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Get Support: North West England (Cumbria, Lancashire and Greater Manchester)

Welcome

We want to support you to keep your church, chapel or meeting house open, well maintained and in use. On this page you’ll find links to resources and training to help you do this. 

Get in touch with us

Thanks to funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, we have a dedicated support officer, based in North West England, who is on hand to help you with advice and training. You can email Matthew at: Matthew.Maries@nationalchurchestrust.org

Matthew Maries, of the National Churches Trust, standing in front of a church tower
Matthew Maries

Meet Matthew

“Hello, I’m an archaeologist with a master's degree in the Conservation of Historic Buildings and experience working in the construction industry, museums, and planning. I’m excited to get out into Cumbria, Lancashire, and Greater Manchester to visit the amazing places of worship and meet the wonderful people keeping them alive. I look forward to working together with you to ensure these brilliant, historic spaces stay at the heart of their communities now and in the future.”

A village from an elevated position
Ioan Said

Join our Facebook group for churches in the North West

This community brings together people who volunteer, work for or care for churches, chapels or meeting houses in Cumbria, Lancashire and Greater Manchester and people and organisations who want to support these places of worship to stay in good repair and in use. If this is you, we would love you to join and to help you to keep these buildings well maintained and open for all.

How we can help you

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Find out more about our grants

Whether you are looking to repair your roof, install a kitchen or accessible toilets, clear asbestos or simply need help undertaking regular essential maintenance to your building, we offer a range of grants to suit the size and needs of your project. We also have a special Cherish grant – created especially to help places of worship in North West England.

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Maintenance and project advice

From how to develop and manage a church building project, to keeping your church in good condition by regular maintenance, you can find out about the key things you need to do to look after your church building.

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ExploreChurches

Tourism support

Many churches, chapels and meeting houses were built to be at the heart of their communities; to be busy and used by all. There are many ways to ensure that this is still the case. Discover how to create the perfect welcome, tell your story and more.

What's on?

Our team runs events and training to help with everything from fundraising and tourism support to how to apply for a grant. You can also view the full list of training events that the National Churches Trust will be running this year.

Online: Making the Most of Your Website

Taking place from 2-3pm on Tuesday 29 October. As more and more elements of our daily lives move online, it makes sense that your website is the first place potential members, worshippers, volunteers, supporters, visitors or event attendees look to find out more information about your church.

Online: Enterprise, earning your own income

Join us from 2-3pm on Tuesday 19 November. This session will explore ways of diversifying income sources whilst supporting the needs of communities. How can we make the most of the opportunities that could be there and do we see them? In a highly competitive funding environment, we cannot always solely rely on grants and donations.

How we're helping places of worship

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Cherish

Cherish includes training, support, advice and funding for places of worship in Scotland, Wales and North West England (Cumbria, Lancashire and Greater Manchester).

Four people stand outside the front of St Stephen on the Cliffs Church in Blackpool

How to be an open church

We all hear about a church being open, but what does it really mean? Who gets to come into the building and when? And what for? St Stephen on the Cliffs church in Blackpool shares with us why their building being open is a vital part of the life of the church – even in the midst of a large building project.

National Lottery Heritage Fund acknowledgement stamp in English