Places of Worship Renewal Fund

My Lords, the church of St James the Apostle has towered over the small village of Somerton, Oxfordshire, for almost 1,000 years. Last Saturday, our daughter Matilda and her new husband James were married there. The bells rang, the bridesmaids looked beautiful and the church was immaculate. It was a perfect setting for a happy day. Our church plays an important part in village life. We have no shop or pub and precious little public transport. Around half the adult population, 87 of us, choose to sign up to be on the electoral roll. Most are not regular churchgoers, but every couple of months many of us attend events which range from traditional services to holiday clubs for children, from talks and fêtes to the annual Orthodox Theophany service in the week of Christian unity. Our nativity play, with a real baby, ponies, sheep and alpacas dressed as camels, is the talk of the valley and frankly makes “The Vicar of Dibley” look rather low-key. This large church is a huge responsibility for a small village. It is grade 1 listed: 45% of grade 1 listed buildings in the country are places of worship. Every five years, we are given a list of repairs that must be carried out. We are currently worrying about how to pay for a repair to the roof, and we are not alone in that. Cleaning the church in the run-up to the wedding, I felt the care that had been lavished on our building for generations. I am very concerned that the actions of this Government mean that on our watch we may fail to preserve these buildings as we should.