Brief History
The Friends of Mereworth Church was first mooted in the early 1970's, when the Rector installed for the parishes of Mereworth with West Peckham was James Hewitt. In 1975, Albert Ramsbottom succeeded him as Rector.
There had been considerable dissatisfaction in Mereworth with the basis of calculation of the so-called “Parish Share” at a time when it had been decided that the cost of an incumbent's remuneration was increasingly to be borne by the parishes they served. The cause of the issue was the inclusion of money from all sources in the calculation of the levy, while the relief for what were considered to be “Major Works” was not fully recognised. Mereworth had had money saved up for work on the clock, and the armorial window at the east end of the church, and there were suggestions that the village was suffering a penalty as a result. The Parish Share for 1970 and 1971 were accordingly withheld, much to the annoyance of the Diocesan officials.
The changes introduced at that time also included the transfer of ownership of the endowments of each benefice to the Church Commissioners. These had traditionally been used to cover the pay of the priesthood (together with such additional benefits, such as the Easter Offering, which each parish and their patron provided), which meant that there was not a standard “living” for parish priests throughout the country. The basis for the transfer was that the parish should be credited with an annuity in perpetuity – an undertaking which has since been broken!
The idea of establishing the Friends came from John Wells, then MP for the Maidstone constituency, who lived at Mere House; he took it up with Michael Seys-Phillips, a solicitor, at the time one of the churchwardens and George Oakes a director of Colefax and Fowler who was particularly interested in the church and its origins, although not a member of the congregation. The discussions continued until 1979, when Michael Seys-Phillips drafted the Deed under which the Friends became established, which this led to the registration of the charity on 15th April 1980, the first Trustees being
The objective of the charity was established as follows:
THE UPKEEP AND MAINTENANCE AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE FABRIC FITTINGS AND FIXTURES OF THE CHURCH OF ST. LAWRENCE MEREWORTH; THE UPKEEP OF THE CHURCH YARD AND THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION IN CHURCH ARCHITECTURE.
The original trustees are no longer with us, Messrs Oakes and Elkerton resigned when they moved away from the parish, and Charles Millett died. As a result, the charity was not very active for a number of years, until Noel McConachie became Rector, and he started looking at ways in which it could be used to help in the refurbishment of the church. The first big item was the cleaning of the interior paintwork, an expensive project lasting several months, which meant extensive use of scaffolding throughout the church. Substantial support was received from the Collyer-Fergusson Trust and the Friends of Kent Churches in financing this project. Before that work was completed, the parish was confronted with a need to finance substantial repairs to the tower and spire at an estimated cost of up to £0.75 million. It was fortunate that English Heritage became interested in this latter project, and ultimately undertook to provide over £0.5 million towards the work, which nevertheless left the parish with a need to raise even more funds.
In the event, over the years of the two projects, there have been individual donations, with gift aid, totalling almost £25,000, and fund raising events which contributed about £15,000 while donations from trusts and grant-giving bodies have amounted to over £60,000.
There had been considerable dissatisfaction in Mereworth with the basis of calculation of the so-called “Parish Share” at a time when it had been decided that the cost of an incumbent's remuneration was increasingly to be borne by the parishes they served. The cause of the issue was the inclusion of money from all sources in the calculation of the levy, while the relief for what were considered to be “Major Works” was not fully recognised. Mereworth had had money saved up for work on the clock, and the armorial window at the east end of the church, and there were suggestions that the village was suffering a penalty as a result. The Parish Share for 1970 and 1971 were accordingly withheld, much to the annoyance of the Diocesan officials.
The changes introduced at that time also included the transfer of ownership of the endowments of each benefice to the Church Commissioners. These had traditionally been used to cover the pay of the priesthood (together with such additional benefits, such as the Easter Offering, which each parish and their patron provided), which meant that there was not a standard “living” for parish priests throughout the country. The basis for the transfer was that the parish should be credited with an annuity in perpetuity – an undertaking which has since been broken!
The idea of establishing the Friends came from John Wells, then MP for the Maidstone constituency, who lived at Mere House; he took it up with Michael Seys-Phillips, a solicitor, at the time one of the churchwardens and George Oakes a director of Colefax and Fowler who was particularly interested in the church and its origins, although not a member of the congregation. The discussions continued until 1979, when Michael Seys-Phillips drafted the Deed under which the Friends became established, which this led to the registration of the charity on 15th April 1980, the first Trustees being
- George Oakes
- James Elkerton
- Charles Millett
The objective of the charity was established as follows:
THE UPKEEP AND MAINTENANCE AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE FABRIC FITTINGS AND FIXTURES OF THE CHURCH OF ST. LAWRENCE MEREWORTH; THE UPKEEP OF THE CHURCH YARD AND THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION IN CHURCH ARCHITECTURE.
The original trustees are no longer with us, Messrs Oakes and Elkerton resigned when they moved away from the parish, and Charles Millett died. As a result, the charity was not very active for a number of years, until Noel McConachie became Rector, and he started looking at ways in which it could be used to help in the refurbishment of the church. The first big item was the cleaning of the interior paintwork, an expensive project lasting several months, which meant extensive use of scaffolding throughout the church. Substantial support was received from the Collyer-Fergusson Trust and the Friends of Kent Churches in financing this project. Before that work was completed, the parish was confronted with a need to finance substantial repairs to the tower and spire at an estimated cost of up to £0.75 million. It was fortunate that English Heritage became interested in this latter project, and ultimately undertook to provide over £0.5 million towards the work, which nevertheless left the parish with a need to raise even more funds.
In the event, over the years of the two projects, there have been individual donations, with gift aid, totalling almost £25,000, and fund raising events which contributed about £15,000 while donations from trusts and grant-giving bodies have amounted to over £60,000.
‘If you would like to be involved in any way with the Friends of Mereworth Church then please use one of the contact icons below
01622 812797
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