Project Beacon
Faith, Heritage, Community
The historian Jacques Le Goff described the great churches of Europe as monuments of long duration — shaped by continuity and rebirth — places of collective memory, but above all places of living.​
Project Beacon is a plan to open up a remarkable historic church to new audiences, new uses, and new energy, while ensuring that it remains a living and active place of worship at the heart of a rural community.
Guided by the mantra ‘Faith, Heritage and Community’, the project recognises that these strands have always coexisted in parish churches — and that sustaining one depends on nurturing the others. Project Beacon is not about reinventing St Michael’s, but about enabling it to continue confidently, visibly and inclusively in a changing world.
Faith – Project Beacon will help us sustain and grow the church’s worshipping community.​
Community - Project Beacon will allow the church to better support community activities and events and so will enrich the village and local community.​
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Heritage – Project Beacon will preserve, showcase and interpret the rich and varied heritage that makes up our village story.
A Village that Changed the World
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East Coker is a small village, but its stories reach far beyond its boundaries.
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From this place: a twentieth‑century poet wrote about time, renewal and humility in ways that continue to resonate across the world; a seventeenth‑century adventurer set out from local shores to cross oceans, map coastlines and change how the world was understood; and village industries produced materials that powered global exploration, trade and naval dominance.
Again and again, East Coker has been a point of departure — outward‑looking, curious, and connected to wider currents of history.
St Michael and All Angels stands at the centre of those stories. It has been the place where lives were marked, ambitions formed, journeys begun and endings acknowledged. The church holds the memory of how people from a small place engaged with a much larger world — through imagination, exploration, craft and belief.
Project Beacon begins from the conviction that this combination is not accidental. It reflects something enduring about the relationship between place and possibility, and about how communities shape ideas, creativity and action far beyond their immediate horizon. Our task is to make that story visible again — and to tell it in ways that speak to people today
Engaging New and Younger Audiences
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A central aim of Project Beacon is to engage people who might never normally step inside a historic church, and especially to connect with younger audiences through storytelling, creativity and participation. We want the church to be a place people actively choose to spend time in — not just pass through.
T. S. Eliot — Reflection, Meaning and Belonging
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St Michael’s is the final resting place of T. S. Eliot, whose poem ‘East Coker’ explores uncertainty, renewal and humility. Project Beacon seeks to make Eliot approachable rather than purely academic: creating spaces to sit, listen and reflect; using audio and creative interpretation; and introducing younger audiences through accessible and playful entry points. Eliot becomes not only a monument, but a companion in thinking about life.
William Dampier — Curiosity, Courage and Adventure​
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William Dampier, born and baptised in East Coker, lived a life of extraordinary risk and adventure. He ran away to sea, survived storms and shipwrecks, circumnavigated the globe three times, and became the first Englishman to set foot in Australia. Project Beacon will tell Dampier’s story energetically and imaginatively — as a swashbuckling tale of curiosity and courage — inspiring young people to think boldly about the wider world..
A Place for the Arts​
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St Michael’s already hosts elements of the Od Arts Festival, concerts and visiting performers. Project Beacon allows us to build on this tradition, enabling the church to host more music, spoken word, performance, and creative workshops. The arts provide a natural meeting point for Faith, Heritage and Community.
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Project Beacon has a number of key focus areas
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Accessibility and Inclusion
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The north entrance and the floor level immediately inside the north door will be modified to create ramped access from the carpark to the nave so wheelchair users and those with prams or buggies can get into the building unaided.
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Blue badge priority parking will be created close to the church as part of redesigning the car park.
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We will fit a hearing loop and improve lighting for those with sensory challenges.
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Adaptability
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By removing a number of rows of fixed pews, we will create an open area at the west end of church. With moveable seating and furnishings this will be suitable for a wide range of uses such as alternative worship services, club meetings, quizzes, sales and educational outreach visits.
The space will also open up new possibilities for heritage displays and engagement.
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History & Story Telling
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In many ways the story of St Michael’s is the story of our village, which in turn is our nation’s story. Yet much of that story is hidden, lost or misunderstood. We will restore and display rare and precious artefacts, and offer interpretation that weaves together the many threads of our shared heritage
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Activities and Outreach
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Churches are fantastic venues for cultural events such as concerts, talks and plays. We are already an established venue for the biennial Od Arts Festival. With full access, more space, better facilities and improved lighting and heating, we will put on more events, year-round.
Physical improvements (access, space, facilities, lighting and heating) coupled with an improved heritage offering will allow us to stage and host educational outreach activities. Whether it is learning about the amazing feats of William Dampier, the life and works of T. S Eliot, the historical origins of the village, or how the black death impacted the community 6 centuries before Covid, a visit to St Michael’s should be an education for young and old alike!
Facilities
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Increased use of the church means we will need adequate facilities. As well as a revamp of heating and lighting, Project Beacon includes the installation of a fully accessible WC (which will include a baby changing station) and a servery to allow low level catering for community and social events.
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Sustainability
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New heating and lighting systems will be more energy efficient and will allow us to decommission our dirty, un-green oil-fired boiler, and as the new systems will be electric, we will be able to get our power supply from renewable sources. Add to that improved insulation at the main entrance and smarter controls, we will have a warmer and more welcoming church for lower running costs.
Project Beacon will improve our financial sustainability, by increasing income (e.g. through more and more frequent ticketed events, increased ad hoc footfall, better and bigger fundraising events) and reducing running costs.
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Finally, we hope that a wider range of individuals, groups and organisations from the community will get involved in running, using, and worshipping in the church. This will improve, what is sometimes termed, organisational sustainability.
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