In the mid 1970's the parish church of St Mary's in Lichfield's Market Place, which had  a capacity to hold 900 worshippers, was reduced to a congregation of less than a dozen and a bucket in a pew catching the rainwater drips from the roof.  In 1978 the diocese decided that the church should close.  Within months of this decision the Co-op submitted a planning application to build a supermarket on the Market Square. The people of Lichfield were incensed...... there had been a St Mary's church in the market square since at least the 14th century and general opinion was against the venue being turned into some sort of commercial enterprise - whatever happened, Lichfeldian's wanted the parish church retained as some sort of community base.  A steering committee was hurriedly formed to discuss ways of saving the Church and after a few meetings this committee handed over to a project committee and an ambitious fund raising scheme was launched at Guildhall with the objective of attracting and earning sufficient funds to convert St Mary's into a Heritage Centre.  My talk follows how all this happened, the ups and downs, the bad times and the good times, the highs and lows of such a huge undertaking.  In 2006 The St Mary's Heritage Centre celebrated 25 years since the Project Committee watched the late Earl of Lichfield declare the building open in its new capacity as the Lichfield Heritage Centre. This is a very gentle talk, lots of laughs, as well as lots of nostalgia and I present it free of charge local to Lichfield, all I ask is a donation to St Mary's funds.  I'm afraid I have to ask for something to cover my petrol costs. if I am asked to travel outside the close proximity of Lichfield.

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