PRESS RELEASE FROM ARTHUR RANK CENTRE
15 December 2006

Churches in rural areas are taking initiatives both locally and nationally to support the rural post office network. It is acknowledged that the network in its present form is unsustainable and the churches are keen to work in partnership with the Post Office to explore creative solutions.

The Church of England, The Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church, with the Arthur Rank Centre, are already in conversation with the Post Office exploring innovative ways of providing its services in rural areas. In developing this partnership, the Post Office and the churches are seeking to run two or three pilots in church buildings so that good working practice can be established. National guidelines covering requirements and procedures of both the churches and the Post Office will make it much simpler for such initiatives to happen in the future.

There are already some excellent examples of rural churches hosting post offices which have developed on a local and ad hoc basis and these have helped inspire and inform the ongoing conversations. Churches in Sheepy Magna, Empingham, Dove Holes and West Bradford near Clitheroe, amongst others, have been leading the way in developing this exciting partnership. Rev Graham Jones (National Rural Officer for the Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church) says, “Churches have identified a need in their communities and been proactive in helping to meet that need. They have shown imagination and commitment, and both community and church are benefiting. Drawing up guidelines will hopefully encourage a more widespread, strategic and coordinated approach to such partnerships.”

In medieval times, the nave of the church building was often a communal space and the meeting place of the village, so such initiatives mark a return to a more community orientated understanding of church.

The Revd Dr Gordon Gatward, Director of the Arthur Rank Centre, commenting on these initiatives has said: “Rural post offices provide such a vital service in so many communities and their presence must be sustained wherever possible. The churches are keen to work in partnership with the Post Office to help deliver services in creative and innovative ways – and to make their well-placed and accessible premises part of the solution.’

Notes:
The Arthur Rank Centre is a collaborative unit supported by the National Churches, the Royal Agricultural Society of England and the Rank Foundation, serving the rural community and its churches.

For more information:
www.arthurrankcentre.org.uk
Tel: 024 7685 3060
Rev Dr Gordon Gatward (gordong@rase.org.uk)
Rev Graham Jones (grahamj@rase.org.uk)
Dr Jill Hopkinson (jillh@rase.org.uk)

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