Woldingham is a village of some 2,000 people in one of those 'very des res' bits of Surrey where an ex-Council house can cost you a quarter of a million - and will be snapped up before the ink is dry on the estate agent's blurb!

High up on the North Downs with its licenced Club, golf course, private school, riding stables, village website and raft of organisations, even, at one time, a Rolls Royce owners club - it's the kind of place that once you're there, you know you've made it!

So, when you consider that the faith is growing fastest in places where people need the hope it brings, what can the Church offer to people whose life is very comfortable indeed? Well, whatever it is, Woldingham parish seems to be providing it - and despite the fact that it is a parish in 'transition'.

Let's have a bit of history first. Up to some 200 years ago Woldingham was just a couple of large manors with a few workers cottages. Despite that, there's probably been a church there since the middle ages. Woldingham's on the North Downs just above the Pilgrim's Way and all along that route chapels of ease were built where the pilgrims could rest and worship.

There is a list of Rectors going back to 1308, but little is know about any building, except that by 1677 according to diarist John Evelyn there was an old and dilapidated church. In 1832 St Agatha's was built on the site and the building (restored in 1889) remains much the same to this day.

One of the smallest churches in the country it seats just 40 but it served as Parish Church of Woldingham until 1934 and is still in regular use - and it's churchyard with a 900 year old yew tree (and Millennium yew sapling) plus 800 year old ash is still the parish churchyard.

But St Agatha's is on the fringe of the village and as Woldingham grew in the 19th and 20th centuries a new, larger and more central building was needed. There was a timber church used as a chapel of ease once numbers began to grow. While the villagers was busy raising money for a more established structure, one of the churchwardens, Lord Craigmyle decided that he would build a new church - as a memorial to his father-in-law, P&O shipping magnate Lord Inchcape.

Although St Paul's, the new parish church, was only built in 1933, the massive stonework and flint-faced walls give the impression that it is much older - even the roof beams have age-splits.

Among its attractions are some gorgeous stained glass windows and a plethora of 'bon-mots' - round the font is "Wash my sins, not only my face" in Greek - 'adjusted' to be a palindrome .in the dome are two lines from a 12th century Latin poem . on the rounded wall of the sanctuary in white stone is "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace"..even the outside of the tower has the words "Praise Him and magnify Him for ever" running round it!

So that's the building(s) - what of the people? When the last Vicar, the Rev. David Smith, retired in 1976, the living was suspended. It became a 'retirement parish' with Priests in Charge looking after the small community.

In the late 90s, when Edward Wood retired, a pastoral review took place which decided that to secure Woldingham's future it would become part of the Caterham Team.

As a first step, the Rev. Michael Thompson was attracted from his native Tyneside to be 50/50 Priest in Charge at Woldingham and Adult Education Officer in the Caterham Team. The informal arrangement worked so the formal reorganisation has been presented to the Church Commissioners for approval.

Priest in Charge Michael Thompson and 'assistant'

In the intervening three years there has been a remarkable transformation - according to SPA (and Diocesan MU President) Maureen Kyle.

The laity and particularly women now play a much bigger part in church life. Both churchwardens are women - Ann Comerford who has been a stalwart in the parish for many years and Angie Lloyd serving her first term. Maureen Kyle is now training as a Reader. Women run the Sunday School, act as servers, and make up the majority of the adult choir. But the biggest change is the average age of the congregation which has come down dramatically.

"There have always been young families in the village, but the church never seemed to be able to attract them" she told me. "Unlike his predecessors Michael has a young family and perhaps that has been the key. He's made our worship more family-friendly and it has paid dividends."

I visited St Paul's on Mothering Sunday and joined the 10 am Family Eucharist. Woldingham has an Anglo-Catholic tradition so I probably wasn't expecting the informality or the 'organised chaos' of children chattering, running about - or Sooty helping Michael Thompson with his talk. A Worship Committee had been set up to look at the problem of a lack of children and young people.

Michael said "The Eucharist is the principal service of the Church of England so we decided that rather than the usual Family Service (of the Word), we would provide an accessible 'all-age' Eucharist once a month. It's less formal than our usual Eucharist but anyone coming to either shouldn't find the transition difficult.

"As the number of young families started to grow there was pressure for a Sunday School for older children. We are gifted by some wonderful ladies, some existing, some newcomers.

"As a result in a matter of months we've got 36 children on the Sunday School roll three Sundays a month - and a terrific bunch of families coming to the Family Eucharist".

There is certainly a spread of worship styles at Woldingham. Being the 2nd Sunday of the month Michael's Mothering Sunday had started an hour earlier with the fortnightly 9am Communion - 1662 BCP and 'Authorised Version' - at St Agatha's. At St Paul's, there's a 10am Common Worship Order 1 Sung Eucharist every Sunday and on the 1st and 3rd Sundays, a traditional language Order 2 Communion at 9am - some people go to 9am each week, alternating between the two churches.

Evening worship is at 6pm - a BCP 1662 Evensong on the 1st, 4th (and 5th) Sundays, a Taiz‚ style service on the 2nd Sunday (Mothering Sunday, for example) and a healing service on the 4th.

The Woldingham style is 'moderate catholic' Michael told me. "When David Smith was Vicar it was middle of the road CofE, but has steadily risen 'up the candle' ever since, although we are not yet 'smells and bells', much as I like bells myself. We try to offer people what they will find acceptable. Our aim is to draw people in and to help them grow into belief at their own pace. Our job is to be open and receptive."

Talking about candles. St Agatha's has no electric light, but it does have candles and infra red electric heaters - services there in winter take place in a 'warm red glow' and "everyone can read and develop their photos at the same time" said Michael. St Agatha's is much loved. Every one of its 40 places has a kneeler - designed by local architect David Juniper and stitched by a team of ladies as a village millennium project.

On the surface Woldingham is a 'well-heeled' parish - most houses are large, set back from tree or hedge lined roads - and front gardens sport BMWs, Rovers and late reg. 4-wheel drives. But behind that lurks a problem or two.

Michael told me "Many of our people, specially the younger families, are asset-rich, but cash-poor!

"The price of housing means that there are some pretty hefty mortgages around. People are attracted here because it's a nice place to bring up children - but there can be a price to pay in family life. In some cases both husband and wife are working - we're only 30 minutes from Victoria, but some leave before 7 in the morning and many are not back until 9 or 10 o'clock at night.

"It's a work-hard, play-hard mentality and the Church has to compete many other activities for their limited free time.

"People tend to stay here, sometimes for 20 or 30 years, but the high cost of property has another side effect. What happens when you retire? There is nowhere here to 'downsize' to, so if your pension isn't generous you are likely to have to up roots and move away."

Like many churches south of Croydon, Woldingham is a net contributor to the Diocesan and National 'pot'. "Our Fair Share exceeds the cost of stipend, parsonage and so on. But we accept that it is right to share some of our wealth with less fortunate parishes". However, I didn't get the impression that Woldingham struggles to pay its way.

The current drive is for funds to add a church room to St Paul's, somewhere for the Sunday School to meet - and perhaps enable the transition to a Children's Church - somewhere for the growing number of nurture groups (Alpha Course, Bible Study etc.) to meet.

There's no doubt the funds will be forthcoming - I swear the appeal 'cashometer' outside the church grew between the two visits I made!

In the coming months (Church Commissioners willing) Woldingham will formally become part of the Caterham Team. What changes can the parish expect? "Very few" said Michael. "I will still be the parish priest, but we will have the back up and resources of the team".

Woldingham is a Resolutions A & B parish (no women priests). Michael himself accepts the ordination of women - which was essential since as part of Caterham Team he already works with the Rev. Gill Reeves. But how will the parish's stance sit with the team?

"No problem" said Michael "The team accept the position of the parish but see it as a decision solely for Woldingham PCC. It could remain a bit of a struggle to maintain cover when I am away, but we'll jump that fence when we come to it"

"The only real difference will be that the doubts which have hung over the parish's viability for many years will go away - and its future will finally be secured" he said.

Returning the banners to the uniformed groups on Mothering Sunday