Future of the Llangwm Parish Churches
of St Jerome and St John

Dear Llangwm Parish Resident,

The parish will soon need to take a significant decision regarding the future of St John's and St Jerome's church buildings. Your thoughts and ideas are requested.

We really would appreciate your involvement and help in the process even if you are not a regular church attendee as both buildings are an important part of your heritage as a resident of Llangwm.

The Parochial Church Council (PCC) of the Llangwm parish has been considering the issue of the fabric of both church buildings continuing to deteriorate; to such an extent that the parish can no longer afford to maintain both St John's and St Jerome's and needs to consider making one of them "redundant" or disused.

You may know that regular Sunday services are held in St John's during the winter and St Jerome's during the summer. Both churches are currently available throughout the year for special services such as funerals, weddings and christenings. However the average Sunday attendance for both churches is only nine. Both buildings need fairly major repair and renovation to continue and to be handed on to the future generations of Llangwm parishioners.

The Church in Wales has long established that the cost of repair and maintenance of the church buildings should lie with the parish, i.e. with only occasional access to special grant funding for urgent repairs. Larger grant funding is simply not available from the Church in Wales's central body and there is no feasible access to other grants such as lottery funding etc.

The PCC has reluctantly made the decision that the parish can only afford to run, repair and maintain one of the two churches and that the other should be declared redundant and potentially sold to raise funds to repair, renovate and improve the facilities in the remaining building.

The Church in Wales "regulations" regarding the decommissioning of churches does allow for all of any funds raised from the sale to be used by the parish for such projects. It also allows for the church burial grounds to remain consecrated and in use. This is especially important in any decision making as some parishioners will wish to be laid to rest with their beloved family members and we would work to ensure this choice was maintained for the future.

The PCC has tried to consider what we want and need from the fabric and infrastructure of a church building to enable us and especially future generations to benefit from the church. This list of considerations is not exhaustive and we would welcome your suggestions to ensure our decision between the two buildings is as informed as possible.

Some examples of "what would we like our church to have" type requirements are:-

Welcoming to visitors
Looks loved and cared for
Space for prayers, information and parish news display
Safe and efficient heating
Effective lighting
Large enough for funerals and weddings
Flexible seating for small worship groups
Water, kitchen, toilets
Access for low mobility attendees
Suitable for creative liturgy - space movement etc
Some space and equipment for parents with small children
Good acoustics and induction loop
Storage for books, resources etc
Sufficient churchyard space for future
The ability to attract events such as flower/ art shows
Car parking

The PCC would like you to discuss the suggestions above, to feed back any issues, concerns, suggestions, requests or offers of help so the decision making process is as informed as possible. If you would like to speak with any members of the PCC please feel free to contact any of them:

Rev'd Kevin Hasler kevin@llangwm-parishes.org.uk or telephone 07592 822022
Sylvia Lewis
Sylvia Fowles sylvia@fowles.org.uk
Lyn Savage lynchurchfarm@aol.com
Bill Savage billchurchfarm@aol.com

The next step will be to hold an open meeting in St John's parish hall in Llangwm to explain in more detail some of the issues regarding finance and options that we have been considering.

In the meantime please can you consider what declaring one of the churches redundant would mean to you and future generations and offer any suggestion, prayers and support that you are able to give.

Thank you and bless you

The PCC members