I am very pleased to be able to record that there has been excellent progress since

my first report at the end of March. DAC approval has been granted and

permission has been given to fell the Cypress tree in the Churchyard; so we are

only waiting for the Faculty document, which is due imminently. 

Local fundraising has been truly gratifying, with contributions coming from our own parish

and beyond. In addition to the charitable trusts that I mentioned in my first report

we have been blessed with generous donations from the Leonard Stoate and

Venezia Trusts, bringing the total to £11,000, which includes £4,000 payable when

work starts, scheduled for late November.

The second major development has been the submission of tenders, which after

some final negotiating on our behalf by Jonathan Rhind architects, resulted in a far

lower figure than any of us could have hoped for, reducing our total costings,

including contingencies, to £87,698 gross, £73,176 net. Since the end of March

our total funds raised, or promised, has risen from £21,572 to £35,782, so allowing

for the Listed Places of Worship (LPOW) scheme, which enables us to reclaim

VAT, means that we are approaching the 50% mark. Expenditure amounts to over

£9,300 on architect fees (incl. £1,868 VAT).

Our applications are in for grants from Allchurches Trust and Viridor Credits, the

latter having been supported by all of our elected representatives from our own

Parish, District and County Councillors and by our Constituency member Neil

Parish MP, as well as a particularly poignant letter from the Head of our Primary

School. All of their letters were emphasising that this appeal was not just for a

Grade 1 building, important though that is, but the value to the community, over

the centuries, of this ancient building at its heart, and its continuing role in the

daily life of Willand.

On behalf of the PCC, I am so grateful for all the donations that we have received,

and for the dedicated work being undertaken to raise funds for our cause, to save

our church for the decades ahead.

Rev Simon Talbot

I am pleased to be able to tell you that we have been making good progress with our fundraising for the Church Building Restoration Fund. It is an ever changing picture with donations coming in from various sources, but we have managed to raise over £21, 500! We still have some big applications we are working on, and more fundraising events in the near future. A more formal report is included below, which is also displayed in our church notice boards. For all those who have contributed towards our fundraising, whether with money, ideas or helping organise events... please accept our sincere thanks.

St. Mary’s Restoration Appeal – The First Steps

Jonathan Rhind’s 2016 Quinquennial Report was centred on the potential risk to the south wall of the church that stemmed from the collapse of the Victorian drainage system and from the roots of the Cypress tree in front of the east window. Repairs were also required to the tracery and parts of the roof structure. Towards the end of last year we were provided with the estimated costings of these Q1 items, those requiring action within two years, which amounted to £108,400, including VAT of £18,000.  The PCC elected to tackle this on three fronts; local fund-raising events, coupled with the production of a leaflet to appeal to our congregation for donations, writing to every household in the village via our church magazine front page article and a series of applications to trusts and grant making bodies for funds to cover the cost, which was way beyond the capability of this village parish to raise on its own.

I am pleased to report our success, though we still have a long way to go.  The PCC was able to transfer £4,447 from its Fabric Fund and set itself the aim of raising at least 10% (£10,840) in addition, a target that we have already achieved (£11,125).  We also have been blessed with donations from the Sir John and Lady Amory Trust, the Viscount Amory Trust, the Willand Moor Plot Trust and the Devon Historic Churches Trust totalling a further £6,000. This brings our total funding to £21,572.  Our next target is to reach 30% of the net cost, when we will be eligible to apply for a grant from the Ecclesiastical Insurance Company’s Allchurches Trust.

Any restoration work on our Grade 1 Listed church has to be approved by the Diocesan Advisory Council (DAC) and Chancellor, which is being considered now and tender documents, based on this submission have recently been dispatched.  We are also preparing our submission to Viridor Credits for a grant from the Landfill Tax, for which our application has just passed their Stage 1 process.  Stage 2 cannot be completed until copies of three tenders can be included.   Hopefully we can meet their deadline for a submission in July.  We are also pleased that our campaign is receiving written letters of support from our elected Parish, District and County Council representatives.

On behalf of the PCC I can only express our sincere gratitude to everyone who has contributed, however large or small, for their generosity in our efforts to preserve this focal point of our village life for future generations.

Rev.d Simon Talbot

Rector, St Mary’s Willand 

Can you help….? 

Following the church architect’s inspection of the church around £100 000 of repairs have been identified.

As I hope you know fundraising for these repairs has begun and we have had several generous donations. We also have several fundraising events/ concerts planned over the course of the year, and are writing to a number of Trusts to help with this work. 

As a local community we need to raise at least £10 000 ourselves - I am pleased to say we are already half way there. As we work towards raising this total please could you consider making a donation towards this work? Fundraising leaflets are available at the back of church and in the hall if you would like more details of both the work needed, and how to donate towards our target.

A Heavenly Host of Angels

They will start appearing in December

                       Keep your eyes open for the ANGEL LOGO and any other Angels.

How many will you find???

 

Will you display an ANGEL?

                   Would you like to be part in the Advent Angel Trail?

 Or do it with your children?

This is what to do!!

 

1.      Print an Angel Logo and a map of Willand (click on image below and print- you might need to set your printer to print "landscape")

 

2.      Display your Angel Logo in a prominent place that can be seen from the road, eg in a window, or protected by plastic and hung from a tree in your garden

 

3.      Or be even more adventurous and display other styles of Angels

How about life-size angels in your garden??!!

 

  4    Do the Trail with your children.

                         As you wander around Willand tick the ANGEL’S position on the map.

 

     If you find more than 20, you can enter your map for a Prize Draw. Pop the map with your name on it into the Church Letter Box outside the Church Hall in Rectory Close.EX 15 2RH by Friday 22^nd Dec

 The winner picked out from the entries will be announced on Christmas Eve at the Christingle Service (and we’ll contact you!)

 

Let’s add to our village’s Christmas decorations and fill it with ANGELS

to celebrate Jesus’s Birthday

Please join us, or let someone who might be interesting in coming know...

Please join us for our Messy Church Light Party on 20th October!