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The Friends of St Mary’s Church Cerne Abbas - 10[Th] Anniversary

Inaugurated 2012

Charity No; 1148416

TRUSTEES’ REPORT and ACCOUNTS For the year ended 31 December 2022

and

THE AGENDA

For the AGM on Wednesday 10[th] May 2023

FRIENDS OF ST MARY’S CHURCH, CERNE ABBAS 2022

Registered Charity no; 1148416

THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Chair : Martin Reed

Honorary Treasurer: Hon Membership Secretary: Angela Lowe John Champion 6 Duck Street 29 Long Street Cerne Abbas Cerne Abbas Dorset DT2 7LA Dorset DT2 7JG

Honorary Secretary Jennie Paterson 36 Duck Street Cerne Abbas Dorset DT2 7LA

Representative of the PCC Caroline Sykes*

ELECTED MEMBERS Michael Fulford Dobson Peter Smith

Ex officio member*

AS Head of the PCC”s Property Group Duncan Ferguson attends meetings to inform the Trustees of pertinent matters.

FRIENDS OF ST MARY’S CHURCH, CERNE ABBAS ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2023

The 10[th] Annual General meeting of the Friends of St Mary’s will take Place on Wednesday 10[th] May, 2023 In St Mary’s Church starting promptly at 18.00.

PROGRAMME AGENDA

Chair’s welcoming remarks and report
Apologies for absence
Minutes of 9[th] AGM and matters arising
Election of Officers and Board Members
a. All Trustees are required to stand down under the constitution. Alan Morrell has retired as had the late Richard Warren .
- The remaining Trustees have all indicated their willingness to continue to serve on the Board of Trustees;
b. John Champion to replace the late Richard Warren as Membership Secretary. AGM approval is required.
c. The Secretary should be informed in advance of the AGM of any proposals for new Trustees.
Any other business: this will be at the Chairs discretion unless previously raised through the Secretary.

At the conclusion of business, wine, soft drinks and nibbles will be available for members.

REPORT OF THE CHAIR

I would like to start with repeating the Objects of our Trust:- “The restoration, preservation, repair, maintenance, improvement and beautification of the Grade 1 listed building being St Mary’s Church in Cerne Abbas for the public benefit.” Those last two objects, improvement and beautification, came very much to the fore on the evening of Sunday 26th March when the Vicar quoted from the pulpit “Let there be Light’, and Simon Jenkins, the lighting designer, used his phone to flood the church with the new lighting system, funded by the Friends together with re-wiring the entire building. Specifically designed to be used not only for the various forms of worship but for the continued communal use of the building, the various lighting programmes are remarkably flexible and show the off the beauty of the building to great effect. There is even light in the Vestry for the Vicar after some four years of gloom!

We were delighted to receive the following message from the PCC: “On behalf of the PCC of St Mary the Virgin, and the entire Cerne Abbas community, I should like to express our thanks for your Trustees’ extremely generous support for this project, which has transformed the Church for the benefit of all residents and visitors for decades to come.”

The donation from the Friends has only been made possible by the extraordinarily generous legacies willed to the Charity for which we will be eternally grateful. One person missing from the dedication was the late Richard Warren. Richard having been one of the original Trustees, was also a key person in the long process of getting the new plans in place. Jonathan paid a handsome tribute to him at the service and I can do no more than to re-iterate, assisted by Duncan Ferguson, how much Richard’s dedication and hard work helped this project succeed. As a member of the St Mary’s Lighting Working Group on behalf of the Music Festival and the FoSM Richard visited other churches as part of the exploratory work and provided valuable knowledge and advice with respect to dealing with major works on historic church buildings. With a visionary approach, he worked with the Property Group and the PCC every step of the way of the 5 years it took to deliver the project, from the selection of the lighting designer to promoting the need for major investment to deliver a wiring and lighting installation that would serve the forecast requirements of the church building for the next 40 years. With his engineering background, extensive knowledge of church-related matters, energetic commitment to the Friend’s raison d’etre and unwavering resolve in the face of frequent unfavourable headwinds, he provided a unique and pivotal contribution to enabling St Mary’s to serve the needs of the church and wider Cerne community for generations to come. He will be sadly missed throughout the village but especially by his fellow Trustees.

With the years gradually returning to normality we look forward to the Village utilising this wonderful building to its fullest capacity and we would welcome anyone who would like to become involved in caring for its future to join the Friends. The subscription is very modest, so please if you think you can help

contact the Member ship Secretary or any of the Trustees listed for further information.

Martin Reed, Chair

ST MARY’S PCC PROPERTY GROUP (PG) REPORT 2023 AGM

GENERAL

With the lighting and rewiring project planned to be completed on 8 March 23, the focus of the PG has shifted to west door improvements. Meanwhile, on the occasion of David Johnstone’s retirement from the north door project, the leadership of this initiative has been assumed, pro tem, by the vicar and one of the church wardens - the PG works in support of this undertaking. The quinquennial inspection of the church fabric will be conducted by St Mary’s architect (Mr T. Griffin) on 23 Feb 23 and a comprehensive report will follow.

NORTH DOOR

The current North Door Project plan comprises the creation of a doorway in the north wall, access groundworks in the Squibb Garden, and the building of a storeroom and lavatory in the garden. The proposal is still subject of consideration by the Diocesan Advisory Committee (DAC) and statutory bodies.

WEST DOOR

A faculty for work to install handrails on either side of the west door steps, refit the outer oak doors, repair a broken flagstone in the west door porch and glaze the inner pine doors was granted on 9 Feb 23. The first element to be addressed is the fitting of the handrails for which local authority planning permission is being sought. Ongoing discussions with the church architect will determine the order in which the other work will be undertaken and at the time of writing it is likely to be: outer doors, inner doors and finally the flagstone.

SOUTH AISLE ROOF LEAKS

A further attempt is underway to identify and seal the points of failure in the south aisle roof lead work that admit occasional minor, but nevertheless significant, leaks into the south aisle. In the next month lead work specialists will be investigating the integrity of sections of the roof flashing in an effort to determine the areas requiring repair.

Duncan Fergusson, Chair, St Mary’s Property Group 21 February 2023

INCOME AND EXPENDITURE 2022

Opening Balances 01- 01-2022	£	£		£	£
Lloyds Bank Current a/c	53,830.59
Lloyds Bank Deposit a/c	213,332.5 6
		267,163. 15
Income 2022			Expenditure 2022
Subscriptions	3,771.00		AGM expenses	27.00
Deposit A/c Interest	118.84		Printing	169.00
Legacies (2)	20,192.22		Deposit for Xmas Tree	20.00
Requests (1)	2,000.00
Cash Refund from Xmas Tree	20.00
		26,102.06			216.00
			Closing Balance 31/12/2022
			Lloyds current a/c	59,405.5 9
			Lloyds deposit a/c	233,643. 62
					293,049. 21
		293,265.2 1			293,265. 21

THE TRUST’S CUMULATIVE CONTRIBUTION TO THE PCC to end 2022.

Since the Trust’s inception £43,176 has now been contributed to help the PCC maintain the fabric as outlined below:

2020	Fabric Insurance Contribution	£1,992
	Weather vane restoration (C Tisdall sponsored)	£3,856
	Squibb Garden maintenance	£81
	Overhaul of Bells	£13,947
2019	Fabric Insurance Contribution	£2,043
	Squibb Garden maintenance	£79
2018	Fabric Insurance Contribution	£2,006
2017	Tower Clock Refurbishment	£950
	Fabric Insurance Contribution	£1,933
2016	Fabric Insurance Contribution	£1,962
	Squibb Garden maintenance	£52
	Contribution to new heating system	£2,000
2015	Fabric Insurance Contribution	£1,892
2014	Fabric Insurance Contribution	£1,847
2013	Fabric Insurance Contribution	£1,636

Grants obtained for the preservation of wall paintings £6,900

Angela Lowe, Treasurer

FRIENDS OF ST MARY’S CHURCH, CERNE ABBAS

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting, St Mary’s Church.

Held at 18.00 on Wednesday 21[st] September 2022

The meeting began on time with the Chairman welcoming a good turnout of members (some 38 attendees) and referring them to what he had said in the Annual Report of which additional copies were available. He welcomed the Vicar Jonathan Still and thanked him for agreeing to attend and give an update on the upcoming works on the wiring project in church.
Apologies for absence were received by the Secretary from Gordon & Janet Bartlet, Roy Burnham, Mike & Jane Clark, Elizabeth Mackenzie, Jennie & John Paterson, Ann Robson and Richard Warren.
Minutes of the last AGM on 22[nd] September 2021 were referenced and in the absence of any questions a call to approve them was proposed by Dee Reed and seconded by Paddy O’Riordan and carried without dissent.
Similarly the accounts as presented and approved by the independent examiner in the Annual Report attracted no questions. Approval was requested from the members and duly proposed by Dee Reed, seconded by George Mortimer, and carried without dissent.
As per the Constitution all Trustees are required to step down and seek re-election at the AGM. All the present Trustees were willing to continue and when approval was sought for the full reelection the motion was proposed by Lindsay Pedder, seconded by Paddy O’Riordan and carried without dissent.
The meeting was also asked to approve the recommendation that Jennie Paterson become Secretary to replace Peter Smith who will be stepping down after 10 years. The motion to approve

was proposed by Aphra Maclaren and seconded by Helen Hewitt and carried without dissent.

There being no other business the Vicar was invited to give his update on the church building projects. Jonathan expanded in detail on the research that had been undertaken on the lighting project covering all the different types of lighting for different occasions and including visits to churches like Hinton St George where modern lighting had been installed. He referred to the slowness of the process where so many levels of church hierarchy need to be consulted and from whom approval is required that matters had dragged on longer than he had hoped or anticipated. All clearances have now been obtained and the church will be closed from 10 October for the work to start, with a period of 7 weeks allowed for the completion in time for Advent Sunday. Jonathan indicated he would be surprised and delighted if that timetable were adhered to!
On the other two projects on the books he confirmed that the proposed improvements to the West Door are going through the approvals process. The Dorset Council are also involved because repairs to the flagstones and the sinking of support posts for the planned handrails into the flagstones come under the Council who of course own the road and pavement in Abbey Street. The project is nevertheless on track and could be underway sooner rather than later.
This is not the case with the project to provide access to the Squibb Garden and the provision of store room and toilet outside the footprint of the church is being stalled by objections to any breaching of the north wall. This would be a long term process of seeking approval and may even be unsuccessful in the end. Jonathan added that the PCC has already spent some £21,000 on submitting plans and applications and has the project on hold for the time being.
The Chairman thanked the Vicar for his informative and comprehensive briefing on these developments and in the absence of any further questions closed the formal part the proceedings at 18.35 and invited all present to partake of the wine and nibbles on offer.

Peter Smith 2022

30 September

Hon Secretary

CODICIL

I (full name of Testator/Testatrix*)

Of (Address) ______ _______ DECLARE THIS to be a (First) Codicil to my Will dated The _ day of __ 20

I GIVE to the Association known as FRIENDS OF St MARY’S CHURCH, CERNE ABBAS of Cerne Abbas, Dorset (Registered Charity Number 1148416) for its general purposes the sum of POUNDS (£ ) and I declare that the Treasurer or other proper Officer for the time being of the said Charity shall be a full and sufficient discharge to my Executors and Trustees for the same in all respects:-

IN ALL other respects I CONFIRM my said will :-

IN WITNESS I have hereto set my hand this day of 20 SIGNED by the above named ) Testator/Testatrix in our presence ) And attested by us in the presence ) Of the above named Testator/Testatrix )

And of each other:- )

WITNESS___ WITNESS__

ADDRESS___ ADDRESS__ _______

OCCUPATION OCCUPATION

FRIENDS’ MEMBERSHIP LIST as at April 2023

EugeneBALBINSKI	Helen HEWITT	Rosalyn RAWSON
Gordon BARTLET	Maureen HITT	Martin REED
Janet BARTLET	PamelaHUNT	DeniseREED
Jennifer BEECHAM	MarcusHUNT	Ann ROBSON
Gordon BISHOP	Caroline JONES	PeterSMITH
Elizabeth BISHOP	DianaKIMBER	Suzanne SMITH
RoyBURNHAM	John LEE	Philip SPRAY
JohnCHAMPION	Marion LEE	CherylSPRAY
Mike CLARK	AngelaLOWE	JudithSTEVEN
Jane CLARK	Elizabeth MACKENZIE	Jane STILL
Noreen DARBOURNE	AphraMACLAREN	Lucy SUTHERLAND
Nigelde CANDOLE	RichardMAISEY	PriscillaTAPPENDEN
DavidDILLISTONE	Doreen MAISEY	CarolineTISDALL
Roger DOOR	Tim MILLS	Gen. RichardVICKERS
MathildeEDWARD	Alan MORRELL	MadelineELLIS
JennyMORTIMER	LukeWEST	MaryEVANS
GeorgeMORTIMER	RichardWILKIN	ShirleyFRANCIS
Paddy O’RIORDAN	Willy WILLIAMSON	Michael FULFORD DOBSON
Jane O’RIORDAN	ArabellaWILLIAMSON	Anthony GARVEY
John PATERSON	JamesWILSON	Ghislaine GARVEY
Jennie PATERSON	Myra WILSON	Richard HARTLEY- SHARPE
Lindsay PEDDER	Clover HARTLEY- SHARPE

Those 9 Friends who wish to remain anonymous

We would also like to thank those who have kindly donated memorial gifts to the Trust:

S. Griffin (2022 request) George Trim (2021, 2022 legacy) Clive Fox (2021, 2022 legacy) Peter Powell (2018 memorial collection) James & Priscilla Robinson (2017 legacy) Gordon Proud (2016 memorial collection) June Proud (2015 Memorial collection) Joan Holmes (2015 Memorial collection)

2022-12-31-accounts