Friends of St Lawrence

The Friends of St Lawrence Church Bovingdon       

Registered Charity No. 1112950

Accounts 2023

Annual Report 2023

John Walker, Chair of the Friends, writes:

Mission
The Friends of St Lawrence Church Bovingdon, often referred to as The Friends of St. Lawrence Trust, exists in order to help ensure the preservation of Bovingdon’s Parish Church and Churchyard for current and future generations. The Trust is a registered charity which is independent from St. Lawrence Church but works closely with the Parochial Church Council in order to fulfill its objectives.
The governing document for the Trust is the Trust Deed date 5th October 2005.
Principal Office 5 Kings Mews, Kings Lane, Chipperfield, Kings Langley, WD4 9BF
General
Our main purpose is to raise funds to finance its objectives which are to support St Lawrence Church preserve the church building and the surrounding churchyard as laid down in our Trust Deed.
Activities
We resumed the holding of the annual coffee morning raising £778.16. In July we ran a stall at Bovingdon’s Classic Car Show raising £289.34.
For the first time we hosted a Murder Mystery which raised £1,343.51
As in previous years a Christmas card was produced. Sales of the cards produced a surplus of £175.58 which is less than in previous years. This was due to the decision to engage an illustrator to design the card. 1,500 cards were printed of which 1,440 were used and 60 held in stock.
Donations amounting to £29,287.77 were made to St. Lawrence Church. £22,187.77 represented interim payments for essential repairs to the south-east corner of the chancel. £3,200 was for the repair of one of the stained-glass windows in the chancel. £3,899.76 was spent in refurbishing the car park in are in the churchyard.
Finance
At the beginning of the year the Trust’s funds aggregated £61,880.99 and at the end of the year they had been reduced to £38,729.82. Of this figure £1,120.33 is restricted for the future maintenance of the churchyard and a further £3,879.77 is designated by the trustees for the same purpose. The balance being £33,729.82 is held in General Fund at the discretion of the trustees. Further expenditure will be required in 2024 for the completion the repairs to the south- east corner of the chancel. The residue will be retained to contribute to the redecoration of the interior of the church.
Accounts
The accounts are prepared on a receipts and payments basis.
Personnel
The trustees serving the Charity on 31 December were, Caroline Walker, Pauline Wright, Jane Caley, Beth Ponsonby, Charles Burch, John Walker and Sue Adams. During the year Tom Morkill stepped down owing to ill-heath and in his place, Sue Adams was appointed to serve as a trustee.
John Walker continued to serve as Chairman and Treasurer.
John Walker
Chairman and Treasurer

John Walker john.walker@cmwsecurities.com