Historically, St Michael’s was the spiritual and social heart of the Town and remains so today.
The church building is used for a variety of worship services, other spiritual gatherings such as Celebrating the Earth, and as a social meeting place for a vast array of events.
It is also the home for numerous concerts and performances, including the enormously-successful annual Summer Music in the Church Programme, 12 weeks of Friday lunchtime concerts covering a variety of musical genres organised by the Friends of St Michael’s. All concerts are free with a retiring voluntary collection to support the £40,000 per year cost of maintaining the building.
The annual Whiddon Autumn Festival of world-class vocal and chamber music by young artists is centred at St Michael’s, and the church is frequently used as a venue for the Two Moors Festival each Autumn, as well as visiting choirs and music bands.
The Church is transformed annually into exotic locations such as the battlefield of Agincourt, Verona, or an Athenian Forest for the weeklong Theatre in the Church festival, produced locally by the professional Shakespearian drama team, Tymescythe Theatre.
At the other end of the scale the church is the home to the weekly youth drama group, which provides opportunities for youth aged 10-16 to develop improved communication and social interaction skills, present art exhibitions and as a general meeting venue.
However, despite its many and varied benefits, Chagford faces many of the same social issues as other rural and urban areas. The beauty of its location, buried in the tranquillity of Dartmoor, transforms it into a place of social isolation for those who do not have their own transport. This is particularly a problem for younger and elderly people. It is 21 miles to the nearest large town and there is no public transport after 6pm.
The church family with others support the running of the Chagford Youth project, which provides for a part-time professional youth worker and appropriate facilities for youth aged 10-16 to meet regularly and safely together.
We work with other groups of volunteers to provide social and leisure activities for more elderly people through the Community and Memory café.
For people experiencing difficulties with meeting energy and household costs, the Chagford Pantry provides both access to essential foods and advice to individuals on accessing help from other agencies. The church also provides direct financial support to individuals or groups, to offset hardship or to enable positive outcomes that would otherwise not be achievable, through its Joyce Storey Memorial Fund.
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