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Viewpoint from Rev Canon Simon Ward 04/07/2025
Rev Canon Simon Ward
Team Rector, Great Yarmouth Team Ministry, and Rural Dean
I recently spent a very pleasant evening in excellent company and enjoyed a very good meal together. The reason for our gathering? We met to mark the end of something
Great Yarmouth Minster Preservation Trust was founded over 30 years ago and throughout that time has worked hard to generate income and secure funding for the fabric of Great Yarmouth Minster. The original concept was for a group of professional people with valuable skills to meet and work together to preserve the ancient fabric of the largest and oldest building in our town. Many different people have devoted lots of time to the Trust over the years; I am thankful for them all. Myself, previous incumbents, and PCCs have been blessed by the work they have done. However, as the membership grew older and the times change it was felt the moment was right to bring that chapter to a close. Choosing to end things makes us a little anxious because we’re not sure what we will replace that which we know. When we devote a lot of time to something, it can be hard to let go. Choosing to end something we are committed to is a bold step
 Throughout our lives we are, repeatedly, asked to say goodbye to all manner of things. Sometimes we need to be reminded that nothing lasts forever and sometimes activities flourish for a season but then we move on. Christian faith frequently reminds us how we must move on, but we do so in confidence and seeking the guidance of God in and through all things. The well-known verses of Ecclesiastes 3 reminds us, “there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens”. Seasons change and churches and their people and their groups rise flourish and sometimes end
What happens now to provide for the fabric needs of the Minster? As always, this rests with the Churchwardens and the PCC but good news is there remains a vision for much-needed development at the Minster to which end an application has been made to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for an ambitious plan. Fittingly the funds raised by the Preservation Trust are allocated as a vital contribution, potentially making a real difference. Therefore, we look not solely to the past but also to the future
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