The Church Recorders are a sub-group of the National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Society (NADFAS).
Secular groups of volunteers interested in preserving national heritage work together to record the contents of places of worship. Records assist with compilation of terriers and inventories, preserve information for posterity in case of closure, provide information for police in cases of theft or other damage and provide basic information for researchers.
Members are only required to be full or associate members of NADFAS and be interested in church history. Training and support are ongoing locally and from England.
A group of church Recorders was formed in the Isle of Man in 2002, when the Record
for Santan Church was begun. 
Although this first Record took some time, between 2002 and 2009 records were completed at St. Sanctain’s Santan, the Royal Chapel of St. John’s, St. Mary’s, Ballure in Ramsey and St. Bridget’s Chapel at The Nunnery. We spend approximately three years on each project and are lucky to receive generous funding for our activities from our local DFAS.
On the Isle of Man copies of Church Records are given to the church concerned, to Manx National Heritage, which acts as the local National Monument Records Centre and Diocesan Registry, to the Victoria and Albert Museum, and to the Council for the Care of Churches. Manx National Heritage owns the copyright for Manx Records, which can be accessed in the library at the Manx Museum under access number MS 11165.
Our group presently consists of fourteen enthusiastic members. 
Working together has
highlighted individual life talents that have proved useful towards compiling
records of memorials, metalwork, stonework, woodwork, textiles, paintings, library,
windows and miscellaneous items within churches. We meet between September and
June every year, choosing to take a break from T.T. until the beginning of the autumn term. During that time we have approximately monthly general meetings when we all
meet to discuss progress, to take part in some sort of training and enjoy a cup of tea together. Between these meeting we meet approximately weekly for short working sessions inside our chosen church.
We are always keen to welcome new members and are happy to support them to find out how best they feel they can contribute to our work. If you are interested to see what we do and have a little free time, come and meet us. We would also like to hear from members of places of worship who may wish for the contents of their buildings to be recorded in detail. Contact to to arrange a meeting.
Between September and December 2010 recording of St. Thomas’ Parish Church in Douglas and the compilation of a church trail were completed. The recent use of digital photography by new group photographer Jonathan Latimer has made radical changes and improvements in records and trails, and has cut costs considerably.
Our Northwest advisor, Dorothy Brining, retired and her regular contacts have been missed. To date she has not been replaced but the group has had maintained helpful communications with central office via Jane Hedley and Angela Goedicke, who’s helpful advice has been welcome.
At the beginning of December members of the church Recorders met socially in the Manx Museum for mince pies and coffee.
A shared coffee morning held in January in St. Thomas’ Church with the local Heritage volunteers and the local NADFAS Committee to welcome new members recruited two new members to the Church recording group.
Between January and May the group were made very welcome in Lezayre where a partial recording of Lezayre Parish Church was completed. This was a chance for a short but enjoyable exploration of this early nineteenth-century church on an ancient site.
The group broke up for the summer recess before the commencement of the annual TT motorbike races.
The morning of the 25 July dawned dry but chilly for the annual Church Recorders’ picnic which began with a tour and talk in St. Stephen’s Parish Church, Sulby by churchwarden Juan Vernon who, with his wife, made the group very welcome with a cup of tea and some fascinating information about a church unfamiliar with most of the group.
The group then moved onto the church hall at Lezayre to enjoy their picnic and catch up with each others’ news.
During the summer the St. Thomas’ Record was prepared for presentation on 30 Sept. to Manx National Heritage, church officials and NADFAS officials, when the group will also celebrate their tenth anniversary. Some copies will be stored for the first time on archive-quality discs as requested by Manx National Heritage and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Once the St. Thomas’ Record has been presented the group looks forward to beginning recording the two churches at Ballaugh over the next three years. In the meantime, the Lezayre Record is being compiled and checked before presentation planned for sometime in the spring of 2012.
The Church Trails consist of illustrated questionnaires that take you on a trail around a specific church on the Island.
Click here for more information on Church Trails and where you can find them on the Isle of Man
