Well-Being @ St James'

We need your help to secure the future of our ancient church and to transform it into a place of healing and sanctuary for our whole community. Please read more below.

Holywell has been a place of pilgrimage and Christian healing for over a thousand years, and St Winifred's Well is the longest continual pilgrimage place in Europe. We at St James' Church are building on this long history, and the Well-Being project marks the next chapter in the life of this much-loved Church.

 

Well-Being @ St James' is an exciting new venture for Holywell and the wider community. Throughout the Covid-19 Pandemic, St Peter's Church in Holywell has been at the heart of the town. We have provided food, support, and access to services through the Table (previously called the £2 Food Club), the Foodbank, and our growing partnerships with other local and national organisations. This work has revealed the levels of need (practical, emotional and spiritual) in parts of our town, and folk now look to the church for support.

 

Our hope is that the work that has begun in St Peter's will find a permanent home, where it can grow and develop into a resource for the whole community. Our community outreach has grown significantly, and a dedicated space is now needed for this work to continue and expand. With its rich and ancient history as a place of Christian healing, St James' provides the perfect location for this.

As you'll see from the plans, the renewed and restored church building will contain a renewed church building, including the Well Café. A safe place for anyone to come and enjoy a coffee and time together. We are also planning to offer employment opportunities to those with mental health issues or learning difficulties in collaboration with local charities. In the new Well-Being Rooms, there will be provision for a counselling service, several other support groups with an emphasis on mental and physical well-being, and a dedicated space for a parish nurse to serve the community. The nave will still be available for future parish needs - such as funerals, baptisms, weddings, and Remembrance Sunday - but will also be available for future community uses, such as concerts and a community cinema.

 

So far, an incredible amount of work has been done to prepare the ground for this project - and a great deal of cleaning and restoration work has already been done in St James'. However, we are still seeking funding for the building work to go ahead, which will make the Well-Being project a reality. The project will cost around £470,000 to complete and, so far, we have raised about 11%. We are hoping to raise £10,000 by crowd funding, to pay for the space that will house our community counselling service. If you want to find out more or pledge your support, please read our funding prospectus here .

 

We are also holding an open day on Friday 3rd June from 10am to 3pm and all are welcome.

 

St James’ Church is facing a really bright future and these are exciting days, as we see this beloved part of Holywell’s history revitalised to bring Well-Being to all those who come for the next thousand years.

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This year, Archbishop Rowan Williams gave his support to the Well-Being Project in a letter which began: 
"I am writing to give my wholehearted support to an exciting new project called Well–Being @ St James’ which is taking place in the parish of Holywell in the Diocese of St Asaph in Wales..."