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About The Friends:
“The Friends of Kempley Churches was set up by the then rector (the Rev Richard Hart) in the early 1990’s when ownership of St Mary’s Church passed from the Diocese to English Heritage. The ‘Friends’ are responsible for the management of St Mary’s Church on behalf of, and in association with, English Heritage. ‘The Friends’ is a Registered Charity (No. 1108735) with the following objectives:
“To advance public education through the promotion, encouragement, development and dissemination of knowledge of the history, heritage and environment of the churches of Kempley and the involvement of the churches with villagers and other residents of the surrounding area;
The furtherance of religion by the provision of financial assistance for the churches; and, liaison with English Heritage concerning the structure, contents and environment of St Mary’s Church.”
‘The Friends’ is managed by an elected Committee of Trustees, consisting of a Chairman (Dr B Jarvis), a Secretary (Mrs S Molesworth), a Treasurer (Mrs M J Jarvis) and four other Trustees, of whom one is a representative of the clergy (Rev Vi Chester)’. The role of the Trustees is to progress the objectives of ‘The Friends’ including the raising and dispensing of funds in accordance with these objectives. In recent years, the Trustees have provided benches for the use of visitors to St Mary’s Church, a Notice Board and a display board with information about the frescoes; they also paid for the 19th century organ to be restored. Currently they are part funding the replacement of the yew hedge outside the church. At St Edward’s Church the Trustees, funded the provision of a new side gate and a flagpole and have a number of other projects under consideration.
’The Friends’ have organised public lectures on the frescoes at St Mary’s Church and on the social history of Kempley up to late Victorian times. They also funded the exhibition in St Edward’s Church at the 2006 Daffodil Weekend. In 2006, children from year 1 at Ann Cam School, Dymock visited St Mary’s Church to carry out a project on comparative religion as part of their Key Stage 1 studies.
The AGM of ‘The Friends’ is held in January or February each year. Membership of ‘The Friends’ is open to anyone interested in the Kempley churches. Application forms are available in the churches and also from the Secretary.