Wolverhampton church is forced to cut opening hours
[gallery] Wolverhampton's St Peter's Collegiate Church has been forced to cut its opening hours due to rising costs and lack of volunteers, it was revealed today.
The church, which is the oldest building in the city, is expected to have made a loss of £34,500 by the end of this year. The Rev David Wright today said maintaining the church and ensuring its future was becoming a struggle. He said the size of the building meant utility bills were "crippling" the church and there was also a lack of volunteers.
He said: "We've been struggling to keep levels of giving up. But people are struggling – in many cases, people are just not able to be as generous as they normally would be.
"In the short term the church will stay open because we have reserves to cushion us, but we're looking to have balanced the books by 2014. People normally think a church, especially of this size, would have lots and lots of money. It's important to raise awareness. We are closing earlier in the winter because we are struggling to get volunteers and we want to save money."
The church needs two volunteers stationed in the church for it to open.
It is estimated the centuries-old church currently receives £146 per day – just 60 per cent of the daily running costs of the building which come to a total of £253.
The church, from this week, will open from 10am to 2pm in the week, instead of from 10am to 4pm and from 10am to 1.30pm on Saturdays. It is hoped hours will return to normal by the summer.
Head verger at the church, Maureen Bolton, said: "The church is run by volunteers all the way, but it costs a lot to open for the public for the day with no income.
"It's such a beautiful building to be closed. We just want people to support it. It's the civic church."
The site where St Peter's currently stands has been used by Christians for more than 1,000 years and work on the present building started in 1425.
