Lisa Overton, Secretary of the Friends of St Mary’s, provides our latest news round-up:
AGM
The Friends of St Mary’s Hawkesbury held their Annual General Meeting on Sunday 25th July, happily in the church, followed by a beautiful choral evensong with the choir singing for the first time in the church for months. It was a very positive and cheering occasion as it marked not only a gradual return to normality, but also the completion of the excellent conservation work on the tower, the installation of the new bells and the re-ordering of the vestry, all to great acclaim and satisfaction.
At the meeting, our Chairman Sir Ian Macfadyen reported on the success of the tower and bells projects and recorded the Friends’ enormous thanks to all those who have contributed to them, and especially to John and Stephanie Appleby for their great generosity in giving the bells to St Mary’s and for funding their installation. The Friends had contributed the sum of £55,000 towards the conservation of the stonework of the tower. A full record of all those who contributed to both projects would be kept permanently in the church.
He paid tribute to the excellent work done by Matthew Higby for his work in engineering the bells, to Jessica Holland of Insalis, Architects, Richard Thompson and Keith Hoskins of Carrek Ltd of Bristol for the stonework conservation, new bell-ringing platform and fitting out of the vestry.
The Chairman recorded too, with sadness and remembrance, the death of Gordon Beresford who with Mary had been such a long-standing and generous support of the Friends. Sadly too, the Friends had not been able to hold any fund-raising events during the year owing to the restrictions imposed by Covid-19, but was hopeful that events could begin again in the autumn. He thanked Debbie Young for her excellent work updating and maintaining our website, which has been invaluable during the year of lockdowns.
Finally he thanked the Treasurer, Mike Bendry, for his unstinting work dealing with the financial complexities of the two major projects, and the rest of the Committee for their support. He announced his retirement as Chairman after three terms, and wished the Friends every success in future.
Generous thanks were extended to Sir Ian for all he has done for the Friends and St Mary’s over so many years.
The meeting approved the accounts for the year, re-elected the auditor, and then elected Colin Dixon as the new Chairman, and the rest of the committee as given below.
Vice-Chairman: William Fairney; Treasurer: Mike Bendry; Secretary: Lisa Overton; members Linda Fairney, Pauline Setterfield, Peter Setterfield, Debbie Young, Mary Davies, Mary Beresford, Neil Fozard, Hilary Rogers.
Many thanks to all those who helped in the Friends’ Pimm’s Tent at the Hawkesbury Show.
COMING EVENTS
There will be a medieval banquet in honour of St Wulfstan on Saturday 23rd October at the Beaufort Arms in aid of the Friends of St Mary’s. This marks the tenth anniversary of the dedication of a stained glass window to St Wulfstan at St Mary’s Church on 23rd October 2011 to celebrate his millennium.
Our annual FOSM Service of Nine Lessons and Carols will take place on Sunday 19th December.
MEMBERSHIP
We are very keen to recruit new members of the Friends of St Mary’s as we emerge from the constraints of the last 18 months. You do not have to belong to the Church of England or be a parishioner, just be someone who would like to support our beautiful parish church and preserve it for future generations to enjoy.
Subscriptions are:
- Annual membership – £10 singe, £15 joint
- Life membership; – £200 single, £250 joint
Subscriptions are due 1st August each year. If you are a UK taxpayer and would like to GiftAid your subscription, we can supply the relevant form, which can be signed and returned along with a cheque or online donation to our Treasurer, Mr Michael Bendry, 14 Hunters Mead, Hawkesbury Upton GL9 1BL.
SEPTEMBER SERVICES
We are delighted that we are now able to hold services in St Mary’s again. Please bring masks when you come to church and obey the social distancing rules. Our sidesmen will help to keep everything in order.
5th– 9.30am – Holy Communion
12th – 6pm – Evensong
19th – 9.30am – Morning Praise
26th – 6pm – Evensong
Online video services will continue to be streamed at 10am at www.youtube.com/c/badmintonbenefice
Friends of St Mary's Hawkesbury 