News

Trust us to take care of your church

Stour and AvonJuly 6, 20210 Comment0

Fans of historic buildings are being invited to join the Dorset Historic Churches Trust. 

The trust has been helping parishes to maintain and develop the fabric of their cherished churches for future generations for more than 60 years. It has been a tough year for many charities, but DHCT ran its most successful Ride + Stride event ever last September.

Riders and striders from more than 170 churches across the county took part on bicycles, horses and on foot, raising an amazing £112,500 on a single day. In the past five years the trust has awarded grants totalling £615,000 to 101 churches and hopes to build upon this achievement by strengthening its network of local volunteers during 2021.

If you have an interest in Dorset’s stock of ancient and beautiful churches, which are often listed as of historical and architectural importance, you could be just who they need. The trust aims to extend its team of parish organisers to have one in every village or community where there is an active Christian church of any denomination.

It also wants to build up its team of area representatives, whose main work is to organise the annual sponsored event, Ride + Stride each September and to help churches apply for grants for repair and restoration schemes.

If you might be interested in joining an interesting group of like-minded enthusiasts, head to dhct.org.uk and see what goes on. There are many different ways of helping the trust and you need not be an active church-goer to join in.

There is as little formal paperwork as they can get away with. If you have an interest in the heritage of the county, they would love to hear from you. An example of DHCT’s recent work is the grant awarded to the church at Enmore Green, near Shaftesbury. The trust was able to give £3,500 towards their £7,000 project to re-roof the tower and keep rain out of the beautiful little church for another hundred years. Email: postbox@mg1.dhct.org.uk.