Church finances (1917)

Post date: Jan 29, 2014 3:44:53 PM

Extract from Parish magazine of May 1917

THE CHURCH OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, WATERINGBURY.

Vicar: Canon Grevile Mairis Livett, B.A., Cantab., F.S.A.

Assistant Curate: The Rev. F. Maurice Richards, M.A., Cantab.

Churchwardens: Mr. Richard French and Dr. G. Southwell Sander.

Sidesmen: Messrs. A. Baker, C. B. Benfield, A. Longley, S. Head, George Cheeseman,

George Head, — Whiffen, S. Hadlow and George Rogers.

Organist: Mr. E. A. Smith, A.C.P.

Sexton: Henry Martin.

Clerk : Mrs. H. Anderson, Old Road.

CONFIRMATION.

Before this number of the Parish Magazine is in the hands of readers the Confirmation in our Church, fixed for Friday, May 18th, will have taken place.

The following candidates from this parish have made, during the past ten weeks, under the guidance of the Vicar and Mr. Richards, special preparation for this rite, of the laying on of hands with prayer, and have been accepted for presentation to the Bishop :—

Edward George Bell,

Leslie William Curd,

Bertie Charles Cronk,

Frederick Percy Green,

Reginald Latter,

Reginald John Rogers,

George Robert Shepherd,

Francis James Smith,

Harold Arthur Smith,

Albert Edward Spittles²,

Geoffrey Travers,

Leonard Whibley,

Nellie Matthews Boorman,

Florence May Curd,

Lilian Maude Curd,

Freda Fagg,

Dorothy Florence French,

Dorothy Ada Clara Huggett,

Louie Kirby,

Lily Daisy Shepherd,

Constance Minnie Stow,

Silvia Mary Stow,

Edith Mary Winter,

Grace Ellen Wolfe.

It is hoped that all these candidates will be presented on Friday. They will all make their first Communion on Whitsunday.

About forty other Candidates are coming to Wateringbury for Confirmation on Friday from the following parishes:—Teston, Nettlestead, West Farleigh, Barming, West Malling, Larkfield (East Malling), East Peckham, Tudeley, Bayham Abbey (Lamberhurst), Chatham St. Mary, Chislehurst.

NOTE.—The Vicar would be glad to hear (without delay) from any candidates who would like to be prepared for Confirmation with a view to being presented in the Cathedral on July 11th.

WATERINGBURY LIBRARY—MAY QUARTER.

500 Beggars All. Dougall.

501 The Burnt Offering. Mrs. Everard Cotes.

502 The Burden Bearers. Annie Swan.

503 The Debtor. Mary E. Wilkins.

504 The Allinson Honour. Harold Bindle.

505 Beneath her Station. Harold Bindle.

506 Ten Thousand a Year. Samuel Warren.

507 Queed. H. S. Harrison.

508 Tested. Amy Le Feuvre

509 Chris of All Sorts. S. Baring Gould.

510 Commoner's Eights. C. Smedley.

511 The Belle of Bowling Green. A. E. Barr.

512 The Lady of the Decoration. A. E. Barr.

513 The Lady Married. A. E. Barr.

514 Where Three Empires Meet. E. F. Knight.

515 Cetywayo. Rider Haggard.

516 God and Mammon. Joseph Hooking.

517 The Remington Sentence. W. Pett Ridge.

518 Toddie. Gilbert Watson.

519 To Right the Wrong. Edna Lyall.

520 The White Sister. Marion Crawford.

521 Part of the Property. B. Whitby.

522 The Moods of Delphine. L. E. Tiddeman.

523 Dariel. R. D. Blackmore.

524 Caste and Creed. Penny.

525 Joan of Arc. Mark Twain.

526 Prince and Heretic. Marjorie Bowen.

527 The Angel and the Author and others. Jerome K. Jerome

528 Captains All. W. W. Jacobs.

529 The Bracebridges. Sara Titler.

530 Leo Lousada. E. E. Cowper.

531 Dan Russell the Fox. Somerville & Ross.

532 By Celia's Arbour. Besant & Rice.

April Rainfall: 2.37 inches

CHURCHWARDENS' FUNDS AND OTHER MATTERS

At the Easter Vestry, held May 14th , the Churchwardens presented their accounts for the year ending March 31st 1917. The following is a summary statement:-

It will be noticed that the receipts for the year exceeded the expenses by a sum of £1 5s. 5d.; but that the year began with a deficit of £31 7s. 8 ^1/2d., and ended, therefore, with a deficit of £30 2s. 3 ^1/2d-Surely in a parish like Wateringbury the Churchwardens ought not to be saddled with so large a debt. But that is not all. At the Vestry meeting the Wardens, who were re-elected for the current year*, submitted an estimate of what their liabilities would amount to at the end of June, six weeks hence, at the end (that is) of the first quarter of their new year of office : —

£ s. d.

Deficit (as above) 30 2 3^1/2

Salaries of Organist and Clerk 11 5 0

Choristers, Blower and Churchyard 2 15 0

Insurance Premium .. 21 2

Rough total... .. £55 [sic]

As the Wardens cannot fairly be expected to advance this sum, or any part of it, out of their own pockets, it ought to be subscribed. In the meantime the collections of three Sundays will be credited to them, estimated (by average of ordinary Sunday collections for Church expenses) about £10, leaving £45 to be raised by extraordinary effort. Perhaps it is not quite correct to use that word extraordinary, for when, a few years ago, the voluntary rate was abolished and dependence placed upon church collections alone, it was realised that the ordinary collections would not entirely suffice and that at the end of each year a special appeal would have to be made. One year, the year before last, when the deficit was much smaller, no special appeal was made. Last year, when the deficit was £31 odd and (if memory serves rightly) £45 was asked for to meet liabilities accruing at the end of the quarter, the appeal (made on two Sundays) produced £26. This year again as shown above, £45 is wanted. The vestry advised that the appeal for that sum should be made on June 10th, the second Sunday in next month. Members of the congregation are asked to consider what this means: it means that every one should on that day multiply his or her usual offering by about 15 or, say, that a person who usually gives 1d. should give at least 1s.; one who gives 6d. should give three half-crowns or even half-a-sovereign ; one who gives 1s. should give 15s. or might put a pound note into the bag; and one who usually gives half-a-crown should make it £2. Then the Wardens would be relieved of all anxiety for the time being, and if people would rise to their responsibilities—and upkeep of their church is a moral responsibility which lies upon all Church folk—and if those of them, who have been in the habit of giving sixpence, or a shilling, or a half-crown, would, as most of them could, for the rest of the year and afterwards, double their offerings, then the Wardens would seldom, if ever, have to make a special appeal.

Several other matters of finance were discussed in Vestry. The Clerk's salary, which has remained stationary for 30 years, was raised by one-third. The Organist reported that the organ had not been overhauled since the year 1906, and had become almost unplayable: the principal coupler refuses to act; some of the stops require two hands and much strength to pull them out; and many notes have a habit of cyphering. This, of course, cannot be allowed to go unremedied; and Mr. Smith was instructed to ask the builders to send a man to examine and report upon the condition of the organ and estimate the cost of necessary repairs. This is another item of expense to be met in the near future, and it may well be borne in mind on June 10th.

And Mrs. Livett reminded the Vestry that the church had not been thoroughly spring-cleaned for four years! Her suggestion that churchgoers should be invited to meet together and carry out the work, as a War-time service, to save expense to the Wardens, was cordially approved. The work will have to be deferred till after the organ has been dealt with. Men's strong arms will be required to wield the long-handled brushes needed to sweep away the cobwebs from the higher parts of the windows.

The Churchwardens drew attention to a recommendation of the Archbishops, endorsed in the Diocesan Gazette by the Bishop of Rochester, that church collections on Whitsunday should be given as a War-bonus to assistant curates; and they expressed their intention, if approved, of acting upon that recommendation. The amount of the Whitsunday collections will therefore be handed to Mr. Richards. We may take this opportunity of announcing that in response to the Government's appeal, and by arrangement with the Vicar, Mr. Richards has offered himself for part-time National Service, and has been assigned to the work of road-mending ! On his return from a short holiday after Whitsunday Mr. Richards will give two days a week to working on the roads.

*The Sidesmen also were re-elected, with the addition of Mr. Rogers.

Notes:

1. This was before the first significant Bombing raids on London by 14 Gotha aircraft which attacked in June 1917 killing 162 people (including 18 school children at a Poplar primary school).

2. Albert Spittles from Cook's Cottages, Old Road was the village's only civilian casualty of WWII: he was killed by a doodlebug as he was working at Manor Farm.