In these times of Covid 19 many of St Mary's regular givers have not been attending church, either because they are shielding or due to government restrictions. Events such as the Summer Fete and Christmas Fete have been cancelled. Unfortunately although these sources of funding have been severely curtailed our costs are still the same.

One solution that you may wish to consider, if you are not part of it already, is the Parish Giving Scheme(PGS) that St Mary's is affiliated to. Using PGS means that the church gets your contribution whether you attend or not.

The PGS organisation reports that they have experienced a significant level of growth over the summer, despite the enormous challenges under which parishes and Dioceses are currently operating.

In August, it reached a milestone of 3,000 churches/parishes actively receiving funds through PGS. In September, they processed just over 52,000 regular gifts, with a total value of £4,874m (including Gift Aid) remitted to parishes – an increase of 8% since March 2020.

If you wish to consider contributing by using PGS please contact one of the church wardens who can give you more information and provide the application forms. Thankyou.