PARISHONERS MEET

Chronicle (Levin), 15 May 1946, Page 8

PARISHONERS MEET

ST. MARY'S ANGLICAN CHURCH YEAR'S WORK REYIEWED There was an attendance of ; almost forty at the annual meeting of the parishioners of St. Mary's j'Anglican Church, Levin, held on 1 Monday evening. Rev. G. B. StoteBlandy presided. * Apologies were , received from Mr. and Mrs. Sweetman, Mrs. J. Beverley, Mr. H. B. i Burdekin, Mr. ad Mrs. G. D. Bowers and Mrs. W. DUguid. Vicar's Address In his address to the parishion- • ers, Mr. Stote-Blandy paid tribute jto the memory of two prominent ! members of the congregation, since 1 deceased. They were Mrs/ Duck- ; worth, • who had been instrumental 1 in starting the Ladies' Guild, as , well as being interested in the work of the British and Foreign Bible Society and missionary matters, and Mr. R. J. Foss, who, shortly before his death, had informed the ' vicar that he had only to live a few years to have been a lay-reader for fifty years, which was a very Ime record. Mr. Foss was wellknown in Levin as a good friend and counsellor, and could always be relied upon for sound advice, said Mr. Stote-Blandy. At the request .>of the vicar, all present stood in silence as a mark of respect to the memory of Mrs. Duckworth and Mr. Foss. The Sunday School had had a steady attendance during the year, Mr. Stote-Blandy continued, the main difficulty having o been the provision of teachers, who had been retiring for various reasons. The Weraroa Sunday School had closed down for the lack of a teacher, but the children were able to come to Levin for instruction. He congratulated the people of Koputaroa on t'heir initiative in sending a number of children into Levin for church on Sundays. Their example : might well be followed. The youth work of the Parishj 'was not satisfactory, said the vicar. The club which had been formed had not succeeded in holding together, which was to be regretted. The Girl Guides had gone into recess, but with the appointment of a new leader would soon be revived. During the year boys> from the Boys' Training Centre had been brought in to attend their own 'churches, rather than atcend unde--nominational services at the Training Centre. A branch of the Church of England Men's Society had been formed, and had held regular meetings, but an increase in numbers wculd be welcome. Mr. Stote-Blandy went on to thank the members of the Ladies' Guild for their splendid. work during the year. They formed a stal- ■ wart organisation which had been of great a.ssistance. The vicar concluded by thanking all those who had hciped in the activities of the church. particularly the choir and vestry.

Annual Report The annual statement of accounts and churchwardens' report for the year were adopted. The report was as follows: — "peneral Account. — This account, which oened the year with a debit balance of £53 8s 6d, has finished with a debit of £50 Os 6d, showing ! a very slight improvement of £3 8s. ' Open offertories, at £279 3s 6d have jshown an increase of £3 17s lOd, jwliilst envelopes have shown a dejcrease of £1 2s 8d. The Golden

Dffertory, held on the occa,sion of bhe Patronal Festival, returned £57 5s 4d, an increase of £13 3s over that of the previous year. Oft'ertories and donations (our main source of revenue) at £5.69 12s 3d, show an improvement of £14 5s 8d over the previous year, but £50 7s 9d short of the budget figures placed before the last annual meeting. .This result was achieved only with the assistance of a donation of £50 from St. Mary's Ladies' Guild. Apart from offertories, the various items of receipts and payments on the budget have been very closely adhered to. "As in previous years, the vestry has found themselves continually short of funds, which has permitted of nothing more than the bare maintenance of the church. Several urgent repair johs have just had to be left over because of the shortage of funds. During the year, St. Mary's Hall and the roofs of the vicarage and garage received. a very much needed coat of paint, which was made possible by yet another donation from St. Mary's Guild, handed over during the last financial year and held in anticipation of the work being carried out. We do once again appeal to parishiohers to be a little more generous in their- offerings, and in this regard, earnestly solict the wholehearted co-operation of all in the envelope system of giving. "The publication and distribution of the Parish News and of the Diocesan paper, Church and People, have continued throughout the year, and both these accounts show small credit balances. We eXtend our thanks to those voluntary werkers who have carried "out the distribution of these papers. • "New Church Building Fund. — The nett increase in this fund during the year has been £430 17s 2d and the capital now amounts to £5824 16s 5d. Interest earned during the year has been £160 3s lld. whilst donations in one way or another have totalled £273 10s 3d. During the year, a section in 'Shannon Borough, which had stood in the assets of the fund at 5/-, was said by public auction and realised the sum of £16. With costs and disbursements deducted, a nett increase of £8 15s 4d accrued: to the fund. "In an endeayour to raise £100C per year to enable the building oi the new church to be commencec in about five years' time, a campaign was launched during the ;year with the object of obtaining a ' large number of regular small don;ations to the fund, based on the slogan "a penny. a day." This I scheme was launched about midway during the year, and for the ; six months (approx.) that it has been in operation the collectors have brought in £215 15s lOd. 11 wili be quite apparent that the results are not up to the expectation of the organiser^ and the i building of the new church, whict j we are sure all earnest parishioners are looking forward to, wili be ■that much dqlayed. This building project has been before the parishioners now for a period of about 2£ years, and cannot we be in a position to flnalise our ambitions in this respect when the building control regulations allow? We are sure that. it can. be done, and done easily, if only pjarishioneYS, one anc all, would do their small share The present church wili b'e half a century old this year, and the old building cannot be expected tc serve us satisfactorily for manj

more years." "New Church Furnishing Fund. — With interest earned during the year amounting to £12 6s 5d, this fund at present stands at £425 15s lld, the bulk of which is invested in National Savings. "St. Mary's Guild. — The members of the guild are to be congratulated on another highly" successful year, and we thank them for their invaluable assistance to the parish. In addition.'to making a grant of £50 to the general funds of the parish, the guild has met the cost of vicarage telephone rental and also the cost of servicing the vicarage loan. During the year, the guild has paid £200 off the loan, thereby reducing the outstanding principal to £137 10s at date." General The election of vestry members and the Parish Trust Board was then held, resulting as follows: — Vestry: Mrs. M. Blenkhorn, Miss G. Rowley, Messrs. H. F. Hall, W. Bull, G. E. Glover, P. Nichol, J. E. W. Avery, T. C. de Mey, F. C. Lemmon and L. M. Clark, Messrs. A. O. Powell and H. L. Jenkins were appointed vicar's and parishioners' churchwardens respectively. Mr. F. Nicholson was re-elected auditor and those elected to the Parish Trust Board were Messrs. Avery, Bull, Jenkins and Powell, Votes of thanks were passed to the Ladies' GuildA to the organist (Mr. J. W. Hayfield) , to the retiring members of the vestry, to the Press and to the ladies who provided the excellent supper which was served at the close of the meeting.