A campaign to stop a 100-year-old Axedale church from falling into private hands has begun in earnest with the establishment of an action group to whip up support in the community.
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The group’s formation came after Axedale Our Town Our Future president Jennifer Jones last week declared it was be “now or never” for the community to rally behind proposals to buy St Paul’s Anglican Church in Axedale.
The church was built in 1913.
It had been without a congregation since 2015, when low attendance forced services to cease.
The Anglican Diocese of Bendigo this year begun the process of rezoning the church and surrounding lands so it could be sold.
Late last week AOTOF established a committee tasked with rallying the community and completing a feasibility study about buying the church.
“We’re really keen to get a campaign going and to keep (the issue) under the nose of the community to show we are serious about it,” Ms Jones said.
The plan was still in its early days. Ms Jones said it remained unclear how much support community groups would lend the campaign, but noted many struggled to find appropriate space for gatherings in the area.
Ms Jones said the church could make a good community house or hub.
Purchasing the building and surrounding land would not be without what Ms Jones last week described as a “huge effort”.
The new committee would likely need to consider fundraisers, donations and grant applications in a bid to raise the necessary funds.
Anglican Diocese of Bendigo general manager Naomi Fountain said last week that once the property was on the market the diocese would be open to community groups’ interest.
She said the diocese and the Axedale parish’s 2015 decision to stop services had been “heartbreaking”.
Several community groups had continued to use the church after the final congregation.
Meanwhile, the diocese had worked with the congregation’s remaining two families to ensure they continued to attend services. One family began worshiping in Bendigo and the other in Heathcote.