Seaford Town Clock & Weather Station? How many times over the years, have you looked up at the tower of St Leonard’s Church to: 1. Check the time? 2. See by the weather vane which way the wind is blowing? 3. Check the flag for wind direction and force, before the flagpole broke? or 4. How often have you used the church as a reference point when giving directions? We would guess that for many, this would be a fair number of times. The church, albeit through a variety of changing shapes, has played its part in the above for well over 900 years. Even people from outside of the town use it as a reference in so many ways. It is truly one of our town’s most notable landmarks. Nowadays, most people consider churches as a place for important events, whereas in the past they were considered to be the centre of the community. Buildings such as St Leonard’s require a great deal of TLC, but unlike most properties, have stringent rules regarding building works and maintenance due to their listed status. St Leonard’s Church, being a part of the community, is used by many organisations for their own events, which result in recitals and concerts occurring throughout the year. Over the recent festive season, a season incidentally when many non-churchgoers attended at least one special festive service, it was clear that churches still mean something to a lot of people. Many of those who attended the church made favourable comments about the welcome they received, as well as the beauty of the surroundings. Many also commented on the structural and decorative issues that St Leonard’s Church unfortunately has. Repairs to the structure, which currently include a leak to the tower roof, and renovations to the weather vane and clock faces, are costed to run into tens of thousands of pounds. It is in light of these high figures that the church is having to
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seriously consider another way of raising funding, rather than expect the 320 regular churchgoers taking on the burden alone.
A Friends scheme for St Leonard’s Church?
With the increasing cost of repairing and maintaining our historic churches, many parishes have established a Friends scheme. Such a scheme can enable a wider group of people to share the challenge of ensuring that their parish church building is in a reasonable state to hand over to the next generation. Many people have a great deal of good will towards their local church buildings, especially in rural areas, and although they may not wish to contribute to the religious aspects of the church they may be willing to support, part of their heritage. A Friends scheme is one way in which a parish church can encourage help of this kind from a wider community. At St Leonard’s we have started such a scheme, we may not be a rural parish, but a great deal of our local community, when asked, have admitted to having a lot of fondness towards our church. Most, for instance, regularly look towards the clock faces on the tower to check the time, or welcome coming inside for special services and events. Our Friends scheme was mooted a couple of years ago, and now is considered to be the ideal time to attract enough willing people to move it forward. As a result we are making an appeal for participants from the local community. In most Friends schemes around the country, only a minority of members (10% – 15%) will be active worshippers in the church. Where the church has some particularly significant architectural features, 80% of the membership is generally from outside the parish, for most churches some 15% are from outside the parish, the balance being parishioners who are not active churchgoers. Are you a non-churchgoer who would be interested in supporting us? Do you know a prominent member of our Parish that would make a good Friends scheme leader? Our church has served the local community faithfully, for well over 900 years. During most of that challenging period, the parishioners themselves contributed time,
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