Appeal Update: April 2019

Progress since the last update report

In the February update, I reported that we had over £350,000 donated and pledged towards our initial target of £471,000. I am pleased to report that we now have more than £400,000 donated and pledged, so the gap is narrowing! We have received two new grants from grant-making bodies, as well as the promise of a generous donation from Woolley and Wallis. Our hard-working Parish Manager, Meryl Browning, is in charge of making these applications to Trusts, and we are very grateful to her for her sterling efforts. May her success long continue!

Funding from events

Earlier this week, I accompanied Jane Miller to the bank where we poured in coins from 17 Quest 2020 ‘20p boxes’ into the bank’s coin-counting machine. We got great pleasure at watching the displayed total rapidly ascending to the grand total of £586.82! Please continue collecting your 20 pence coins (and other denominations!) in these boxes, and when you have filled one, hand it in to the office, and collect another empty one!
Jane’s other funding scheme has been the 2020 Club, with its monthly draw. We are nearing the end of the first year of this venture, so this is an ideal opportunity, if you haven’t already become a member, to join in for the second year. It costs £5 a month, and we have monthly draws of prizes of £100, £50 and £25. Please ask Jane Miller (01722 322791) or me (01722 500650) for an application form.

There are two fund-raising concerts in May. The Sarum Six will be performing on Saturday 4 May, and on Saturday 25 May, we will welcome Anita D’Attellis to St Thomas’s, playing a piano recital. Details of both concerts are in the church and on the website.

On 8th June, we are staging the Quest 2020 Big Cycle Ride! This is a first for St Thomas’s, and we are looking forward to a big entry from local cyclists. There are two routes – one 47 miles, and the other is 16 miles. Please see the website for details of how to enter, or ask Netia Coupe (07776 482757) for an entry form. If you aren’t a cyclist, there is the opportunity to sponsor someone who has entered – see the website for how to do this.

Anticipating the start of work in the church

We are still on track to start work on the clerestory repair, the restoration of the Doom painting, and the cleaning of two of the ceiling bays, at the beginning of July. It’s then that you will see scaffolding being erected in the nave of the church to start this work which will last until the end of October.

John Bruce-Ball
April 2019

 

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