Epic walk across the Long Mynd for Ride + Stride
The Open Church Day in Shropshire is coming on Saturday, 14 September, and is part of a nationwide event called Ride + Stride. Nearly all our churches are open, usually with light refreshments, and you are invited to visit, and can even get sponsored to do so, raising funds for Shropshire Historic Churches Trust to maintain the rich architectural heritage we have in the historic churches all over our beautiful county.
Some small churches, like St Mary Magdalene at Quatford, date back to just a few years after the battle of Hastings in 1066. Ride + Stride is one of the main ways the Trust gets funds to provide grants for church repairs and improvements.
Anyone from churches, walking groups, and cycling clubs, can arrange trips to visit the open churches, collecting sponsorship to do so. Go to as many or as few as you wish, anywhere in the county and just over into Powys. Travel on foot, by bike or in a car – the latter means you can visit more churches in a day.
Half the sponsorship money is returned to the local church, or other group, for their own funds. The other half is for the Trust and all its work to maintain and improve our church buildings.
David Hardham is the County Organiser, explained that the Trust gives grants for a variety of church improvements including help towards providing toilets and catering facilities.
David is being sponsored to walk from Ratlinghope over the Long Mynd to Woolstaston church, along the same tracks and paths that were walked by Rev Donald Carr in the 1860s when he walked home to Woolstaston after every Sunday afternoon service at Ratlinghope. It is a famous Shropshire story that, in January 1865, Rev Donald Carr set off back home but there was a ferocious blizzard and he lost his way - walking all night in drifts up to his waist, and falling down the deep ravines. He lost his boots and gloves in snowdrifts but resisted the temptation to lie down and rest. That would have meant certain death so he kept on walking, pushing through the snow on his frozen feet until he was rescued the next morning in Carding Mill Valley. He survived against all odds. David hopes there will be no snow in September, but it’s not unheard of on top of The Mynd!
For more details, sponsorship forms, and a very long list of open churches, see shropshirehct.org.uk
By David Hardham - Contributor
