Friends of Toddington Parish Church (registered Charity Number 1028538)
The Friends of Toddington Parish Church is a registered charity dedicated only to raising funds for the maintenance and restoration of the fabric of this church. It was set up, and Trust Deeds drawn up, in July 1993. Funds raised can only be used for the fabric of the church not for daily running costs. Money for those has to be raised by the PCC. The Friends is a separate organisation. The idea of the “Friends” was that support for restoration should involve anyone in the village (or outside) who was interested in the church as a building.
Since its launch the Friends have been able to fund many projects. Since 1997 we have been able to help with restoration of the tower, (including replacing the four roundels representing Death (on the North face), St George (on the East face), the Green Man (on the South face), the devil (on the West face), replacement of the lower parapets (which had to be taken down for safety reasons when it was discovered that they had become very unstable while the tower project was underway – this was an unpleasant surprise for the PCC and Friends was able to contribute nearly £50,000 to this project , disabled access, replacement of the floor under the front pews, major repairs to the South Wall and windows (£50,000) and replacement of the boilers which gave up in 2018. In addition, the Friends have been able to fund many smaller, but essential projects.
We are very pleased to have been able to provide grants to the PCC over the years of over £210,000.
To raise that much money there have been many different fund-raising events. The first large scale event – which the Friends took over from being run by the PCC - was the Open Gardens. Since 2001 this event has raised over £54,000 and attracted over 8,000 visitors from the village and beyond. This year it will be on 2nd and 3rd July 2022 so please keep those dates in your diaries. Come along and look at the gardens – but if you have a garden you would be willing to open, please let me know – we are always looking for new gardens.
Our other major fund-raiser is the Christmas Tree Festival. This was started in 1999 and has run every year since it was started with only a couple of exceptions (2020 of course being one of them) and over the years has raised over £30,000.
There have been countless other fund-raising events including garden parties, raffles of holiday accommodation, auctions, bring and buy sales, concerts and organ recitals, line dances, whist drives and Scarecrow Festivals. Since 1996 we have also run an on-going bookstall in the Wilkinson Hall where people can give a donation for books and DVDs and this has raised an unbelievable £6,300 over the years. We have also sold personalised merchandise and Christmas cards with pictures of the church. You possibly still have one of our mugs or tea towels or even a jigsaw puzzle.
The Friends have also benefitted over the years from Memory Giving and collections related to people who have wanted the charity to benefit after their death. And, as a charity, we can also benefit from Gift Aid claims from any donations increasing their value by 25%.
As well as our normal, on-going fund-raising there was also an additional effort to raise money when the church needed £400,000 for repair of the Church Tower in 1999/2000. Although a large part of this was to be paid for by grants from other bodies such as the Heritage Lottery Fund the church had to find £75,000 to make those grants possible as the organisations will not usually pay for 100% of any project. At that time, and with strong support from Lady Bowman-Shaw who acted as Chair, we launched the Critical Conservation appeal which raised almost £50,000 in 2 years so the Friends could contribute £65,000 towards the amount needed. All this has contributed to the £260,000 raised since the charity was launched.
Click here to go to the Friends' website.
Since its launch the Friends have been able to fund many projects. Since 1997 we have been able to help with restoration of the tower, (including replacing the four roundels representing Death (on the North face), St George (on the East face), the Green Man (on the South face), the devil (on the West face), replacement of the lower parapets (which had to be taken down for safety reasons when it was discovered that they had become very unstable while the tower project was underway – this was an unpleasant surprise for the PCC and Friends was able to contribute nearly £50,000 to this project , disabled access, replacement of the floor under the front pews, major repairs to the South Wall and windows (£50,000) and replacement of the boilers which gave up in 2018. In addition, the Friends have been able to fund many smaller, but essential projects.
We are very pleased to have been able to provide grants to the PCC over the years of over £210,000.
To raise that much money there have been many different fund-raising events. The first large scale event – which the Friends took over from being run by the PCC - was the Open Gardens. Since 2001 this event has raised over £54,000 and attracted over 8,000 visitors from the village and beyond. This year it will be on 2nd and 3rd July 2022 so please keep those dates in your diaries. Come along and look at the gardens – but if you have a garden you would be willing to open, please let me know – we are always looking for new gardens.
Our other major fund-raiser is the Christmas Tree Festival. This was started in 1999 and has run every year since it was started with only a couple of exceptions (2020 of course being one of them) and over the years has raised over £30,000.
There have been countless other fund-raising events including garden parties, raffles of holiday accommodation, auctions, bring and buy sales, concerts and organ recitals, line dances, whist drives and Scarecrow Festivals. Since 1996 we have also run an on-going bookstall in the Wilkinson Hall where people can give a donation for books and DVDs and this has raised an unbelievable £6,300 over the years. We have also sold personalised merchandise and Christmas cards with pictures of the church. You possibly still have one of our mugs or tea towels or even a jigsaw puzzle.
The Friends have also benefitted over the years from Memory Giving and collections related to people who have wanted the charity to benefit after their death. And, as a charity, we can also benefit from Gift Aid claims from any donations increasing their value by 25%.
As well as our normal, on-going fund-raising there was also an additional effort to raise money when the church needed £400,000 for repair of the Church Tower in 1999/2000. Although a large part of this was to be paid for by grants from other bodies such as the Heritage Lottery Fund the church had to find £75,000 to make those grants possible as the organisations will not usually pay for 100% of any project. At that time, and with strong support from Lady Bowman-Shaw who acted as Chair, we launched the Critical Conservation appeal which raised almost £50,000 in 2 years so the Friends could contribute £65,000 towards the amount needed. All this has contributed to the £260,000 raised since the charity was launched.
Click here to go to the Friends' website.
St George of England Parish Church, Church Square, Toddington, Bedfordshire, LU5 6BP.
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