St Mary's Catholic Church, Monmouth
Parish Development Project
Introduction
This is the final report from the Parish Development Team on our parish project. It is designed to give all parishioners a strong sense of accomplishment thanks to your active support and involvement throughout the development programme.
Achievements
Over the last 2 years our relatively small parish of about 150 households has collaborated extremely well to achieve much. Collectively we have:
Preparations
- Prepared a Business Plan then sought and received the support of the Archdiocese to the project's scope and funding of £240,000
- Obtained approval for the development programme from the Historic Churches Committee and Monmouthshire County Council
- Met fire and safety requirements and safeguarded our parish heritage, and
- Ensured that the project received archaeological oversight and approval.
Church
- Redecorated the church including the sacristy and upper office
- Plastered and rendered the church walls where required
- Improved the lighting system to make it brighter and more reliable
- Held Mass in the Monmouth School chapel for 2 1/2 months while vacating the church to permit decoration and electrical work
- Donated £500 with thanks to Monmouth School to a charity of its choice
- Returned ahead of plan to our newly redecorated church on our patronal feast day of the Assumption of Our Lady, 15 August 2009.
Presbytery
- Redesigned and substantially renovated the presbytery
- Carpeted, curtained and furnished it throughout
- Invited parishioners to tour the presbytery after completion
- Arranged for our Parish Priest to move back into the renovated presbytery on 1 December 2009.
In addition we have:
Parish Rooms
- Demolished the Flower Room and the link with the church
- Transformed the ground floor of the presbytery into the parish rooms
- Constructed an extension to accommodate the galley kitchen, boilers, toilets and platform lift to facilitate access and egress for the elderly and persons with disabilities
- Equipped the kitchen & furnished the parish rooms with tables and chairs
- Opened the parish rooms for viewing as planned before year end, and
- First used the rooms for an ecumenical meeting with other local churches
Finances (please see Development Funds as in Figure 1 below)
- Sought and received pledges and donations from parishioners & visitors
- Received financial support of £11,356 thanks to the Social and Fund Raising Committee and £26,217 from external charities over 2 years
- In total collected £55,559 in 2008 / 09 and a further £73,412 in 2009 / 10
- Independently verified that development funds have been properly segregated from other parish funds and accurately reported in accounts
- Received a loan of £240,000 from the Archdiocese and paid back £129,000 (equivalent to over half the loan) in the year it was incurred
- Prepared the 2010 / 2011 budget to ensure continuity of fund raising.
- In addition repaid the entire previous debt of £30,000 over the last 2 years
- Estimated that with our current repayment capability of, say, £40,000 pa (inclusive of the tax rebates from parish and development funds thanks to your gift aid and the diligence of Pat Munday reclaiming such tax) we shall be able to repay our remaining £111,000 loan plus interest within 4 years.
DEVELOPMENT FUNDS
|
£ |
2008/09 Year Actual |
2009/10 Year Actual |
2010/11 Year Budget |
|
Pledges & Collections |
35,130 |
31,820 |
25,400 |
|
Internal Funding Raising |
6.944 |
4,412 |
2,500 |
|
External Fund Raising |
7,000 |
19,217 |
1,000 |
|
Legacies |
6,525 |
8,225 |
0 |
|
Tax Rebates |
0 |
9,738 |
12,000 |
|
Total |
55,599 |
73,412 |
40,900 |
Figure 1.
Historic Achievement
The entire project was completed safely, on time and on budget as planned and agreed with the Archdiocese (please see Figure 2 below)
- To mark the completion of the project Archbishop Peter Smith concelebrated Mass for the parish with Fr Nicholas James on 11 February and thanked the parish for its commitment and dedication to the church
- He also blessed the new parish rooms and joined the celebrations with parishioners as noted in The Monmouthshire Beacon (10 March 2010)
- Articles recognising the parish's achievements have also appeared in The Catholic People (February edition) and in The Universe (30 April 2010)
- Independent of the project, but coincident with its completion, a Short History of St Mary's Church in Monmouth was revised and published
- Thus we have enhanced our own local church and added our own distinct contribution to the long history of the Catholic Church in Wales.
PARISH DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
The Development Project was completed:
- Safely : Zero Injuries
- On Time : Year end 2009
- On Cost : Within budget of £240,000
In the process we also:
- Safeguarded our Catholic heritage by working throughout with the guidance of the Historic Churches Committee and Monmouthshire County Council,
- Had continuous archaeological oversight of the project
- Addressed green issues and our legal duty of care to the elderly and people with disabilities.
Figure 2
Project implementation would not have been possible without the expertise of:
Architect : Tim Pitt-Lewis
Contractors : Anthony Davies of Abergavenny
Painters : Don Charles and Peter Smith
Electricians : Thomas Brown of Monmouth
Archaeologists : Felicity Taylor & Colin Harris
Archdiocese : Philip King - Secretary to the Archdiocesan Trust
Tony Hurley - Treasurer
Mike Bamber - Projects Manager
|
Figure 2 |
Acknowledgements
- Our success is attributable to many.
In addition to those cited above who deployed their expertise and professionalism in executing the project we owe great thanks most particularly to the following:
We clearly appreciate the generosity of many donors and charitable trusts some of which have given us multiple funds and continue to do so. We have also been the beneficiary of several legacies from the estates of deceased parishioners for which we are particularly grateful for their lasting love of the church.
Finally, and most of all, we wish to thank you, our fellow parishioners, for your strong and sustained support throughout the project whether in the form of ideas, encouragement, prayers, voluntary help, as well as generous pledges and payments in kind. We appreciated your personal involvement with a huge range of activities from designing the kitchen to upgrading the parish website, from changing locks to replacing windows, from helping with removals, painting and gardening to doing myriad odd jobs without credit or even acknowledgement. It was truly a parish project from beginning to end and it has clearly enabled us to rally together to accomplish, as well as fund, this magnificent and historic development. Collectively we have enhanced parish life as much as its property.
Parish Development Team
This entire process was driven by the Parish Development Team which was specifically formed by our Parish Priest some 2 years ago to advise him on restoring and developing the parish property consistent with our changing needs.
Now, with the agreement of Fr Nicholas James, having completed the development project, handed over financial responsibility to the new Finance Committee and hereby reported back to our fellow parishioners, the Parish Development Team is standing down with immediate effect.
After this review of the last 2 years it is now time for us to look forward again.
May God bless you for your kindness to, and consideration for, the Church.
Prepared by: Parish Development Team
Sean Dunne - Chairman
Aidan Browne - Treasurer
Alan Blunt
Mary Boase
Frances Cloud
Frances David
Robert Derricot
Babs Jones
P-J Shaw
David Sweeting
John Wood-Collins
Eastertide 2010 Monmouth
