History and Background to church and proposed project
The Parish of Lower Sapey has had a church presence both as a physical building and a congregation for at least ten centuries. In medieval times the Old church and monastery was situated near Sapey Court but that thriving community was decimated by the Black Death in 1365, this church is now cared for by the Church Conservation Trust. The more recent Victorian building is sited at the hamlet of Harpley, further up the valley, which we use today.
The Church has and always will exist to serve the community. However, changes of population, church-going and priorities of modern life have led to the current congregation dwindling to a level where the cost of the material upkeep of the church is unsustainable without a major review of building use and related funding for the future.
In our WR6 area alone, six churches – Knightwick, Lulsley Chapel, Tedstone Wafre Church, Wolferlow Church and Linley Green Chapel – have become redundant in recent years. The Parochial Church Council and the residents of Harpley are keen to see our Church remain open and have a future into and beyond the 21st Century. If we want to maintain the church as a viable building and look to increase its usefulness for the whole community of Lower Sapey, then we need to act now.
In 2014 Parish statistics showed that the community has 70 households. The total population is 176 with 20% of households being single occupancy. Pensioners account for nearly half of the adult population and this statistic will inevitably increase. However, we also recognise the needs of families with children living in the parish with the potential for more children as families move to the area looking for increased space with home working becoming more common. We predict an increased population as houses become vacant and housing development is planned in the Parish.
The Future?
The above history and background has caused members of the community to consider “what does the future hold?” As a result, and with the benefit of funding from ‘Awards for All’ a Survey and Feasibility Study was completed in 2019 to consider not only the future of the church but the community as a whole. Both the Parochial Church Council and the local community were consulted.
Various issues were identified including the major concern of loneliness. In addition, the survey respondents considered social activities to be important to bring the community together on a more regular basis such as film and quiz nights, special interest talks, exercise classes all of which could potentially be linked to fundraising opportunities.
The Survey not only recognised these needs but also the fact that the natural focus is the church as a building with the capacity to meet these needs having, in the past, proved popular in providing such events not just to the community but also reaching out to neighbouring villages.
Our Vision Statement
Harpley is a beautiful remote rural place with a disparate community spread over a wide area. The Church is the only public building in the Parish of Lower Sapey and we aim to make it our community hub to enable us to engage with both the immediate and the wider community. Such an ambition provides a greater opportunity for raising ongoing and necessary funds to support the building’s future needs. This will also enable us to sustain the vibrancy arising from our ancient heritage and agricultural history as well as improve environmental awareness and our ecological diversity.
Not only will we be able to sustain our heritage but the building will provide a focus for the future of our community by creating modern facilities that can support both celebratory and memorial gatherings as well as events to meet the needs of all generations.
Our vision identifies and is underpinned by a number of objectives:
∙ To provide refreshment and support facilities for community gatherings and encourage activities that can be led by villagers with different community interests.
∙ To develop NEW relationships with other groups:
o Twinning with urban parishes and
o inviting urban church schools to use our facilities to educate children about the countryside.
∙ To provide facilities in the church for refreshment and support facilities for visitors who want to enjoy our beautiful west Worcestershire countryside – cyclists, walkers, stargazers, insect hunters, photographers – “Champing”.
∙ To make our peaceful Churchyard part of The Quiet Garden Movement and encourage day visits organised by groups such as painters or retreat groups.
∙ To create a venue where people can engage with nature.
What are our existing knowledge and skills and what is the building’s potential that we can use to implement our Vision?
Arising from the above Vision and Objectives, the opportunity exists to embrace our identity as a Silver Eco-Church and to educate others about nature in the countryside as well as encourage other churches to become eco-churches too.
We began evaluating our eco credentials in 2015. A simple first step has been to remove the use of floral foam in our floral decorations. This led to the foundation of the Sustainable Church Flower Movement in 2019 carrying out workshops and sharing good practice on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/sustainablechurchflowers).
Whist we acknowledge that the church’s governance must necessarily be made up of those on its electoral roll, the building is not, and never will be, exclusive to those who attend weekly worship. We already have an ecumenical mission whereby the Methodists meet in the building once a month and we have held a Roman Catholic Mass in the Old Church. We would like to extend this to other faith groups. There is an extended community who have connections with Harpley and return to celebrate their life-time events such as Baptisms, Christenings, Weddings and Funerals.
The Church and Churchyard provide a place of rest and quiet and remembrance and history for all who pass by. Because of this and its beautiful rural setting, the Church and Churchyard has many visitors during the week; all of which is beautifully reflected in this poem from a resident:
Harpley Church:
St Bartholomew’s a peaceful place
Where nature’s gifts can be embraced
Where snowdrops drift in the spring
Where summer breezes sing
Where autumn nights bring golden dawns
Where frost sparkles on the bough
Where there is beauty, peace and joy
Where the light falls in a special way
Jane Dallow 2020
Our church, though relatively small, can hold a hundred people for a formal occasion but is used for many informal services and events as well. A flexible layout of chairs and pews enables this.
However, we realise the space would be improved with alterations to the internal layout. Such flexibility has, and will always have, ideas of use beyond Sunday Worship. In recent years we have been able to hold an ‘Arts Festival’ bringing together the community and celebrating their varied talents, such as, painting, photography, poetry and music.
We hold an annual ‘Big Breakfast’ cooked by the community and attracting many people from near and far to enjoy breakfast in the beautiful grounds of the church, or in the church itself in bad weather. We regularly hold concerts with our pop-up choir and visiting musicians. Our local historian recently brought WW1 alive with an exhibition of artefacts and photographs of Harpley ancestors who took part in the war. We have organised a mini ‘antiques road show’ hosted by a local antiques expert to raise funds for the fabric of the church. There is a lot of natural talent in the Harpley community as demonstrated in our “Bart’s Arts Festival” in 2018.
The recent stresses arising from the Coronavirus Pandemic have accentuated the needs of our parishioners – whether amplifying loneliness or difficulties for children living remotely – which is further exacerbated by the very limited Wi-Fi in the village and no Wi-Fi in the church. The impact of the pandemic has also created a backlog of Weddings, Baptisms, and Memorial services. All of these issues highlight the obvious need for upgrading the heating system and the support facilities when so many more services and events are likely to place ongoing pressure on the current limited facilities into the foreseeable future.
The Project in brief form before the real work starts!
Organising so many events in the past has re-emphasised the limitations of the building’s facilities. It is obvious that the building needs modernisation in terms of kitchen and toilet facilities and better heating. With this in mind we have already funded and enabled mains water to be plumbed on to the site ready for future developments. The next step will be to raise the necessary funds to enable the wider project to go ahead.
These preliminary steps will enable the Church of St. Bartholomew to find wider uses in the years ahead and to become both a central focus for the community as a centre of worship as well as provide a space for social and environmental development. In a way this would be returning to the more ancient perception of a Church and its function in the community. There would be a coming together of the sacred and secular in a way that preserves the primary purpose of the building.
This is our statement of intent – we have the enthusiasm, desire and imagination to fulfil this ambition.
Rev Canon David Sherwin and Candida Connolly May 2020