Featuring reflections, stories and news from our members across the UK on Heritage, Faith, Pilgrimage & Welcome, Community, Experience, History & Awe!
Become part of the Cathedrals Plus community… comment and like our posts and engage in dialogue with our readers and members. Welcome and enjoy!
- Welcome…
Are you welcome? Do you welcome?
During my holidays and in fact whenever I find myself visiting somewhere, I look especially for signs of welcome.
Whether it is invitational: “Come in and [do, experience, see… ]”
or
a passive message: “Welcome to …”
I take photos of most signs that I see…
But, what is the message I get on approaching the building or site? Am I made to feel welcome at the outset?
This August, I have been busy planning our next annual conference with an amazing team and we are to be hosted by Liverpool Cathedral in January 2027. Our theme is:
BEACONS OF LIGHT: Welcoming | Learning | Engaging in Places of Faith & Heritage
So I am writing a piece about each of the key concepts that we will focus on… today it is WELCOME. This blog is not confined to a review of Welcome at our member sites, but includes observations at any visitor attractions where lessons might be learned across the sector.
I have this year had to walk past security staff dressed all in black with ear-pieces and radios hissing and clicking on their hips – to enter a cathedral on one occasion and to a theatre on another. Although on both occasions I was ‘legitimately visiting’, I felt like an intruder. To the former, I was attending a conference; to the latter I had tickets for the show. The security staff were extremely friendly and polite, I must admit, however I felt apprehensive on approaching the entrance when I first spied them and even though my rational head reassured me that these staff were obviously necessary, my gut reaction was to turn away. What dangerous place am I walking into?
I wondered how others might view this ‘welcome’ if they had never visited such a place before; if they didn’t have tickets; if they were seeking solace or escapism, a new positive experience or discovery. Perhaps someone hoping to make an enquiry or intending to venture inside to explore would be put off by the first sign of ‘welcome’. Whatever the signage, whatever the words, what is the message?
I looked up the word welcome. Wiki says simply: A welcome is a kind of greeting designed to introduce a person to a new place or situation, and to make them feel at ease.
The last part of that definition has confirmed my doubts about what we understand welcome to be and ask ‘How do we welcome our visitors?’ More importantly, however, ‘How is our welcome received?’ In preparing Visitor Strategies, I know there are a great many elements to address. However, I understand ‘welcome’ not as just a word on display or a specific location where ‘it’ happens (the welcome desk!), but welcome is dynamic and experienced. Providing a welcome means offering not just one greeting, but several opportunities to make people feel at ease on their first encounter that day or any other. As places that attract visitors, whether newbies or regulars, how do we convey our welcome message to them? In fact, the entire visit contributes to how a visitor might feel welcome.
We discussed this at our last conference in Dublin – The Ministry of Welcome.
And previously in Peterborough in 2025. It is a fundamental topic for us at Cathedrals Plus as we support all those responsible for visitor experience in sacred places – adults and young people alike.
I think our members do ‘WELCOME’ very well! It’s not just the sign at the door, it’s the people and the way we bring together our visitors, our heritage and our stories. And yet there’s always more to explore:
THE WELCOME is a journey and it is impacted by so many things:
- The First Encounter: the Webpage, an Email, a Flyer or Ticket
- The Gateway or Site Entrance
- The Door
- The Desk
- The Person
- The Atmosphere
- The Expectations
- The Hospitality
- The Access
- The Signage
- The Stuff we present or display
- The Stories we tell
- Our Senses – The Experience
And bizarrely, the Goodbye too! Did I leave with a feeling that I was welcome there?
Keeping this blog fairly short, I hope my thoughts prompt you to comment on your own reflections and experiences at visitor attractions, and especially at our member cathedrals, abbeys, minsters, shrines and sacred spaces. Did you feel welcome? How were you made to feel welcome? Did you get a sense of belonging or that someone or some place was interested in reaching YOU, rather than you having to touch them?
If you are responsible for Visitor Experience, what are your priorities and what makes visitor welcome easy or tricky?
Do get in touch and let’s collate some excellent examples of great welcome, where visitors feel at ease and want to come back!
Comment here or email me.sarah.page@cathedralsplus.org.uk
- LIVERPOOL CATHEDRAL to host our next residential conference
Liverpool Cathedral has generously offered to host Cathedrals Plus for our next annual residential conference. The dates have been agreed for 12th – 14th January 2027, so put the dates in your diaries and check back here as our programme evolves and our speakers are confirmed.
The theme for our conference will be announced next week…! We are planning once again, for an exciting list of speakers and workshops, all to inform and inspire our members in their work engaging visitors and organising events for learners, tourists, neighbours and supporters.
Liverpool City has so much to offer our delegates – its musical links, its cultural heritage, its history of the docks and its amazing community spirit. We are very excited to be experiencing a Scouse hospitality and are thrilled to be able to spend time in the magnificent Liverpool Cathedral.
Call to Action – All our members – What are you most looking forward to?
– Visiting the birth place of the Beatles?
– Exploring the home of world famous football teams?
– Wandering around the historic port?
Experiencing the majesty of the cathedral of course!Let us know in the comments here…!
- Closing Date for Conference booking – 12th December
… and we will soon be heading to Dublin for our INSPIRING LIVES conference at Saint Patrick’s and Christ Church Cathedrals!
The closing date for booking to join us for our annual conference is looming – it’s the 12th December 2025.
If you haven’t yet completed your booking form or reached out to us for more information, please get in touch asap. You can email me with any queries sarah.page@cathedralsplus.org.uk
We are extremely grateful to the teams at Saint Patrick’s and Christ Church Cathedrals who have been working hard to finalise our programme and manage the logistics and equipment needed. We have confirmed guest speakers, workshop leaders and exhibits that are all sure to inspire, inform, and entertain you! The conference theme is INSPIRING LIVES, and so we are certainly planning an event that will do just that.
We are delighted that the Revd Dr Alex Wimberly, leader of the Corrymeela Community in Northern Ireland, will be our Keynote Speaker on Day 1.
On Day 2, the Revd Abigail Sines will share her experiences with us of the outreach work she initiates in the Carrigrohane Union of Parishes.
On Day 3, Kelley Bermingham, the Community Officer at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, will explore how the historic sanctuary space in the cathedral welcomes not just theological discussions, but sociological, economic, justice and political discourse too.
Our workshop leaders offer a range of topics relevant to our theme and to the work that our delegates undertake: how to keep our cathedrals thriving (engagement & funding); programming for visitors of different or no faith; hospitality for at-risk groups and communities; heritage & conservation; music outreach; resources for schools & educators experiencing sacred space; festivals, events & celebrations; plus the healing ministry of the Church in all its guises.
Our Panel Discussion will be focused on “The Ministry of Welcome”, with additional guest panelists invited from the locally engaged communities in Dublin.
The timetable for the 3 days of the conference is packed, although there is of course some down-time scheduled for delegates to absorb and reflect of their experiences. We have arranged local tours to Dublin’s tourist and heritage sites, and we are also looking forward to the culinary delights that our caterers will present!
Our sponsors for the conference have been very generous and we are extremely grateful for their support. Thank you to Rathbornes, CCLA, Ecclesiastical Insurance (UK and Ireland) and Westhill.
We will also be launching our INSPIRING LIVES project at this 2026 conference in January, inviting our members and partners to share with us the stories of people of faith who have inspired them. The project is in its early stages of development and we will be circulating more details very soon. Click here for the project outline.
With regard to formal business, we also hold the Cathedrals Plus AGM at our annual conference, and we will be voting on adopting our updated constitution, as well as sharing information about our membership network and development opportunities for our charity.
So, look out for the latest issue of our conference programme – it will be published very soon on our website here.
Don’t forget, the closing date for bookings is 12th December 2025. If you work in a cathedral or Christian sacred space and coordinate and lead school visits, organise and host events for visitors and tourists or welcome pilgrims, please consider joining us. The benefits of networking with colleagues in similar roles in cathedrals across the UK and Ireland are significant. In addition to the free resources, our conferences are an invaluable CPD opportunity, as Laura at Westminster Abbey says,
“I have always found [the conferences] by far the best source of training available to those of us who work in this most unusual environment.“
If you’re still not sure, you will be pleased to hear that we have a special offer for cathedrals and sacred spaces in Scotland, Wales and Ireland, plus other cathedrals and sacred spaces who are not yet members of Cathedrals Plus. Email me sarah.page@cathedralsplus.org.uk to check your eligibility, or find out more.
We do hope to see you in Dublin.
NB. We are NOT able to support any applications or requests to attend that require a Visa. Our conference is offered to delegates who currently work in a Cathedral or large Christian sacred space in the UK, the Republic of Ireland or Europe, in roles of Heritage Education & Learning, Visitor Engagement or Events and who are also known to us.
Thank you!
No Responses