Wolverhampton MP backs efforts to save historic Wolves church
An MP has welcomed support for a campaign to save an historic church with links to the founders of Wolves.
More than 1,100 people have signed an online petition to save St Luke's in Blakenhall, which was formally closed last year but has not been used since 2009.
And today Pat McFadden, MP for Wolverhampton South East, who has been involved in past efforts to raise funds to repair the church, said he welcomed local involvement in trying to secure the future of the site.
The church in Upper Villiers Street is next to St Luke's School, the birth place of St Luke's FC which later became Wolverhampton Wanderers. It is said the club's founders Jack Brodie and Jack Baynton placed a notice on the church doors in 1877 inviting people interested in playing football to attend the meeting that started the club.
City historian Aaron Gill has since set up the online petition to rescue the building and has attracted more than 1,000 supporters.
The Archdeacon of Walsall has said demolition has never been considered and that the nationwide charity, the Churches Conservation Trust, is carrying out a feasibility study into future uses for the building.
Mr McFadden said: "I am very pleased that there is so much local interest in maintaining the church into the future.
The church has not been safe to use for a number of years and in October last year it was officially declared as no longer being appropriate to use as a place of worship.
"Following that decision it was passed to the Diocese of Lichfield and the Church Commissioners who are charged with finding an alternative use for the church.
"It is important to stress that although the church is in disrepair and in need of significant investment to bring it back into use for any purpose, there has been no decision to demolish it nor is such a decision imminent.
"I have been involved with past efforts to raise funds to repair the church, writing to the National Lottery Heritage Fund appealing for their support. Ultimately those efforts were unsuccessful because the funding package required support from a number of sources, not just the Heritage Lottery Fund.
"I welcome local involvement in trying to secure the future of the church. Ultimately its future will only be secured if funding can be secured.
There is no accurate up to date estimate of what the repair bill is but it will be a substantial amount of money."
Last year, it was revealed that the Grade II listed St Luke's is one of the top 10 endangered Victorian and Edwardian buildings in the UK. The repair bill is estimated to be from hundreds of thousands of pounds to excess of £1 million.
The petition can be found at you.38degrees.org.uk
