Westminster Abbey: Service celebrates 60th anniversary of National Churches Trust

procession befpre service

Their Royal Highnesses, The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester attended a service to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the National Churches Trust at Westminster Abbey today, (28 November).

A charity supported by voluntary contributions and which receives no financial support from government, the Trust has, over the last sixty years, allocated grants and loans worth £85 million to help repair and modernise Christian places of worship of all denominations.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Most Rev Justin Welby gave the address. A poem especially composed for the occasion by Lord Williams of Oystermouth, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, was read by actress Geraldine James. The Catholic Archbishop of Cardiff, Most Rev George Stack; Reverend Lord Griffiths of Burry Port, Superintendent Minister, Wesley’s Chapel, were among the ecumenical participants.

The service was conducted by the Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr John Hall who said in his Bidding: "We can so easily take for granted and even ignore the religious and cultural riches we have inherited from the past. We should instead recognise them, cherish them, and work to preserve them. The network of 47,000 parish and local churches throughout our land is quite extraordinarily rich and wonderful. Every community, however small, however deprived, however new, has a church, and often more than one. In all of them people gather to do what we must do if we are to retain our balance, our true sense of ourselves: to worship almighty God.

"And many churches reflect God’s beauty. Of the 16,000 Church of England parish churches, 12,000 are listed as special. But many of them are demanding for their communities to maintain and some are at risk. So today we gather to thank God and to praise his holy name for the work over the past sixty years of the National Churches Trust, supporting communities in preserving their church, their place of worship."

Testimonies were given by Rosemary Mason, St Mary de Castro, Leicester; Olwen Jenkins, St David’s Church, Llandewi Aberarth; and Philippa King, Memorial Community Church, Plaistow. The testimonies were given in interviews conducted by Huw Edwards, BBC broadcaster and Vice-President, National Churches Trust.

Bear Grylls, adventurer, author and television presenter, read Genesis 28: 10-18 and Bettany Hughes, historian, author and broadcaster, read 1 St Peter 2: 4-9. Geraldine James OBE, read Please Close This Door Quietly by the Right Reverend and Right Honourable The Lord Williams of Oystermouth, former Archbishop of Canterbury.

The service was sung by the Westminster Abbey Special Service Choir conducted by James O’Donnell. The organ was played by Daniel Cook, Sub-Organist, and before the service by Martin Ford, Assistant Organist.

For more information on the National Churches Trust see: http://nationalchurchestrust.org/home.php