Over the weekend the Chief Executive of the Churches Conservation Trust (CCT) [Alliance member], Peter Aiers [Alliance trustee], took on the challenge of visiting 50 CCT churches within 50 hours. The challenge, dubbed The Great National Steeple Chase, celebrated 50 years of the Churches Conservation Trust and raised funds for the fight against heritage crime, which affects so many churches.
Starting at 9am on the 25 July at St George’s Church in Portland, Dorset, Peter travelled nonstop via a variety of transport. CCT volunteers and staff also completed various legs of the journey to ensure Peter got to each church on time including member of The Federation of Historic Vehicle Clubs [Alliance member]. The Steeple Chase group arrived at the final stop of the journey at Edlesborough Buckinghamshire, with time to spare on the morning of the 27, coming in at just under 48 ½ hours.
This journey covered an impressive 1022 miles, which saw the team visit churches in Dorset, Wiltshire, Shropshire, Cheshire, Northumberland, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire and raised over £25,000 to put towards the fight against heritage crime.
To read more about CCT’s work around Heritage Crime, click here.
To see the route Peter took, click here.