HARTLIP CHURCHWARDENS WRITE ...

You will remember that two years ago our Vicar made an appeal in this magazine for donations towards the £6,000 needed for the repair of the church roof. The money required was raised, thanks to the generosity of individual people, public bodies and the hard work of those who organised fund-raising events.

This was a particular crisis and, because of its known urgency, the response was forthcoming. However, a matter of equal urgency, though not so well known, is that the day-to-day running expenses of our church cannot be met from the income received. The Treasurer when presenting his accounts at the Annual Parochial Meeting, produced some staggering facts. For example: Did you know that .... To keep the church open and ready for services it costs £8.26 per day?

That figure includes heating, lighting, cleaning, Incumbent's expenses, maintenance of a reserve fund to help cope with any future major repairs, and allocation of various donations to local and other charities amounting to £200 a year.

In addition, there is an accumulated deficiency of £1,166 to be made good! The Treasurer estimates that an income of £5,000 is required when all of this is taken into account. How can £5,000 per year be raised? One way would be for all members on the Electoral Roll to contribute regularly to the needs of their church. If each person placed 77 pence each week in the collection, we should be solvent.

An alternative method is by covenanting a regular amount weekly or annually. A weekly covenant of even 50 pence a week (or £26 per year) by each member would produce £3,250 per year. To this would be added the tax refunds from the Inland Revenue, amounting to £1,750 - making up £5,000.

So far, 40 members have committed themselves in this way and contribute between them £1,064.74, which will produce tax refunds amounting to £574.93, making a total of £1,639.67. We ask all our members to seriously consider increasing their contribution to the life of our church, ideally by regular attendance and regular giving.

No doubt some residents will read this who are not on the Electoral Roll, who attend church infrequently, or not at all, but who are in sympathy with what the Church stands for and would be deeply concerned if it ceased its 800 year old ministry in this village. For that is what will happen if we cannot balance our books. Will you help too?

If you would like further information regarding the Covenant Scheme, Mr. Bill Allen will be pleased to help. His address is: 'August' Munns Lane, Hartlip; and his telephone number is: Newington 842461.

N. E. W. Burgess and A. G. Lawrence

HARTLIP DIARY AND CALENDAR

July

2 Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary;
Young Wives Dance.
4 P.C.C. meeting at the vicarage: 7.45 p.m.
7 Rehearsal for Confirmation: 7.30 p.m. in church.
10 CONFIRMATION AND PARISH COMMUNION: 10 a.m. (please note the earlier time); Bishop Warner will administer the Sacrament. N.B. The 8 a.m. Holy Communion will take place at Stockbury.