From the Treasurer: An Appeal

As you all know, the church is now closed until further notice, due to the Covid–19 coronavirus.

However, some of you may not realise that all the costs to run our beautiful church will continue. We have already been informed that our share of the diocese costs will continue, and in 2019 these costs represented almost 55% of our total annual expenditure.

Also the pastoral ministry will continue with all its associated costs.

Wedding income will be postponed albeit not cancelled at the moment.

It is even more important that all those who donate to the church continue to do so. The majority pay by standing order directly into the church’s bank account. May I urge all of you to continue these standing orders, and if at all possible, review them and increase them, as the church in 2019 had slightly higher expenses than income which led to a small deficit.

Those who donate by the gift aided blue envelopes, can I suggest:

  • If this does not appeal, then please can you place your donation into your weekly envelope and keep them all until Sunday services re-commence.
  • Those who donate by placing actual cash on the plate, please can you consider changing to a standing order arrangement as detailed above, or put an amount aside every week, ready to give once the church services re-commence.
  • Finally you can also donate by clicking on the Donate link in the menu at the top of each website page, which will take you to a donation page where you can pay by credit/debit card or Paypal. You don’t need a PayPal account for this. You’ll be given the option of adding Gift Aid after you’ve made a donation.

What we cannot afford is for our regular churchgoers to give nothing during this closed period, as this could lead to us having a more substantial deficit at the end of 2020.

I realise that during these terrible, difficult times the last thing you all want to consider is continuing to give out money, but I hope you can understand the reason for my appeal.

May God Bless you and your families, and keep you all safe and healthy.

Allan Webster
Treasurer

An edited version of this news post appears on the Donate page.

Header image: based images from publicdomainpictures.net and CDC