BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 32nd ANNUAL EDITION 3 NEW PUBLISHER FOR HISTORIC CHURCHES Cathedral Communications’ publications, including Historic Churches, are being taken on by a new publishing house, Euromedia Associates from January 2026. This family-owned company, which has been established for 35 years, will offer exactly the same services to the conservation sector as Cathedral Communications has in the past, but with a larger team backed up by broader resources. The Euromedia team will be joined by Carla Winchcombe and Nick Rainsford from Cathedral. Executive editor and director of Cathedral Communications Jonathan Taylor will also work with Euromedia on all heritage sector publications, not least as editor of Historic Churches, The Building Conservation Directory and the website www.buildingconservation.com. Sadly, we will be saying goodbye to Lynn Green, Joanna Collie and Emma Heard. Xendo, the typesetting team responsible for the design of all of Cathedral’s publications since its inception in 1993, is also stepping back. Jonathan Taylor says ‘we would like to thank everyone who has helped make our publications so successful, including our colleagues in Cathedral, at Xendo and in the wider heritage sector, our customers and all the many people who have written for us over 35 years, as well as our new colleagues at Euromedia Associates Limited.’ All Cathedral’s good work is set to continue under the new ownership, ensuring the success of Cathedral’s publications and services in the longterm, and providing opportunities for the development of new heritage sector publications and digital resources THE NATIONAL CHURCHES SURVEY 2025 A survey published by the National Churches Trust found that of an estimated 38,500 churches, chapels and meeting houses in the UK, almost two thousand of them are struggling to survive. 1 in 20 – the number of churches that say they will ‘definitely’ or ‘probably’ not be used as a place of worship in five years’ time 1 in 10 – the number of churches requiring urgent repairs to roofs and guttering/drains in the next 12 months. When a similar survey was carried out in 2010, 7% of churches surveyed required urgent works compared to 10% today. In the same period the proportion of churches considered to be in good condition has fallen from 70% to 61%. Writing in the foreword Sir Philip Rutnam points out that ‘churches are not passive relics of the past; they are active, living places, powered by volunteers and sustained by communities who depend on them.’ Most offer essential services to their local communities above and beyond their religious roles: 76% of churches host community groups and 85% would expand community support if they had more resources 56% are involved in food distribution such as foodbanks, with 37% offering weekly food distribution 34% provide support for people struggling with anxiety, depression or isolation 49% host youth groups, a third of which meet weekly. The report concludes by calling for a national response; ‘without intervention, the risks are stark. If churches close, the impacts will multiply: a loss of heritage, a loss of social care, and a loss of spaces for solace and belonging. It would signal not only neglect of our cultural inheritance, but also a failure to care for communities at their most vulnerable.’ The Building Conservation Directory SPECIAL REPORT Magazine 30th Edition The Building Conservation Directory SPECIAL REPORT Magazine 29th Edition historic churches THE CONSERVATION AND REPAIR OF ECCLESIASTICAL BUILDINGS in the future. Although Cathedral Communications Limited will cease to operate as a company in early 2026, the name Cathedral Communications will live on as an imprint of Euromedia Associates, bringing together new and existing heritage sector publications, website and publishing services. Contact details will also remain unchanged, as the Cathedral team will continue to work from the same office in Tisbury, Wiltshire for the foreseeable future. It’s business as usual. NEWS REVIEW Copies of the survey can be downloaded from the National Churches Trust website at www.nationalchurchestrust.org/survey.
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