NEWSLETTER WINTER 2024/5
OUR FUTURE IS IN YOUR HANDS
SCTG is in a very healthy position. We are always careful with you subscriptions which are the backbone of the group, but we have been fortunate to have received some money from the end of the HLF project. This means we will be able to keep the cost of membership down three years from now and probably the one after. Our problem is us, the executive group that keeps SCTG up and running. We need new blood. The current 6 people that make up the group have a cumulative age of over nearly 400 years and without Richard, our youngest member, our average age would be 78. We cannot live forever and some might like to stand down, but we need new members to keep going.
The job is not difficult and the work is shared. We have a reliable treasurer, a great Chair and a secretary who is always full of ideas, but we need to move on. We need two or three people to join us. We meet 5 or 6 times a year, often at Shrewsbury Cathedral. We do move around if it suits us. We are all scattered across the County. We meet for lunch before our meetings so it is social as well as businesslike. If we cannot attract anyone then this could be the last brochure you pick up and that would be very sad. But we are putting this to you now, being realistic about the situation if no-one comes forward. As it says at the beginning, the future of SCTG is in your hands.
Annual General Meeting
Our AGM is planned for 27th March, in the Bradbury Room at Meole Brace Church which is outside the town centre of Shrewsbury and has parking. You will be able to pick up your new brochures which will be available for the next 3 years 2025/2026/2027. There will be plenty to see, tips for your building, what can SCTG do for you and what can you do for SCTG?
Your church should have received a copy of your entry in the new brochure. Please would you make sure this has been checked for accuracy, If you want to change anything, please let us know before 31st December if possible.
sctgoffice@gmail.com
How To Be An Open Church
https://www.nationalchurchestrust.org/campaign/our-updates/how-be-open-church At the online page above you will find an article “how to be an open church” which is well worth reading. There are other ‘blogs’ here you will find useful too. Take a look.
LETTER TO MEMBERS, 22.9.23
Dear Member
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Preparation for our next booklet, “A Guide to Shropshire’s Churches’ will start in the Autumn of 2024.
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Before we can plan for that, we will need to collect your subscription so that we have the money to pay for it.
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This is the time when Parish Church Councils are setting their budgets, so we ask that you will set aside £60 to cover your membership for 2024, 2025 and 2026.
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We must receive your £60 this financial year to ensure your place in the next booklet. The current one has been extremely successful and highly praised.
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You will notice that despite inflation and the rising cost of printing, paper and transport, we are only asking the same as for the past several years.
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We are dependent on new recruiting new members to keep the costs down, so if you are in contact with other churches in Shropshire or on the borders, please encourage them to join.
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Bank details:-Account name: Shropshire Churches Tourism Group.
Sort Code: 20-77-85 Account number 3332 8651.
Or cheque payable to Shropshire Churches Tourism Group. Please send to
David Hardham, Treasurer SCTG, Upper Knolls Farm, Minsterley, Shrewsbury. SY5 0NL.
David’s phone 01588 650362; our email: <sctgoffice@gmail.com>.
Please add your name, church and contact email/phone number so we know who you are. Or you can pay via our website
‘www.
Thank you for your continuing membership. Our aim is to bring visitors into our churches, and don’t forget, “A happy visitor is a generous visitor!”
Best wishes
Anne Pilsbury
Chair, Shropshire Churches Tourism Group
The big news is our new web design. We hope you like it.
We are indebted to the Heritage Lottery Fund for the re-design, and in particular to Jenny Beard, leader of the 'Virtuous Circles' church tourism project and member of Herefordshire Churches Tourism Group. Sadly, Jenny died recently, and will be sadly missed by all who knew her.
Other News:-
Now that our brochure is going to last for three years instead of two, it is important that you keep an eye on your stock, and if you need more, let us know and we will get some delivered to you. We are making a big effort at the moment to get supplies delivered to everyone who needs them, so if we contact you, please get back to us.