New Community Initiatives

St Martin’s currently serves a population of c.10,000. This number will soon expand with the planned construction of another 2,500 homes. There are currently no other community spaces of similar size in the Finham area and we want to make our building and land fit for purpose as we respond to the growing needs of our community.

Finham has higher than average number of elderly residents living on their own and a higher than average number of young families with one parent spending much of their day alone with small children. Preventing isolation and protecting mental health and well-being have become even more of a priority since the Covid pandemic began and we feel strongly that we can play a part in opening our site to allow the community to get together safely, make new friendships and strengthen old ones.

We believe this is the next step in God’s work in our parish. Many have connected with us online during the pandemic and have begun to see St Martin’s as a place of welcome in more general terms and we want to build on these strong new links with local residents and expand the use of our church site for more of our community.

Three priority needs have emerged from local feedback: a coffee shop, children’s play facilities and activities that enable people to respond to climate change.

More on the coffee shop here