About The Friends: “The
Friends of Kempley Churches was set up 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, a Secretary, a Treasurer and four other Trustees. 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.
See the Events page for more information about the Heritage Open Days.
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