Why was the St. Luke's Grimethorpe Fund set up? 

In 2001 the decision was made to demolish St Luke's Parish Church in Grimethorpe, South Yorkshire. The church was built in 1904 - ' a church built by the Miners for the Miners.'

This large red brick church was a symbol not just of faith, but the very heart of Grimethorpe's Mining Heritage.

With severe degeneration of the village and area after the closure of the pit, coking plant and power station in 1993, the church saw a decline in numbers, vandalism struck, and the future of the proud church looked bleak.

In 2002, the newly appointed priest Fr Peter Needham, along with the Bishop of Wakefield, Archdeacon of Pontefract, Jeff Ennis MP and local regeneration Officers met and came up with the idea to save the Parish Church.

The idea was to use the main part of the Church as a Village Hall - not a Church Hall, but a Hall for the Village.

In 2003, the 'St Luke's Grimethorpe Fund' began.

The fund was registered as a "Trust" to handle funds obtained for the purpose of providing what had become a seriously vandalised Parish Church, facing demolition, with new life. Within the present Church we are to provide a village hall to assist in the work of building up community with both the young and old. The hall will be able to cater for wedding and baptism receptions, funeral teas and other events which will bring in much needed income.

Above the new hall  there will be rooms of various sizes to let for both commercial and community use.

The trust hopes that this new asset will provide outreach to the community in areas such as family counselling, vocational training and a place to respond to the problems of drug and alcohol addiction.

The hall will be managed not by the Church but by an independent Management Committee.

Grimethorpe Activity Zone (GAZ) will be central in this work. The Fund already financially supports groups and individuals in need in the area; from children's clubs to adults seeking to set up self employed businesses. Individuals in social need have also received aid. We hope to support other disadvantaged groups on an international basis.