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The
Fund-raising committee
for the Church Restoration Fund met for the first time on Friday
8th. February at 6 p.m. in the Church Hall.
Present were Marion Anderson,
Neil Black, Retta Deerin, Jimmy Kelly, Dane Sherrard and Nancy Smith. Apologies
had been received from Mary Haggarty.
Dane reminded everyone that
this meeting had come about because Marion had felt that she was no
longer able to take charge of raising funds for the restoration of
the Church and needed assistance. Dane had indicated to the
members of the Community Trust that he would be prepared to gather
together a group of people to plan a fund-raising strategy and that
was the purpose of this meeting. It was his view that at this stage
in the development of the Church there should be four parts to our
fund-raising strategy and each of these parts was considered in some detail.
First of all it is vital that
everything is done to recoup the VAT that has been paid out on
building supplies in restoring the building. Initially one of the
purposes of setting up the Community Trust was to recoup the VAT and
it was noted that Jimmy Paterson was working to ensure that this
money was recouped as soon as possible. This is important because
this money will go some way to pay for the work of re-harling the
exterior of the Church - a work which is programmed to begin in June
of this year. In the event of Jimmy Paterson being unable to recoup
our VAT, Dane, with the assistance of the Church authorities, will
attempt to recoup our VAT, failing which an application will be
lodged to gain from the government a grant equivalent to 12.5% VAT
paid by the Church on restoration work undertaken since April of this
year on the Church (which is, of course, a listed building.) This
would be under the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme.
Secondly it is proposed to
create a 'Friends of Arrochar Parish Church.' Membership will be
open to everyone, will run from Aril to April and will cost £10
for individual membership or £20 for family membership. Leaflets
will be printed and the 'Friends' will be advertised on the web;
members will be encouraged to pay by Direct Debit. The first annual
meeting will be in April 2003 when it is intended to have a
distinguished speaker to address the 'Friends' on a subject of local
historical interest. A bank account will be set up with the TSB Bank
by Neil Black who was also appointed Secretary/Treasurer of the
Friends. An annual magazine for the 'Friends' will also be produced.
Thirdly it is proposed to
create a Bequest Tree and to encourage those who are able, and who
would like to, to contribute to a fund which would grow over the
years with only the interest being available to the Trustees of the
Fund to use to support the ongoing work of the Church. The leaves
of the tree might have copper, silver and gold leaves to represent
gifts of varying sums of money and the aim might be that in twenty
years time there would be sufficient annual interest to make a
sizeable contribution to the running and maintenance of the Church.
It was recognised that this could be the way that someone might mark
a special event in their life and it could be a way of contributing
which would appeal to friends in far corners of the world. To some it
would certainly have appeal that the donation would remain in
perpetuity and that the name of the donor, or the date of donation,
or the name in whose memory the gift is given, would be recorded on
the Bequest Tree.
As at the meeting of the Community
Trust, this proposal generated considerable discussion. Some wanted
to say at once that local people would not be able to afford to make
such donations; others felt that distinguishing between the levels of
giving by having different colours of leaves would be discriminatory.
It was pointed out that there was no suggestion that every attempt to
raise money should be one in which everyone had to participate. It is
important that we offer a menu of giving opportunities. It is also
true that all corporate fund-raising venture offers opportunities to
give at different levels. In the Church everyone's gift is valued and
appreciated and, bearing in mind that in nineteen years time, those
who are looking after the Church will have to show the Church of
Scotland that they have the resources to look after the building for
a further period, a regular bequest income could be very important.
Although we might not benefit ourselves this will be something to
benefit future generations of worshippers in Arrochar.
Fourthly, it was considered
important that we continue to have one major fund-raising event each
year. This year it was agreed that this will be a Strawberries and
Cream Fayre and will be on Saturday 29th. June. Marion will be in
charge or preparations for this event.
Discussions began to flow about
further events and fund-raising activities. Neil suggested that
we hold a sponsored event. Immediately we were reminded that some
other groups in the village rely on sponsored events to raise their
annual funds. We do not wish to cut across what they are doing. And
so we came up with a novel event which will take place on the weekend
of 15th. May. We shall hold a sponsored visit to as many islands or
rocky outcrops in Loch Lomond as possible over the weekend. Full
rules for this event will be posted on our web-page in good time and
sponsor sheets will also be available from the 'Friends of Arrochar
Parish Church.' Contact us through this web-page if you would like to
take part.
It was also felt that we should
produce an annual calendar with pictures of Arrochar and that there
would be a market for Christmas Cards. This will be examined further
before we meet again but there is enthusiasm for both of these projects.
Collecting Cans will continue to
be available for contributions although it was noted that the income
through these had dropped off very considerable probably because they
had been available for such a long time However they did still raise
more than a thousand pounds last year. It was hoped that individual
donors would continue to be as generous as they had been in previous
years. We are in the final lap of the Church Restoration Programme
with about £16,000 needed to everything done to the exterior of
the building and through the web-page we shall also present an
invitation for people to make donations to help us reach our target
as soon as possible.
After what felt like a
successful and forward-looking meeting, we all went home at 7 p.m. |