The Norwich Diocese has informed us that providing a replacement incumbent for our benefice, which currently comprises eight local churches including Wacton, is not sustainable.

This means that Rev Heather Wilcox will not be replaced and the ministry for an area probably comprising 16 parishes will now be carried out by Rev John Madonna, who is only employed on a part time basis, with the assistance of a very small voluntary lay team. Unfortunately, Angie Baldwin will no longer be part of this team although she will continue her work on the PCC and in the parish. This probably means that there will in future be fewer services in the church.

Wacton PCC wants to support the residences of Wacton to the best of our ability and to this end we have been doing all we can to keep our church open and usable for the whole community. There are now only four members of our PCC, so we need new people to join us. Sadly if we are not able to recruit active new members of the PCC we will not be able to continue to run the church.

The structural condition of the church building in now extremely poor. Without funding from large grant givers, which is not currently available, we cannot carry out the necessary major repairs to the structure of the building. Following the investigative work done in June, we have now received a report from the architect which gives us grave concern about the safety of the structure so we have, reluctantly, decided to temporarily close the church until the situation has been clarified.

If we can get confirmation that the building is safe to continue to use, we hope to carry on with our monthly coffee mornings in the church on the second Saturday of each month. Our community lunches in the village hall on the last Thursday of each month will continue for now. More help is urgently needed for both these events.

Most importantly the PCC still wants to be there for the people of the parish, particularly during the difficult months ahead, so please do not hesitate to contact us and we will do our best to help.

We are not asking for money but for volunteers willing to work with us to save our historic church for generations to come. Without support from the community the church is in imminent danger of closure.

For more details of how you can help please contact Caroline on 01508 530111, or Angie on 01508 536639