The Open Churches Trust was founded by Andrew Lloyd Webber in July 1994. The purpose of the Trust was to promote by every means possible the opening of locked places of worship to enable those who need a haven for peace, solace and prayer, and those who like to visit, access.

Everyone would prefer all our churches to be open all the time but burglary, arson and vandalism has forced many to be kept locked between services. The Open Churches Trust has found huge support for opening such churches, but in many instances this can only be done if there is someone present to act as an attendant/guide. In order to launch the Trust, six places of worship were selected in three quite distinct areas, viz. London (East and West), Liverpool (inner City) and rural Suffolk. These churches/chapels formed our pilot scheme and each was researched carefully and visited. Sixteen of these churches received grants from the Trust in April 1995 and were opened with attendants on specific days decided by the local community.

In 1996 we opened churches in the Manchester area, Co. Durham, Southwark and Winchester Dioceses. In 1997 the Trust opened further churches in Wales, Birmingham and Gloucester. In 1998 Norfolk, Lincolnshire and Derbyshire opened clutches of churches and in 1999 churches in the Dioceses of Newcastle, Peterborough and Salisbury were opened. For 2000 a tranch of churches were opened in the Dioceses of Leicester and Truro, and in 2001 churches opened in Oxford, Ripon & Leeds, and York Dioceses.

The momentum of what this Trust and other organisations have started became marked in 2000-2001, largely because tourist authorities have come to realise what assets churches are, that the Trust no longer seeks out individual locked churches in diocesan clutches. The Trust now has prepared a roadshow, which includes an outstanding video explaining the urgency of opening churches, which it presents to large audiences on a Diocesan basis. The roadshow has now taken place in Bath & Wells, Lichfield, Exeter, Chester, Blackburn, Chichester, Liverpool, Manchester, St Edmundsbury & Ipswich, Bradford, Carlisle, Wakefield, Worcester and Guildford Dioceses and in Scotland. In 2005 we are planning roadshows for Southwell, Birmingham and Hereford Dioceses as well as the East Ridings. In all the Trust has over 300 places of worship on its books which include Anglican, Roman Catholic, Unitarian, Baptist and Jewish.

Finance for this Trust derived from a generous grant made by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The income available from that investment was supplemented by fund-raising, income from membership, income from sponsorship and sales of the very successful wall chart depicting the evolution of the parish church. Specially raised income of this sort helps enormously to fund further churches wanting to join.

Over the years the grants the Trust provided proved increasingly irrelevant as those managing the opening of places of worship recognised that they were doing no more than re-establishing these places in their community as places of pilgrimage for users and visitors. The Trust now feels it has a duty to provide by every means possible the practical help required for those managing places of worship not only to open but also provide a welcome to visitors and a means of ensuring that visitors understand and enjoy all they witness.

The Trust felt strongly the need for an attendant/steward, first to help security; second, to provide a welcome to visitors and third, to make sure visitors see the unique and exciting features of a church. There is no doubt that the increase in visitors to attended churches has been more marked than in unstewarded churches.

The ultimate objective of this Trust was to enable anyone at any time to wander in and out of churches at will. These buildings represent an architectural picture of the history of this country. Buildings dating from Saxon times to the present day tell the story of buildings built to allow people freely to follow their religious faith. Each building is unique and has a story of incomparable excitement to explain the how and why we find these buildings the way they are today. For most of the thousands of parishes the church or chapel is their most ancient and historically important building, which often will tell more about the people of the past than other records.

Not only should everybody know their own historic building but should revel in the fascination of hundreds of others. The Open Churches Trust hopes in the years to come to have made it possible for everybody to feast on all the ecclesiastical architectural glories of the past ten centuries.

None of our work would have been worthwhile if we failed to recognise that every church we opened was another place available for anyone of any faith to seek peace, solitude and an opportunity for prayer. This unique haven is needed by an increasing number of people on a daily basis.