Churchwardens’ Report

We have had a very busy summer. The focus has been on redecorating and updating the church hall during the school holidays. A great deal of work has been carried out. We are very grateful to John Haffenden and Mike Denman for all the man-hours they have put in to enable this work to be completed by the start of September.

The hall and toilets have been repainted in a shade of blue to match the floor and curtains. This work was carried out by J D Philip Property maintenance, and we are very pleased with the results. John and Jan spent many hours replacing some damaged ceiling tiles. It is believed some damage was caused by bouncy castles, and we will be monitoring this in future. The old blinds have been removed and the top windows cleaned. The curtains will be dry-cleaned. The fire extinguishers in the lobby and hall were refixed to the wall. The radiators have had a good clean.

The old piano has been disposed of. New taps which turn off automatically to avoid water wastage have been installed in the toilets. New coloured plastic coat hooks were purchased to replace the old metal ones and installed in the porch. We received a donation of a set of white crockery which has been put in the kitchen.

We hope to encourage more people to hire the hall now that it is looking so clean and smart!

The grass has been cut and shrubs trimmed when needed. The old notice board has been dismantled, and the top part installed in the hall porch, enabling it to be used again.

Church

The damp behind the organ was removed and new tongue and groove boarding installed. We’ve installed an internet connection; Virgin media broadband in the church will enable better live-streaming and other IT support, including enabling the card reader to operate more reliably. The flower vestry has been updated. A new wall cupboard has been installed to store crockery for the café. The 2 lower wall shelves were replaced with a single more stable shelf. 6 new plastic boxes were purchased to store dry flowers and older less stable boxes disposed of. A floor cupboard was constructed to house some of these boxes. Storing flower boxes at ground level was to improve health and safety. The cane arch was hung on the wall for protection. The entire sink area was cleaned. It is hoped that this area, primarily used by the flower arranging team, will remain clean and tidy and the work surfaces kept clear. Linda Caffyn has put together a document showing the costs of flower arrangements to those people considering using COGS for weddings etc. We are very grateful for the time she has spent in reorganising the flower vestry and producing the document.

The bathroom in the vicarage has been redecorated and a new extractor fan installed.

Dementia-friendly church

We are now recognised as a dementia friendly church. New signs for exit, fire exit, kitchen and toilet, and stickers for glass windows have been put in place to complete our check. Our CoGS rep is Sheila Powell, and we thank her for all her work and research into this.

Sound system

Martin Devereaux produced a detailed report of the needs of CoGS, and we are grateful for his expertise and input, and also that of Tony Thompson who has been proactive in this. We have received several quotes.

We will obtain reviews for both contractors, regarding the work they have done in local churches. We will now need to raise the money to pay for this. There is a rota for those people responsible for switching the mic on/off at the 10am service.

Ongoing

The following work is due to be carried out:

• Pointing on west wall of the church in the Vicarage garden
• Stonework around windows on south side of the church
• Work on the tower. Although this has not leaked recently, it requires consideration.
• East wall – work needs to be done to repair this. The plan is to include creating a memorial garden, remembering Jackie Martin. We need to decide how we will raise funds for this.

Our thanks go to all those volunteers who have given so much time to enable this copious amount of work to be carried out.