally on the 5th Sunday in the month.
To put this into context, Hammerwood and Holtye with Cowden have three churches to maintain with a total population of just over 1000 of all creeds and persuasions. Church attendance in Hammerwood and Holtye is above the national average but still only means 25-35 people for each morning service every second Sunday. At Holtye services, this number is about 20-25 when joined with Cowden and just 2 or 3 if a morning Communion service.
These parishes are not unique in taking this decision. In the Brighton, Hove and Worthing areas some 40 churches have been made redundant in recent years.
(Site editors note - the decision to offer St Peter's church for redundancy would not have been an easy one to make. PCC members in their elected roles as representatives of the Parish have been agonising over the situation for many months but needed to come to a decision that best suited the Parish and its' future)
