Chapel on shortlist for award
A SEARCH for Wales’ favourite church or chapel has been launched.
Voting has now opened for the campaign, launched by the National Churches Trust.
There are 50 different churches or chapels around the country in the running.
It includes Bethania Chapel in Maesteg, Conway Road Methodist Church in Cardiff, and Llandaff Cathedral.
The campaign is called Sacred Wales – Cymru Sanctaidd and it is hoped it will start a debate about the future of churches.
Having once being the centre of Welsh society, many churches and chapels are still vital for community life. But as congregations decline, looking after religious buildings is becoming harder.
A survey of 217 places of worship, carried out by the National Churches Trust, showed a severe shortage of volunteers to look after church and chapel buildings.
Keeping churches and chapels open and in good repair is often up to volunteers. However 50% of churches and chapels say that they are not attracting new volunteers due to dwindling congregations and a lack of young people.
There is also a lack of skills needed to raise funds for repairs and 60% of churches need funding from external sources to pay for repair and main- tenance projects. But the survey found 28% of churches and chapels have no experience of making funding applications and 54% little experience.
The charity says that one of the best ways of preventing the need for expensive repairs is to carry our regular maintenance. But almost half of churches and chapels surveyed (44%) do not have a maintenance plan. And more than threequarters of churches and chapels (78%) said they wanted help with funding to carry out maintenance.
The winning church or chapel will be announced on September 28 and will receive a trophy and a cheque for £500.
People can vote online at www.sacredwales.org. uk until August 13.