What surprises many, and indeed those running the village church, is that we receive no central funding for either the day to day running expenses (such as vicar's salary, insurance, heating etc) or indeed for paying for the major maintenance of a grade 1 listed building. (since 2019, over £300k has been spent on urgent repairs: complete refurb of spire, roof and drainage system)

St Mary's has been quietly running a charity since 1574, "Richard Walford's Charity". Details, including governance can be found here:

RICHARD WALFORD'S CHARITY - 212466 (charitycommission.gov.uk) 

The charity's sole aim is in providing funds for the both the maintenance of the actual structure of St Mary's church and towards the annual running costs. The endowment is invested into the COIF Fund (managed by CCLA) and pays a dividend. The charity incurs no running or indeed administrative costs. 

The charity would be pleased to receive more capital to be able to invest, clearly the funds will provide for regular income for the church in perpetuity to provide some element of stability to help preserve the building. 

Do please consider this, perhaps a legacy or irregular lump-sum. 

Thank you.