ACTING CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
Floodlight 300 Appeal
Since the Appeal was launched in September 2014, we have received £12,071.00.
The new Floodlighting is very successful and effective, being eco-friendly as well as more cost effective in running costs. The actual cost of running the new floodlighting is now £1.47 a night. This is about a tenth of the cost of the old system, which in itself was considered economic when it was installed in 2000. It really enhances and better highlights the church, not only deterring potential thieves from stealing lead from the roof, but improving the lighting around the church reducing the hazards of people tripping on the paths surrounding the church.
Fundraising Events
During this past year we have held several very successful fundraising events bringing Friends together locally and further afield. There have been two Wine Tastings in May and pre-Christmas; a Table Top sale, that saw pre-loved items on sale in the churchyard and the Church Hall; a Trip to Greenwich with John Moses to see Baroque Architecture; Charley Hill’s informative Art talk; and lastly, joining up with the Richmond Local History Society to host the talk on Zoffany, this with no charge to Friends.
St Anne’s website and new website for the Friends
At present we are using the St Anne’s website www.saintanne-kew.org.uk to promote our events, so please check there for our event information. However, we are creating our own website at www.friendsofstanneskew.org.uk and we will update you on this development as and when this is up and running.
Christmas Cards
This year we initiated a new Christmas card, which sold out very quickly. This has encouraged us enormously to consider our plan for next year’s Christmas card. In addition we successfully sold a considerable amount of our current stocks of previous years’ Christmas cards.
New Members
We are pleased to report that this year the number of Friends has increased by 19 new members. Our total membership now stands at 180. Since our membership subscription has remained at just £10 for the past 14 years, we do feel that the time is right to raise membership subscriptions to £25 per member. One of the benefits of membership is a discount on all activities which are open to non- Friends. This increase is to cover new expenses such as public liability insurance but mostly to raise much-needed funds.
Re-printing of The Friends’ Leaflet
We will be reprinting The Friends leaflet later in the year with updated photographs to take into account the very effective floodlighting of the church in the evening and an HMRC change to the required gift-aid language.
‘Friends Sunday’ Sunday 18th September
In this Sunday service dedicated to The Friends of St Anne’s Church Kew, we are planning to highlight The Friends good work and contribution not only to St Anne’s but to the benefit of the wider community in preserving our landmark church. We do hope to see as many as possible of you that day.
Looking Ahead
Our plans for fundraising in the year ahead include a number of very inspiring and interesting events. Firstly on 21st May John Moses will lead a group to the National Gallery. After that on 4th June we will be running a Journey in Musical Theatre entitled ‘It’s A Musical World’ run by the celebrated musicians Julian Kelly and Garth Bardsley. Running then into the autumn, most likely on 10th September, we will run another ‘Table Top Sale’ which proved so successful last year. We then plan to finish off the year with another ‘Wine Tasting’ in November. Both these dates will be confirmed.
Lorraine Neale, April 2016