At the weekend, 14th July, The Sunday Tasmanian included a sobering article by Helen Kempton about some of the parishes in Tasmania which are determined to keep their churches intact.
Our group, Windermere Church Forever, featured prominently. Helen Kempton wrote:
St Matthias Church at Windermere, in the state’s North, is in its 175th year of continuous operation and the community says it is a priceless building and site.
The Windermere Church Forever group is working to raise money to buy the church and provide a fund for its long-term future.
Note that our group is not working to “buy the church”, but it is working to raise money to help provide funds for its long-term future.
Her article continued:
On its Facebook page the group says the Anglican Church of Tasmania had agreed that if the community could raise $46,500 by October 1, St Matthias will be removed from the list of properties to be sold. “While the general intention is that funds raised by this group be used in full or part to supplement funds raised directly by the Anglican Church for the redress scheme, a decision to contribute in this way will depend upon the church’s decision about the property’s future,” the group says.
“Any funds not used for the redress scheme will be retained by the Windermere Church Forever group with the aim of working with the parish, local community and state and local government to establish a sustainable future for the church and its grounds.
“A plan for the church’s future must, as a minimum, ensure protection of the integrity of the current historic building and site, the graveyard and vegetation, unobstructed views from the river and roads, and continued public access to the entire property.”
If you have access to the Mercury on the News Corporation website, here is the link to the article: Parishes dig deep to save their churches
If you don’t have access, we have created the following pdf: Parishes dig deep.
