THE little parish church of Advent by Camelford in North Cornwall, named after St Adwena, one of the historic Cornish saints, occupies an ancient religious site near the river Camel from which Camelot, King Arthur's legendary castle, got its name.

The headstones in the churchyard bear some of the oldest names in Cornwall - Mathews, Pethick, Lott and Dennis, to name but a few.

There is a longer list available, if your readers would like it, which also includes some names from Census data from 1841-1881.

If any of them have the same name as any of these, or perhaps they even have an ancestor buried at Advent, I hope they may like to help keep their name and their memory alive.

Sadly, because of its great age, the church is now facing some extensive repairs.

The idea is that, since we need to repair the slates on the roof of the church, we would 'sell' slates as it were: in fact if your readers buy a slate, then their name (or the name of a loved one, perhaps?) will be entered in our 'Book of Slates' to be kept at Advent Church in perpetuity.

Readers interested can write to me.

REV STEVE SMITH, Rector, Advent Church, The Rectory, Camelford, Cornwall PL32 9TP.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.