Give to the Friends of Friendless Churches. They take the churches nobody else will.
On 3 July 1957 a Welsh journalist and former MP called Ivor Bulmer-Thomas booked Committee Room 13 of the House of Commons and founded a charity with the best name in England. T. S. Eliot, John Betjeman and the painter John Piper were among the founders. Bulmer-Thomas had fallen out with the Archbishop of Canterbury, who wanted preservation money spent only on churches still in use. He thought an old and beautiful church did its job simply by standing there.
For fifteen years the Friends campaigned and paid for repairs. In 1972 they changed their constitution so they could own buildings outright, and the first thing they took on was a lone church tower at Lightcliffe in Yorkshire. Today they care for more than 70 churches and chapels across England and Wales, from thirteenth-century stone cells to Victorian oddities, with a staff of about five. They mend the roof, unlock the door and leave the building as they found it. Membership costs less than dinner.
Give to the Friends of Friendless Churches
Others doing the same work
| Where | Charity | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| England | Churches Conservation Trust | Founded in 1969 as the Redundant Churches Fund; over 350 closed Anglican churches in its care |
| UK | National Churches Trust | Repair grants for churches still in use |
| Scotland | Historic Churches Scotland; Scotland’s Churches Trust | Takes closed churches into care; records contents before the Kirk’s sales |
| Wales | Addoldai Cymru | Rescues Welsh nonconformist chapels |
| France | Fondation du Patrimoine | National campaign for village churches |
| France | Sauvegarde de l’Art Français | Grants for rural churches |
| France | Observatoire du Patrimoine Religieux | Counts and campaigns; estimates 500 churches gravely threatened |
| Netherlands | Stichting Oude Groninger Kerken | Owns and opens medieval churches in Groningen |
| Italy | FAI (Fondo Ambiente Italiano) | Italy’s National Trust; restores abbeys and chapels |
| Europe | Future for Religious Heritage | Brussels network; a directory of who does this in each country |
| United States | Partners for Sacred Places | Grants and advice for historic American congregations |