The King family live here. A royal name for an average family. Being 'average', they rarely ever go to church - the weekend is all needed for shopping and Sunday League football. Anyway, Christianity doesn't mean much to them. After all, they have everything they need - food, shelter, health, holidays.

In the 1990s, 1,000 children under 15 left the church each week.

The church is not the only organization with falling numbers.
Political parties, youth groups, hobby clubs, volunteer helpers - all these groups are facing dwindling membership. Even the traditional British pub is disappearing fast!

· If you can face small type and statistics detailing the numerical decline of the church, try:
http://qb.soc.surrey.ac.uk/topics/religion/brierley.htm

· If you are fed up with obsessive Christmas consumerism, then you might find a moment of light relief in the spoof ads at the Adbusters website: http://www.adbusters.org/home/