On Friday, May 25, the Friends of St Mary’s held their AGM and annual talk in the church.
The meeting was in two parts. First, we dealt with the annual business, report of activities, recent projects, finance and re-election of committee.
I reported that Covid had severely disrupted activities and projects and had meant no face-to-face AGM since 2019. However, we had been reporting by newsletter.
Recent projects add to a long list of fabric improvements completed in the church over recent years and representing a cost of some £400,000 in total. Before the new rector, the Revd Paul White, arrived the sound system had been refurbished. As a result, the sound is much improved but there are one or two more improvements still to complete. Because of screening by the large beech tree in the churchyard, the friends aspire to improve the lighting through the main window in the south transept. This represents the canticle Benedicite and when light does come through, the coloured glass is stunning. So far a cost effective technical way of doing so has not been found.
Paddy Harvey reported on the finance. Gill Harvey summarised membership issues affecting the 130 friends. Finally, Gill and Paddy Harvey were thanked for their hard work on both membership and finances. In any other business, there were questions about aspects of the church and churchyard.
Secondly, after the AGM, I presented my research into the “changing face of St Mary’s”. This took the form of an illustrated talk covering the history and architectural changes of the church over the last 1,000 years. It is intended that the work will provide the basis of a guide for those looking after visitors to the church.
The friends looked forward to the next event: “Two churches and a tea” afternoon on July 2.
Image Credits: Kenneth Bird .