Dear Congregation and Friends of St Mary Longcot,
Please find attached the Benefice Newsletter for the week commencing Sunday 16th June.
Service at St Mary Longcot – Sunday 16th June. The Revd Robin Cardwell has kindly agreed to lead this week’s service at St Mary. It will be Holy Communion and will begin at the usual time of 9.30am. We also have an organist for the service.
Future Funding. Last week I explained about the financial arrangements that were being put in place for the Lighting Project in St Mary. I hope that you will indulge me for a few more minutes, as I expand on the subject of raising funds for both St Mary and St John churches. I would like to start by highlighting the very generous covenants that individuals across the Parish make to church funds. Without these we would not be able to survive financially. It is worth noting, however, that some of the sums given have not changed in 10 or so years and have therefore not taken into account inflation. If it would be possible for an uplift – not matter how small – to the sums covenanted, it would be really appreciated. For those who contribute to the collection plate every week, rest assured that we are still able to collect Gift Aid (currently 25%) on those sums through the Gift Aid Small Donation Scheme (GASDS). It would, however, be more advantageous to our fund raising for monthly sums to be covenanted as that provides the PCC with a guaranteed income stream in order to plan future expenditure. For example this would include our next planned project for St Mary, which is to improve the audio-system including replacing our hearing loop, which has broken. If you would like to provide more help, then please e-mail me or speak to me directly. (07531 189474)
Autumn Fundraising Events. There are three fundraising events in the planning stage for St Mary over the Autumn/early Winter. Full details will follow but in outline they are:
- A whiskey tasting event in September or October hosted by Tom Arnold and based on similar highly successful events he has organised in St John’s Church.
- A classical concert organised by Vicky Medcalf in October, following the wonderful performance in May.
- A talk in November by Tom Arnold on the Titanic story and drawing upon the links between St Mary’s Church and the Carter family.
Hopefully this e-mail has given you some food for thought and I look forward to talking to you individually about this issues that I have mentioned above.
Best Wishes,
Longcot Village 