The Friends of St Mary’s are a community-based organization focused on raising money to help maintain the fabric of our historic church. The church dates from the 11th century but had to re-built after the English Civil War. A feat that required an Act of Parliament!
The Friends have been in existence for 20 years, formed in the early 1990s to raise money to help pay for a major restoration of the building. Over the years they have raised many thousands of pounds through such diverse events as the pantomimes, duck races, open gardens and gourmet breakfasts.
Today’s Friends remain faithful to the original constitution which states that the Friends exist “to beautify and assist in the maintenance of St Mary’s Church, Old Basing and to protect it as a place of Christian worship”. We rely on the people of Old Basing & Lychpit and the wider community of Basingstoke to perpetuate our aims and for this we owe them a great debt. Long may the partnership remain