The Friends of Pirton Parish Church

The Friends main fund-raising activity is Open Gardens, an annual event now firmly fixed in the calendar and diary of visitors, many from outside the area. With ongoing finacial support, The Friends have - over the past few years - been able to pledge funds for the refurbishment works on major projects. These have included: church porch, west window, sound proofing of the bell chamber, church lighting, repairs to gates and decoration of the organ. However The Friends are not resting on past successes - there is more to be done.

With the continuing help of loyal supporters further funding is being raised which will be pledged to the Parochial Church Council for them to progress projects.

Chairman's Letter 2025

FRIENDS OF ST. MARY’S CHURCH

Dear Friends of St. Marys many thanks for your donations and support during 2024/25. I am

pleased to report that we have seen another successful year of fundraising and we now have

enough in the co ers to assist the PPC to go ahead with the next phase of the renovation works

identified in the last quinquennial inspection.

The Friends have been raising money for the church fabric for 50 years and this year we themed

the Open Gardens event to celebrated our golden year. We saw a number of new gardens

opening and with thanks to the Methodist Church Stewards, the Chapel opened its new garden

area and the chapel as our second tea venue. This year we were blessed with good weather

attracting a bumper harvest of visitors and I am happy to report that thanks to the e orts of our

garden openers this year we achieved a record taking in excess of £6,500 . We are always

looking for new gardens so if you would like to open yours, or know of someone who would

please contact us.

This year we have been looking at ways to increase our membership, to that end, we distributed

our three fold, Friends of Pirton, leaflet to every house in the village. The leaflet explains the

work of the Friends and gives information on how to become a Friend. If you know of someone

who loves our beautiful Church please encourage them to join us.

This past year with the help of Stuart Robinson, our Treasurer, we have moved our banking to

accounts that pay us a better rate of interest but still allow us to withdraw cash at relatively

short notice, this, with our new accounting system which has allowed us to claim Gift Aid has

enabled us to further increased our funds.

My thanks to current Committee members for all the work they have put in this year, Our

Committee members are: Joy Stimpson (secretary), Stuart Robinson (Treasurer), Simon

Gooderham, David Joyce, Marisia Hyde and Lesley Lowe

Our thanks go to Philippa Toon who recently stepped down from our Committee after many

years service. As well as being a great member of our Committee, Philippa, with Peter Williams,

has been the driving force behind our plant stall.

At the moment, we are looking for Friends who would like to become a member of our

Committee. Please contact if you might be interested in joining us.

Finally a personal thank you to our Friends and Committee members for their support over this

past year.

Graham Gibbs (Chairman Friends of Pirton Parish Church)