We want to support you to keep your church, chapel or meeting house open, well maintained and in use. On this page you’ll find links to resources and training to help you do this.
Thanks to funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, we have a dedicated support officer, based in North West England, who is on hand to help you with advice and training. You can email Matthew at: Matthew.Maries@nationalchurchestrust.org
“Hello, I’m an archaeologist with a master's degree in the Conservation of Historic Buildings and experience working in the construction industry, museums, and planning. I’m excited to get out into Cumbria, Lancashire, and Greater Manchester to visit the amazing places of worship and meet the wonderful people keeping them alive. I look forward to working together with you to ensure these brilliant, historic spaces stay at the heart of their communities now and in the future.”
This community brings together people who volunteer, work for or care for churches, chapels or meeting houses in Cumbria, Lancashire and Greater Manchester and people and organisations who want to support these places of worship to stay in good repair and in use. If this is you, we would love you to join and to help you to keep these buildings well maintained and open for all.
Whether you are looking to repair your roof, install a kitchen or accessible toilets, clear asbestos or simply need help undertaking regular essential maintenance to your building, we offer a range of grants to suit the size and needs of your project. We also have a special Cherish grant – created especially to help places of worship in North West England.
From how to develop and manage a church building project, to keeping your church in good condition by regular maintenance, you can find out about the key things you need to do to look after your church building.
Many churches, chapels and meeting houses were built to be at the heart of their communities; to be busy and used by all. There are many ways to ensure that this is still the case. Discover how to create the perfect welcome, tell your story and more.
We run regular events throughout the year, to help your place of worship.
Join us from 2-3pm on Tuesday 13 May. Are you planning a major repair, reordering or heritage project for your church? Are you thinking about or already preparing a National Lottery Heritage Fund application? Jon Hodges has been Project Manager for our Cherish project since May 2024, join him and a representative from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to learn more.
Join us online from 2-3pm on Thursday 15 May. Joseph Davies, Church Support Manager with Ecclesiastical Insurance will lead this session and take you through the steps and measures you can undertake to protect the building and its contents. Busting the myths about keeping the building open to welcome people in.
Cherish includes training, support, advice and funding for places of worship in Scotland, Wales and North West England (Cumbria, Lancashire and Greater Manchester).
Cherish is helping us to target support at key areas where we are at great risk of losing priceless heritage.
We all hear about a church being open, but what does it really mean? Who gets to come into the building and when? And what for? St Stephen on the Cliffs church in Blackpool shares with us why their building being open is a vital part of the life of the church – even in the midst of a large building project.
