Thank you for your generous support of our parish in your contributions in the weekly collection which covers our running costs and enables us to maintain our buildings and carry out our activities.
The church, the house and the hall are all over a hundred years old and need constant maintenance and regular repairs. every five years we do a detailed assessment of their condition. The most recent report showed a wide range of work that needs to be done inside and outside the buildings.
Thanks to your giving over many years and careful planning we have built up some cash reserves. We also received a very generous legacy of £200,000 from a parishioner which means we can now start work on these necessary improvements. We have a project manager; we have been through a very thorough tender process in close co-operation with experts from the diocese, and the work will hopefully start in January 2024.
The 1st stage scaffolding going up over the Priests House roof to make repairs to roof and replace dormer windows which have become rotten and external decoration. This will be followed with repairs to the church roofs and external wood work and gutters. See below the work in progress
The 2nd stage is to redecorate the inside of the church for the first time in decades, install energy efficient lighting, renovate the floor, and repair the pews.
The 3rd stage is to replace the surface on forecourt outside and make improvements to the hall.(last year we added double glazing which has saved our energy and making it much warmer)
Once all these improvements have been made the church, the house and the hall should be future proofed for many years ahead.
We will update you in future newsletters and on our website and of course, if you want to contribute to this work by Gift Aid or a donation, we would be very grateful.
About 69% of our income comes from standing orders, 19%in loose collection,10% from online giving contactless has made a difference with a total of 708 people using the devices over the year.
For those who are new to the parish we would welcome a standing order which would help our income and means you can still support St. Simon’s even if you are away. This can be gift aided and increases your contribution without any extra cost by signing a Gift Aid form. See supporting St. Simon’s tab on front page of this website.
Thank you to those who already have standing orders and to those of you who have used our contactless devices.
We realise that in the present climate it may be difficult for some to contribute in this way, however we thank you for your generosity to our parish in so many ways.
Many Thanks
Jeremy Tigue (Chair of Finance Committee)