Getting letters!

Following our articles in the Western Gazette and the Langport Leveller, we've had some letters concerned about our project at the church.  Whilst getting letters worrying about something you're working hard on is never fun, we can see this as a very positive thing, it shows that the people still recognise the importances of the building and are moved to make their voices heard when they are concerned about it's future.

Peter mentioned a while ago that this might happen.  Some see this sort of work as controversial - regenerating a building that once had a strong religious significance and developing a new use which may not have such a religious focus.  On top of this, our project has an added layer of breaking with tradition by being managed by 'young people'. 

All of the regeneration projects that the CCT undertake remain consecrated spaces - we don't want to alienate any particular part of a community by not allowing them to use the space that we're creating, especially when the space we're creating is for the benefit of the whole community. 

One of the aims of this project is to show that if you give young people responsibility they will rise to it - if you take responsibility away from them and tell them that its a job for grown-ups then they will lose the opportunity to learn about the building, its history, and its value to the community they're living in. As Peter once said
'As Noel Clarke once said:
"Young people ... feel that they are not spoken to but spoken at. I know that when I was a teenager, I felt totally unrepresented ... But if you do speak to them, and give them a positive choice, they take it." ' (from here)

We can also use this as an opportunity to develop a new skill - receiving and responding to letters asking you to explain yourself is difficult, but it's a transferable skill that will be useful in just about any job a young person might go on to do.

New Saints and the Churches Conservation Trust welcome feedback on the project, because it is a new venture and we want to hear what people think about it

... I wouldn't mind a few letters saying 'well done, what a great idea' though ...