There has been a church on the site of St. Michael’s since pre-Norman times, and so it has been a centre of village life and worship for well over 1000 years. It is the only Grade 1 listed building in the village, and we are proud that it is still open every day for visitors and for residents who want to enjoy some moments of peace and reflection.
In July 2017, Steventon became one of the five villages forming the enlarged DAMASCUS Parish (Drayton, Appleford, Milton, Sutton Courtenay and Steventon), and since then much of the focus of our activities and fund raising has been on the needs of DAMASCUS rather than of Steventon alone. At the same time, the individual villages retain some of the responsibility for the care and upkeep of their churches.
In 2019 a group of us decided that in order to retain and strengthen our ability to safeguard the building and fabric of St. Michael’s Church, and to widen village interest in its heritage and possible future uses, we should form a Friends group of the type already existing in many villages and communities throughout the country. Having taken the initial steps towards setting up a society, we planned a public launch of the Friends of St. Michael’s to coincide with the 75th anniversary of VE Day in 2020. Sadly, these plans had to be abandoned because of the pandemic.
However, as the pandemic began to recede at the end of 2021, we began to look again at ways we could launch the society, and since 2022 the committee and a few volunteers have been quietly raising funds, principally through our stall in the charity food tent at Truck Festival, providing baked potatoes with baked beans and grated cheese. Other events have included cream teas in August and the beacon bonfires for the Queen’s Jubilee and the King’s Coronation.
We have been raising our profile within the community by providing the Christmas stars along the Causeway and the crib. We have a continuing presence at activities at St Michael’s School at Christmas and Easter.
The overall objects of the Friends will be to assist in the maintenance of the fabric of the church and its immediate surroundings, to assist in preserving and protecting it as a centre of national and Christian heritage and historic interest, and to encourage and develop its use for a variety of secular activities for the benefit of the local community as a whole. It will remain an active place of Anglican worship, but we hope that many people who are not churchgoers will become members, joining us because they value what the building can do for the community and want to ensure that it is passed on to generations to come. We hope to see the church used for social and cultural events including exhibitions, meetings, lectures, concerts and parties.
In October 2024 we formally launched the Friends at a function in the church to coincide with an appeal by the church to raise about £125,000 to cover repairs and renovations to the tower and south wall. We will work to assist the church reach their appeal target. The more we raise, the more the church can apply for grants towards this target. Now that we have three years of accounts, we shall this year apply for charitable status.
Membership is £10/year. If you would like to join or have further information, please complete our Contact Us form.