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Busbridge church is in the final stages of a plan to create a community path to open the churchyard to improved access. The plans were shared at the excellent meeting of the Busbridge Community Forum and led to very kind offers of help and advice from several people from the local community. A couple of ideas from this meeting (such as closing off the Brighton Road gate) have been considered. The idea has been discussed with Highways, local schools, councils and their planning departments and with several community groups. We are very grateful to Councillor Peter Martin for practical and financial support.
The path has four specific criteria in its objectives. We are seeking to:
- Give children, buggies and parents who make the walk between Busbridge Infant School and Busbridge Junior School to drop off/collect children a safer alternative than the walk up Hambledon Road / The Drive busy junction
- Offer a natural short-cut which will direct people to the safety of the lights for crossing Brighton Road rather than the practice of many in crossing Brighton Road by the current churchyard steps
- Provide disability access from Hambledon Road for those wishing to use the facilities in the church and centre
- Open the lower area of the churchyard to the community (war memorial/remembrance garden) for space, sitting and reflection. We suspect that this may also become a place for wedding photographs due to the open vista views onto fields beyond the church once we have trimmed the yew trees
- Be a living Christian church which plays its part locally through good use of the resources we have been given by previous generations and by the Lord.
Due to the site being both a place of Christian worship and in a conservation area we have a duty to undertake any works (whatever they may be) well. Doing things well often means that financial savings have to be balanced against the right stonework, care for mortal remains and many other considerations. We intend to create a path which re-uses the bargate stone and be of a quality that means it will be in use for generations to come.