Success had hinged on the churchwarden at the time \u2014 Nigel Boldero, an \u201cabsolute force of nature\u201d with a background in project delivery, Mr Whitehead said. There was now a \u201cgreater expectation of professionalism\u201d from the Lottery, he said, which could pose challenges \u2014 given skills shortages in some areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Whitehead said that the Community Changemarkers conference had conveyed \u201ca real sense of optimism, of hope\u201d. He continued: \u201cI feel really strongly that there is value in the small, value in these rural places, which might not be measurable in terms of numbers of people in church on a Sunday, but is measurable in the depth of commitment people have to tending their churchyards, to giving money to restoring the tower or the clock, or whatever it might be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was, he said, a tendency to look down on, or make fun of, the rural. \u201cWe get Dibleyfied, basically,\u201d he said. \u201cI think there is life in the rural church, and I think, where you can find it and you can spread it, that that kind of thing is infectious.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p> The hundred visitors who descended on St Peter\u2019s, Haveringland, in Norfolk, last month were far more than it usually has in a day. It is known locally as \u201cthe church in the fields\u201d and stands in isolation on a former Second World War airfield #ruralchurch<\/a>https:\/\/t.co\/SL4mjEQ6xa<\/a><\/p>— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) June 3, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote>