The Friends

Friends of Ash Church has been established to provide an opportunity for anyone to help us to preserve the oldest and most interesting building in the parish. You don’t have to be a member of the church or even attend it. All that matters is that you have an interest in our local history and want to help to preserve the building for future generations to enjoy. The church urgently needs funds to provide modern facilities, such as toilets, so that it can continue to fulfil a useful function in the twenty-first century and avoid falling into disrepair through lack of use.

Another question we are often asked is why the church needs to ask for money. Contrary to what many people think, the national church is not wealthy. It is rich in assets, it owns prime estate across the country. But it cannot dispose of that because most is needed, and often it is protected by law. On a local level, the parish church of Ash and New Ash Green is paid for entirely by the people who go there to worship week by week. We receive no money from outside. In fact we pay into the central organisation of the Church for the services it provides for us. A significant proportion of our income is raised each year at Ash Fete – without that we could not afford to pay for a full-time rector and put aside a modest amount each year for day-to-day maintenance. From various appeals, and sales of assets in the past we now have a fair amount of money in the bank which is earmarked for the church's major projects but at this point we need to look elsewhere for the remainder. We are applying to a wide variety of bodies for grants and hopefully will succeed with some of them. Many, however, ask that the church raises a proportion of the money itself. That is where the Friends come in. We know that there are many people who value the church building and want to see it thriving, even if they do not attend its services regularly. So we believe that they will be able to put in some effort now to help us to achieve that. The church members are able to take care of the routine upkeep, but the extra work needs a concerted effort by the whole community if the church is to survive as a going concern. So while we concentrate on the practical running of the church and manage the programme of repairs and new building we hope to rely on a wider group to help to raise the remaining finance.

Look through the information on this website and follow some of the links to discover more about the church and its bells. It really is worth preserving. Then do something practical to help.