Courses
Comments
Here are some of the comments we received from volunteers who attended Faith in Maintenance courses in 2009:
"Please pass on our thanks to Sara and all involved in the training day last Saturday. We learnt a lot and came away feeling that church maintenance is not the burden we often feel it is but rather something to be proud of." Wellesbourne
"Thanks for all your input into yesterday which was an excellent programme. Sara is so enthusiastic and knowledgeable." Aston
"It was an excellent day. I found it useful, as did my colleagues. We particularly enjoyed the chance to ‘advise' and assess the building at Aston... so very useful." Aston
"Please pass my thanks onto Sara Crofts for a brilliant and well presented day. It was delightful to hear so much realistic information." Charlton Kings
"I would just like to thank you for a very informative course, which you put across in such a way that we were unaware of the passage of time. It was great not having to make notes so that we could concentrate fully on what was being said. The handbook is a great resource and so too the website which we have looked at today. Thank you for giving us the encouragement and the know how of what we need to do. Thanks to you, I am now better informed to do my job as churchwarden and our church building hopefully will benefit." Sheriff Hutton
"Can I just say this was a really helpful and interesting day and I am sure in the years to come will hugely benefit any building I may find myself in." Sheriff Hutton
"The course was really informative and will act as a benchmark for maintaining St Margaret's Church. Please convey my thanks and appreciation to Sara, who is so gifted at being able to provide details in such an entertaining and meaningful manner." Risca
"Please convey my personal thanks to Sara Crofts for a very helpful and informative day last week. Neither my colleague nor I expected so much useful information to come our way. Sara's enthusiasm for the maintenance of our churches shone through, and was actually very motivating too." Higham Ferrers
"I thought it was first class and a real eye opener; churches would save a lot of money if more people attended this." Higham Ferrers
"Just to let you know that the course was extremely helpful and comprehensive, and the presenter was stunning. Could have listened for another full day. Lots of ideas and tips, all of which I shall be using in my future maintenance programming." Betchworth
"Please pass on my thanks to Sara Crofts for her excellent course yesterday. Inspired by the course, I checked today the gullies to our soakaways and removed a great deal of silt that stopped them working properly." Wingerworth
"We attended the day at West Chiltington yesterday and thought that it was first class. Sara was quite excellent, and we would be very grateful if you would pass on our thanks and congratulations to her for a great course." West Chiltington
"I wanted to thank you at SPAB and especially Sara for the excellent, entertaining, and down to earth day that you laid on for us at West Chiltington. I had concerns that this was going to go over my head but came away with some clear messages and practical checklists that will greatly help me both in my role as warden of my own parish church as well as in my half-time employment running the office and liaising with the wardens of my neighbouring (larger and more historic) parish. I do hope you continue to run these and shall enthusiastically recommend these to colleagues in our deanery when we next meet." West Chiltington
"We just wanted to thank you for arranging a really enjoyable and informative day. We learned a lot and found it extremely interesting. Although most of the things you showed us were ‘common sense' it is those things that people tend to miss or ignore, but you managed to bring these things to light in a light and entertaining way." New West End Synagogue
"The Faith in Maintenance program at the New West End Synagogue was excellent. We both thoroughly enjoyed the presentation by Sara Crofts and Sharman Kadish. I will never think that tennis balls or footballs are benign toys again. Rather I will remember the photo of the balls blocking a valley gutter, and periodically arrange to look at the roof. Thank you for planning such an informative day." New West End Synagogue
"Many thanks for giving us our SPAB Faith in Maintenance course. A religious community with a cathedral-esque Grade I Abbey Church, and at least seven listed dependant churches, needs to be reminded of the importance of maintenance. The community was surprised, entertained and informed by a lively and brilliantly illustrated day which was one of the best ‘in service' days we have ever had. There is much to build on in the course and we hope to benefit further from the SPAB ideals. I hope the course will be widely used and have a prolonged life. We can only give you the highest praise and recommendation."Dom Aidan Bellenger, Abbot of Downside Abbey
