St Mary's church as a cultural and heritage asset to Gamlingay.

Those responsible for the upkeep of our Grade 1 listed church building in Gamlingay are about to put forward some ideas for improvements which they hope will make the building available for a wide range of uses by the whole community.

The changes proposed so far include the following:

  • Make the building accessible for community use.
  • Make at least one entrance to the building wheelchair friendly.
  • Removing some of the Victorian pews to provide flexible and accessible areas.
  • Installingtoilet and nappy changing facilities.
  • Providing a purpose designed refreshment preparation and serving area.
  • Providing a number of tables and chairs that can be flexibly arranged.
  • A separately heated meeting room for up to 20 people.

In addition improvements have already been made to enable the whole building to be heated to a comfortable temperature and to reduce the lighting costs.

This questionnaire is for you to let us know about your ideas for how the church could be usedso that we can incorporate as many feasible ideas in the plan as possible before we seek approval and funding.

You can either leave the completed questionnaire in the box in the church porch or alternatively you can download a copy from the St Mary’s website email the completed forms to

QUESTIONNAIRE

1. Do you feel that St Mary’s church has a valuable role to play in our community? YES/NO

2. Do you agree with the idea of using the church for more purposes than purely for worship? YES/NO

If no, please let us know your particular concerns:

3. Which of the activities and uses listed below do you think could take place in St Mary’s?

  • Children’s groups
  • Coffee shop
  • Community space
  • Concerts by visiting musicians
  • Cinema sessions
  • Virtual reality sessions
  • Evening classes
  • Exhibitions
  • Internet café – community led IT training
  • Local clubs and societies
  • Public and voluntary service providers’ outreach work (e.g. CAB, Age UK, Early Years and adult, education, parish nurses. Local authority information point, counseling services, neighborhood police)
  • Music groups or rehearsals
  • School curriculum work
  • Social activities (breakfast club, coffee mornings, etc)
  • Village events (flower shows, plays, community concerts, etc)
  • Guided tours by volunteers for visitors
  • Youth group
  • Daytime training meetings

If you belong to a local group or society and think that they may in the future be interested in using the building with these changes then we would like your support to make our suggestions come about. You can do this by returning this questionnaire with the name and contact details of the group/society you belong to.

Group name / Group contact details

If you think there would be a possibility of further use of the building if other modifications/additions were made not listed above then please return the questionnaire detailing this use and the further additions suggested.

Group and use suggested / Modifications required

4. There is a Friends Group in Gamlingay who concentrate on raising funds for the upkeep of this historic building.

  • Would you be interested in joining?YES/NO
  • Would you like to be involved in setting up and organising events?YES/NO
  • Do you have particular skills that might be useful to this project? YES/NO

If you would like to be kept informed of the project please fill in your contact details.

Name:

Email:

Telephone no:

Thank you for your participation.

The St Mary Gamlingay Buildings Committee