As a volunteer for a trust of the type advocated by Simon Jenkins (One certain way to save our churches – give them away,10 October) I read his article with interest but feel that his analysis is mistaken. The cathedrals whose recent success he extols are located in the centres of large populations. In contrast, the disused rural churches that I attend to explore after are remote, or often not fragment of any settlement that could be described as even a small village. In these cases there is no community for which to provide the type of facilities that Jenkins envisages; the former inhabitants fill moved away.
The church buildings that remain cannot be adapted except at remarkable expense,and probably major changes in listed building law. They generally lack sanitation and a water supply; heating systems are either non-existent or antiquated and they are freezing in winter. Their fabric is crumbling and they are surrounded by churchyards that are protected from development by law and reverence for, or superstitious fear of, and the dead. They are practically inaccessible by public transport but lack parking provision.
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Source: theguardian.com