Revd. Andrew Perry

01903 783318

 

 

Friends of St Mary's

 

Friends of St Mary's Annual Meeting and Talk

25th April 2023

 

A successful Annual Meeting was held on Tuesday 25th April attended by over 40 people, at which there was a report from the Chairman, Malcolm McLelland, and a financial report. 

This was followed by Tony Pratt of the Wey and Arun Canal Trust giving an illustrated talk on the "Lost Wey to the Sea", showing how they have been restoring the canal that used to link the River Wey via the River Arun to the English Channel. It included some interesting postcards and videos of the River Arun Navigation in the days when there were barges on the river from Littlehampton to Pullborough. To view the Arun Valley Postcard Trail, go to www.avpct.co.uk

Further details of the Wey and Arun Canal Trust are available at their website:weyarun.org.uk/

 

East Preston Festival - 'Wicked' Brunch

8th June 2023

The 'Wicked' Brunch, in line with the East Preston Festival theme of Musicals, was well attended and raised a wonderful £455 for the Friends of St Mary's EPIC Appeal. Thanks to the team of Carol Cogman and the 20 helpers who helped to make it such a success.

East Preston Festival - Open Gardens

3rd and 5th June 2023

At the Open Garden of Steve Mitchell held during Festival Week, an amazing £306.85 was raised by the sale of plants. Steve has very kindly donated this sum to the Friends of St Mary's. Thanks Steve.

 

 

Can you Help with Repairs to St Mary's Church?

The 5-yearly survey of the church (Quinquennial Inspection) has resulted in a 44 page report that categorises jobs into those needing Specialist Craftspeople and those that can be done by local builders. Among the latter group, several jobs have been identified that we could even do ourselves. Churchwarden Chris Wood has therefore organised a Working Party to tackle these jobs. If you are a craftsperson like an Electrician, Plumber, Tiler, Wood-worker or have particular skills in any of these areas and would like to help, then please let Chris know on 01903 784206.

Thank your for your help, however great or small.

 

About the Friends of St Mary's

The Friends of St Mary’s (FOSM) is a sub-committee of the Church of St Mary the Virgin, East Preston with Kingston, whose objective is to raise funds for the upkeep, improvement and development of the fabric of the Church building. It does not contribute to the general running of the church.

Funds are raised by participating in the village activities, use of EasyFundraising and by the EPIC Appeal.  For further information on the EPIC Appeal, go to the EPIC Appeal page

Aims and Objectives

The Friends of St Mary’s (FOSM) is a sub-committee of the Church of St Mary the Virgin, East Preston with Kingston. Its objective is to raise funds for the upkeep, improvement and development of the fabric of the Church building. It does not contribute to the general running of the church.

What has been achieved so far

In 2009, with the assistance of a grant from the SITA Trust, the following work was completed at a cost of over £30,000:

  • Restoration of the North East corner of the Church 
  • Roof of the North Door Porch partially repaired 
  • Renewal of the stone stairs leading up to the tower 
  • Roof of the Lych Gate re-grouted 
  • Re-rendering of the North and East outside walls
  • Replacement of Perspex window covers with steel grills
  • Repair of a blister on the chancel inside wall

In 2018, the following work was completed at a total cost of £46,000, of which FOSM committed £30,000 

  • South Side of the Tower was re-rendered to prevent damp entering the church
  • A metal handrail was installed in the spiral Tower Staircase to comply with Health and Safety regulations

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What is planned to be achieved

The most important and costly of the remaining items include:

            Re-rendering the North wall and refurbishment of rainwater goods.                  £35,000

            Repair and renew stonework externally and internally.                                      £28,000

            Renew lighting to save future costs.                                                                  £20,000

            Extend lightning conductor.                                                                                £10,000

                                                                                                                           Total:  £93,000

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Committee and Members of the Friends of St Mary's

Committee

Chairman:     Malcolm McLelland

Secretary:      Jack Cogman

Treasurer:      Alastair Sharp

Committee Members: Jacky Collett, Stella Collier, Carol Cogman, Dorothy Lee, Valerie Sharp, Fr. Andrew Perry

Members

New members of the committee are always welcome. If you would just like to help the Friends of St Mary's, why not become a member?

Membership costs only £10/year for an individual or £15/year for a family.

Details are given in the Membership Application Form

As this form cannot be filled in on-line at the moment, please print a copy and return to the address shown.

 

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Formation of the Friends of St Mary's

Early in 2006 Saint Mary’s Church was in a desperate financial state with regards to a regular income and was not in a position to deal with expensive repairs to the building. The Church authorities were pursuing a plan to install a mobile phone mast in the church tower, and thus be able to attract a steady income of about £5000 per year.The Group who were later to become the “Friends of Saint Mary’s”, were opposed to the scheme and so started a lively campaign to oppose it. In the end, it was agreed that there would not be a mobile phone mast on the tower, but that the Church was a vital focal point in the village, and must be kept in a good state of preservation for all to enjoy.

Although many of the original group were not part of the St Mary's congregation, they volunteered their services to the Church to help preserve the church building. So “The Friends of Saint Mary’s” came into being with the specific objective of spearheading the financing of the restoration and maintenance of the building, rather than to add to the general church funds.

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Contact Us

Email: friendsofstmarysEP@gmail.com

Phone: 01903 412961

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Data Protection Policy

The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) that came into force in May 2018 give greater protection to personal data than existed previously. Under the GDPR, all organisations, which includes the Friends of St Mary’s (FOSM), are allowed to collect and use personal data where they have a legitimate reason in doing so. This policy explains how the Friends of St Mary’s uses your personal data in compliance with the GDPR.

FOSM holds personal data obtained from your application form for which you have given consent, e.g. postal address etc.. These details will only be used to contact you in connection with FOSM business, such as newsletters, notices of meetings and events. The data are held on a computer dedicated to maintaining a membership database. This file is password protected and any backups are similarly password protected. 

FOSM also holds for a limited time the bank account details of those members who pay by standing order.

Data is retained while membership is active and for no more than two years after membership has ceased.

General Practice:

  1. Data Sharing: 

No data is shared with any third party, be it an organisation or an individual, without the explicit permission of the member whose data it is. The member in question will be specifically asked for this permission. 

The only exception will be if the information is required by law.

  1. BCC (Blind Copy) for emails:

Emails sent to the general membership are distributed using the BCC (blind copy) facility, so that no member’s email address is disclosed to another.

  1. Personal Data Files:

Data files containing personal data must be encrypted or password protected.

  1. Information Requests:

Members of the Friends of St Mary’s are entitled to ask for information on any data that it holds for them. FOSM members and members of the public are entitled to ask for the FOSM Data Protection Policy. These requests will be logged.

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