Like many cathedrals and churches up and down the country, St Mary’s with Christ Church has a thriving Friends organisation, which shortly celebrates its tenth anniversary. Membership is open to all who wish to associate themselves with the work and worship of our parish, and who are particularly keen to help maintain the ancient and beautiful fabric of our two church buildings.
What do The Friends do?
The
Friends was strictly set up to provide financial backing in order to “maintain,
repair, restore, preserve, improve, beautify and reconstruct for the benefit
of the public the fabric, of the Churches of St Mary the Virgin and Christ Church,
their monuments, fixtures, fittings, furniture, stained glass, ornaments and
other chattels and their church yards.”
In order to achieve these aims and objectives, a variety of social and fundraising
events for both members and the general public are arranged throughout the year.
These are designed to appeal to an entire demographic cross section, differing
cultures and tastes from young people and families to the more senior members
of our parish. The profit from these, together with annual subscriptions and
the interest gathered from investment bequests generously left to the parish
and in the keeping of The Friends, is used to support a variety of projects
satisfying these criteria.
How have The Friends helped?
Currently reviewing.
Why join The Friends?
Why
bother? Simple, it isn’t just the fact that The Friends are able to present
a pool of “ring fenced” cash to make a rapid improvement to the parish's built
environment, or the fact that it is possible to do this without impacting on
the funds available for other charitable committees and activities within the
parish. It is the assembly of smaller things that actually form the bigger picture
– the fellowship, effort and enjoyment that surrounds quiz nights, summer fayres,
auctions or wine tasting evenings. Then there is the availability of parish
merchandise, notelets and postcards etc. All these push the parish a great deal
further than being a group of individuals, or Christians worshipping and receiving
the sacraments in two particular buildings – it makes them a family. A parish
family able to meet its responsibilities, corporate, personal, social and spiritual.
Being a member allows you to benefit from the knowledge that you are joining
this diverse family of people who support St Mary’s with Christ Church, both
by prayer and financially. From time to time members receive an update magazine,
and benefit from reduced admission to, and preferential allocations of tickets
for our most popular events.
