Church Buildings Bulletin September 2025: Maintenance and Training

Caring for your church – news, advice and more. Sent to all Clergy, Readers, ALMs, LLMs, Churchwardens, Treasurers and Deanery Lay Chairs.

In this Issue: The theme of this Bulletin is Maintenance and Training.

1. Information

• Richard’s Income Generation Tip of the Month
• Volunteer Opportunities with BHHCT
• Explore churches using an App
• Disability Awareness Sunday
• Timing of faculty applications

2. Training and Resources

• Churchyard Management Training – 23rd October
• Churchwardens Training – Church Buildings and Churchyards Management (online)
• National Maintenance Week – November 2025
• Carbon Literacy Course – 15th December
• Learning Lunchtimes from the Flourishing Churches Team
• Choosing a new heating system

3. Environment

• Deanery Eco Champions – more still needed!
• The Living Churchyards Project – can you help?
• Eco Church Events
• The GREAT SWITCH for creation
• Parish Buying Energy Basket

4. Maintaining your building

• Recommended monthly tasks

5. Grants and Funding

• Minor Repairs & Improvements Grant to re-open for new applications
• Net Zero Carbon Quick Wins Grants

6. Good news stories

• All Saints, Willian
• The Scaffolding Is Finally Down
• Ready, steady, go! Thundridge Old Church Tower
• Cycling for access at Woburn Church

7. Upcoming Events

• Fundraising concert – Beds & Herts Historic Churches Trust
• Churches Visitor and Tourism Association

With thanks for all you do to maintain our wonderful churches as places where people can encounter God, parishes can reach out in mission and local communities can be transformed.

The DAC Team

Emma Critchley, DAC Secretary
Ann Wise, Historic Buildings Support Officer
Seamus McGibbon, Pastoral and Closed Churches Officer
Tom Abraham, Net Zero Carbon Officer
Mayra Shaw, Team Secretary – Church Buildings
Liz West, Church Buildings Maintenance Officer
Richard Jackson, Local Church Income Support Officer

1. Information

Richard’s Income Generation Tip of the Month: Adding the “Hall for Hire”

A Church Near You (ACNY) is a free website supported by the Church of England which lists churches and their services, events and facilities to make them easily searchable online.

If you have parish room(s) or a church hall available for hire, add a page and add the “HALL FOR HIRE” tag to it.

Volunteer Opportunities with BHHCT

We are very lucky that Beds and Herts Historic Churches Trust support churches within our Diocese with small grants that help kick start fundraising campaigns for essential repair and building projects – big or small. The Trust has a number of volunteer posts that it is keen to fill to assist the Trust with its important task in supporting churches within the Diocese. The posts are: 

Publicity – raising the profile of the Trust and use of social media

Fundraising – including help with the Trust’s major fundraiser, the Bike ‘n Hike

Grants – liaising with and supporting church applicants

Encouraging and widening the Trust’s group of Friends, both corporate and individual

If interested please email: chairman@bedshertshct.org.uk explaining your interest and how you would like to help.

For more information about the Trust visit:

Explore churches using an App

We’ve just learnt about a new app that gives people the chance to explore churches in greater depth and for churches to upload their trails and guides. The app is free but churches have to pay £180 a year to have their information on it. For more information go to. If this is something you sign up to do let us know!

Disability Awareness Sunday

This year’s Disability Awareness Sunday is on 28 September. It’s a chance to remember that everyone is important. It’s also a timely reminder to pause and look at your church building and facilities to see how accessible (or not) it is. Is the information on your website or on your A Church Near You page up to date? If you are doing something wonderful and positive that other churches can be inspired by – do let us know! For more information visit the below link.

Timing of faculty applications

Please make sure you apply for a faculty as early as possible when you are planning to carry out work in the church building or churchyard, and do not be tempted to book contractors until you have a sealed faculty giving permission.

The Diocesan Chancellor and the Deputy Chancellor are sometimes asked to treat a faculty petition (the formal application) as urgent. They are willing to consider petitions whilst the public notices are on display if there is justification to do so, for example because the work needs to be undertaken quickly for safety or some other reason, or because of external legal constraints on timing the work. In very limited circumstances the Chancellor can dispense with public notice to deal with an emergency, or where publicising the works would be detrimental.

Asking for a faculty petition to be treated as urgent because a contractor has already been booked is not a justification and does not allow the Chancellor or the Deputy Chancellor enough scope to consider if there are aspects of the work that need further consideration. It may also mean that genuinely urgent petitions from other parishes cannot be considered as quickly as needed.

For more information about the faculty application process, see:

2. Training and Resources

2. Training and Resources

Churchyard Management Training – 23rd October

Memorial fixing demonstration, Richard Lee. Flitwick, St Peter and St Paul’s Churchyard Management training.

Another chance if you missed the session in the summer. We are running a repeat session on churchyard management. It is aimed at clergy, churchwardens, parish administrators and others involved in the care and management of churchyards. The session will again include a practical demonstration about memorial installation and safety from Richard Lee, as well as information about the legal, practical and pastoral aspects of churchyard management from the Diocesan Registry team, the Archdeacon of Bedford and Emma Critchley.
The workshop will be held at St Mary’s, Stapleford near Hertford on Thursday 23 October, 9.30-1.00.

Churchwardens Training – Church Buildings and Churchyards Management (online)

Sessions for churchwardens and others by Archdeacon Janet and Emma Critchley, DAC Secretary will be held on 13 November at 7:30PM and 24 November 3:00PM.

These sessions will include practical information about best practice. There will also be the opportunity for discussion with others to share experience and for you to ask questions about the main topics.

National Maintenance Week – November 2025

The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) will shortly announce the dates for their National Maintenance Week in 2025. Last year we ran a week of events across the Diocese including maintenance workshops, drop-in sessions and online talks. We plan to have similar events this year. These will be publicised once SPAB advise of the dates – please keep an eye on your emails and the website for updates.

Carbon Literacy Course

15 December (In person – venue to be confirmed)

This Carbon Literacy Training has been developed in conjunction with the Carbon Literacy Project and funded by the Church of England Environment Programme. This bespoke training course has been designed especially for the Church of England to provide a strong grounding in carbon literacy to support clergy and key Eco champions in their work, as well as diocesan staff, and is a valuable professional development opportunity. The training course will equip each participant to understand the issues, present the need for action to people with differing awareness and views, and take practical steps to implement change individually and as local church communities.

This free 1 day course consists of 8 hours of learning on the day and some pre-course preparation including videos and practical exercises. It starts with the basics and has plenty scope for learning and sharing for those with much more experience. The course is accredited by the Carbon Literacy Project and includes each participant making two carbon pledges at the end of the course to receive this accreditation.

Learning Lunchtimes from the Flourishing Churches Team

Learning Lunchtimes is a series of 45-minute webinars hosted by the Flourishing Churches team, designed to equip and inspire church leaders and volunteers in the areas of Giving and Church Growth.
Topics this Autumn include Kate Ford on Preparing for Generous Giving at Christmas.

Choosing a new heating system

We have added a flowchart to the website to help guide you to find out which heating technology might be the most effective and efficient low carbon heating system for your church. You can access the flowchart here:

We have also added a heating checklist to help you document your decision and choices in relation to any replacement heating system to minimise the likelihood of faculty applications being delayed. This can be accessed here:

The five dioceses in the East of England are holding an online Q&A, “Church Heating, your questions answered”. This is being hosted on Zoom by the Diocese of Ely on 23 October from 7:30-8:30pm, with Net Zero Carbon representatives from each diocese present. You can register and submit your questions here:

3. Environment

Deanery Eco Champions – more still needed!

Are you passionate about the environment?  Are you keen to make a difference on climate justice?  A team of Deanery Eco Champions is being set up in our Diocese with up to 3 volunteers working to support and encourage churches in their deanery in their environmental work and encourage local initiatives, particularly through the Eco Church scheme.  We already have some Eco Church Champions in place, but not every deanery is represented.

Could you be a Deanery Eco Champion for your deanery?   Please contact Rachel Johnston, Diocesan Environment Officer, for further information including a job description and an application form.

The Living Churchyards Project – can you help?

Pic: Waterford, churchyard wildlife management.

This national project provides resources and support for individual parishes seeking to manage their churchyard for wildlife. For a number of years Judith Evans has been the diocesan champion for the Living Churchyards Project and she has provided advice, undertaken churchyard wildlife surveys (often in liaison with the Wildlife Trusts) and helped parishes draw up a Churchyard Management Plan. She has also given talks and provided displays at deanery and diocesan events. As she spends less time in this part of the country, we are looking for someone with enthusiasm, sensitivity and expertise to take on this voluntary role. It may be someone who has used the Living Churchyard resources in their own churchyard, attended one of Judith’s scything courses or is a member of one of the Wildlife Trusts. If you’re interested or would like to find out more, please contact Emma Critchley.

Eco Church Events

On Saturday 27 September, at 7.00pm St Mary’s Watford is hosting a seminar as part of their climate weekend on the theme ‘Living Life to the Full:  Practical action to fix our planet’ . Churches often report that the Lifestyle section of the Eco Church programme is the most challenging;  under the guidance of Martin and Margot Hodson, this is the perfect opportunity to discover why Christians need to adapt their lifestyles and how to reduce your individual carbon footprints, focussing in particular on finance, food, consumerism, travel and household energy. 

An Eco Church Support zoom drop-in session is taking place on Tuesday 30 September from 6-7pm, organised by the environment team of the Diocese of Ely, one of the cluster of Dioceses working together on all things environmental which includes St Albans.  All churches are welcome to register, at the below link, for this free webinar which will cover topics such as managing churchyards for the benefit of biodiversity, Forest Church, eco sanitary products, twinning toilets and other areas relevant to lifestyle

The GREAT SWITCH for creation

This Season of Creation, churches across the country are making the Great Switch to a green tariff – and we’d love you to be a part of it.

What’s it all about?
God calls us to care for His creation and to love our global neighbours. If all churches switched to a green energy tariff, that could reduce our carbon emissions, helping lead the way towards a cleaner, fairer future for all.

What can you do?
Together, we can take small but powerful steps to help restore God’s creation. Your church can join the movement and [pledge/switch], to a green tariff.
Find out more at the link:

Parish Buying Energy Basket

We understand that many churches have been purchasing energy through the Energy Basket from Parish Buying. The energy is supplied by Total, and the contract managed by 2buy2. Earlier this year Parish Buying started to redevelop its energy offer, and 2buy2 are no longer associated with Parish Buying. We have heard that many of the existing contracts are ending on 30 September 2025. We would encourage you to explore your options for new energy contracts before this date so that you do not move on to Total’s default rates, as you are likely to be able to secure lower prices elsewhere. Should you wish to consider the Parish Buying energy offer (other energy companies are available) you can find more information about it here:

4. Maintaining your Building

Recommended monthly tasks

The tasks taken from SPAB’s maintenance calendar are on our website.

5. Grants and Funding

Minor Repairs & Improvements Grant to re-open for new applications

Pic: Ickleford, St Katharine’s Church – South East Lych Gate repaired

Thanks to an allocation of diocesan funding to fill the gap between national funding rounds, we will be accepting new applications for the Minor Repairs & Improvements Grant (MR&I Grant) from 1 October 2025.

Diocesan funding means we can continue to help parishes fund minor repairs and improvements that are often overlooked and/or forgotten but essential.

Please read the Guidelines to ensure that you follow the correct procedure and submit all the necessary supporting documents. The Application Form will be available on the website at the end of September 2025.

The only change to the criteria for the MR&I Grant is that parishes can only submit one application per triennium. The Grant has proven to be very popular and we want to ensure that as many churches as possible benefit from the funding. Only in exceptional circumstances will we accept more than one application from a parish, and the priority criteria set out in the Application Guidelines apply.

The Application Guidelines are available via the link below.

Net Zero Carbon Quick Wins Grants

There is still some finance available through the Quick Wins scheme, but projects must be completed by the end of 2025.  Grants are available to select items associated with the Practical Path to Net Zero .  Please check the application criteria and start your application by clicking below.

6. Good news stories

All Saints, Willian: new path

Pic: Willian, All Saints: new path

The church now has a very attractive and accessible path from the road to the porch.

The Scaffolding Is Finally Down!

After many months and sometimes years of optimism, stress, worry, hard work, endless meetings and lots of mugs of tea the big project is completed, the scaffolding has been taken down and its time to celebrate! Both St Mary’s Meppershall and St Boltoph’s, Aspley Guise are celebrating the completion of their major projects by holding special services in the next few weeks.

Ready, steady, go! Thundridge Old Church Tower

Pic: Thundridge, Old Church Tower

Pastoral and Closed Churches Officer Seamus McGibbon, has been out on sites to see enabling works starting at Thundridge Old Chuch Tower with Grant funding from Historic England. Read his blog post at:

Cycling for access at Woburn Church

The Revd Rachel Snow, Vicar of St Mary’s Church in Woburn, and churchwarden (and husband) Derek completed the London to Brighton cycle ride on Sunday 14 September, raising over £3,500 for a permanent wheelchair ramp at St Mary’s Church, Woburn. Their son Josh also joined the ride. “We did it!” said Rachel. “Your generous giving kept us pedalling through all the training rides, and finally on the big day, the furthest we have ever cycled.”

7. Upcoming Events

Fundraising concert

Enjoy Wonderful Music and Support Our Church Buildings

The Galliard Trio is playing Beethoven, Elgar and much more at St Mary’s Church, Ware at 7.00 pm on Saturday 4 October. Please come to the concert in aid of the Beds and Herts Historic Churches Trust and St Mary’s. See link below to find out more.

Churches Visitor and Tourism Association

AGM and Conference: 10 – 11 October 2025
Theme – Pilgrimage
Shrine of Saint Jude Welcome Centre, 34 Tanners Street, Faversham, Kent ME13 7JW

ALL ARE WELCOME
To book, please go to:
Churches Visitor & Tourism Association 2025 Conference & AGM Tickets, Fri 10 Oct 2025 at 14:00 | Eventbrite
Website: CVTA