Lincs Church Receives Church Of The Year Award – Congratulations St James, Aslackby!

A huge congratulations to St James the Great Church in Aslackby, Lincolnshire, which has been revealed as the 2024 Church of The Year at the National Church Awards.

It is the pinnacle award that celebrates a church fulfilling its potential and making a mark on its community and beyond.

The National Church Awards – the ‘BAFTAs for churches’ – revealed 15 UK winners in different categories and our very own St James the Great in Aslackby as Church of the Year.

It was a prestigious ceremony held on Tuesday 22 October in the ancient Chapter House of Lincoln Cathedral. 

The awards are organised by the National Churches Trust and have been inspired this year by the work of the late Lord Patrick Cormack, a champion of church buildings, who dedicated his life to helping to keep the UK’s churches open and in use.

The awards were co-presented by the new Dean of Lincoln, The Very Revd Dr Simon Jones, and Canon Ann Easter, former Chaplain to Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. 

St James the Great Church took to the stage to pick up an English Church Volunteer Award and received the coveted Church of The Year Award.

The award was accepted for Aslackby by Chris Gudgin, Denise Gudgin and Kate Marshall.

Richard Cormack and Charles Cormack (sons of the late Lord Cormack) and Sir Philip Rutnam, Chair of the National Churches Trust, were given the honour of revealing the Church of the Year as St James the Great.

For the National Churches Trust, the Church of the Year must show itself to be a shining example of a sustainable church – one that is relevant, looked after, in use and open for all.

It should meet the needs of this community and be welcoming to those visiting from further afield.

It should be a church that values and uses volunteers successfully, and is an inspiration to others across the UK.

In their submission for the Volunteers Award, the team at St James the Great explained:

“Our affection for this well-loved building has not blinded us to the fact that it presents enormous challenges. Our church remains a spiritual centre but has been made accessible to a range of people and become a social hub. People are not intimidated by it but see it as a community place for learning, peace, hope, fun and activity.” 

They put forward their star community activity as “the unique audio trail created with our volunteers and people living with dementia.”

In 2022, a Heritage Lottery funded project involving adults living with young-onset dementia led to the creation of a unique audio trail, Aslackby Voices Through Time’s Pulsating Ebb and Flow.

Five ethereal figures sit in church to tell the stories of five extraordinary lives which began in Aslackby.

One of these is John Dods, an Aslackby labourer who sailed to the New World on John Smith’s expedition in 1606, and was one of only three survivors of the original company after the ‘starvinge tyme’. A true founding father of America.

In presenting the Church of the Year Award to St James the Great, Chair of the National Churches Trust, Sir Philip Rutnam, told the audience why the judges made that choice: 

“The judges really loved the inclusiveness and celebration of diversity within their community. They seem to have embraced being a hub for the community and they look like they have fun! The activities with the Square Hole dementia club are fabulous and they liked that they recognise the individual skills of volunteers.”

Congratulations to all the winners, and especially to St James the Great, Aslackby for this outstanding achievement!

Acceptance Speech

Chris Gudgin told the assembled audience:

This award is just fantastic …… It crowns a wonderful year.

Three weeks ago we held a party in the church to celebrate the end of a project to ‘Repair The Roofs And Bring Church And Village History To Life’ funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. 

Since our Dementia Friendly Award about ten years ago we have been working with the charity Dementia Support South Lincs on a regular basis. 

This project gave us the perfect opportunity to work with members of our church community living with dementia to explore the history of the church. Our starting point was the roof lead, which was smothered in historic graffiti.

We called the project ‘Scratching The Surface’.

We could not have foreseen the depth of engagement that first hand investigation and experimentation stimulated.

Club members used census returns to cross reference the names recorded in the lead and stone and put forward the idea of an audio trail and a walk-round guide for visitors. 

At the party David [a person living with dementia] spoke of what it meant to him and his colleagues:

‘We feel really valued and respected by way of contributing to this innovative community church scheme.

Our involvement and inclusion as people living with dementia is so self assuring, the benefits are immeasurable.

Club members, all living with dementia, have spent several happy and memorable activity days here.

These past two years, we have been immersed in exploring, discovering and documenting by word and audio the amazing history of this wonderful building.

This [involvement] makes us feel so grateful, validated and enables us to continue to live with the vital feeling of Hope for the future – life continues’.”

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