Good News competition National Winner announced
10 May 2022
Congratulations to the Penlee Cluster Churches!
Last year, we launched our ‘Good News’ competition – the chance for churches to win £1,500 and award an additional £6,000 to our overall winner.
We asked you to send us a newspaper-style story capturing the essence of your parish or congregation – a triumph over adversity in difficult times, perhaps, or a tale of selfless volunteering – together with a headline and a photo or video to illustrate it.
Our judges had the tough job of whittling down the entries to just five Regional Winners.
Now with the help of the public, through a show of support for their online story – the overall winner has been chosen.
A day of thanks and celebration
We held a celebratory lunch at Church House, Westminster to honour our Regional Winners and their uplifting tales.
It was a special event to celebrate the extraordinary efforts made by these churches and how each one has achieved something wonderful for their local community.
It also gave us the opportunity to reveal our National Winner - the Penlee Cluster Churches.
A huge congratulations to them!
Never Alone!
Down in the far west of Cornwall, this story is a collaboration from St John’s and St Mary’s in Penzance, St Peter’s in Newlyn, and St Pol de Leon in the village of Paul.
Located within touching distance of Land’s End, and surrounded by the sea, it was lonely and isolated during lockdown – but the parishioners and staff at the Penlee Cluster were not downhearted.
Determined to bring their community together during those difficult months, they launched a fantastic ‘Never Alone’ initiative.
This multi-faceted campaign saw church members team up with local businesses to take pub meals, Cornish pasties, and fish and chip suppers to elderly and vulnerable people.
They also ran a ‘parcel pets’ arts-and-crafts programme with youngsters and a local artist, Sally the Postie, in which children made fun ‘pets’ out of packaging materials and delivered them with songs and letters to put a smile on people’s faces.
COVID created a deep sense of isolation for everyone,’ said Rev Sian Yates. ‘Never Alone’ gave all our volunteers the sense that they were doing something worthwhile – an intergenerational project which certainly helped our well-being. For some people, when our deliveries arrived it was the only day that they had human contact and a laugh. It made people feel that the church cared.
Thank you for your support
We received a huge number of moving and heart-warming submissions capturing the essence of your communities and we are grateful for all your contributions.
Thank you to all who entered or showed their support for the finalists.
You can find lots of wonderful good news stories below, we hope you find them inspiring.
