Just some background –
It is not always understood that every individual church has to be self-financing.
There is NO central funding from the Church of England.
In 2019 (our last audited accounts) our total expenses came to nearly £6900.
Our levy to the Church of England to help pay towards the cost of clergy, and meet our Rector’s modest expenses took up nearly half of that, at £3414. If that sounds a lot, look at it differently as just under 55p per week for each of our parishioners. Another £1524 had to be spent on insurance. It cost us a further £1612 to run our services, maintain the churchyard, and pay our utilities etc. At Christmas we found a further £320 to donate to charitable causes such as the local hospice and food bank, and to those supporting veterans of our armed services. That left us with a slim surplus of £760 towards our huge repair bill.
Raising these funds in such a small village – we are approximately 120 in all – is a major challenge and we are grateful for all the regular support we receive and that which comes from our, obviously limited, fund-raising opportunities.
Further, we have major structural problems with our tower and the last cost estimate, in 2017, came to a whopping £215,000 – that now needs to be revised for inflation… And then there are other needs behind that first repair priority – our windows and external stonework to mention but two.
Because of the insistent rise in thefts of roof lead from churches across the country, we know that our insurance bill will either more than double, or we have to find nearly £4000 for an alarm system and a further, maybe, £1500 each year in running costs.
So if you can help us in any way, please do –
Even buying postcards and booklets, or popping a donation into the wall safe when visiting, all helps towards our general annual Christian expenses, and hopefully will allow us to build funds towards any grants we can find for the much needed major repairs of this lovely Grade 1 architectural gem so important to our cultural heritage.
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