Roger Green

Being a Friend

A small chapter in the life of a medieval building but a large chapter in my life

Roger Green

The medieval church of St Peter was in great danger and looking friendless. For more than 600 years it had crowned the Market Hill in Sudbury, Suffolk. But in 1958 St Peter’s was the subject of a “Brief Report upon the structural defects requiring the most urgent attention”. Timber had “split alarmingly” and “cavities extend right through the thickness of the wall”. Arches were “opening up”. The tower was in danger of falling down. Strangely the town did not seem to rush to the defence of the building.

Ten years later, an even more dramatic report warned of imminent collapse of the upper part of the tower. Immediate action was required. The local press was stung into action and sought opinions from 325 townsfolk. An unbelievable 112 inhabitants, mostly living in the town, wanted the church to be demolished. The building had some friends. 188 folk, mostly from the surrounding area, thought it should be kept. Unsurprisingly 25 respondents dithered.

There were plans for demolition and replacement by a small garden, underground public toilets, a modern replacement building, a community hall, car parking and extending the market. At a public meeting, one member of the Town Council advocated taking off the roof and leaving it to become a “noble ruin” in which people could eat their sandwiches. The most fascinating suggestion was to demolish the building and replace it with an exact fibreglass reproduction. Facing objections that people would not be able to go inside, the proponent added “hardly anyone enters the present church anyway.” He had a point.

Money was raised in the town, work was undertaken, the tower was reinforced with huge concrete ring beams. Perhaps a brighter future beckoned but, unbelievably, just three years later, the church was closed for worship and locked up. There followed even more advice on demolition.

I could not believe the devastation and neglect when I first entered the church. Nothing worked and it was all covered in dust and cobwebs, standing unloved and friendless at the centre of the town. I was invited to meet a Town Councillor, Tony Moore. His ambition was to revive the building. Tony inspired me and we hatched plans for a Festival of Sudbury to “prove the use of the building for the benefit of the town.” The Festival ran from May 16th to 22nd June, 1975. The list of events was huge. It was difficult to live in or around Sudbury without noticing that something was afoot. Many of the events were spectacular, and very well supported by the public. The Festival even made a profit but, much more significant, the attitude in the town towards the building changed. People from all walks of life had attended events and enjoyed the experience. They wanted more. Many of them looked at the building with new eyes.

And so was born a registered charity, the “Friends of St Peter, Sudbury”, in readiness for the inevitable declaration of redundancy of the building which came towards the end of 1976 with the Friends being appointed as agents for the Redundant Churches Fund to run the building locally. Tony Moore was the first chairman and I had the honour of being the fourth, enjoying office for 27 years. We had already started opening the building to the public regularly and cleaning, cleaning and cleaning.

The first major challenge was to take the bells (one is 500 years old) to the Whitechapel Bell Foundry for remedial work, build a new bell frame in the tower and enable their wonderful voices to ring out again over the town. While we were thus occupied we raised sufficient funds to cast two new bells to make a ring of ten in October 1979.

The townsfolk soon realised the benefits of using the most central building in the town and it became popular for many different activities. Many of those who used the building or supported our aims joined the Friends group. The Rector of the day, mid 19th century, had controversially sold off the pews and so we had a wonderful open space that was adaptable to so many uses. Over the next forty years the Friends raised funds to provide new chairs, new staging (twice), new electrics throughout the building, new lighting (twice), new heating (twice), a new kitchen (three times), new tables (twice), and a sound system, as well as spending

Anyone for Bach?

There have been concerts of so many kinds (even one by the Charter Choir of Homerton College), recitals, dramatic presentations, craft fairs, book fairs, charity fairs, town events of many kinds, receptions, celebrations, school holiday clubs, flower festivals, Christmas tree festivals, fireworks off the tower, cookery demonstrations, fashion shows, horticultural shows, historical exhibitions, art exhibitions, model railway exhibitions, medieval banquets, medieval fairs, Christmas card shops, farmers’ markets and so much else, even including a group juggling with flaming torches. I must admit that caused me some concern. For years the Churches Together in Sudbury have run a drop-in centre on Thursdays and that has helped so many folk. In my final years as chairman of the Friends the church saw over 60,000 visitors a year. No wonder that all the equipment wore out.

One of many Flower Festivals

I believe that the Friends have managed to “prove the use … for the benefit of the town” and indeed to enable St Peter’s to find a way back into the hearts and minds of the townsfolk whose lives it had enriched for hundreds of years. There have been many craft fairs but very few Medieval craft fairs

The building offers a tower of magnificent proportions, a historic font, a very rare carved angel with a forked beard (have you ever seen another?), a wonderful nave ceiling, an even more wonderful chancel ceiling, many notable examples of the Green Man, vibrant stained glass, an almost unique organ, medieval graffiti, a finely carved and gilded reredos by George Bodley and much more.

The challenge: Find another angel with forked beard

What it has never offered is toilets. And so, for some years, the Friends and the Churches Conservation Trust have been raising funds and pursuing negotiations with grant-making bodies to finance a major construction programme to make good the damage of centuries externally and to construct yet another new kitchen and toilets under a new gallery (there have been several in the church over the years), as well as providing better facilities for interpretation and use of the building. The church will close later in 2021, for fifteen or so months, in order for all that to take place. When it reopens it will do so under the direct management of the Churches Conservation Trust and that will stimulate the Friends of St Peter to commence a new chapter in their relationship to this wonderful building.

Fancy being a Friend? I believe that there is a building not so far away from you that needs you.