Friends of St Laurence's
“A place for those of all faiths and none”
The aim of the Friends is to share our grade one listed building and
its beautiful churchyard with the whole community.
Friends of St Laurence’s will:
• Organise regular working parties,
• Send out a newsletter to friends about progress and events
• Hold social events
St Laurence's Church has been at the centre of village life for centuries.
Currently we have a small active congregation. There are other non-churchgoers who support St Laurence’s in various ways through the year. Many people in the village will have had some kind of connection with the church at special times of their lives or through school.
Whilst we acknowledge with thanks all of those who help us at the moment,
we do need our group of friends to grow in order to keep
St Laurence’s going for the village.
We also want to develop new ways of sharing this wonderful building
and its surroundings.
Don’t let St Laurence’s become a fossil
Come join the FOSLS !
WAYS FOR FRIENDS TO HELP
Include:
• Building maintenance
• Churchyard maintenance
• Encouraging wildlife in the churchyard
• Flower arranging
• Baking
• Brass polishing
• Help with newsletter
• Helping at events
• Joining the bell ringers
• Thinking of new ways to use our building
Whatever your skills, or preference for working peacefully alone, or sociably in a group, there is a way you can contribute.
If you feel you cannot volunteer you can still become a member of the friends: suggested donation £3.p.a (see below)
Friends of St Laurence – FOSL - Fundraising
FOSL is set up with the aim of sharing the grade 1 listed building and its churchyard with the wider community. Its aims were to organise working parties, hold social events and, occasionally, to send out a newsletter.
FOSL now have an account with Easy Fundraising as a simple way of raising funds for the church when you make a purchase on-line. Easy Fundraising works by taking a small percentage of the price the retailer charges you and giving it to St Laurence. It does not add anything to the cost of your purchase.
It works as follows:
• You go to Easyfundraising.org.uk and search for the cause “Friends of St Laurence Downton FOSL”
• Follow the simple instructions to register yourself as a donor.
• When you want to make a purchase, go first to easyfundraising.org.uk and search to see if the retailer you want to use is there (there are thousands of them including all the major ones) and make your purchase by using the link from EasyFundraising. The retailer will automatically make a donation to FOSL of between 0.5% to 4% of the value of your purchase.
If you are interested in joining the Friends, please get in touch with:
Susan Tyler: 01725 512963
Philippa Merrill: 01725 512175
or email: fosl@stlaurencedownton.co.uk
Churches do not receive funds from government. Upkeep is dependent upon donations and volunteers.
If you are unable to help in person but would still like to support us please consider
a voluntary donation of £3 per year.
Bank details:
St Laurence Downton PCC
Acc. No: 65475214
Sort Code: 089299
Funds will be used for equipment and materials for upkeep of the buildings and churchyard,
also for the newsletter and for social events.