Churchover is a beautiful village in the heart of the Warwickshire countryside. Churchover is almost in the centre of England close to both the M6 and M1 motorways with the town of Rugby just five miles away.
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**** HOLY TRINITY CHURCH URGENT APPEAL ****
The Holy Trinity church in our village is without doubt, the most important building in the village. Not just because it is Grade II listed, but because it provides a focus to the village, everyone knows it, and where it is. It's clock provides an important service keeping us abreast of the time, and there is something timeless and redolent of the English countryside in hearing the clock strike the hours on a glorious summers evening. However, the fabric of our church cannot survive upon fresh air alone; it needs money to survive and not just the results of sundry jumble sales or annual fetes, however worthy these events are. It needs money on an ongoing basis, not only to pay for current repairs, but to build up a reserve fund to cope with future calls on expenditure and become financially secure.

Even if you are not a regular churchgoer there is at least one time in your life when you will need the services of the church, if not two or three if the saying "hatched, matched and dispatched" is anything to go by! I'm sure that everyone would at least rather be "dispatched" in our church, rather than in an impersonal Local Authority Crematorium! This would be the only option if the church had to close permanently for any reason.

Contrary to what many people think, the church (as far as it relates to Churchover) is not wealthy. The parish received nothing whatsoever from the sale of the former vicarage property when it was sold. The cost of keeping the church open for Services, Weddings, Baptisms, and Funerals has averaged £7,500 pa for the last 5 years, which has included some repairs. However the more normal everyday outgoings amount currently to £5,500pa, so expenditure on repairs has been kept to an absolute minimum.

On the income side things are bleak. The Church's regular assured income through Gift Aid is currently £1,920pa. To this can be added another £1,268pa from casual giving through Gift Aid, and around £900pa can be clawed back from the Taxmen. Total £4,088. There is therefore a current annual shortfall of £3,413pa. These figures do not include sums payable to the Diocese for clergy support etc. In addition there is income from Weddings and Funerals and gifts from those who attend the church, but the nature of this income is inevitably very uncertain.

It is a Diocese requirement that a qualified architect (at the Diocese's cost) carry's out a five yearly inspection of the building. The most recent inspection has revealed a number of defects in the fabric of the building, which with the total replacement of the asbestos guttering, will come to about £60,000 if all the work recommended has to be carried out.

It could be said that in the material world we live in some of us tend to take the church for granted, and don't give it much, if any, thought. However, surely it would not beyond most people's ability to give a small monthly sum by Bankers Order or Direct Debit to the church to ensure that it has a regular income and can even think perhaps in terms of building up a reserve, so that the people who run the church (The Parochial Church Council), will not have to be always worrying about whether ends will meet.

WHAT CAN I DO TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

A monthly payment of £10.00 or £5.00 or whatever you can give will, with the clawback from the Taxmen, make an enormous difference to the church's present difficulties, give financial stability for the future, and ensure that it is not only there for the purposes of "hatch, match and dispatch') but also just as importantly for future generations.

If you would be prepared to give something, then all you have to do is e-mail the address here or contact one of the members of the PCC and we will provide you with all the forms making the whole exercise relatively painless!

Alternatively please make a cheque payable to the 'Churchover PCC' and address this for the attention of:

Please think seriously about the future of our Parish Church. If it ever has to be sold there will be no way of getting it back, and then the Crematorium beckons ! Greta Gauntlett will be pleased to call upon you to discuss this fund raising exercise and will be pleased to answer any questions that you may have.

Please give generously - THANKS!