St Michael's Sunday School Report
Yet again, the number of children who regularly attend has increased, we now have a core of 11. The numbers still vary a lot from a low of 4 (yes, all mine!) to 20. The age range remains wide from just 3 years old to nearly 13.
As we do every year we have covered many topics, some lessons are based on the reading you’ll hear in church others on the basic principles of Christianity. Along with the major festivals of Easter, Harvest and Christmas.
The All-age services remain very popular and draw in new faces.
So if the sermons are too much do come and join us! Also if you have something you’d like to see the children learn about just see me or you are welcome to come and teach the children yourself!!! We’d love to see you! May be this year someone will take up this offer – will it be you? Special Thanks go to Sue Seymour who joined us to make some Harvest loaves.
See you soon, with love and prayers.
Natasha
Treasurer's Report
Year Ended 31 December 2010
Reversing the recent trend, general funds showed a significant rise on 2009, up by £6,000, despite there being no major legacies or donations during the year. However this was offset by a rise in expenditure and at year end, the general fund showed a slight deficit of some £500. However, this is an improvement on 2009 (deficit of £1,000).
The Stewardship campaign initiated last Autumn has been a great success resulting in an increase of over £8,000 in planned giving throughout the year and providing a significant boost to our monthly income. This has been a major factor in ensuring we are able to meet our monthly financial commitments without dependence on generous one-off donations or making too much use of our reserves. My thanks to Tony Ellison for his work in running this side of the church’s finances and dealing with the large amount of paperwork generated.
Despite every effort to control costs, expenditure has increased by £6,000. Payment of parish share was a priority and our 2010 pledge to the Deanery of £50,000 was met in full. The relative level of our share (up 2% again this year) remains a concern. The other major factor in the increase was the rising cost of heating and lighting.
During this year, a full review of the rent paid by Braywood school for the use of the Braywood chapel has been undertaken, spearheaded by Jim Tucker working with RBWM and the school authorities. This incurred payment of significant fees to solicitors and surveyors to register the land (a recent legal requirement) and to establish the value of the property. This has resulted in a small rent rise which should eventually cover the costs of the review which were met out of the St Michaels House Trust.
The low interest rate which has remained at .5% throughout the year has impacted on income from all the supplementary funds managed for us by CCLA. However, I am pleased to report that dividends from investments has recovered throughout the year, and those funds which benefit from investment income have shown a significant improvement throughout the year. On a cautionary note, the General Reserve, the fund we use to supplement our current account, ended the year at £9,000, down £4,000 on the 2009 amount.
Fundraising for the Emergency Appeal is now completed, and the emphasis this year has been on spending the money so generously given. Repairs to the tower and NW wall are now complete and paid for (less a small amount held back from the final settlement for snagging). £2,154 remains in the EA account to cover this. The fundraising effort has been transferred to the organ fund which now stands at £78,169. Major fundraising is yet to get underway, however £5,914 was raised during the year from proceeds of the fete and other low key activities. A more detailed report on this Appeal will appear elsewhere.
Finally, I could not do this job without the support of a dedicated team of volunteers. Thanks are due to the following: Elaine Pleace our auditor for rigorously going through the accounts and ensuring they conform to the required standard. The Vicar, and churchwardens Jim Tucker and Ian Murray for providing support throughout the year. Tony Ellison and his team of counters, without which the job would be very much harder and more labour intensive. My grateful thanks to you all.
Veronica Robinson
March 2010
Report of the Fabric, Goods and Ornaments of the Church March 2011
By the end of February work on the Tower was nearing completion; bad weather in January having delayed progress by approximately three weeks. A final inspection of the work with the scaffolding at full height was made by the architect at the beginning of March allowing the removal of the scaffolding by the end of that month.
With the scaffolding out of the way work continued on the lowest three metres of the structure for the next two months or so. This included the replacement of plinth stones, the building of a French drain, the cleaning of the South door stonework and repairs to the St Michael statue over the South door.
Work on the Tower had involved the replacement of some 300 pre cut stones, extensive repointing on all four faces, the complete rebuilding of the upper turret stonework, the repacking of voids in the buttresses, the installation of safety bars across the crenels at the top of the Tower, the complete refurbishment of the clock face, weather vane and lightening conductors, extensive structural repairs and pinning within the stairwell; for a total cost of £160,212 including professional fees.
During the first six months of the year consultations relating to the stonework problems on the North and West walls progressed well. The DAC approved an early start to the repairs and a full faculty approval was received on the 6th June. Work involved the rebuilding of extensive areas of stonework especially where bulging was evident, the repair of stonework and corroded iron banding on the chimney, stainless steel pinning across the NW corner of the church (where movement was evident), the complete re-plastering of the internal walls in this area and the installation of a French drain along the North wall. The cost of this work was £66,000 including fees.
Completion of the emergency work on the structure of the church has, at last, allowed us to take a serious look at the organ; the last of the items included in the appeal. A subcommittee of the PCC has been formed with a remit to gather and assimilate information from as many sources as possible; these include Diocesan organ advisers, independent advisers, organ builders and other church organ projects. The advice, so far, is that we should consider a new build, positioned at the East end of the North aisle; thus returning the organ to its original position prior to 1965.
The organ committees overriding problem is trying to find the best instrument available for a church with a high standard of music, within a budget that is, as yet, unknown! At the moment we have some options available with costs varying between £120,000 and £260,000 not including VAT! Other considerations for the committee are those associated with the re-ordering in the church. The removal of the old instrument and the introduction of a new instrument at the East end of the church will create opportunities as well as problems. It is important, therefore, that no major decisions be made without the full co-operation of both the PCC and the congregation. A notice board, with some of the design options and types of organ available, will be displayed in the church and any comments or concerns will, of course, be welcome.
Routine maintenance to the boilers, fire extinguishers and organ has been carried out through the year without any major problems. Maintenance has also continued at Touchen End and Braywood cemeteries at cost to the PCC as these remain open.
A satisfactory inspection of the church ornaments and documents was carried out, on the 23rd of June, by the Rural Dean and Lay Chair of the Deanery.
My thanks to Mike Henley, and others, who has helped with many of the DIY tasks around the church throughout the year.
Ian Murray
Emergency Appeal Report 2010
For those of us involved in the Emergency Appeal – and that means everyone at St Michael’s – 2010 was a very different year, a year of celebration, and perhaps of reflection. For who could have thought 3 years ago, with not a penny in the Appeal account, that today we would be looking at a church building with two restored windows, a repaired North wall, and a splendidly renovated tower said to be good for the next 200 years.
Yet we are, thanks entirely to the £300,000 we have raised between us. And last April we had the opportunity to give thanks for the wonderful way in which our efforts have been blessed, when the outgoing Bishop of Reading, the Right Reverend Stephen Cottrell, blessed our refurbished tower at a special service, with the bells once more ringing out in celebration.
Despite all that, fundraising continues, without the benefit these days of any interest on the funds we have accumulated, towards the cost of doing something about the organ. A fresh impetus will come with the identification of exactly what is to be done, but meanwhile 2010 served up the now familiar diet of collections and donations, summer teas and harvest lunch (in advent!), and the Advent Fair.
To open this year’s fete, we were delighted to welcome the Home Secretary, the Rt Hon Theresa May MP, and we appreciate her taking time out from her busy schedule. The proceeds were shared between the Appeal and the Alexander Devine Children’s Cancer Trust.
Of course it has been hard work, of course there are plenty of other things such a lot of money could be spent on. But we have done all these things to demonstrate that in Bray at least people still want to celebrate the glory of the Lord. Thanks and well done to all; we still have more to do.
Jim Tucker
Deanery Synod 2010
Once again Bray was represented at Deanery by Ann Clare, Ian Murray and Jim Tucker, along with the Vicar. Jim continued to serve as Deanery Treasurer.
At our first meeting, at the Church of the Good Shepherd Cox Green in March we received the last two presentations from parishes about their mission activity. At the Good Shepherd this centered around a very courageous programme of house visits, whilst in White Waltham the pattern and type of worship was being re-assessed.
Our summer meeting was at All Saints Dedworth in June, where the speaker was the Reverend Sally Deakinn, Spirituality Adviser for the Reading Episcopal Area and the Archdeaconry of Berkshire. Her talk on the subject of “Sustaining the Sacred Centre” was well received by all.
The excellent Soltau Centre, at St James the Less Stubbings, was the venue for Synod’s September meeting. Here, the Reverend Dr Michael Beasley, recently-appointed Director of Mission for the Oxfod Diocese, spoke on encouraging mission in the parishes, mostly on a theoretical level.
The Home Secretary, the Rt Hon Theresa May MP, came to St Peter’s Furze Platt in November to lead a discussion on the “Big Society”. Regrettably, none of us from Bray were able to be present.
2011 sees the three-year term of the current Synod come to an end. For my part it would be a privilege to be elected to serve another term.
Jim Tucker
ANNUAL REPORT of the TOUCHEN END TRUST
for the year 2010
(Registered Charity No: 1040305)
Aims of the Trust
The Touchen End Trust was set up in the mid-1960s to assist Church of England schools in the Deanery of Maidenhead and Windsor to obtain and retain staff in an area of high housing costs, by offering teachers at such schools accommodation at preferential rents in the three cottages owned by the Trust.
These cottages originally formed part of a development consisting of a church, a school and a schoolhouse, constructed and paid for by the parishioners of Bray in the mid-19th century. After conversion into cottages in the 1960s, a terrace of three was disposed of leaving three remaining, which now belong to the Trust. As well as providing reduced rent accommodation, the Trust can offer financial help to schools to purchase particular items which the Local Authority would not be willing to pay for, but so far, this facility has not been used.
Trustees
Rev Richard Cowles, The Vicarage, Bray, Maidenhead, SL6 2UB
Mr Ian R Murray, Moneyrow Cottage, Moneyrow Green, Holyport, Maidenhead, SL6 2NA
Mr James C Tucker, 24 Chauntry Road, Maidenhead, SL6 1TS
Properties Owned (at Touchen End, Holyport, Maidenhead SL6 3JS)
Church Cottage Two-bedroom house with garage
Trinity House Three-bedroom house with garage
School House Two-bedroom house with extra downstairs room
Rentals
When any property becomes available, the trustees circulate all the C of E schools in the Deanery to see if any teacher would like to take up this offer. If there is no response, the properties can then be let to other people, but at market rents.
During 2010:
Church Cottage
Has remained occupied by Julie Alexander, a Church of England teacher at a
preferential rent of £400.00 per month.
Trinity House
Has remained occupied by Margaret English, a Church of England school teacher,
and her husband, at a preferential rent of £400.00 per month.
School House
Has remained occupied by Matthew Bishop, a Church of England teacher at a
preferential rent of £400.00 per month.
Funds
Due to their age, the cottages need continuous attention to keep them in a good state of repair. Fortunately, expenses have been relatively light this year and with no change of tenants (and therefore no solicitor’s fees and no period without rent); the trust ended the year with a surplus of £12,710.66 and a bank balance of over £140,000.00. This should provide the trustees with a satisfactory buffer against any future major repairs, which, on such old properties, could be substantial. A copy of the accounts is attached.
Vernon Webster (Hon. Clerk to the Trustees) …………………………… Date: …………….
Richard Cowles …………… Ian Murray ………………………… Jim Tucker …………………………
TOUCHEN END TRUST (Registered Charity No: 1040305)
INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT
For the year ending 31 December 2010 |
 |
| 
