The Parochial Church Council has always been keen to encourage the use of the church for wider community events.

The church hosts several concerts a year and an annual Snowdrop Weekend to showcase the churchyard, which draws large numbers of visitors from across the area. Other events have included Strawberry Teas and various photographic and art exhibitions. All details are on our Events page.

Being the church with the most significant Saxon remains in the area, it has two to three hundred visitors a year. Donations from such visitors have helped with conservation work, which has been extensive throughout the last decade.

Members of the Church are active participants in the Shropshire Historic Churches ‘Ride and Stride’ annual event and the PCC also supports various charities, including particularly RIPPLE-Africa.

But the potential to really widen the scope of use of the building has always been hampered by the lack of kitvhen and toilet facilities. The great news is that on site kitchen and toilet facilities have now been crteated and were formally opened in Febriary 2025.

The Early Impact of the New Kitchen and Toilet Facilities

Churches like St Peter’s have faced some notable challenges over the centuries – world wars, civil wars, plagues and in the case of this church, even invasion by a foreign power.

But perhaps the biggest challenge is right here, right now. With declining congregations and reduced funding, just how sustainable is this wonderful old building? The Taylor Review from 2017 suggested, amongst other things, that churches should open their doors to wider activity and the PCC here agreed. They put forward a proposal to establish on site for the first time in 1000 years a kitchen and a toilet, one at least inside the church!. 

What you see today is the results of that proposal and it was my privilege to help make it a reality. A previous PCC treasurer, Richard Stainer, had been very active in this work, and in previous repair and maintenance projects. I took over from him in 2020 after he had become ill, volunteered by my dear wife, the Churchwarden.

It took a while to get going, not the least due to the consequences of the Pandemic and the lack of funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund for churches and in particular ‘improvements’ works like these. But, we were increasingly successful with a series of bids to a range of charitable bodies, adding to local funds already raised. Our target was to raise £90k and we had most of that by the time the work finally started in August 2024. We raised the balance by September and could commit with the builder to the whole project, which then had its formal opening in February this year.

The opening coincided with an important annual event at the church – our Snowdrop weekend, which celebrates the vast carpet of flowers in the churchyard and over the years has become a significant fund raiser, selling tons of cake and gallons of tea. For the first time in its history the organisers did not have to bring in water and take away the washing up water. We did not have to hire in a portaloo. And the event took place in a light open space, which was easy to use and a pleasure to experience.

Since then we have had the usual christening, wedding and funeral services, but without the embarrassment of sending men to the yew tree and advising women to hang on … we have had a book launch, and have started craft classes in basketry. We are planning other events, including a poetry night and several concerts to take account of the excellent acoustic in the church.

There is more building work to do. We prioritised the kitchen and toilet facilities so that we could establish a wider range of activity on site sooner; but we have a backlog of maintenance and repair work to deal with and are in the early stages of pulling together our project plan.

For the moment we remain grateful to everyone who made this work possible – PCC members past and present, the congregation, those who have and continue to attend events here and all of our funders. Importantly, nearly half of our funds came from organisations that are either local or have a local interest – our own facilities fund, accumulated over several years; local landowner the Earl of Plymouth Estate; the Rowlands Trust; and of course Shropshire Historic Churches Trust.

I hope you will agree when you visit St Peter's that we have transformed the church as a building and provided the basis of a much more secure future.

Steve Arnold

Volunteer Project Manager

 

Parish Magazine

The Parishes of Onibury, Bromfield and Stanton Lacy collaborate to produce a joint Parish Magazine. Called Ripples, it includes wide ranging information about the parishes and local villages together with detailed information about church services.

Copies are available to buy in the church. For Archives of Ripples Magazines going back to December 2011 please enquire with the Editor via ripplesmagazine@hotmail.com 

Safeguarding

Our parish of Stanton Lacy is committed to safeguarding children, young people and adults from harm. We follow the House of Bishops guidance and policies but do not have our own Parish Safeguarding Officer (PSO). Our Diocese of Hereford’s safeguarding pages contain vital links and information including contacts for the Diocesan Safeguarding Advisor who advises our Incumbent, the Rector.

If you are concerned that a child or adult has been harmed or may be at risk of harm please contact the Incumbent, the Revd Fr Justin Trevelyan Parker on 07932 606420 or the Diocesan Safeguarding Advisor Carl Steventon on 07593 817717. If you have immediate concerns about the safety of someone, please contact the police and your local authority’s children or adult social care services.