Community Spirit

By Ossi Laurila

I do not consider myself a religious person but still I have found I am drawn to places of worship.

It is the spiritual experience I long for. It can come from nature, from a quiet, light summer night by a Finnish lake or visiting small English church in its gentle, peaceful setting.

I was born on a farm so I escaped into big cities. But the older I get, the more I want to return to open landscapes, to places where you cannot see the air you breathe.

It is also about going back to something familiar and safe.

Focal point

St Peter's Church serves a very small parish, a community of about 30 people. It forms a central point for local people - anyway, for the older locals.

The younger people do what young people do all over the world, mainly avoid their parents on Sundays. The church festival I visited also gathered people from the neighbouring villages.

One aim of the festival was to collect money for the up-keep of the church. I come from a country where the Lutheran Church taxes its members; here, up to half a dozen people supply the money to keep St Peter's going.

One of the ways is to sell tickets to win prizes, but much more is needed to keep things rolling and fund-raising goes on throughout the year.

"We have a coffee morning in November and normally we have a lunch at this time of the year, but as we're getting a bit older, we thought we would try an afternoon tea. That seems very successful," says one parishioner.

The church is a natural centre for a small village as there is no pub nearby. The role of the church and that of the vicar has changed over the decades.

Decades of history

David Streeter looks after eight churches, he is deeply rooted in Suffolk and knows his flock. He is quietly resigned to preaching to an audience of advancing age.

"Younger ones like to use their time on Sunday to go out and teenagers are probably sleeping off their Saturday night out," says David.

There has been a place of worship for 700 years and probably even longer on the grounds where St Peter's stands.

As a result, David Streeter sees the survival of the church as a symbol of local history.

"People feel they've inherited the church from earlier centuries and that it's their duty to maintain it for people of the future," he says.

The history of St Peter's has also become my own personal history. I was married at the church, my son was christened in the same ceremony, my mother-in-law is buried in the church yard.

I travel lightly but I will always carry a little bit of this place with me.