The Friends of St Thomas of Canterbury, Lapford.
The Friends (FOST) was founded eleven years ago by members of the congregation to help with the running of the church. We have helped with such unglamorous things as clearing roof gulleys and blocked drains and more obvious things such as grass-cutting and window cleaning - this last no small task as our stained glass windows required specialist cleaning. Our most admired and obvious successes are the installation of under-pew heaters in the main body of the church and new pew cushions (none of which were exactly the same size and which took forever to measure.)
We fund-raise in several ways. Besides our annual subscriptions we hold coffee mornings and cake sales and run a bounty table in the church which sells notelets, postcards and preserves and produce when available. We produce an A4 calendar of photos of the area; these are on sale from October until they have all gone, and we have a few Christmas cards left. These show the church and are printed on white card, with plenty of room to write your Christmas greeting.
We will hold our AGM in May, with a coffee morning in church from 10.30-noon on Saturday 25th May and a Eucharist and AGM on Sunday 26th May at 09.30, and we send out a twice-yearly newsletter to keep members informed about what we are up to. The Friends really are a friendly bunch and always welcome new members, whether you are local or from far away.
Please contact the Secretary, Prue Lambert, if you are interested in joining: [email protected] or 07712-433777.