Well it depends what you mean by the church. The church is the body of Christians who worship there and try to live their lives in a Christian way, offering love and help to others. But most people think of the church as the building standing at the top of the hill. Let's think of it this way - the church could actually continue without the building because they could worship anywhere.............but do we want the building to survive whether the worshippers are there or not?

Helmdon church is an ancient and beautiful building of historic importance. To maintain it in good condition for future generations to appreciate is a very expensive task. Like all buildings it deteriorates because of weather, damp, rust, vermin and age. It needs cleaning, heating, updating, repairing (using expensive materials because it is old and listed). The church congregation cannot sustain the upkeep of the building on their own and frankly prefer to direct at least some of their giving to charitable causes such as the poor, bereft and needy people of the world.

Thus the upkeep of the building falls on the shoulders of the village - if the village want the building to remain. There is no direct help from government or from central church funds. The Friends of the church have done an amazing job over the last few years raising money for the replacement of the roof and for continuing repairs. Some excellent events have been held both in the church and around the village.

Now the church cannot ask the village to maintain the building and keep it to themselves for worship - that is unreasonable. The best way to organise this is to use the building as a community asset so everyone has access to the building and can help to maintain it in return.

It is generally felt that the building makes an excellent venue for cultural events.....except that the heating system is not very effective, on the verge of breakdown and is extremely noisy. Thus the church has had to make decisions about the future. Do we continue with the current type of warm air heating and simply replace the boiler - which will be slightly quieter but retain all the difficulties associated with currents of air, rapid heating and cooling of the fabric and instant cold when it is switched off. Or........do we invest in the future of the building as a community asset which can be used for cultural events and for art classes, as a drop-in centre, a meeting place - generally a beautiful and ancient place to be used and appreciated by the people of Helmdon.

We (the church) have chosen to improve the heating system as an investment for the future. We believe this will keep the fabric of the building in better condition, provide a warm welcome for people coming through the door, allow wider cultural use of the building, allow greater access to the people of Helmdon for creative classes in an inspirational environment. .............and all this will help to create funds for the continued maintenance of the building. It won't be in competition with the Reading room - this is an inspirational venue - the Reading room is functional.

The building itself, at the moment, is a monument - occupied occasionally during the week by a group of Christian folk who are a living, breathing and compassionate movement. Should we not let the building have a life of its own?

We will shortly be launching an appeal to raise £50,000 for the heating system. We need to raise the money quickly before the existing boiler gives up. We will be leaving no stone unturned in our search for funds to achieve a position where the building will pay for itself and continue to serve the villagers, in many different capacities, for generations to come.

Morag Underwood
Churchwarden

On Tuesday 11th May we will be holding our Annual General Meeting in the church at 7.30pm. Please come along to support us and give your views and ideas about what fundraising events you would like to see happen - we're always open to suggestions.

The annual membership scheme is up for renewal after the AGM if you would like to renew or join, along with the opportunity of obtaining a discount on our events. Forms will be available in the back of church or speak to the committee.

Our next event is on Saturday 5th June when The Pandora Box Theatre will be performing "Burglar Bill" based on the children's book by Janet & Allan Ahlberg. This will be in the Reading Room in the afternoon - please look out for posters advertising this nearer the time or make a date in your diary or speak to any committee member now if you would like to book seats.

Vanessa Vicars
Chair of Friends (760477)

For newcomers, this is a Church/Chapel run Youth Club which meets for fun activities on Sunday evenings during term time throughout the year.

We are still thriving, despite sadly having lost the Chapel Schoolroom as a base. The last few weeks before Easter we met at the Church, which has worked well but it has limitations as to the range of activities we can do.

For the remainder of this Summer Term, the group of school years 5-7 plan to meet at the Reading rooms on the lst and 3rd Sundays of the month at 6.30pm. The older Group make their own arrangements with Jane and Phil.

We will review the situation in September, when we welcome anyone going into year 5 to join us and we see how many youngsters we have in each age group. Watch this space!

At present we have 29 youngsters who attend regularly. The younger group (yrs 5-7), are a large lively group led valiantly by Kathy Quiney, Louise Stothard, Verity Thorne and John Plunkett. The older group (Yr 8 upwards) are aided and abetted by Jane Barnes and Phil Drage.