Friends of Holy Trinity

www.foht.org.uk

The Friends of Holy Trinity (FOHT) is a charity, as described in its constitution: ‘The Object of the Society is the provision of financial assistance for the care, preservation and improvement of the fabric of Holy Trinity Church, Meldreth and for the general maintenance and support of the church and its activities and services, its ornaments and furnishings.’ The church is a Grade 1 listed building and is over 900 years old. The Friends was inaugurated in May 1984 and it has raised funds from two main sources; regular contributions from its members and by organising fund-raising events and there have been some one-off donations including legacies. The committee consists of eight members (trustees), four of which are nominated at the AGM and the other four by the Parochial Church Council (PCC). It has had 42 trustees over the years. Only one of the trustees needs to be a member of the PCC while the others can be from the local community. It should be noted that The Friends’ activities are not directly involved with the day to day running of the church. FOHT has raised in excess of £120,000 since it was formed and it has supported projects with a net value of around £100,000, excluding VAT as grants equivalent to the VAT can be claimed from the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme. The website at http://www.foht.org.uk shows some of the activities under ‘Past Events’ with records back to 1999, while records of supported projects are under ‘Fund Uses’ and go back to 2001. The PCC has been able to obtain other grants towards projects and in some cases, The Friends’ contribution has been part of the total cost of the project. Three of the larger projects were £16,000 for the restoration of the stained glass window in the south aisle in 2012, various external masonry repairs in 2009/10 and a contribution towards central heating in 2015. The ‘Fund Uses’ shows pictures of these works which can be enlarged by clicking on them. The purpose of this article is to make people more aware of The Friends’ role and activities. Like many other fund-raising organisations, Covid has much limited these activities over the last two years. Most of

our indoor activities like talks or music events have been severely restricted as it has been impractical to hold them in the Meeting Room or Church, as social distancing and sanitising etc. has reduced capacity to unviable levels. Also those events requiring catering have been limited although we managed two outdoor events in 2021, i.e. Open Gardens and the Car Show. We sincerely hope that the summer months will permit these again and that the autumn will allow us to return to indoor events as before. We are keen to get going again with a fresh impetus and would welcome suggestions for events that we could run. We also need some fresh blood on the committee to replace some members who are due to complete their term of office. As indicated earlier, you don’t have to be a worshipper at Church, but someone wanting to support the fabric of the oldest building in the village. If you would like to make a suggestion for an event that could appeal to people in the village and the wider community e.g. a talk or music event etc, or would like to know more about becoming a committee member or become a member of The Friends please contact one of the following committee members: John Price (01763) 260048, Robert Skeen (01763) 262269, Mary Gregory (01763) 260120, Ian Mitchell (01763) 260319, Christine Prové (01763) 263455 or Harry Stevenson (01763) 449376.

John Price

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