Endowment

What surprises many, mostly the vicar and those running the village church, is that we receive no central funding for either the day to day running expenses (such as vicar's salary, insurance, heating etc) or indeed for paying for the major maintenance of a grade 1 listed building. Since 2019, over £500k has been spent on urgent repairs: complete refurb of spire, roof and drainage system.

Thus we rely entirely on donations, this is our only source of income. Financially, we are running at a loss.

St Mary's has been quietly running an endowment since 1574, "Richard Walford's Charity". Registered as a UK charity, ensuring transparency, complete accountability and eligibility for UK gift-aid.

The endowment's sole aim is in providing funds for the both the maintenance of the actual structure of St Mary's church and towards the annual running costs. The endowment is invested into a very reliable and cost-effective portfolio, the COIF Fund (managed by CCLA) and pays us a reliable dividend.

Richard Walford Charity has a board of trustees, of note is there are no running or indeed administrative costs.

The charity would be really pleased to receive more capital to be able to invest, be it small or large donation. Clearly this will help provide for regular income for the church in perpetuity to provide some element of stability and help preserve the building.

Do please consider this, perhaps a legacy or irregular lump-sum.

Details, including governance can be found here:

RICHARD WALFORD'S CHARITY - 212466 (charitycommission.gov.uk)

Thank you.