Local church volunteers who look after some of the most precious buildings in the country will be given tips and advice from experts at a conference this week.
From repairing stained glass windows and conserving traditional brickwork and stone to drawing up contracts with architects – a series of workshops will be held at the Welsh Places of Worship Conference, to help those looking after some of Wales’ more than 1,000 listed church buildings.
The event, organised by the Church in Wales, will take place at Llandaff Cathedral on Tuesday, May 17 and 100 people are expected to attend.
The guest speaker will be a vicar who transformed a church hall into a first-class conference room and community facility (see photograph) and created a visitor centre and food hall in an ancient Tithe barn. Revd Canon Jeremy Winston will describe how he tackled the project at St Mary’s Priory Church, Abergavenny, and talk about the way forward for Welsh places of worship.
There will be four workshops:
- Conservation of stone – by Roger Capps, managing director of Capps & Capps Ltd
- Conserving our stained glass heritage – by Alun Adams of the Architectural Glass Centre, Swansea Metropolitan University;
- Conservation of traditional brickwork – by Terrence Ledd, MCGI MInstRE
- Contracts between Architects, PCCs and Contractors – by Richard Lamb RIBA AABC
Alex Glanville, head of property services at the Church in Wales said, “Most of our historic churches are cared for by volunteers from the congregations, such as church wardens, who can’t be expected to know how to preserve Medieval carvings or Victorian brickwork, for example.
“This all-Wales conference is about the nitty-gritty of looking after historic buildings. We hope it will support, encourage and build confidence in those who do such a wonderful job week in, week out caring for these national assets.”
The Conference is part of a wider project run by the Church in Wales to support those looking after church buildings. Called Taking Forward Our Church Heritage, it provides guidance and training throughout Wales and is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The Church in Wales looks after 1,400 places of worship – two-thirds of which are listed. They are visited by an estimated two million people each year and we need about £70m over the next five years to repair and maintain them.
