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Become a Friend

As a small, almost wholly voluntary body, we rely on a wide variety of help from volunteers.

Volunteer with us

If you’re thinking of volunteering, there are lots of ways to get involved. We’re currently recruiting for:

  • local keyholders
  • local event coordinators (e.g., lectures, concerts, occasional services, pop-up bars, supper clubs, art exhibitions, etc.)
  • local Guardians (keep an eye, occasional dust and sweep!)
  • photographers/videographers

And if you don’t live near one of our churches, or can’t make a regular commitment, we also host volunteer working parties for one-off conservation projects across England and Wales.

Whatever inspires you to get stuck in, we’d love to hear from you! Email us at Volunteers@fofc.org.uk.

Volunteer Caldecote church

Volunteer Grazyna Tutak at St Mary Magdalene’s, Caldecote, Herts

John Chance Woodwalton

John Chance, Chairman of the Friends of St Andrew’s church, Wood Walton, Cambs

Why volunteer?

Historic places of worship are our greatest architectural legacy, and some of our nation's most important cultural treasures.

By volunteering with us you can:

  • Share your love of historic churches
  • Support your local community
  • Share your love of historic churches
  • Support your local community
  • Learn new skills
  • Meet like-minded new people
  • Become a part of a church’s history
  • Help protect unique historic buildings for generations to come

“Volunteers are the backbone of our organisation. They are guardians of these special places — offering practical support,
but also enthusing others about the beauty and wonder of their church.”

Friends of Friendless Churches Director, Rachel Morley

Rediscovering the Spirit of Sutterby

Volunteer Denise Wheatley describes a Lincolnshire Wolds Community Heritage Project at St John the Baptist's, Sutterby, Lincolnshire

"Sutterby - what do you see? A signpost; a few houses; a small church; a hard-working agricultural landscape of tractor and barn.

Step back - look again -  for here under the grass and plough is another landscape - one of the people, of heritage, of owls, of lichens, of hidden marl and soft, sacred Spilsby sandstone. Second sightings of a lost congregation glimpsed through inventories and wills. Iron Age visitors scattering flints now precious mementoes of a forgotten and lost world.

Stop and listen for the church has a story to tell ...

Tiny, ancient, humble with an open door, which invites you to enter. As you do so, you take the first steps into seeing not just one building in a lost landscape, but the first steps into understanding history pared down into one community viewed over time.

This small church has drawn together an eclectic, delightful mix of people, thoughts, skills and ideas bonded together by a desire to understand one deserted corner of the Lincolnshire Wolds. We dig, record, research, survey, plant, plan, weed, sow, broggle. We meet our villagers through gravestones, vellum, pottery and flints. We meet them through learning their crafts. We meet them as we stare together at the stars.

Saved by the Friends of Friendless Churches, St John the Baptist, Sutterby stands sentinel to its past yet has a beating heart in the present.

We welcome you to visit the Spirit of Sutterby website and learn more ... "

Volunteer for the Friends of Friendless Churches

If you’re interested in volunteering, or would like to learn more, please contact us at Volunteers@fofc.org.uk.

More ways to support the FoFC

Donate

We’re an independent charity and receive no government funding in England, and a modest grant in Wales. With your support, we can continue to save vulnerable churches. This year, all donations are being match-funded by a benefactor, so your donation will be doubled.
Donate

Leave a legacy

If you have a passion for historic churches, please consider leaving the Friends of Friendless Churches a gift in your Will. Your generous bequest will help protect our heritage for future generations.
Legacies

Give as you earn

This is a Government scheme where individuals can give to charity through their salary, as long as their employers participate in the scheme. It's a great way to give a monthly donation, before tax is deducted.

Find out more about Give As You Earn and ask your employer if they participate.
gov.uk

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Keep up to date with our latest news and learn more about the churches in our care by signing up for our email newsletter.