Published: 06/06/2025
Updated: 06/06/2025
By giving their time, skills and enthusiasm to activities that support us, volunteers are the heart and soul of the Friends of Friendless Churches.
As a small but busy charity with a dispersed and varied collection of buildings, without them we simply could not achieve all that we do. Most of our 150 volunteers act as the Friends’ local eyes, ears and hands: helping to keep our churches open, clean and well-presented, monitoring their condition, welcoming visitors, topping up literature, reading meters, returning donations, and supporting events, community activities and occasional services at a Friends’ church near them. Others help us from time to time with photography, research projects, proofreading and fact-checking, or roll up their sleeves for a one-off practical task.
We benefit hugely from volunteers’ knowledge, abilities and passion for the fascinating historic buildings in our care. So, this Volunteers Week, we are delighted to celebrate and thank all our wonderful volunteers by sharing some of their stories.
I got involved after reading about the Friends in a book called Steeple Chasing (by Peter Ross) and wanting to know more about their work in my local area. I also have always had a passion for history and churches, and wanted to find some voluntary roles on retiring after 40 years in the NHS. As a new volunteer, I started by supporting other key volunteers who had been involved for much longer than me. Now I clean the churches, do regular simple condition checks, and welcome visitors for open days or group visits. It’s only once or twice a month at the moment, so fits in with my other commitments. I love talking to the wide variety of people who pop into the buildings, and who are curious or have a similar interest in local history and their churches. Some are tourists and some are locals who can teach me a thing or two about All Saints’ and St John’s! I highly recommend volunteering with the Friends to anyone willing to give up a small amount of time. You only offer to do what you feel you can. And you’re trying to help preserve in people’s memories the lovely buildings that the Friends of Friendless Churches manage.
I volunteer because I cherish our heritage! Friends of Friendless Churches breathed life back into our village church, which would otherwise have come to a sorry end when it was made redundant and declared unsafe. The Friends stepped in and undertook the basic repairs necessary to reopen it to the public, then worked tirelessly to secure two significant grants which enabled it to be fully restored inside and out. Now the church is in fine fettle: elegant within, the exterior charmingly picturesque, and sitting at the heart of the local community. The church is always open and the place where village meetings, parties, concerts, filming and occasional services all take place. I keep a watchful eye on the building and ensure it is spruce and welcoming, with a vibrant fresh posy of flowers at the door; and also act as a local point of contact for church visitors and events. The building has no electricity, so I manage safe use of candles for events and arrange to rig up a power cable from a neighbouring property when needed. At Long Crichel we are using a drone to map the graveyard to enable our many visitors to locate their family graves. I have also researched the history of the church and the symbolism within it and created a permanent display about this in the vestry for visitors.
Volunteering gives me a sense of achievement. It has been a pleasure to have been a volunteer throughout the restoration of the one community space within our village and I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting FoFC employees, the craftspeople they engaged and visitors to the church. Strong friendships have been forged throughout my village as a result of the successful renovation of the church and a sense of pride in the building has been rekindled in the community. I would absolutely recommend volunteering with the Friends! There are only upsides to the role – it’s so rewarding. You need not have religious faith to do it. We are so lucky to have these beautiful, historic and nourishingly spiritual buildings but it is all too easy to take that legacy for granted. Once they’re gone, they’re gone – as might so easily have been the case in Long Crichel, if it hadn’t been for the Friends - and to feel as though I’ve helped in any way is hugely satisfying.
We volunteer because we have a great passion for ancient churches and a determination to see those in danger preserved wherever possible. We help to look after the Friends’ churches along the Welsh border: keeping a regular check on their condition, and sweeping, cleaning, weeding and carrying out light maintenance such as keeping drain covers free of leaves and weeds. We enjoy the satisfaction of making a difference to the buildings and being part of a wider team caring for these beautiful churches. We would very much recommend it to others, as it’s a lovely thing to do. You choose the level of commitment that you can manage and you get to spend time in these historic peaceful places. Be prepared to wrap up well in winter as most of these churches can be very cold indeed – though vigorous sweeping and dusting soon warms you up!
I was brought up and live in North Wales. Since I retired, I have been happily travelling between my home, friends and family locations across Gwynedd and Denbighshire, enjoying the history and beauty of the area. It was on a chance visit to St Mark's, Brithdir some years ago that I first came across the Friends. My father had been Rural Dean in the area and I had attended services at the church as a child. The church was open and I could see that, although it was as beautiful as ever, it was in need of a bit of care and attention. I contacted the Friends’ office and asked if I could volunteer.
Fast forward a few years and I am now visiting and caring for four wonderful churches on a regular basis as a volunteer: Brithdir, Penmorfa, Penllech and Derwen. Part of my role is to report any changes in the state of the buildings and furnishings - I take photos of any points of concern and report back so that the Friends can take appropriate action. The charity offers great support through its volunteer coordinator, local volunteer field officers and staff at the Friends’ office. There is also very helpful written guidance for volunteers on cleaning the churches and their contents. As a volunteer you meet so many interesting people and I am often asked for information about using the churches. Again, the Friends’ written procedures for church use and religious services provide volunteers with clear guidance to pass on to visitors and local communities. So even though I'm often working alone I feel that I am part of the wider organisation and giving the people the correct information.
I really appreciate the peace and tranquillity visiting the churches brings to me. That first tentative phone call I made to the Friends, offering to sweep St Mark's, has opened up a wonderful new chapter in my life which has enriched it in so many ways that I could not have anticipated. I would recommend becoming a volunteer to anyone who wishes to get involved.
I volunteer with the Friends as it is a very worthwhile organisation dedicated to preserving an important part of our heritage, but with limited means. It is a good way to meet other people with similar interests and a satisfying way to spend time, in often spectacular settings. I visit each of the 30 or so Friends’ churches across Wales (plus 2 in Herefordshire) at least twice per year to check on their condition, noting problems such as missing roof tiles, blocked gutters or drains, damp, overgrown churchyards etc and reporting them to the office. If the church needs a clean, I do that and top up the Friends’ literature, and try to meet up with the church’s local volunteers and neighbours. It is good to feel that my visits will make a difference and to be a link between the Friends organisation and local volunteers who might be responsible only for ‘their’ church. I feel I’m doing some good and it is a satisfying way to spend a day or two every so often.
I met Andrew and Susan when they came to check and report on the Friends’ churches in Ynys Môn -Anglesey and Pen Llŷn. Having enjoyed accompanying them on a visit, I applied to become a field officer when Susan retired. Now I visit the churches on my patch with Andrew twice a year – Spring and Autumn – and report on their condition within and without. Some basic maintenance (like blocked drain covers or broken collection box hinges) can be dealt with on site, but other condition problems or repair needs are noted and reported to the office. We sweep and dust the church; collecting boxes are emptied, the donations recorded and returned to the Friends; literature is topped up and we leave the church fresh and tidy. There is a comprehensive list of what should be checked and reported to help a volunteer with his/her visits.
I love going to these remote churches and ponder the place which was chosen by the saint for their church. Some churches have views to all points of the compass. The peaceful quiet inside and without must have been a blessed relief for most of the congregation, a respite from their daily duties. I have a history degree and spent a year studying Archaeology so also enjoy researching the history of the churches we help to care for.
I volunteer with the Friends because I love churches! Many of my passions are closely intertwined with Britain’s churches — from singing in a chapel choir during university, to visiting wayside chapels during country walks. I began volunteering not only because I wanted to support the amazing work that the Friends do, but because I was excited to see what stories I would discover about the wonderful buildings in their care. I also wanted to gain some experience of archival work.
I have been researching the architectural and local history of several Friends churches, using historic records at the SPAB Archive. I have been visiting the archive regularly to look at and create reports on uncatalogued records which contain material about the Friends’ churches. Some of the records are over a hundred years old, and I find it very moving to have a tangible connection to the people I am reading about, through the letters and documents they created. I also love any chance I get to learn more about medieval church interiors! I would recommend volunteering wholeheartedly to anyone with an interest in archival research, church architecture, heritage… and the occasional bit of (historical) neighbourly gossip.
Members can read Zelda’s article about her archive discoveries in the summer 2025 issue of the Friends of Friendless Churches magazine.
I volunteered because I wanted to help bring to light not only the stories the Friends’ unique buildings hold, and contribute to their historical record, but also to show the often unseen workforce behind these wonderful and important transformations – the skilled craftspeople, conservationists, and volunteers who make this work possible – in a way that I know best. As a photographer, I visit churches cared for by the Friends and document them through images and film – capturing their architectural details, interiors, surroundings, and sometimes events or restoration work.
I love the sense of discovery. Each church has its own character, and photographing them allows me to explore places I might never have come across otherwise. There’s something incredibly peaceful and rewarding about standing in a quiet, historic church, knowing that my photos can help others appreciate and support its preservation. It’s also a great way to combine my creative interests with a cause that matters. Would I recommend volunteering with the Friends to other people? Absolutely! Whether you’re a photographer, a historian, or just someone who appreciates heritage, volunteering with Friends of Friendless Churches offers a chance to make a real impact. It’s a flexible, rewarding way to contribute your skills, meet like-minded people, and help safeguard beautiful places for future generations.
The summer 2025 issue of the Friends of Friendless Churches magazine showcases some of Lily’s terrific images.
New volunteers are very welcome, so if you’re inspired to get involved in looking after your local FoFC church, we would love to hear from you! Read more here or email us at volunteers@fofc.org.uk.
