Friends of Christ Church

The Friends of Christ Church aims to enhance the beauty and usefulness of the building of Christ Church and encourage people to use it.

The Friends was launched in 2001 as a separate charity, to raise funds for repairing the church spire - a Swindon landmark. This was completed in 2006. Since then, we have been involved in the development of the new Community Centre@Christ Church, another beautiful building which is in constant use by the local community

The church building was reordered in 2017 and is now lighter, warmer and more welcoming. The Friends purchased the projector and its shelf, part of a new audio-visual system for services and other events, an outside noticeboard and doormats to protect the beautiful new wooden floor. The Friends have spent legacies on the cleaning and refurbishment of the church organ. Contributions have also been made to the new roof, the refurbished south transept window, and landscaping work on the church grounds. Most recently we have paid for the installation of a device to allow the church clock to change automatically between GMT and BST.

The Friends funded the CDs Skyline Sounds II and III and you can hear excerpts on this page. We have also printed cards showing some of our best stained glass, the GWR train in the south porch, the nativity window in the north transept, the angel in the Light of the World window and the green parrot in the Goddard memorial window. The cards are available for sale.

Every year the Friends organise a Christmas Charity Market, a well supported and popular fundraising and networking opportunity for local charities. We have held seven annual lectures, including two by Andy Binks about local history, “Wireless Women”, about early female radio broadcasters, and most recently “Celebration Earth” by Martin Palmer. The church building is used for all sorts of events. Some examples include the Old Town Festival, the Old Town Beer Festival, the Old Town Autumn Fayre, the Swindon Music Festival and concerts hosted by Swindon Cares and others. Christ Church welcomes applications from local organisations for the use of the building. There are now over 100 members of the Friends stretching from Boston and Minnesota in USA to New Zealand. We do our best to keep them in touch with developments at Christ Church with St Mary’s by means of newsletters as well as an annual report and AGM. If you are on Facebook keep in touch with events being organised by following our page "Friends of Christ Church, Old Town". A new book “The Beacon on the Hill” about the history of Christ Church and Swindon is in preparation and will be available shortly

/

We encourage you to join the Friends. You can download our brochure and application form on the link below. Single members pay £5 annually, family members £10, by cash, cheque, BACS or standing order. Life membership is a one-off payment of £75; all these amounts can be gift aided by UK taxpayers, as the Friends is a registered charity, number 1088767.

Download our brochure and membership application form