Marshwood church services to end but school secures use of building

St Mary’s Church in Marshwood will hold its final service on Easter Sunday but will remain open for Marshwood CE Primary School, thanks to the Salisbury Diocese Board of Education and Acorn Academy Trust, of which the school is a part of.

An arrangement between the diocese and the Acorn Academy Trust to financially support the running costs of the building will allow the school to keep using it for another year whilst a permanent solution is found.

Marshwood CE Primary School after school ballet club (Image: Marshwood CE Primary School)

The school relies heavily on the space the church offers, not only for worship, but for PE lessons and other indoor activities.

Peter Beare, the school's head teacher,  is ‘extremely grateful’ that a solution has been found.

He said: “Hopefully it is just temporary, the closure is primarily due to falling numbers in the congregation.

“We are extremely grateful to Salisbury Diocese and Acorn Academy Trust for coming to some sort of arrangement that we can continue to use building whilst its future is uncertain.

"The school uses it every day and it is essential for us as it’s the only indoor PE space we have.

"If it had closed fully, we would have had to look at busing out for PE lessons.”

Marshwood CE Primary School using St Mary's Church during Remembrance week (Image: Marshwood CE Primary School)

The church is also in need of repair and a new group, Friends of Marshwood Church, has been set up to help fundraise and look into securing grants to cover the repair costs.

It will also hold a public consultation in May to consider the longer term dual use of the church building by both the school and wider community.

Mr Beare added: “This new 'Friends of Marshwood Church' group has been formed to look at fundraising options to secure the church's long term future.

"There are repairs needed which will need to be done so the school can keep using it.

"We are excited to work with the Friends group for the future of the building and the outgoing parochial church council has been absolutely fantastic, thinking of the needs of the school, they have been very understanding."

Marshwood CE Primary School using St Mary's Church in December 2023 (Image: Marshwood CE Primary School)

A spokesperson for Salisbury Diocese added: “The school and the parish are working closely to keep the building open as it provides vitally important additional space for the school, for worship, PE and other activities.  

"However, though the church building is used by the school every day, it does need some ongoing repairs to keep it in good order.

"The Diocese Board of Education is funding some of the running costs in the interim, to allow time for some fundraising locally to pay for repairs.

"The church and school are really important places for this small rural community and we are working with them to do all we can to ensure the building can be continue to be used each day by the school and to also be a resource for the local community.”