Dear Friends,

I hope you have had a very Merry Christmas and I wish you a Happy New Year.

For many people two thousand and nine was a difficult year, not least for the financial crisis.

Unfortunately two thousand and ten may not be much better. We in the church are also facing a financial crisis. I preached in December about the problems of the Church of England, that our historic wealth has been disappearing very quickly  and that the Church Commissioners are able to pay for less and less. The burden of paying for the clergy and their pensions has fallen to the Dioceses and there is a gaping hole in the pension funds.

This parish gives almost £38,000 per year to the diocese to meet its financial commitments, mainly paying for the clergy. This is worked out by our average Sunday attendance (78) multiplied by a factor (partly based on Council Tax bands) which is about £8.60 per week per person.

I was very concerned at our recent Standing Committee Meeting which looked at our finances and PCC where we learned that for the first time in a long time our deficit for 2009 was going to be over £6,000. In the past, while a small deficit was predicted we always managed to come out almost even. The income has stayed flat but our expenditure has gone up. Next year, 2010, we predict an income £3,000 less than this year (mainly due to a shorter tax credit year for gift aid being £2,000 less), but also an increase in expenditure of  £2,500 (mostly made up of gas and electricity going up £8,000 to £10,000). If this happens then all our reserves will be gone and we will be in serious trouble. Every effort is made to keep our costs as low as possible and our money properly spent. It has been by your generosity and by valiant fund raising efforts that we have been ok so far. But not any longer. I do urge everyone to consider giving more and especially by Standing Order and Gift Aided.

May 2010 be a good year. My prayers and best wishes,

Fr. Philip Edge - Vicar