A website that gives people the chance to connect directly with their parish has become a major success since it was set up last year.
The Parish of Caerphilly portal – www.parishofcaerphilly.org.uk – was put together for free by Simon Lewis of Rudry, director of Space on White, a Cardiff-based web and design company, and his business partner Jeff Lewis.
The pair were keen to use their creative talents to help out good causes in the community, and giving people a chance to connect directly with the churches in Caerphilly was a great opportunity to show support.
The website includes sections on the churches in the parish and their history, what events are held in them for parishioners and community groups, biographies of the clergy, and the opportunity to download a weekly newsletter listing events.
Because of its success, Simon and Jeff have also recently revamped the site to add even more information.
Canon Robert Donkin, the Parish Rector, said the website has been a major boost for not only the churches, but also the wider community.
“Simon and Jeff created a very good website that has served us well,” Father Donkin said.
“The majority of people who contact us now do so through the website and it’s been the ideal way for visitors to Caerphilly to find out about when services are held, particularly around the Christmas and New Year period.
“People who want to organise weddings, funerals and baptisms can get in touch with us very easily – they just have to Google the name of one of the churches and we are high up on the listing.
“It’s also great for our younger members to keep in touch with what’s going on in the parish through the event listing or by downloading our weekly newsletter.
“We’re so delighted with the way that Simon and Jeff have given us a simple way to keep in touch with everyone across Caerphilly who’s interested in what we do here.”
The website for the parish is just one that Simon and Jeff have created for not-for-profit groups – they also built a free website for charity The Joshua Foundation, and have recently started a website for a chinchilla sanctuary in Ilkeston, Derbyshire.
And they are offering other such organisations the chance to get a free website.
“The work we did on the Caerphilly Parish website was a great experience for us, and we were delighted to hear from Father Robert that it was so well received,” Simon said.
“But we are keen to help other charities and not-for-profit groups by setting up a website for them too. We run a competition every few months through our website – www.spaceonwhite.co.uk – and have had a great deal of interest, but we’d like to hear from more groups who could use some help.
“We like to do our bit to help groups thrive, and websites are the best way to do this. We really like to use our skills for the benefit of others.”