A year in the life of St. Mary Magdalen, Sheet

The Fabric Committee

The Committee is responsible to the PCC for the care and maintenance of the church and the vicarage. We have been pleased to welcome Ruth Firth, who is our link with "The Friends" and is also our Secretary. The Committee has continued to meet on an “as needed” basis as many of the responsibilities are routine matters of upkeep and repair. During the year we have been blessed with a number of gifts, as detailed elsewhere.

The Steps:
The enhancement to the entrance and the re-alignment of the steps have been successfully completed and complimented by the installation of a pair of wrought iron gates, with matching handrails. The total costs of these works were met by two generous donations, one anonymous and one from The Friends.

Toilet:
The exact location for the much-needed provision of toilet facilities (to include disabled) is presently being decided by the PCC.

Mullions:
The partial replacement of two of the stone mullions - one on the north side and the other on the south side - was completed by Cathedral Works Organisation and paid for by The Friends.

Health & Safety Report:
To ensure that we comply with the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act Peter Belton has kindly prepared an initial report, which is being studied. Peter has prepared a very comprehensive and detailed report and we are most grateful to him.

Guttering:
Late last year Michael Barrow led a small team that cleared all our guttering of dead leaves etc. - a big thank you for a dirty task.

Pew Covers:
Following an offer from The Friends we are currently looking mto the total replacement of all our pew covers.

The Vicarage:
Apart from much needed hedge cutting little maintenance has been required. There is a problem with the soakaway in front of the porch and with a leak in the flat roof. The Diocese Parsonage Board is looking at both of these matters.

I would like to conclude by thanking 2 of our members for their “behind the scenes” support. Apart from leading our gardening team Heather Bird also maintains our notice boards, keeps the church, the choir vestry and the priest vestry tidy and does numerous other unseen duties, most, of which would only be noticed if they were not done.
Thank you, Heather.

Also, a very big thank you to our verger, Bob Cartland, who is always on hand, summer and winter, to open and close our church, and on those cold days ensures that the heating is switched on. Bob also regularly "looks in" on the church during the day to ensure “all is well”.

Lastly my thanks to all the members for their support in the last year.
Charlie Meader (Chairman)
Members: Peter Belton, Heather Bird, Bob Cartland, Dave Dowdeswell, Ruth Firth, Mark Hellewell, Tim Horne, Sonia Ratsey.

Charlie Meader.