Church rooms 2 (1900)

Post date: Feb 17, 2012 3:36:8 PM

Extract from Parish magazine of November 1900:

STATEMENT OF THE FINANCIAL POSITION

£ s. d,

Announced in last month's Magazine ... ... ... ... ... 376 5 0

By Printer's error 20 0 0

(Mr. A. Leney's donation was announced as £30 instead of £50)

Miss C. S. Harris and Miss M. Harris........................................................... 0 10 6

Mrs. W. J. Dray................................................................................. 2 2 0

Mrs. S. E. Harris .............................................................................. 0 10 6

Mr. J. W. Hawes ................................................................... 2 2 0

401 10 0

Less Lady Login's donation withdrawn in view of leaving parish ... 10 0 0

£391 10 0

Estimated cost:—

Wire-wove Roofing Co.'s estimate for building, including fences and asphalting 355 0 0

Slight additions to ditto ... ... ... ... ... ... 5 0 0

Opening in wall, gate, etc. ... ... ... .. say 5 0 0

Desks, forms, chairs ... ... ... ... ... 25 12 0

Staging.......................................................... ................................. 14 7 0

Gas-fittings and meter ... ... ... ... . say 9 0 0

Two Wiight's Condensing Gas-stoves ... ... ... ... ... 19 3 0

Curtains for division of large room, making and fixing ... say 7 10 0

Extras ... ... ... ... ... ... say 10 0 0

Total................... £450 12 0

At the public meeting held at the Schools on the 25th ult., the following resolution was proposed by Mr. Amos Baker, seconded by Mr. A. Leney, and carried nem con.

" That this meeting, having discussed all the pros and cons of the proposed Parish Church Rooms, approves the scheme and desires the Vicar to carry it out on the lines put before the meeting."

The Vicar has accepted the specification and estimate, and given the order for the building. The financial statement given above shows that the money for the building is in hand, and £30 over towards the furniture, etc. In the list nothing is included which does not seem absolutely essential for making the rooms practically useful. Some items have been cut out of former lists, e.g. window-blinds, which are not absolutely essential. A further sum of £60 is still wanted for these bare necessities —where is it to come from?

At the meeting some questions were raised which invited careful discussion, while others were quickly and satisfactorily disposed of. Among the former was the question of the durability of a structure built with the wire-wove materials. The Vicar has made further enquiries on this point, and he is glad to be obliged to confess that he was wrong in saying that he understood that the roof might require renewing in the course of 20 years at a cost of about £20. It appears that there are buildings which were erected 12 years ago, and which show no signs of want of repair or renewal; and the builders are confident that the roof, if properly looked after, will last indefinitely. Proper attention means that the roof should be scraped and painted and sanded every 4 or 5 years, and the sides not so often—say every 10 years.Exposed timber must be painted as usual—at least every 5 years. The rooms will be as durable as a good timber building.

The annual cost of up-keep was carefully considered. Lighting, warming, cleaning, and repairing are the items of expenditure. The use of gas for lighting and warming keeps down the cleaning bill. Wright's condensing gas stoves are easy to manage and have been well recommended by users, in answer to private enquiries. The total annual cost will be not more, probably less, than £20 a year. It was agreed that there ought to be no difficulty in raising the greater part of this sum by means of an annual subscription list.

The necessity and use of the rooms was another subject. It was again pointed out that they were intended primarily for classes, meetings, etc., and for parochial entertainments, for which the schools, apart from their situation, are becoming every year less suitable—the exigencies of school work and the strictness of H.M. Inspectors are prohibitive. The rooms are not meant to attract entertainments (other than those of the parochial kind) which are now held in the Working Men's Institute. It is not proposed to let them to theatrical companies for profit.

The important matters of ownership and management were also discussed. It being known that the Vicar had obtained Counsel's opinion through his solicitors, he was asked to explain the views he had been able to form. As those views received the assent of the meeting and will be acted upon they may be briefly summed up here. The building will be delivered to gentlemen, who will be the trustees. The Vicar, by Counsel's advice, 'need merely sign a memorandum admitting that the structure belongs to them,' and the memorandum will 'state that the building is on the Vicar's garden land by his leave during his tenure of the Vicarage.' The Vicar in thus delivering the building can make conditions as to the use and management of the rooms. Any gentlemen in accepting the trust will naturally assent to the conditions. It will be the duty of the trustees to make a new Vicar acquainted with the conditions of the trust and to ask him to continue the loan of the bit of land. There can be no reasonable doubt of his ready assent. The conditions being reasonable, no man with a grain of sense will willingly surrender the many advantages afforded him in his work by the rooms. In any case of difficulty or doubt the trustees, will consult the wishes of the governors in public meeting, by which their action will be guided.

The 'governors' are all donors of 10s. and upwards to the building and furnishing fund, and all annual subscribers of 5s. and upwards towards the maintenance of the rooms. The governors will elect managers and will advise the trustees by resolution when requested to do so by the trustees.

The sole management of the Rooms will be vested in a committee of three managers, of whom the Vicar will always be one, and the other two will be elected from time to time by the governors for a term,to be fixed by them at the time, of election. The managers will report annually to the governors.

A carefully drawn statement of the object, constitution, and management of the rooms, will be entered into a book, which will also contain the Vicar's memorandum of delivery to the trustees, the signatures of gentlemen consenting to act as trustees, and a list of the governors It will also serve as a minute book of governors' meetings.

The following people were present at the meeting, which, if not large, fairly represented all classes. The Vicar, in the chair, the Rev. T. E. Humphreys, Messrs. Henry White, R. H. Fremlin, Amos Baker, A. Leney, Dr. W. Fry, L. Hamshire, W. Wells, jun., E. A. Smith, Robert Humphrey, Jas. Fisher, H. Hook, and two ladies.

The final expenditure on the building as published in the parish magazine in August 1905 came to £497 of which £47 is described as 'extras ' to main Wire-wove contract.