News

It costs nearly £10,000 a month for us to do God’s work in this place …..

Could you become a new donor and set up a standing order or if you currently give this way, could you increase your current giving? We are grateful to those few members of St John’s who have already taken this step.

Thank you to everyone who has helped St. Johns financially and through gifting their time and talents through the Covid-19 crisis in recent months. It is appreciated that in many cases this cannot have been easy. Your generosity has been received with sincere thanks and has been vital to keeping our church alive and flourishing.

It was reported to the PCC last month, however, that from January we anticipate our expenditure may well exceed our income by as much as £3,500 a month. Repairs to the spire last year mean we no longer have any reserves to absorb future shortfalls so clearly this is unsustainable unless we do something about it now. We are actively working on ways to raise funds and cut expenditure, but we also need your help.

Our Giving page has further information and explains the ways you can choose to support our church. If you are able to help or need any further information please contact us at [email protected] or [email protected]. We are hopeful that together we can close ‘the gap’ in our finances and ensure that we can continue God’s work in these challenging times.

Thank you for your continued support,

Rev Lu Gale (Vicar), Chris Nelson (Treasurer) and Janet Martin (Gift Aid Secretary)

Poppies are now at the back of Church. Remembrance Sunday is 8 November 2020

As you enter St. John’s churchyard from Spring Park Road you will see on your right a refurbished memorial, now mounted by a cherub.

It is timely and appropriate that this cherub should appear this autumn, as we are about to launch the new “Churchyard Trail” highlighting Trees and Biblical planting which has been undertaken this year. Appropriate because Cherubim (second highest ranking of angels, following Seraphim), are mentioned in the Bible, (Genesis 3.24), as guardians of the Garden of Eden.

 It is a fortunate co-incidence really because the stone masons we use at St John’s carried out the refurbishment on the same day that they attended to undertake some essential health and safety work on unstable memorials in the churchyard.

It is worth noting that we have a regular programme of inspection of the stability of the headstones to fulfil our insurance public liability within the churchyard. The headstones and grave plot maintenance remain the responsibility of the families of those buried here. However, many graves are very old and it is often difficult to trace these families and as a safety measure until they are identified we are advised to lay down any hazardous stonework. 

Bernard