Celebrating Care of Churches

Over fifty Friends of the Dorset Historic Churches Trust (DHCT) attended the Trust’s autumn meeting at St Mary’s Church in Swanage recently to celebrate the work of the charity.

To start the afternoon DHCT Trustee, Dr Tim Connor, spoke about the history of the building, its development over the centuries and its relationship with the changing town of Swanage and its quarrying, maritime and tourist industries. Sue Smith, an acknowledged expert on church glass, followed with a discussion of the stained glass, teaching the audience to fully appreciate the artistry of the glass.

A high point of the day was the presentation by Treleven Haysom, owner of Haysom and Landers Quarries and an expert on Purbeck minerals such as the marbles and limestones which feature so prominently in the construction and decoration of so many of Dorset’s churches.

Musical interludes were provided by classical guitarist Christopher Daly and by David Bruce-Payne who gave a recital on the newly-restored organ. Also, at the end of the day, guests were lucky enough to be wafted back to the times of the west gallery musicians by the Purbeck Village Quire, who performed traditional music in traditional costume.

The Chairman of DHCT, Simon Pomeroy, said “The Dorset Historic Churches Trust would like to say a big thank you to everyone who attended the afternoon and to the clergy and helpers at St Mary’s who received us so warmly with a delicious lunch and tea. The help of the Friends of the Trust is invaluable to the survival of our local churches and we hope to continue to collaborate closely with them on local projects.”

New Friends are always welcome and DHCT encourage anyone interested to collect a Trust leaflet from their local church or visit the Trust’s website: www.dhct.org.uk