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Thousands vote to save Ambridge's pews

17 September 2007

An overwhelming public vote against stripping the pews out of the local church in BBC Radio 4's 'The Archers' has been welcomed by heritage campaign group, the Victorian Society.

More than 3,500 people took part in the vote on The Archers homepage (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/archers/) following a tense episode in which the vicar, Alan Franks, set out his plans to make St Stephen’s Church more flexible by stripping out its Victorian pews. 61% of voters sided with members of Ambridge Parochial Church Council who were alarmed at the suggestion of clearing the church to make it a venue for rock band rehearsals and badminton matches, and worried about the way the removal would affect the character of the building.

‘The results of the poll show that a lot of people value historic pews and that any proposal to remove them from churches must be considered very carefully’ said Dr Ian Dungavell, Director of the Victorian Society. ‘Sometimes there are good reasons for taking pews out, but all too often it comes down to a question of fashion. Parishes remove pews for the sake of a flexibility which is never exploited and people miss them when they are gone.’

The vote comes as architectural historian Sir Roy Strong argues for the removal of historic furnishings from churches in his latest book A Little History of the English Country Church, published this month.

‘It’s interesting that Sir Roy Strong should be advocating the wholesale removal of pews when they are clearly valued by so many people,’ continued Dr Dungavell. ‘Of course it’s important to do everything we can to ensure that historic churches remain in use, but this should not be at the expense of the things that make them special to those that look after them. If that happens, the future of churches really will be bleak.’

The Victorian Society is producing campaign badges for those supporting the retention of St Stephen’s pews. For more information, please email community@victoriansociety.org.uk