Fernham Church's Bid Wins Popular Vote

PUBLIC voting power has secured an exciting future for a Victorian church building in Fernham, Vale of the White Horse.

The parish of Longcot with Fernham has always been imaginative in its fundraising to turn St John the Evangelist into a multi-use building for the whole community. Last year they produced a popular calendar of Fernham’s menfolk in the style of the WI Calendar Girls.

But the decision to enter the recent annual National Lottery TV competition ‘People’s Millions’ has fast-tracked the project to the point where their plans can now become a reality, netting them £90,000.

The Revd Richard Hancock, Area Dean, said the grant from the National Lottery Fund was the highest that could be awarded by the programme, and the decision about which projects received the money was decided entirely by viewers’ votes.

‘The day that our project was going to be screened saw all of us madly emailing everyone we could to ask them to vote. And lots of them must have responded because we won.'

‘The great thing was that at the end of the week the public could vote again to award money to any of the projects that didn’t win the first time, and the city centre project that lost out to us in our programme received the money it needed. So we didn’t take anything away from anyone.’

Back in Fernham, Project Inspires led by Neil Sutherland is hoping to have St John’s up and running as a community building by the end of 2009.

Mr Hancock said: ‘The parish doesn’t have a proper community hall at the moment. Just a pub. St John’s is the perfect solution. It’s already home to a number of groups such as a book club, film club and bands,  as well as remaining a place of worship, but it needs work to make the building far more adaptable and hospitable. We plan to add a kitchen and loo, moveable pews, and a car park among other things.

‘The whole community has been wonderful in getting behind the project, and now we have to thank the wider public as well for their support!'