Friends News - January 2022

Thank you for becoming a Friend of All Saints Church and helping to support this important building.

You will recall that All Saints Church Parochial Church Council (PCC) launched the Friends’ scheme in September 2021 with the aim of encouraging support from the wider, perhaps non-religious community to help raise funds for the continued restoration and preservation of the church building.

The current programme of subsidised Friends of All Saints events organised by the PCC ends in summer 2022. To plan for continuity a newly formed Friends of All Saints Committee will take over organising this programme of events and other fund-raising activities, managing the Friends’ membership and keeping Friends’ members and the local community informed of forth-coming events and relevant news. These initiatives are additional to the current fundraising of Newton PCC fund raising that will continue as usual. We appreciate that local residents are called on by all village organisations for support so it is the intention of this sub Committee to organize fund raising events which will hopefully also appeal to a wider audience.

The new Friends of All Saints Committee consists of people who either live in or have had connections with the village for many years and who are unanimous in thinking that the heritage of All Saints Church is worthy of preservation and should be maintained as a feature and, indeed, a landmark of Newton-on-Ouse. They are not necessarily regular church goers.

At the first meeting of the new Committee at the end of 2021 the structure and operational aspects of various Friends’ schemes were considered, including the possible setting up of a separate charity. However, the preferred scheme, which has many advantages, is operating as a sub-Committee of the PCC but without direct involvement or control from the PCC. Currently one sub Committee member is on the PCC. It was also confirmed that funds raised must only be used towards facilitating the restoration and preservation of the fabric of the building or for the provision of much needed facilities currently unavailable.

If you feel you could make a positive contribution as a member of the committee, which we wish to keep manageably small, or if you have any suggestions for future events, speakers or fund raising, please contact any of the committee members listed below or respond by email. There is no prerequisite to be a church goer.

Current Committee: Marion Blacker, Stephanie Howe, Mike and Lynn Tranter and Barbara Watson.

Email: friends@allsaintsnewton.org.uk