St Laurence Church Report to the Parish Council
REPORT FROM PCC
Laurence Church Report
The Lea Group of Parishes remains in limbo. Since the retirement of Rev Wain, we have not had a vicar and have been told we will not get one; the group will be split up. It is proposed the majority of the 9 churches in the group will join the Trentcliff group, making a total of 15 churches with one vicar overseeing all. This proposal remains in limbo. We would like to thank Rev. David Cotton for taking eucharist services and any baptisms, weddings and funeral services for us. He is a non-stipendiary (i.e. doesn't get paid) priest who lives at Saxilby,
With regards our church of St Laurence, we have had a very productive year. With the introduction of the Community Hub, we are now able to hold regular events in there. Over winter, the vestry roof started leaking in a number of places. The repairs were done and are pleased to say the money raised from the community hub events covered the cost of this work, with monies to spare.
The bell ringers, who are a separate group and have nothing whatsoever to do with the PCC, decided to fund raised for new bell ropes. They asked the PCC if we would be 'bankers' for them as they had no bank account. Monies were raised and paid into our bank account for this, but out of the blue the tower captain resigned and the remaining bell ringers decided to disband. The PCC did not do anything at that time regarding the bell ropes as Christmas and a leaking roof had to take priority. We are now looking into the replacement of these ropes and hopefully this project will be concluded later this year.
On a sad note Margaret Riding resigned from the PCC. She has been a stalwart of the church since moving to Bonsdale from Lancashire in the early 1960's, but at the age of 92 she felt it was getting a 'bit too much' for her. We would like to thank Margaret for everything she has done for the church; she will be sadly missed, although she continues to attend services and support our functions.
Finally, I would like to thank everyone who supports our church, those who give through our planned giving scheme, those who support all our functions, those who run all the events and keep our church and its grounds maintained and of course the Parish Council for their support in paying for the maintenance of the village clock. Without the support of all these people this wonderful Grade 1 listed building, part of Corringham's heritage would close and unfortunately once churches close everything is stripped out and we would be left with an empty shell going to rack and ruin.