Heritage Open Day

The days of the second weekend in September are Heritage Open Days throughout the country and we are taking part on Saturday 11th in 2010.  Not many have yet discovered the wonders of ST Thomas’ – its site carefully chosen to be visible from all directions, its windows and carved furnishings, its baptistery and its great organ.  But those who do find us are usually enthusiastic.

Click here for pictures from previous years

 “We shape our buildings and they shape us.”Winston Churchill.  Heritage Open Days believes in the power of the built environment to bring people and communities together. As individuals and communities develop the built environment to suit their particular needs, buildings can also create and unite communities. Sometimes places and spaces bring us together physically, as in the squares and greens of our cities and villages. Sometimes they bring us together in appreciation, when we admire the buildings that surround us, be they tiny historic gems or modern state-of-the-art grand designs. And sometimes they bring us together in argument, because buildings have the power to inspire strong feelings of both love and hate.

In order for buildings to bring people together, we need to be able to explore and understand them. That’s why, with thousands of properties of all types opening their doors free of charge each year, Heritage Open Days is such a vitally important event.

It particularly offers the opportunity for young people to develop an understanding and enthusiasm for their local built environment. We aim to inspire a new generation of citizens to be involved and to play an active role in promoting, preserving and celebrating their community’s environment.

Lawrence E. Jones, a great expert on church buildings, has written:

‘Our glorious churches are of great historic interest and beauty, but they are not just show pieces.  Each is the House of God and the Gate of Heaven in our villages and towns.  The church with its tower or spire dominates the English scene; pointing upwards to heaven, it advertises both the fact and the purpose of its existence.

‘These old churches are today still sermons in stone and living witnesses of the Faith for which they were built, and it is our privilege to use them and preserve them for posterity.  Le s do so to the greater glory of God, and thereby also fulfil the true purpose of human life – to love, serve and praise God.’