It will be the people and sense of community, the vicar of Stanley, the Revd Bill Henderson, will miss most when he retires from his post after 25 years.
He remembers leaving his curacy in Winchester back in 1993 to visit the area; he was expecting something quite industrial, but was struck by the open fields around – and then he met the then churchwarden, Jack Barber, and was instantly sold on the job by Jack’s passion for the community.
So, pictured left, Bill, his wife, Viv, and four young daughters – the youngest at 18 months old - arrived in Stanley and spent their first summer living in a tent in the garden of the vicarage until the house was fit for purpose.
Over the years, Bill has seen the life of St Peter’s grow from mainly Sunday worship into a full weekly programme of events and activities that offers something for everyone. Alternative Care, a disabled group run the café and hold other activities there, there’s Knit and Natter, toddler groups, a flourishing community singing group and a vibrant Holy communion service every Wednesday.
One of the most difficult and painful periods of his incumbency was coming to the decision that the old church was no longer the place to worship and seeing it demolished.
For Bill inherited a huge Grade II listed church with serious flaws. Sited in the middle of a graveyard off Aberford Road, the congregation were forced to move out of the church in 2001 – eight years after his arrival – due to structural problems. A feasibility study quoted £1.2m just make the structure safe – with huge ongoing maintenance costs.
“We partitioned off the south aisle to make a church within a church and managed to turn the area round 90 degrees so we worshipped in the round to feel more like a community.
“We did draw up plans for long term use of the church internally, but it became obvious that we couldn’t just do the inside, the structural problems were too big to overcome.”
So one winter they organised their services in the local school dining room in the heart of the village of Stanley.
“It was warm for a start,” remembers Bill.
“And it gave us a sense that there was something else; there was an alternative.”
It was Advent 2001 when they moved out of the church into the old nursery school in the centre of the village while it was decided what was going to happen to the old church building.
Said Bill: “We lost a few people; and a lot of people felt the pain but because they had all been through the process, it helped people better understand.
“It became very obvious that our new location, right in the community, rather than a trek through the graveyard, was much better for our ministry.
“All the community stuff we do, it would never have been as successful in the old church. This space really works, we now see our church not just as Sunday, but all week,’ he added.
During his time in Stanley, Bill has been involved in marrying 338 couples, baptised 677 children and adults and commended 1188 souls to God’s love at funerals.
“It’s a real privilege to be involved in people’s lives at such significant times and seeing how faith can be transformative; seeing people come to a living faith,’ he said.
“We are a great team here, it’s not just me, there is a real strong church family dynamic and I know they will continue to grow,’ he said.
Bill’s last Sunday is 4 March and he and his wife, Viv are staying in the area. Bill plans on catching his breath before being open to be guided as to what the next stage of his life and ministry might offer.
The old St Peter's church building was demolished in February 2014 following a public consultation after attempts to sell it, fell through.