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THE FRIENDS OF REACH CHURCH

 

 

The current church of St Etheldreda and The Holy Trinity stands on the site of a much earlier chapel, built in 1378, a single ruined arch of which still remains. The church as it is today was built in 1860. From 1861 to 1909 the building was also used as the village school. After fire damage in 1958 the inside of the church was redesigned to today’s layout.

The annual running costs for Reach church are about £6,000. In addition to income from collections, regular giving and fees, Reach church relies heavily on fundraising to meet its expenses. In recent years, however, there has been a shortfall of income and we’ve had to draw between £1,000 - £2,000 each year from the reserves in our legacy fund. Clearly these reserves won’t last forever and in addition to day to day expenses, the church is currently in need of some major repairs and needs to raise £25,000. Although we hope most of this will come through grants, we will doubtless need to further deplete our reserves.

The aim of The Friends of Reach Church group is to raise enough money on a regular basis to ensure that our running costs are met without recourse to reserves. Any additional sums raised will be used for repairs and improvements.

We would ask our Friends to provide a regular, annual donation. The amount is not important (one Friend is donating the cost of a pint of Guinness per week which comes to just over £200 with Gift Aid) if we get enough people supporting us then we will soon be able to cover our current annual shortfall. Friends don't have to be churchgoers - they can be anyone who loves Reach and who wants to do what they can to ensure we don't lose our lovely church.

If you are interested in helping please email Terry Chalmers (terry@terrychalmers.co.uk) giving your name, address, phone number and amount you would like to give (or write to him at the address below).

If you are a UK taxpayer, you can download a Gift Aid Declaration to be completed and sent to Terry and if you want to pay regularly, there is a Standing Order form which you can download, complete and send to Terry:

Terry Chalmers, PCC Treasurer, 70 North Street, Burwell, Cambs, CB25 0BB

To download a copy of our Friends Leaflet please click on the link.

Many thanks for any help that you can give.

Eleanor Williams