St Peter's Church Parish News

Parish Priest
The Reverend Tim Marwood   
           

The Vicarage
Bute Avenue
Petersham 
TW10 7AX

October 2008: Church Redecoration

St Peter’s is being re-decorated and we are promised that the result will be stunning. Last Sunday there wasn’t room for us in the church because of the scaffolding so we met in the church hall in Bute Avenue. We made the best of things but it wasn’t the same. We sat on chairs in rows and it was surprisingly chilly in the hall. There was no organ, no altar rail and no hymn board. And the children had lost their play spaces in the back pews of the transepts.

The first surprise was that more people turned up for the service than were expected and more and more chairs had to be fetched from the stage behind the curtain. We know people go to church when in adversity but it was welcome that people support the church in its temporary difficulty. Presumably the children in the nursery have heating during the week and the time clocks are switched off at weekends. They had not been overridden - if it were for more than one week I’m sure this would change - but on Sunday it was windy outside and chilly inside and I’d left my coat in the car. No hymn board was a bummer – no chance to check the hymns and guess which tunes Jonathan would play! No book rest either – spare hymnbooks and service sheets had to be put on the floor. Jonathan struggled with the piano. No that’s unfair! The piano struggled to match Jonathan’s skill which is one of the delights of the morning service. We all applauded his closing voluntary (as we often do in church when he’s particularly on form).

Tim coped and we followed his instructions. The lessons were about changing perceptions. Firstly Paul’s praise for the Thessalonians’ adoption of the Christian faith and witness to other communities and then the Pharisees’ perception that Jesus was a bigger challenge than they could cope with. Tim made this the basis of his sermon but it was appropriate to the location too.

Missing the altar rail, we stood in line to receive the host. How important is it to kneel? For me, I found, very. It is a sacred and momentous act of faith not a nod of the head towards God. Done in an unfamiliar place, it was acceptable but I wouldn’t want it this way all the time. The Spirit seems more concentrated in the chancel too – though we know that He is out and about with us throughout the week if we allow Him to be and follow his guidance. How important is it to worship God in familiar space? The real lesson is that " where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20).

And the children got their biscuits after the service while we had coffee. There was much more space to move around than at the crossing in St Peter’s when the width of two people talking plus the font make an insuperable barrier. Sometimes you have to walk through the centre pews to get around them!

So, all in all it worked but we shall look forward to being back in church next Sunday. And there are not one but two weddings before then – one on Friday and one on Saturday. Two brides and brides’ mothers who must be biting their nails. Those contractors had better be on time! Good for the reception but I wouldn’t want to be married in the church hall!

Charitable Giving: Give As You Earn

Many pensioners do not know that the government’s Give As You Earn (GAYE) scheme applies to pensions as well as salaries and wages. GAYE falls within PAYE so if your pension is taxed before you get it the provider can operate a GAYE scheme and probably does. The advantage of GAYE is that your monthly contributions are deducted from your pension before any Income Tax is calculated and so they are allowed at the highest rate paid.

The Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) operates a Charity Account for personal donors with a minimum monthly contribution of £10. For every £10 credited to your account the cost to you is £7.80 if your highest rate is 22% or £6 if your highest tax rate is 40%. Put another way, after CAF’s administration fee of 4% you have £12.30 to give to charity for every net £10 you contribute if your top rate is 22% and £16 if you pay tax at the higher rate.

With your CAF account you get a cheque book for one-off donations with a debit card; you can set up standing orders for regular contributions; and you get a quarterly statement of account from CAF setting out the transactions on your account with a current list of future standing orders. One point of interest is that a CAF cheque is more secure than a bank cheque as if it should be intercepted it can be banked only by a charity.

For more information go to www.cafonline.org or write to CAF (Charities Aid Foundation), 25 Kings Hill Avenue, Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent ME19 4TA or telephone  01732 520 000

Charitable Giving: Local Charities

Most of us receive plenty of reminders of the needs of national charities but there are local charities, too, whose needs are also great but with fundraising budgets that don’t run to mail shots. They look to local supporters and deserve our consideration.

Here are a few charities connected with Petersham or nearby that deserve to be supported with brief details of each charity’s formal interest. After each name is the Charity Commission Registered Number. You can look up greater detail of the charitable interest and a summary of recent income and expenditure of each charity (if they are above the minimum reporting level of £10,000) on the Charity Commission website www.charity-commission.gov.uk.

• Petersham United Charities (which includes Petersham Relief in Need Charity and Petersham Educational Charity) (200433)
  Supporting financially residents who are in need, hardship or distress.
  Promoting the education of young residents who are in need of financial assistance.
• Petersham Trust (1077284)
  The preservation of Petersham Meadows.
• The Petersham and Ham Sea Scouts (303819)
  Promoting the development of young people in achieving their full physical, intellectual, social and spiritual potentials.
• Ham and Petersham District Girl Guides (292536)
  The instruction of girls in the principles of discipline, loyalty and good citizenship.
• The Friends of St Peter’s Petersham (271555)
  Maintaining and promoting appreciation of St Peter’s Church.
• The Richmond Society (285805)
  Promoting high standards of planning and architecture and securing the preserva tion of features of beauty or historic interest in Richmond, Kew, Petersham and Ham.

In addition, there is SPEAR www.spearlondon.org which, despite its name operates mainly in Richmond. Their mission is “To enable homeless people to access accommodation, and those at risk of homelessness to maintain their accommodation.  To support all our service users to the point that they no longer need us.” Donations to SPEAR are treated as charitable for tax purposes.

Spare a thought for these charities and give a donation to help them in their good work! Best of all, write a standing order !