The Historic Religious Buildings Alliance’s annual Big Update is your chance to keep up to date with what's happening to secure the future of historic religious buildings. It’s open to anyone, and as always, it’s designed to keep you in touch with the latest developments and thinking.

This will be a face to face event only and we won't be live streaming it. We will, of course, put up slides from the talks on our website afterwards.

Tea and coffee etc will be available through out the day. A cold buffet lunch will be provided. The venue has fully accessible toilets which are reachable by stairs and a lift. And seating is chairs so it will be possible to socially distance.

There is wi-fi available at the church.

Please bring along any leaflets/publications as there will be a table available to put these out.

A very big thank you to Cathedral Communications Ltd, publishers of The Building Conservation Directory, who are sponsoring this year’s event. http://www.buildingconservation.com

PROGRAMME

The day will start at 10.15am, but the Church will be open from 9.30am for tea and coffee . The day will end at 4.45pm and we hope you will stay on for cake and a glass of bubbly.

The programme will follow the usual format of 20 minute talks, shorter talks and videos covering a wide range of topical and inspirational subjects including the popular 'Your Big Update' session when anyone can have the floor for three minutes. If possible please tell us in advance if you would like a slot otherwise we may run out of time.

We are still finalising the programme. As more speakers are confirmed, we will be adding them here.

Welcome from Trevor Cooper, Chair, the Historic Religious Buildings Alliance

The Revd Canon Giles Goddard, Vicar of St John's will talk about the recent £5.5million restoration and refurbishment project and the vision for the way in which the building now operates .

Changing Places: The Revd Paula Griffiths reflects on how her different roles dealing with historic church buildings, from the Civil Service (at the (then)Department of Environment, (what was then) English Heritage and the Church of England’s Cathedrals and Church Buildings Division)to ordained ministry, have influenced her perceptions of the issues facing the sector.

Lively Stones: sketching the place of church buildings in our cultural landscape: The Rt Revd Dr Andrew Rumsey, Bishop of Ramsbury, Diocese of Salisbury, National co-lead for church buildings & cathedrals for the Church of England looks for clues in the past for the future of England’s parish churches.

Lizzie Glithero-West, Chief Executive, the Heritage Alliance - Political turmoil and heritage: an insider's view from here to the Election - will be providing a wider political context and talking about influencing Party Manifestos, VAT relief for heritage sector beyond LPWGS

Dr Bev Botting will talk about Church attendance post Covid and its implications recent research into church attendance post Covid undertaken by the Diocese of Oxford

Liam Montgomery, Marketing & Projects Manager, Heritage Open Days will talk about Unwrapping the ‘too good to be true’ festival, England's largest festival of history and culture which takes place annually in September and how churches can be involved and how they can benefit

What is happening to parish churches in Wales? – remote interview with Alex Glanville, Head of Property, Church in Wales, interviewed by Sara Crofts

Sara Crofts, Chair of the Places of Worship Forum in Scotland will talk about Collaborating to address church closures in Scotland - the approach of the BEFS Places of Worship Forum . She will be interviewed by Diana Evans, who convenes the English Places of Worship Forum

There will be shorter contributions from others not listed throughout the day.

Please stay and join us for a glass of bubbly and reflect on what you heard during the day

VENUE

St John's Waterloo, 73 Waterloo Road, London SE1 8TY. It is a three minutes walk across the road from Waterloo main station. Waterloo Underground station is served by the Northern, Bakerloo and Jubilee lines. https://stjohnswaterloo.org/contact-us/

St John the Evangelist Waterloo, Grade II* was constructed 1822-24 to designs by Francis Bedford and built over swampy ground close to the Thames. It was one of 612 Commissioners’ Churches intended for a rapidly growing urban population and is the largest of four in Lambeth, all in the Greek Revival style.

At the height of the Blitz in December 1940, a firebomb fell through the roof, destroying the nave. The crypt was being used as a bomb shelter and proved its worth: 150 people were shocked but unharmed. In 1951, the church was restored by architect Thomas Ford and reopened at the official church of the Festival of Britain. From 1984 to 2003, when this part of the South Bank was known as Cardboard City, the crypt was used as a homeless centre and serving the homeless is still central to their mission.

St John’s has just undergone a £5.5 million restoration by award-winning architect Eric Parry over 18 months and reopened in October 2022. ''In these difficult, post-pandemic times, our magnificent historic church is now a place where everyone can come together to grow and to heal. St John’s vast open nave has been restored and enhanced for worship, concerts and events. The crypt has been transformed into a place where community, arts, wellbeing, employment training and youth initiatives can thrive'. https://stjohnswaterloo.org/about-us/reignite/

BOOKING

The good news is that we have managed to hold our ticket prices at the same price as last year.

Standard ticket @ £52.00

Individual HRBA members @ £44.00

1st delegate from a member organisation (25% discount) @ £39.00, further delegates at standard rate.

If you book here using Eventbrite, you will be sent an immediate acknowledgement.

REFUND POLICY

If you need to cancel your booking, we will refund you the cost of your event ticket in full if you let us know by close of play 7th June. After that we will refund you up to half of what you paid depending on circumstances.

If we cancel for any reason, then we will of course refund in full the money you have paid for the event ticket, but cannot refund any related costs you might have incurred, such as the pre-purchase of railway tickets. NB: However if we have to move the event online, then we will be offering a part-refund on the cost of the ticket.

BURSARIES

Thanks to our sponsorship by Cathedral Communications, we are able to offer a small number of bursaries to assist with travel, intended for those whose travel costs are not funded by an organisation, and for whom the cost of travel is likely to prove a burden, particularly those who are funding the entire cost of the day out of their own pocket. Please contact us on - HRB@theheritagealliance.org.uk - in confidence if you would like to know more.

QUERIES

Any queries please contact Becky Payne, Development Officer, HRBA by email: HRB@theheritagealliance.org.uk

If you wish to pay by cheque or BACS, then please email Becky Payne and she can explain how to do this.

We look forward to seeing you .

(The photographs were taken by Becky Payne and show the re-dedication service on 2nd October 2022 , the memorial homeless bench in the garden behind the church, and the new narthex during the restoration)

Ticket sales have ended

Historic Religious Buildings Alliance: Big Update 2023