Campaigners win fight to save Melton Catholic church

A group fighting the threatened closure of St John's Catholic Church in Melton are celebrating after the Bishop of Nottingham elected to keep it going.
Worshippers who fought a successful campaign to save St John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church in Melton from closure EMN-190801-165612001Worshippers who fought a successful campaign to save St John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church in Melton from closure EMN-190801-165612001
Worshippers who fought a successful campaign to save St John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church in Melton from closure EMN-190801-165612001

Friends of St John’s Church formed a year ago to maintain and promote interest in the

Thorpe End church and its grounds and collected a petition with 2,600 signatures supporting its retention. Friends of St John’s secretary Sheila Sulley said: “We are delighted that he has decided to keep it, and we would like to say a big thank you to all the people of Melton who signed the petition. There is now no reason why St John’s should not serve our local community for the next 200 years.”

However, the bishop has decided to close St Peter’s Catholic Church, on Welby Lane, which was built in the 1960s, in a bid to unite the town’s Catholics in fewer venues.