New Not-for-Profit Set Up in Cambridge
 
A new not-for-profit organisation providing an imaginative way of telling the story of historic places of worship has received support from leading heritage campaigners Simon Jenkins and Roy Strong.
 
ChurchGuides.co.uk was founded by Cambridge University researcher Gabriel Byng and has already received great feedback from worshippers, writers and campaigners. By linking historic places of worship with volunteer writers and experienced mentors, this new website gives local communities free help with drafting a brilliant new guide to their history, architecture and community. It is open to any church, mosque or temple and has already received support from many tourism organisations and dioceses.

Sir Roy Strong, former director of the Victoria and Albert Museum and author of A Little History of the English Country Church, said: "Never has there been more need for new and original church guides. Hopefully this imaginative scheme for volunteer writers will breathe new life into what has become a mummified format."

Sir Simon Jenkins, Chairman of the National Trust and author of England's Thousand Best Churches, said: "Getting the history of little-known churches in England and Wales into print encourages local support and safeguards their upkeep. This scheme will increase the information available for visitors and parishioners, helping to ensure the future of parish churches across the country." 

ChurchGuides.co.uk was set up to encourage writers to find new, imaginative and unexpected ways of telling the history of a place of worship. It gives writers and places of worship free guidance on using social media, new technology, clear language and personal stories to show what makes history and architecture so fascinating. Many visitors are not familiar with Britain's religious heritage or the complexities of architectural history and ChurchGuides.co.uk wants to find innovative ways of reaching out to them. Ensuring that every historic place of worship has a brilliant guide is the first step to preserving these buildings and explaining them to the next generation of visitors.

ChurchGuides.co.uk founder Gabriel Byng said: "Our mission is to help every place of worship explain to visitors what makes their building so exciting - an extraordinary artistic creation which encapsulates the history of their community and the mysteries of religious practice. We don't believe guides have to boring, we want to help congregations use video, podcasts, pictures and great writing to show off their history, architecture and mission. Forget paying lots of money to go to an exhibition in London, in Britain you can see amazing works of art and architecture for free at the end of your road."

For more information visit: www.churchguides.co.uk
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Information for Editors:

This is a not-for-proft website with no religious agenda. We do not charge places of worship and we are grateful to those volunteers willing to work for free to provide this fantastic service. It is unlikely that we will be able to help with printing, publishing or research costs. This service is run and paid for by volunteers. All services are open to all public, historic places of worship, not just churches, and anyone is welcome to register as a writer.