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May Fayre
Oh ye of little faith....!
Well this perfectly sums up
Brian's comments to those of us who had toiled in the wet for
nearly 7 hours setting up the May Fayre when at 1.55pm the clouds
parted and the first rays of sunshine were seen over Crowthorne
that day! Most of us poor souls, who were already on our second
set of clothes, began to steam - as we dried out! Anyway the
sun brought out the crowds. We didn't see the numbers of last
year and people's purchases were down a little, but all the same
the story would have been much worse if the heavens had not cleared.
It is anticipated that the 2004 Fayre will raise approximately
£7,500 for church funds once all the sponsorship has been
received. This will be second best result ever - not at all bad
considering the appalling weather!
Our list of high earning stalls/ventures included;
Advertising/Sponsorship £2,500
Grand Draw £1,203
Plants £896
White Elephant £410
Teas £275
Cakes £253
Hot Dogs £258
Beer Tent £210
As always with the Fayre there are loads of people to say thank
you to. This year I must particularly thank those of you who
were willing to brave the elements and despite the fact that
you thought I was mad, and were polite enough not to say so,
you all stayed and made the Morgan Rec look like a gazebo sellers
dream. Additional thanks to the Scouts who, as always, came up
trumps with even more kit and helpers than normal and, of course,
I must not forget those long suffering members of the May Fayre
Committee. Thanks also to all of you who helped - even if it
was only for a short while. Your support is the only way we make
it all possible.
We lost a number of our attractions due to the weather this year
- no Key Windows, the steam train couldn't stop on the rails
and Jayne Coleman's dancers couldn't perform but despite these
set backs we did manage to put on a great event. We did have
the pleasure of seeing Yateley Morris Men strut their stuff in
the Arena and the scouts go-kart grand prix added to the excitement
at the end of the day. The children seemed to enjoy the bouncy
assault course and the bouncy slide was as popular as last year.
We were superbly supported by national and local companies, charities
and attractions. I hope you will be able to support them as they
have us.
The May Fayre committee is now having a well earned rest but
will be back in full swing in December/January. I think there
has been a bit of leak in that some people are beginning to think
all we do on this committee is enjoy ourselves - well if you
want to really see what goes on then you'll have to come along
and join the party - just give me a call. |
Our Christian Challenge
Stewardship House-Group Programme 2004
In our recent meetings we were
challenged amongst other things to share our wealth and possessions
with those in need.
It is pleasing to report that several people have already risen
to this challenge. Of the 135 regular donors, 20 have made increases
to their regular giving. We now have 2 new regular donors. We
also received 5 new gift aid declarations to enable St Johns
to reclaim tax on donations. The net result of this is a 5.92%
increase in planned giving; so thank you to all those who have
already reviewed and increased their giving.
It had been hoped to see a 10% increase in donations. If the
remaining 115 donors who have not as yet reviewed their commitment
were able to see their way to increasing their giving by £1
a week we would achieve a 16% increase in planned giving, well
above the increase of 6.5% for the Parish share commitment. So
please take some time to reassess your giving to your Church
to make sure we can fulfil our commitments next year to the Diocese,
our charitable giving and local Mission.
Once more, THANK YOU to all those who have already responded
so generously it is very much appreciated.
PRAYING FOR STREETS: In June prayer requests from the streets
in the Parish will be:
June 6th Llangar Grove and Forest Road
June 13th New Wokingham Road (to Ellis Road/Edgcumbe Park Drive)+
Dormer Close
June 20th Chaucer Road
June 27th (upper part of) Dukes Ride
FAIRTRADE: Following the presentation about Fair Trade
on April 18th when it was suggested that we should become a Fair
Trade parish, as the diocese of Oxford had already voted to become
a Fair Trade diocese in March, there was an encouraging amount
of interest. The PCC voted to support the venture and a meeting
was held on May 11th to look at the way forward.
We already serving Fair Trade tea and coffee at all parish events.
The next steps are
· starting selling Fair Trade goods after services
· to promote Fair Trade goods at other social events,
where practicable,
· to recommend the purchasing of Fair Trade goods when
we go shopping.
We plan to launch our stall, after services on our Patronal Festival,
June 27th, and then to sell at 8am and 10am on the 2nd and 4th
Sunday of each month. We have a rota for this, including MU and
Pathfinders, until the end of September, when we shall review
and see how things are going. |
