THE fight is on to try to save a 100-year-old Valleys church from closure.

The Argus reported last week that Christchurch, Aberbeeg, is set to shut its doors after the local church council asked the Bishop of Monmouth to declare it redundant, blaming structural issues, high maintenance costs and dwindling congregation numbers.

But on Thursday night a meeting was held with the Friends of Christchurch, who have vowed to fight the plan.

Parish priest The Rev Patrick Coleman had said cost of making the church safe could be up to £40,000 and added the congregation of just 11 people could worship at other nearby services.

But Llanhilleth ward councillors Hedley McCarthy and Mike Bartlett, alongside Caerphilly’s Crumlin ward councillor Keith Lloyd have all written to the Bishop on Monmouth The Rt Rev Dominic Walker pleading for him to reconsider.

In a letter to the bishop, Cllr McCarthy said he had offered Rev Coleman the use of Aberbeeg Community Centre to use until the church could be repaired so that other solutions to the church’s problems could be thought through.

Cllr McCarthy added: “Rev Coleman thanked me for my support but I felt it was very much ‘Thanks, but no thanks’, and it appeared that Aberbeeg did not feature in the long term solution.

“The offer that I made to Rev Coleman still stands and I have made the congregation at Christchurch, and The League of Friends, aware that this offer is on the table.”

Cllr Lloyd is a member of the Friends of Christchurch group and will help launch a campaign highlighting to locals the damage that would be caused if it closed permanently.

Congregation needs to increase

THE Rev Patrick Coleman believes it is beyond economical repair and could only be saved by a benefactor or if public money was available.

It will cost around £40,000 to make the structure safe and over £100,000 for all the work that needs to be done.

The Rev Coleman questioned whether the church still has a role with so few people attending services – in the 1970s, the average attendance was 20 and that number is now just 11.

He said: “It has been in severe decline for 30 or 40 years. Noone attends, people only come to funerals and weddings, which are not the church’s primary role.”

It is not raising its part of the £13,400 needed annually for clergy salaries and other costs from Christchurch and nearby St Mark’s and The Rev Coleman added: “Locals’ memories are always rosier than the figures in the books.”

He urged campaigners to support it by attending services, saying a large increase in numbers could make it viable.