CHURCHES START A TOURIST TRAIL
For the first time ever, church members are being invited to a day looking at other churches! The aim is to make regulars aware of their church as tourists see them and find better ways of making their buildings accessible to visitors.
The day “Presenting Churches – Seeing Churches” starts in St Alkmund’s church in the centre of Shrewsbury on Saturday 12th May . “The idea is to get some ideas about how we tell our story, not just the story of our amazing historic buildings, but also of our faith, in a way that fascinates visitors,” said Christine Tinker, who chairs Shropshire Churches Tourism Group. “Our members are keen to share what they have but it’s vital that visitors enjoy and are entertained and inspired by what they find.”
Seventy (70) Shropshire Churches appear in a brand new booklet aimed at promoting some of the best churches in the County. The brochure is called A Guide to Shropshire’s Churches and is available in Visitor Information Centres all over the County and in the churches featured.
“Those who sign up for the day, led by the vicar at St Alkmund’s, Richard Hayes will not only get ideas about how to do things better but the afternoon comprises a walk around 4 town centre churches, the Abbey, Shrewsbury Cathedral, St Chad’s and St Mary’s, which are all members of Shropshire Churches Tourism Group,” added Christine.
The new booklet features something about every single church member and pictures of many of them. They cover the county from Alberbury to Aston Ayre, Clungunford to Chelmarsh, all the town centre churches in Shrewsbury and larger churches such as Oswestry and Much Wenlock. Hodnet, Lilleshall and Edgmond cover the north west corner of Shropshire. “It’s a great little booklet , which we hope will be of real interest to people, and we are sure it will fly out of churches and Visitor Information Centres very quickly,” said Christine. “Visitors to the County should find it useful but we hope local people will become tourist for a day when they have it in their hands.
More information from Christine Tinker christinetinker@fsmail.net01588 660480
And Richard Hayes l.r.hayes@btinternet.com01743 244668
The new brochure is available online
http://www.discovershropshirechurches.co.uk