At the heart of our mission to transform Westminster College

Westminster College Serving the United Reformed Church

Transforming Westminster...

We have a beautiful building in the Arts & Crafts style of the late 19th century; it was a state-of-the-art building in its day and has been well maintained – but it has been little modified over the years, and is much as it was when it was opened in 1899. So we need to make it comfortable and welcoming for everyone we serve.

Westminster will become a place of art and music as well as books; a place of prayer and quiet as well as lively discussion. We shall welcome a much greater variety of people and groups: for short stays as well as long courses, for prayer and reflection as much as study, for meeting and conversation as much as for learning.

Raised to date...

£6,553,262 given to the appeal - £446,738 yet to be raised

Getting nearer to the target

Westminster's purpose is to serve the United Reformed Church and, in an ecumenical context, to contribute to teaching in the Cambridge Theological Federation. These aims have been wonderfully affirmed throughout the Church in generous gifts by Synods, Churches and individuals.

This visionary encouragement has now been supplemented by The Maurice & Hilda Laing Charitable Trust which has recently backed Westminster's development plan by offering a grant of £500,000. Commenting on the news, Acting Principal John Proctor said:
"This very generous grant to Westminster from a highly-regarded and long-established Christian trust is an immense encouragement, as we press on towards our Appeal target of seven million pounds. The Maurice and Hilda Laing Trustees have recently taken a lot of interest in the work of the Cambridge Theological Federation, which encourages not only our own college's building project, but also stimulates our working relationship with partner institutions in Cambridge. We hope both to gain and to grow through our dealings with the Trustees, and welcome gratefully the confidence they have shown in our plans."

So our Appeal is within £300,000 of its target.

Westminster College

Moving forward

At their meeting on 20 February the United Reformed Church Trust, as owners of the college, gave Westminster’s Governors authority to go ahead with the re-development programme.

This means that a contract can be signed with the builder so that construction work can begin this summer, and that by autumn 2014 we shall have a newly refurbished college. We believe that this is wonderful news for the United Reformed Church as well as for those of us in the college community, enabling both to move forward with confidence.

So, as we prepare to embrace and celebrate what will be the biggest change in the college's life since it was built in 1899, we look forward to all the new possibilities that this will create for our work here and for the life of our church.

Please join in our prayer for the success of the Appeal


Loving God,
Whose love is given to us
with overwhelming grace,
inspire in us a true generosity.
May we, who have received your love,
be open-hearted to others.
May we, enriched by our past,
be those who give for future days.
May we, always from thankfulness,
be expansive in imagining,
joyful in giving,
and full of hope.
In the name of the one
who gave his life
that all may live,
Jesus Christ, Amen.
Susan Durber
Westminster College Serving the United Reformed Church
Westminster College

Will you help us to get there?

We believe we are being called to make Westminster the best that it can be - to the glory of God. Westminster's development plan is its response to that call, and we dearly want to start in June 2013. Please give us the confidence to do so by helping us to reach our target.

You can give now by clicking on the How to make a donation button - or for more information please contact the Campaign Office:

by e-mail: campaign@westminster.cam.ac.uk
by telephone: 01223 7472375
How to make a Donation