Archdeacon Mark Harvey from Lurgan treks to every deanery in Down and Dromore restore his church to centre of community
A Lurgan man has walked 130 miles across north Down and Belfast as part of his ongoing battle to rescue his church from dry rot and return it to the centre of community life.
Archdeacon Mark Harvey from Shankill Church of Ireland Parish in Lurgan has travelled through every deanery in the Diocese of Down and Dromore.
His aim was to raise funds for the Reimagining Shankill Building Project, the Motor Neurone Disease Association Northern Ireland, and the Diocese of Multan in Pakistan.
He walked 130 miles over nine days, reaching Banbridge, Castlewellan, Downpatrick, Portaferry, Millisle, Donaghadee, Groomsport, Bangor, Hollywood, East Belfast, Carryduff and Hillsborough.
His massive parish church building, which sits at the end of Lurgan Main Street was discovered to be riven with dry rot, resulting in the replacement of the entire roof.
The burden of the huge project has been largely borne by his congregation, with some 350 people attending the church each week. They have not been able to use their church building for almost five years.
"So far, we have spent £1.5m on the building. But then we had we have to restore and refurbish the inside of the building because it had to be basically gutted in order to do this work,” he said. "It is a listed building and the largest gathering place in the town.
"The church sits right in the centre of Lurgan and it's it's iconic in terms of the town's history and culture. It has been at the forefront over recent decades of trying to build sustainable community and cross-community relationships within the town.”
At present his congregation meets in the Jethro centre, an impressive community centre it funded at the opposite end of the town. The many projects it runs include cross community dimensions and support for members of the ethnic minority communities.
Thankfully Mark's feet are just fine after his 130 mile trek, as he did some careful research beforehand on the right socks, shoes and how to tape up his feet.
"One of the highlights was walking along roads that I usually drive on, and see spotting things that I'd never seen before. For example just walking towards Castlewellan and having time to take it all in – the views of the Mournes and the majesty of that and wonder of creation."
Altogether he raised almost £13,000 from the trek, which ended on Sunday. Some will be donated to Motor Neurone Disease Assocation. Although which several parishioners have suffered from.
Funds will also benefit will the Diocese of Multan in Pakistan. Mark hopes to join a team travel out in order to lay on a training event for clergy in the region later this year, he added.
“The reality is when you have a large project like this any one fundraising is really not going to make a big dent. But what it does is it focusses people, raises the profile of the vision and brings people together,” he added.
For more information see ‘Shankill 2 Shankill 2026’ at www.crowdfunder.co.uk.