FAIRWAY TO HEAVEN
Or is golf course inside cathedral just CRAZY?
IN an age of dwindling congregations, one ancient place of worship has revealed a drive to increase numbers at a stroke.
Rochester Cathedral has installed a crazy golf course in its nave, although it has met a rough reception.
Billed as educational, the course has nine holes that each feature a model bridge – though sadly, for devotees of the sport, there are no windmills.
The cathedral, which is beside the Medway in Kent and dates back to 1080, unveiled the attraction at the weekend. It will open to the public for free daytime sessions until September 1.
Described as ‘adventure golf ’, the course was designed and paid for by The Rochester Bridge Trust to coincide with improvements to the town’s river crossings. The Rev Rachel Phillips, canon for mission and growth at the cathedral, said: ‘It forms the centrepiece of a Building Bridges theme running through the summer.
‘As well as the physical bridge which has stood over the Medway since Roman times, the invisible but equally historic links between the cathedral and the surrounding community are also bridges of a kind. We hope that, while playing adventure golf, visitors will reflect on the bridges that need to be built in their own lives and in our world today.’ However, reaction on social media shows the idea has a fair way to go to win over the public.
One comment said: ‘This reeks of desperation.’ Another fumed: ‘What on Earth are you doing? This is God’s house, not an adventure theme park!’ Father David Palmer, an Anglican vicar before becoming a Catholic priest, tweeted: ‘I was ordained as an Anglican in this Cathedral. What an embarrassing shambles.’
One crazy golf fan complained: ‘There’s not even a model windmill to putt through! Total embarrassment!’
The cathedral said: ‘Worship continues unaffected with at least three services per day and the adventure golf is only taking place in the nave, with other spaces available for prayer and quiet as usual.’
It is not the only quirky church scheme this summer. There will be a 50ft helter skelter inside Norwich Cathedral from August 8 to 18 and a prosecco and gin festival in the cloisters of Peterborough Cathedral on August 9 and 10.