Blessings from the Vicarage

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In 2020, I was approached by BBC Countryfile who wanted to cover the story of churches in the pandemic to see how they were coping. I agreed to do a ‘piece de camera’ and presenter Charlotte Smith together with the Countryfile cameramen duly came. Not only did Charlotte want to know how we practically continued with the weekly services considering both church closures and restrictions when they reopened (learning new skills filming on an iPhone, editing and loading on YouTube), how we functioned pastorally (talking on the phone, Facetiming, Zoom, standing at the end of a house pathway whilst walking the dog…) and what impact church closure had had on our finances. I remember giving Charlotte the grim statistic that we were looking at being £20,000 down that year which would mean that we could not pay our ‘Parish Share.’ This was due to the fact that we couldn’t have our usual church service collections, and, as our Parish Share was around £60,000 that year, it caused huge anxiety.

For those who are unaware, the Parish Share is money that the parish church pays to their Diocese (in our case Guildford Diocese), which mostly pays for having a priest (vicar or rector) in a parish. I wonder that many people don’t realise this, but a priest does not have a salary, but a ‘stipend’ which is a set amount of money given to release the priest from earning money via another form of work, so that she or he can be completely available 24/7 for every person’s spiritual needs in the parish. It basically covers food, energy bills, petrol and car maintenance expenses, but not much more as the priest lives in a Church house rent free (the Parish share also contributes to vicarage maintenance, clergy pensions, training, etc). In 1949 the Church of England brought in the stipend system because historically priests were paid by what came into the collection plate and some parishes were richer than others, so there were huge inequalities. Since then, all parishes have paid their Diocese a Parish Share so that all priests received a unified and standardized payment system. But this also means that if a parish cannot pay its Parish Share then it can’t afford a permanent priest and that is when parishes are joined together and one priest may have to cover many churches...

Amazingly in 2020, we were able to do two essential fundraisers in 2020: an absolutely wonderful play based on the film ‘Brief Encounter’ organised and directed by Hilary Lee-Corbin and performed in St Mary’s Church, which raised £6,000; and a sponsored walk called Beat the Bounds, which incredibly raised £14,000! With these two fundraisers we covered our entire deficit and got ‘out of the red’, as it were, which was an immense relief to all.

Sadly, I have to report that we are looking a deficit of £20,000 in our finances again this year. This is due to many different factors compared to 2020. For the last year the cost of energy for church heating, hot water, etc., has hugely increased, and any general maintenance of two church buildings is far more costly as often specialist contractors are needed. We have reduced income due to less weddings and baptisms since the pandemic; reduced income as people are struggling themselves to pay their own bills, let alone think about charitable giving (and often other charities have a higher precedence than church); less income due to residents leaving the area to live nearer to family or to downsize; and less regular income as certain faithful and generous people have gone to glory.

So…we are proactively seeking to fundraise this year to clear our deficit – indeed we have already started with the burger stall at the Frensham Fayre! The Beat the Bounds Sponsored Walk was such a success in 2020, I am going to lead it again this year on 5th September, as thankfully the recent spinal injections seem to have significantly helped reduce my sciatic pain and I believe I can walk the 14 miles with all your support. Do please join me as it is a lovely walk and precious time to value the beauty of our two villages. And please if you can, get lots of sponsors to enable continued priestly ministry here for St Mary’s Church and the Church of the Good Shepherd.

Please also come to ‘Sisters-in-Song’ on 12th September in St Mary’s Church, which will be a delight of the most beautiful music with the most talented people singing and playing – another wonderful way to fundraise!

With love and prayers,

Jane