12th December 2024

Songs of Praise from Croston St Michael and All Angels' Church

This year’s Songs of Praise Candle Lit Christmas Carol Service comes from the ancient village church of St Michael and All Angels in Croston, Lancashire and will be broadcast on Sunday 22 December 2024 at 1.15pm on BBC1.

The beautiful candle lit church which dates back to the 13^th century provides the setting for a service of readings and carols featuring Aled Jones, Sean Fletcher, Katherine Jenkins and the Young Choristers of the Year, as well as a packed congregation from Croston and the surrounding area.

But what viewers will not see is that the Grade II* listed church is on Historic England’s “Heritage at Risk” list because it is now in “immediate risk” due to major repairs required to the building costing around £1million to prevent it falling into disrepair and eventual closure.

St Michael and All Angels church receives no funding from the Church of England or the Government to maintain the building and has to rely on local voluntary contributions and fund raising.

PCC Secretary, Andrew Marston, said “There is no way that we could ever raise the kind of money we need to spend on the church locally and we have to rely on grants. Sadly, in recent years we have not been able to access large scale grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund or elsewhere that we need.

If we want to preserve these ancient buildings for the future we need a different funding model.”

The church’s specialist Heritage Architect, Rebecca Grimshaw of Anthony Grimshaw Associates said “In recent years the Heritage Lottery Fund, which used to be the major source of funding for large scale projects like this, have given less priority to funding the maintenance of churches in favour of bigger heritage and tourism related sites. There are many listed churches like St Michaels that are unable to access the sizeable grants they need to preserve these beautiful ancient buildings.

We really need Government, Historic England and the Heritage Lottery Fund to rethink their priorities if we are going to save these buildings for the nation.”

The church is located at the centre of the village of Croston within the Chorley Borough of Lancashire. The church is part of the Parish of Croston, Bretherton and Mawdesley with Bispham within the Chorley Deanery of the Diocese of Blackburn. The church has strong links with local church schools - Trinity and St Michael's Primary and Bishop Rawstorne Academy, and local scout groups. The church is funded entirely by our local congregations and other fund raising. (Please see their website: the3churches.org.uk)