History of the Church at Cotford St Luke – by the Rev Alison Norris.

The land and on which the original village of Cotford St Luke was built, which included the hospital and chapel buildings, belonged to the Local Health Authority. It was this land that was sold to the developers who built the village.
At the same time, all land in England is divided into ecclesiastical parishes (Church of England) and it happened that the land on which Cotford was built was part of the parish of Bishop’s Lydeard.
With the expansion of Cotford, the Church of England decided to move the new village into another parish and to annexe Cotford to the little parish of Heathfield. This legal reorganisation was completed in 2003. Cotford St Luke therefore lies within the Church of England’s parish of Heathfield with Cotford St Luke. This means that the little parish church of St John the Baptist at Heathfield is Cotford’s parish church. Within the rules of the Church of England all residents of Cotford have the right to be married, baptised and buried at Heathfield.

Rev Alison Norris was appointed as Priest in Charge of Heathfield with Cotford St Luke in 2002. This was before the legal reorganisation was complete, before even the school or hall building had been started. In order that there was somewhere for a church to meet in Cotford itself, Rev Alison bought the house now known as “Dibley” in Manning Road. On a very dark November night (there was a power cut!) 19 people responded to an invitation to meet to form the new church in Cotford St Luke.
Initially ( as well as meeting in the parish church at Heathfield) services were held in Dibley. Once the community hall had been built we transferred (and not before time because our numbers had grown) to worship in the small hall. Now, church meets every Sunday morning utilising the main hall and small hall
(for Sunday School) and membership numbers about 100.

Because of the unique nature of starting a church from scratch in Cotford, whilst being a Priest in the Church of England, Rev Alison wanted the church in Cotford to be just that – “Church” – not with any particular denominational tag. Those who are part of church cross all generations and most denominations. We also have a lot of people who’ve never been to church before.
Church meets not only on Sunday mornings, but on Thursday afternoons – when there is a special and popular Toddler Church for the pre-schoolers and their parents; Monday evenings when there is a chance to discuss spiritual matters, how to live the Christian life and to study the Bible; and a quiet service of Holy Communion once a month on a Thursday.

The parish of Heathfield with Cotford St Luke shares their Parish priest with two other parishes- Oake and Hillfarrance. Collectively the three parishes are known as the Deane Vale Benefice. Being part of something bigger means variety of worship and the chance to share in social events with a wider group too e.g. on Maundy Thursday 120 of us sit down to a Passover Supper.
The Deane Vale Benefice also has a monthly News letter which covers the activities of all three parishes – the Deane Vale Church News.

The vision for a church building in Cotford St Luke has always been on the horizon. Before the chapel became a pub there was some hope that the developers might sell the building for a reasonable amount to the church. We have explored the possibility of using the land behind the shop (but that was also sold to developers). We had the idea of adding to the Community hall (phase two development) – although this would still mean worshipping in the hall. It might be that in phase three of Cotford’s development there will be room for a building identified as church.

The Diocese of Bath and Wells bought a Vicarage (6, Cole Close) last year and Rev Alison has been resident in the parish since November 2008.

Alison Norris, February 2009