St Andrew's Church urgently needs Friends. This means all of you who live in and care about the village, not just those who use the building itself.

Many churches throughout the country are faced with the same financial pressures as evidently now faced by St Andrews, and many have come to the realisation that in order to recover the situation it's no longer feasible to continue to wholly rely on traditional means of generating income.  

I'm treasurer of the Friends of St Stephen's, my local church, and although not an actual church-goer myself, I can see how vital the continuing presence of the church building itself, and of all that it represents, is to our particular community. The Friends organisation was created to attract the help and involvement of non church-goers like me, and my suggestion is that, if St Andrews does not yet already have one, a Friends of St Andrew's Church charitable fund raising organisation be set up.

Funds can be raised from the local community, and beyond, through an annual membership subscription to the Friends of say £10 per person, also by individual donation of whatever other sums people are prepared to give, with these monies Gift Aided wherever possible. Very importantly these subscribed funds can then be supplemented by the proceeds from of a range of community events organised by the Friends that are designed to attract and be enjoyed by all. Since its formation last year the Friends of St Stephen's Church have held, and plan more, concerts, film shows, fairs etc, the proceeds from which are passed directly to the church's PCC to help meet its necessary expenditure.

Some might say, or at least think, that the Church of England is wealthy in its own right and would always come to the aid of any of its number struggling to survive. This is not the case, so the onus falls on all of us, as members of a community to prevent the facility of the church from dying of neglect. Just look at the sad fate in recent years of so many of our local pubs, post offices and small shops. Surely we can't allow this creeping decay to extend to our churches as well.      

OK, by now you might be thinking that this is just another worthy cause in need of cash, and anyway you need what money you've got for yourself. Please think again, this is about your village, your community and about a building and facility that exists at its very centre that vitally needs your help right now. Failure to act to secure its future by collective action would in effect make everyone the poorer.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Hewitt

Editor – This letter was discussed at a recent meeting of the Parochial Parish Council (PCC), which is most grateful to Mr Hewitt for his helpful suggestion.  The PCC is considering the implications of forming a ‘Friends of St Andrew’s’ and will respond in the next issue of the CRN.  In the meantime, anyone interested in this suggestion is asked to contact the Secretary of the PCC, John de Ronde, on 251355.

| More...