Vicar's farewell (1921)

Post date: Feb 04, 2014 5:28:9 PM

Extract from Parish magazine of November 1921:

The Vicar and his family leave the Vicarage to take up their residence at Belmont, Reigate, about the middle of this month (November). His resignation of the benefice will take effect on January 1st next. In the meantime Mr. Richards will act as locum tenens, but the Vicar hopes to preach in the Church on two or three occasions, including Christmas Day, when The Blessing at the close of Mattins will mark his farewell—the end of an incumbency of 27 years. He desires no other general farewell, and no other could be more appropriate.

The Vicar takes this opportunity of recording his sense of gratitude for the sympathy and support given to him and Mrs. Livett in their work in the parish throughout that long period, and especially during the recent years of the Vicar's ill-health, which is the primary cause of his resignation. They will take away with them and preserve many happy memories, and they hope that their departure will not sever many valued friendships among all classes.

The Vicar would also take this opportunity of making a public acknowledgment of the services rendered to him personally by his colleague, Mr. F. M. Richards, who has acted as assistant-curate for nearly ten years with a loyalty which shews a characteristic sense of duty.

He feels he must also briefly refer to the happy and harmonious relations which have always existed between the successive churchwardens and himself. It will not seem invidious if he mentions by name Mr. Richard French, who at Easter next will have filled the post, as elected in vestry for 21 years. Mr. French may be assured that his voluntary service to the Church as the people's representative will not pass unrecognised by the congregation when the time comes for his resignation of a position that he has filled with diligence and tact, and with the Vicar's keen appreciation of for so many years.

Next Easter the Parochial Church Council will be re-elected, with a new Vicar in powers clearly defined which may in some respects relieve the churchwardens of some of their arduous responsibilities. The present Vicar is leaving at a time when, after some years of depression through war conditions and empty houses (which are now at length being re-occupied), there is every prospect of a revival of Church life and activities in the parish under a younger and a zealous vicar.

The appointment of a new Vicar will not be considered by the patrons of the living, the Dean and Chapter of Rochester, until the present Vicar's resignation has taken effect. During the vacancy from January 1st next until the new Vicar comes into residence, the temporal affairs of the benefice will be in the hands of the churchwardens; while the spiritual oversight of the parish will, it is hoped, remain in the hands of the licensed curate, Mr. Richards.

It may be of interest to record that the nominal value of the living is as follows :—

Ordinary Tithe (variable) £490 1 9

4 % Rent-charge (invariable) 249 7 10

Total £739 9 7

with a house and six acres of glebe (assessed for the Poor Rate at £106) and surplice fees (about £10). In 1895 the income from Tithe of both kinds was £540; in 1914 it was £650; at the present time it is £780. It is to be remembered that the local rates charged on benefices are higher than those on any other kind of property: not only the house and land but also the income from the ordinary tithe assessed to the Poor Rate. Considerable relief has recently been granted in this respect by Act of Parliament, but the Vicar still pays about £50 a year in respect of his tithe alone. It is also to be remembered that the dilapidations of an old property like the Vicarage house and buildings constitutes a heavy expense. The present Vicar has always aimed at keeping the property in good repair. Within the last two years he has spent £400 upon it, and he has still to meet any further demands that the Diocesan Surveyor may make upon him on his resignation. It is well that parishioners should clearly understand the financial position of their Vicar—a man with a family and without any private means would find it difficult to meet his liabilities. The present Vicar calculates that his average net official income during the years of his incumbency, after payment of curate, rates and upkeep of buildings, has been less than £400 a year. It may be well also, in view of the fact that quite recently a parishioner thought that the curate's stipend was paid by some diocesan fund, that it should be made quite clear that such stipend has always been paid in this parish by the Vicar, except that on a single occasion, during the Vicar's illness last year, subscriptions to the amount of £50 odd were raised in the parish to augment the curate's stipend. That stipend, which was £150 a year ten years ago, is now £250—by no means an adequate sum—but, as everyone knows, the stipends of the clergy all round are inadequate. It should be added that on two or three occasions Mr. Richards has received in addition a gift by means of a special church collection or a grant from the Diocesan Board of Finance.

These remarks may be closed by a brief reference to the Schools and the Parish Magazine. The placing of the finances of the School Managers on a business-like footing is long overdue. A sum of £200 is required to start with. For this sum the Managers have drafted appeals which will shortly be issued, and they are considering ways and means for future finance. With regard to the magazine: its monthly publication was stopped after March, 1918, on account of the great increase of cost in paper and printing—to continue it as theretofore would have cost more than £100 a year, an expenditure which was out of the question. Since that date there has been only an annual issue for the purpose' of publishing accounts. This is paid for out of the Parochial Fund. (Probably the new Parochial Council will recognise all these matters.) A further issue will be necessary in a few weeks to publish the result of the appeal mentioned above for the Schools Repairs Fund; and included in it may be a brief diary of parochial events during the last three years for the sake of record.

G. M. LIVETT.