Chair’s report for Friends of St Mabyn Church AGM

Tuesday 13 August 2019

• Another year of effort by a very small committee. Fina Stannard has

been a most welcome addition, and I am grateful for all her work and

support. Likewise, Carole Grigg and David Bishop. Thank you for all

efforts made this year. I also thank non-committee members,

principally Rob and Liz Turner for their hard work, Jan Fisher for

helping with publicity and Greta Fookes for supporting us when she

can.

• It has been an interesting year with fundraising events, the context for

which has been the installation of modern facilities within the church

to address the need for refreshment and comfort. We were very

happy to be able to donate £6,000 to facilitate the completion of the

work in very short time. However, we need to replenish our funds for

future projects and so we worked hard to progress towards that aim.

• Elaine Reynolds of Bruallen Flowers returned for a pre - Christmas

flower demonstration, which was instructive, enjoyable and

entertaining. Tom’s contribution of mulled Haywood cider

enlivened the evening and we all went home full of Christmas spirit

and confidence in our own creative efforts – if only until the next

morning.

• Johnny Cowling’s gospel evening at the church on 28 April drew a

large enough audience to make our considerable efforts

worthwhile. 93 tickets were sold, and generous donations were

given for refreshments (Haywood cider and Aunt Avice pasties). I

am grateful to all who sell us their goods or services discounted to

help our charity, such as the above mentioned as well as Palace

Printers and Bricknells for printing and photocopying. A great deal

of work for months beforehand went into making this event a

success. It was a wonderful evening, supported by an audience

largely from outside the village. The warmth of Johnny’s

performance raised the feel-good factor for us all and I am grateful

to him for giving us an evening to remember. Mera Royle, an

outstandingly talented harpist and winner of the BBC Young Folk

Musician of 2018 award, gave a performance during the interval

which impressed us all and gained her new followers. What a lucky

coincidence that her cousins brought her for Sunday lunch at

Westfield and decided to stay for the evening.

• Exultate, in concert on 11 May, gave a thrilling performance of

choral music, which filled the church with glorious sound. It seemed

that this is what the great barrel vault was built for: to amplify

sublime voices. Rob and Liz were instrumental in organising the

concert; Fina and I worked very hard to promote it and sell tickets

and whilst we were sorry that the church was not absolutely full for

such an uplifting concert, we were relieved to have sold over 70

tickets and to have made just enough to cover costs. We would

happily host the choir’s return in future but would give over the

promotion and ticket sales to their own organisation.

• The FoSMC stall at the fête held in the church did respectable

business in strawberries, cakes, tea towels, etc.

• I was pleased to receive a substantial donation in January and

would be delighted to receive one-off donations from anyone who

feels they would like to support the ongoing maintenance of the

fabric of the church, without necessarily joining as a member. If you

are able to confirm that you are a tax-payer, we can benefit even

more in the form of gift-aid.