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Over 15 million visitors per year come to Cumbria. Many visitors are drawn by Cumbria’s special landscapes but there is a huge opportunity for churches and chapels to promote their sites as part of Cumbria's cultural experience. Even less obvious tourist destinations such as the west coast receive significant numbers of visitors.
The welcome and interpretation in churches are important to a visitor, whether they be tourist, local resident or pilgrim. In this section we have listed the help available to get your welcome right, to develop a faith trail and promote your church. See below recommended resources, organisations to help promote your church, training, tourism initiatives to link with and how to welcome children.
Resources to assist with improving your welcome
- The NWMFTA (North West Multi Faith Tourism Association) encourages sacred sites to be open, enrich the visitors’ experience, and offer the best possible welcome. There are a number of downloadable resources to support churches and other faith sites that wish to start planning for welcoming visitors as follows. Click below.
Welcoming Visitors to Your Church
Planning for Welcome: Activities
Encouraging Visitors to your Church
Open Churches
and
Interpreting Churches
For more information contact Joanna Booth, the NWMFTA Development Officer on 07545 580437 or email her
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- Churches, chapels and meeting houses in Cumbria have joined forces to create two new Faith Trails in the north and east of the County. See our case studies page of how to cater for visitors.
- A toolkit "Offering a Ministry of welcome in Your Church" was first produced by Carlisle Diocese (The file is 7MB so a broadband connection is required). In 2009, CTfC revised tthe toolkit to bring it up to date and ensure it is relevant to all places of worship.
- The Divine Inspiration project in Coventry Diocese presents information about churches to visit clearly and attractively. It has also produced some resources for churches wishing to welcome visitors.
Organisations to help you publicise and promote your church
- Visit Cumbria: has the most comprehensive information about visiting Cumbria’s churches run by a volunteer in Cumbria. Most places of worship are covered, and if yours is not then you can submit information and photographs via the site and it will be added. When you look at your own church's entry, you can check how many people have viewed it. If information is missing you can provide it for inclusion.
- Cumbria Tourism- the local Tourist Board: Individual churches can register with Cumbria Tourism without charge.The information provided will be available in Tourist Information Centres (locally and nationally), kiosks and, for larger churches, on the Visit Britain (the national tourist board) website. The registration form is downloadable here. At present there is a fee of £50.00 plus VAT per annum per church to become a member of Cumbria Tourism Visitor Destinations. Membership guarantees listing on www.go-lakes.com, the official Cumbria Tourist Board website.
- Church Edit run seminars open to all ministers, church administrators and those wanting to use the web effectively for their church. Forthcoming seminars in Manchester - 9th February 2012.
- See our tips on Marketing Your Church/
Training seminars on visitor welcome
CTfC coordinates local training for church council members and friends of churches on the following subjects:
- Reviewing your visitor welcome
- Sharing Your Story
- Interpreting Churches
- Church Security: churches need guardian angels
- Developing a faith trail
- Beyoned the Church Mice: encouraging children's understanding of churches
See our events page for forthcoming seminars or contact us with requests for training.
Tourism Initiatives to link with
- Heritage Open Days is an annual event organised by the Civic Trust each September, and takes place on the Thursday to Sunday on the second weekend of September each year (Sep 13-16, 2012). It is well publicised locally and nationally and provides a unique opportunity to encourage people to visit your church building.Registration for Heritage Open Days is straightforward and takes place between March and May each year.
- The annual Ride and Stride event provides an excellent way to promote your church, raise funds and create and encourage visitors. This is always on the second saturday of September from 10am to 6pm. If you will be stewarding the church, your volunteers will be able to welcome people participating in both events.
- Sacred sites are also encouraged to apply for and achieve the Place of Interest Quality Assurance Scheme (PIQAS), which has replaced the NW Marque of Excellence. A number of Cumbrian sacred sites have already achieved this.To find out more about the above or the resources visit www.multi-faith.org. or contact Joanna Booth, the NWMFTA Development Officer on 07545 580437 or you can email her
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Churches Tourism Association (CTA) is England’s leading body for faith heritage tourism,dedicated to enhancing the experience of those who visit churches. Visit their website. The resources section of the website has examples of good practice for churches seeking to develop their visitor welcome, developing websites, trails, heritage interpretation, events, art and much more. Also on the website is the S
Sacred Britain ‘Agenda for Action’ was launched at the Churches Tourism Association Convention in November 2006, sets out priorities for action over the next three years.
Welcoming Children
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