Community Engagement Story 2: St Michael and All Angels, Whitton Gilbert

This film tells the story of St Michael and All Angels in Whitton Gilbert, near Durham. It presents the process of reordering and adding a new extension in the the church and discusses the group’s approach to engagement.

We invite you to reflect on the story and pick one of the following questions to discuss in the comments section below.

• In the film, one of the members of the church talks about engaging the community through a ‘your name in the sky’ event. This was a fundraising activity which invited local people to literally add their name on the roof slates. Do you think that is a good idea and why?
• The focus of the design project in St Michael’s and All Angels was the concept of ‘the breathing space’ and the creation of a charity to move this concept forward. Do you think that this might be something that can attract or disengage people with the building and its life in the future? Why?