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£650,000 appeal launched to save two crumbling churches.
St Tyfi’s Church, Dinefwr, Carmarthenshire (Photo: Friends of Friendless Churches)
An appeal is seeking to raise £650,000 in order to preserve a pair of abandoned historic churches.
National charity Friends of Friendless Churches (FFC) has worked to save 71 churches over its 70 year history. The group has now turned its attention to St Helen’s, Biscathorpe, in Lincolnshire and St Tyfi’s, Dinefwr, Carmarthenshire.
St Helen’s was built in 1847 and is a Grade II listed building. However, time has not been kind to the building. The ceilings are collapsing, water is making its way through the nave, and the church is partially exposed to the elements.
Historic England has declared the condition of the building to be “very bad” and called it one of the most endangered Victorian churches in the country.
Griff Rhys Jones, President of the Victorian Society, said, "It is a delicate and fascinating work of architecture and a remarkable survival - urgent repairs are clearly now required. In the longer term, a sensitive new use for it is needed, one that preserves the lovely and largely intact interior and its original suite of furnishings."
Even more historic is St Tyfi’s, which dates back to at least 1291. The church officially closed its doors in 1961 and again, time has not been kind. Poor drainage, rotting timbers and invading plant life have all played their part in giving the church its current “at risk” designation.
A group of four local men have been doing their best to stave off the worst of the decline, but, according to FFC, things have reached the point where they cannot hope to deal with it alone. CT.
12 The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade.13 No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people.14 Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.15 As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by.16 Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed.
Former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan has been in jail since August 2023 Credit: Betsy Joles/Bloomberg
Is Imran Khan being slowly poisoned? Are Pakistan’s military authorities probing to see whether the former cricketer might be quietly disposed of without triggering a civil war? Or does the order that he be released from solitary confinement to a hospital signal a readiness to free him as part of a deal with his supporters? There is a frenzy of speculation, both among Pakistanis and within the British diaspora community, where his PTI party is hugely popular.
The relative lack of interest in Khan’s fate, other than among Britons of Pakistani heritage, is mystifying. The all-rounder is one of us: he played for Oxford University and Worcestershire, spent his formative years here, speaks Urdu with an English accent. Yet his British fans are often astonished when they learn that he has spent more than three years in prison, largely in solitary confinement. His case has simply not been in the news.
It is worth recalling Khan’s story, not only because of the demographic links we have with Pakistan, but because of what it says about the fragility of the rule of law. Khan’s cricketing career culminated in 1992 when, in a Hollywood-like story, he led Pakistan’s underdog team to victory in the world cup.
He could have retired to a life of wealth and comfort. Instead, he threw himself into philanthropy, among other things, building Pakistan’s first cancer hospital. In 1996, ignoring offers from Pakistan’s established politicians, he founded his own party, the PTI. This was highly unusual in Pakistan, where party affiliation tended to be regional, hereditary and semi-tribal.
Instead of doing deals with local power-brokers, he built up the PTI from the ground. It was a slow process. At its first national election, in 1997, the party won just 1.6 per cent of the vote. At its second, in 2002, it won its first MP, Khan himself; but he was the only successful candidate in 342 constituencies.
Supporters of the PTI party hold a demonstration demanding the release of Imran Khan, Aug 5 Credit: Hussain Ali
In 2018, Khan finally won an election, and set about reducing the size of government, making great play of scrapping the perks of prime ministerial office. More seriously, he began to fall out with the army, the true power in Pakistan for all but the earliest years of its existence.
The pandemic hit Pakistan hard, lockdown being catastrophic for the informal economy. Taking advantage of Khan’s unpopularity, the generals orchestrated a parliamentary coup against him, and then mobilised the judiciary to present a series of preposterous charges. He was accused of not having properly declared diplomatic gifts that he had been given as head of government – an implausible charge against a man who had given away much of his wealth and become a religious ascetic.
It was alleged that his wife had married him without waiting for the time prescribed by Islamic law after the dissolution of her previous marriage – which led to the undignified spectacle of a court solemnly arguing about her menstrual cycle.
His real crime, as everyone understood, was that he would win a free election. Having locked him up, the generals and their civilian puppets can’t release him without risking their own imprisonment after he wins. Various attempts have been made to negotiate a compromise, but Khan – who, after a playboy youth, has become a spiritual and meditative Sufi – is quite ready to die in custody, and knows that he gets more popular with every month he spends behind bars.
Which brings us back to the question of his discharge to hospital. The move was ordered by Pakistan’s Supreme Court, but ministers have opposed it. Is there a split within the government? Might there be some readiness to bring the PTI back into the constitutional framework? Or is it all a charade, a prelude to claiming that Khan was getting the treatment he needed and did not die in prison?
No one really knows. But I do know this. Whatever mistakes he made as PM, Khan is a symbol of democratisation in a country that has been pillaged for decades by a military junta. “Pakistan Army”, say the wags in Lahore. “Never won a war, never lost an election.”
A man intimately connected to this country is paying a terrible price for standing by the principle of free elections under the rule of law. That should be enough to make his cause ours. DT.
Muslim extremists in Somalia on Saturday (Aug. 15) beat a mother of eight children unconscious after learning she had converted from Islam to Christianity, sources said. CD.
Syria has jailed a Christian – a former mayor who led the defence of an Islamic State assault on his town 11 years ago – without charges since February 2025, rights groups say. CD.
Blogger: I once taught a vile youth who, in later life, went on to kill 6 people with a car. Four were in his vehicle - but he survived. He also wiped an elderly couple off the face of the earth. He was drunk, and also driving whilst disqualified, at the same time as speeding on the wrong side of the road!!
At that time, the judge was desperate to award a minimum sentence of 15 years but it was marked down to a mere 10 with an appeal and more than a third marked off that for 'good behaviour'.
Any sentence where fewer than 25 years served was imposed was an abomination! SIX innocents blotted from the Earth!
MPs ‘failing to learn lesson’ over freebies after accepting £400,000 of hospitality.
MPs receive Harry Styles concert tickets worth £858, Chelsea flower show tickets worth £1,839, and £3,432 of hospitality at Brit awards.
Despite the outcry in 2024 over Keir Starmer accepting football tickets and gifts of clothing, MPs appear to have been declaring hospitality since the start of the year on a greater scale than previously seen.
The most recent disclosures include £858 worth of tickets to a Harry Styles concert at Wembley from the PRS for Music industry group, which was accepted by Powell, the deputy leader and education secretary. And Wes Streeting, the defence secretary, accepted tickets to the Chelsea flower show from Lloyds Banking Group worth £1,839.
Haigh also accepted a £1,314 ticket to the Ivor Novello awards, while Anneliese Midgley, the chief whip, enjoyed Brit Awards hospitality for two worth £3,432, hospitality at Cheltenham festival horse racing from the betting company Flutter worth £350, and tickets to the Grand National valued at £560. All were backbench MPs while accepting the hospitality and have now been elevated to cabinet jobs under Andy Burnham.
Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, accepted £1,480 of tickets to the men’s Wimbledon singles final while in her cabinet job, while Ellie Reeves, the attorney general, accepted a £1,314 ticket to the Ivors while solicitor general.
Jannik Sinner serves against Alexander Zverev in the men’s singles final at Wimbledon. Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, accepted tickets worth £1,480 to the match. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
Burnham declared hospitality worth about £6,000 this year – mostly relating to his former role as the mayor of Greater Manchester, such as £3,800 tickets to the Brit Awards in Manchester, but also £500 worth of tickets to Ladies’ Day at the Grand National in Aintree.
The acceptance of free hospitality by MPs appeared to fall after mid-2024 when the spotlight fell on Starmer’s string of free tickets to watch Arsenal football games. In March 2025, Rachel Reeves, the then chancellor, said she would not accept free concert tickets again after she was criticised for using free tickets to take a family member to see Sabrina Carpenter at the O2 arena. She defended the decision on security grounds but said she would not do it again because she understood “how people feel about it”.
At the time, another government minister, Matthew Pennycock, said he had accepted “zero” free concert tickets as he personally did not think it was appropriate. “If I want to go to a concert at the O2, I’ll pay for it. But individual MPs, individual ministers, make their own decisions,” he said.
The value of free tickets being accepted by MPs was at about £300,000 a year in 2025, according to the Times last December. But this appears to have increased, with almost £400,000 of complimentary tickets, hospitality and other gifts having been declared between January and July this year – not including foreign trips.
Sue Hawley, the director of Spotlight on Corruption, suggested MPs should consider whether they should accept free tickets. “Some ministers and MPs appear to have short memories of the freebie-gate scandal that engulfed the first few months of Starmer’s time in No 10,” she said.
“Showering MPs and ministers with gifts and hospitality is a tried and tested lobbying tactic by big business and foreign governments. There is no good reason why elected officials should be accepting jaunts and tickets to events that have nothing to do with their parliamentary or constituency business.”
Olivia Dean performing at the Brit Awards in Manchester in February. Andy Burnham, the then mayor of Greater Manchester, accepted tickets to attend worth £3,800. Photograph: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images
Duncan Hames, the director of policy at Transparency International UK, added: “Just because something is permitted it is not necessarily appropriate.
“MPs should be clear-eyed about why these invitations are really being offered. Before accepting hospitality, they should stop to consider what the company might be hoping to gain and what the public will make of it.”
The scale of the declared hospitality may have gone up partly because ministers have become more consistent about declaring hospitality on the MPs’ register, after Starmer changed the rules around transparency. Previously, some ministers declared the value of their free tickets on the MPs’ register and some only put it on the quarterly ministerial register without showing a value if they could argue it was connected to their government job.
Now both registers are updated at least monthly and have to show how much the hospitality or gifts were worth. Ticket prices have also risen, with many consumers complaining about the unaffordable costs of going to events.
Under the updated ministerial code, the last government set out a “well-established and recognised rule that ministers should not accept any gifts, hospitality or service which would, or might reasonably appear to, compromise their judgment or place them under an obligation to people or organisations that might try inappropriately to influence their work in government”.
King Charles during his visit to the Chelsea flower show. The shadow chancellor, Mel Stride, took £1,839 of hospitality from Lloyds Banking Group to attend the show. Photograph: Adrian Dennis/Reuters
It points out that ministers have a responsibility to represent the government, and their duties will sometimes require them to attend events where hospitality may be offered, and adds that it is “primarily a matter of judgment for ministers who are personally responsible for deciding how to act” in relation to accepting gifts.
The acceptance of free tickets is not limited to Labour. The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, accepted tickets to Wimbledon worth £1,360 from the All England Club, while her shadow chancellor, Mel Stride, took £1,839 of hospitality from Lloyds Banking Group to visit the Chelsea flower show. The shadow business secretary, Andrew Griffith, also took tickets worth £919.50 to go to the Chelsea flower show, and £1,800 of tickets to the Formula One grand prix from Silverstone.
Hundreds of backbench MPs were also wined and dined by corporations, including Google and Diageo, the drinks company. Many free tickets were provided by sports hosts and concert promoters, and some of them related to constituency interests, such as Powell, the Manchester Central MP, accepting tickets to Manchester City football matches and the first hosting of the Brit Awards in Manchester.
Conservative party leader, Kemi Badenoch, enjoyed tickets to Wimbledon worth £1,360 from the All England Club. Photograph: Karwai Tang/WireImage
After cabinet ministers who accepted hospitality were asked why they took free tickets and whether they would do so again while in office, a Labour party spokesperson said: “After Labour entered office, the ministerial code was strengthened to include new transparency requirements and clear principles governing the acceptance of gifts and hospitality. All declarations have been made in line with ministerial and parliamentary rules.”
A Conservative source said: “All hospitality was properly declared in line with the rules. Transparency matters and we would expect the same standards and scrutiny to be applied consistently to politicians of all parties.”
A PRS for Music spokesperson said: “PRS for Music advocates to policymakers on behalf of our songwriter, composer and music publisher members to protect the rights of creators and promote thevital contribution of the music industry to the UK economy.
“Our public affairs initiatives create opportunities for stakeholders to engage directly with creators, experience how our industry works, see first‑hand the challenges they face, such as the impact of AI and post‑Brexit EU touring barriers, and understand the real world implications of policy decisions on music creators’ livelihoods.” Guardian.
St Tyfi’s Church, Dinefwr, Carmarthenshire (Photo: Friends of Friendless Churches)
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