Sheikh Mohammed just saved this church in a UK village

Dubai's ruler has just shown his generosity and commitment to coexistence in a heartwarming way: donating funds to save a church from being sold in a small village in the United Kingdom. 

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, who is also the vice president and prime minister of the UAE, responded to a request for support from the community association of Godolphin Cross when they were unable to raise the full amount needed to save the church from being sold. 

"These kinds of things don't normally happen. It's a fairytale really. It's not often a sheikh steps in to help [a village in Cornwall (a county in England)]," Richard McKie, chairman of the community association, told Cornwall Live.

While the full amount of Sheikh Mohammed's donation hasn't been disclosed, the community had previously only been able to raise about 25,000 British pounds ($32,438) of the 90,000 British pounds required to purchase the chapel. 

While the church was no longer being used as a house of worship, it remained an important cultural center for the small community (the village population is listed as just over 700 people as of 2015). When the Methodist Church announced last April that it would be selling the chapel along with other buildings in the area, villagers quickly went into action to save their community hall. 

As their best efforts to raise the amount through various fundraising event proved lacking, the community association decided to latch onto a unique connection to Sheikh Mohammed, seeing if he would consider their request. 

Godolphin Cross shares its name with Sheikh Mohammed's international horse racing organization, Godolphin. And this is no coincidence! Back in 1724, the second earl of Godolphin bred the very first Godolphin Arabian. 

The legendary breed went on birth the three most important breeding lines in top class racing, including the horse from which all Sheikh Mohammed's prize winners have descended. 

Apparently, the unique connection caught the attention of Dubai's ruler, and his routine generosity did the rest. 

Now, due to Sheikh Mohammed's kindness, the villagers will be able to keep their community center. They are also launching a campaign to refurbish the facility.  

"We can't thank Sheikh Mohammed enough and we'd love to see him in this neck of the woods any time. He would be assured of a very warm welcome," McKie said.

The community feels truly thankful and sees the generous gift as a show of interest in their village's history. As part of the refurbishment plan, the community association is considering highlighting the history of the link to the racing horses. 

"I think this shows that he's interested in the history and values this Cornish link. He has put his money to help a community staring down the barrel of having nowhere to go for community events. We are thinking of using part of the chapel to explain about the link."