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Welcome to the Friends of Pear Tree Church page
The Friends of Pear Tree Church is a Charity Registered in England Registration Number: 1100029
Jesus Chapel, St. Mary Extra, Pear Tree - which is the correct title of this famous and special church - has been on Pear Tree Green since 1618. It is in fact the oldest ‘Anglican’ Church in the World - any churches which today are Anglican and are older than 1618 date to before the Reformation and were never built as ‘Anglican’.
It has withstood the threat of invasion, wars, plagues and pestilence - even though it was damaged in World War II.
Pear Tree Church has sought to serve the spiritual life of this area for close on 400 years and hopes to continue this service for generations as yet unborn.
The maintenance of such a large and historic building can be a fundraising and administrative nightmare for the Parochial Church Council, the Church Wardens and the Vicar. What in a modern building might cost a few hundred pounds to replace or repair usually costs thousands in a truly historic building - Pear Tree is listed Grade 2 * which is the second highest possible.
As with any building nearly 400 years old Pear Tree Church needs to have a lot of money spent on it in order to maintain it for coming generations - and also for those people who wish to use it now, be it for regular Christian Worship or for the more occasional services which are part of our lives and heritage.
We need to do some (expensive) preventative maintenance on the roof, repair some failing paintwork, we need to do some serious work on older tombstones in the churchyard and the boiler room is (quite literally) peeling away from the main church building.
For a modern generation we need to think of installing toilets (suitable for disabled access) and we need to think of regular maintenance work that is the primary prevention of crises such as dry rot, wet rot and what not !
Our regular worshipping congregation give generously on a weekly basis. Some of their giving can be described as ‘sacrificial’ and they deserve a well done for this. The costs of maintaining such a building are however quite frightening and we are not balancing the books.
We are now looking to the more occasional user of the church to play a larger part in the financial survival of Pear Tree Church. To that end we are setting up a charity which will be called ‘The Friends of Pear Tree Church’.
Yes - of course it will seek to take money off you. We don’t apologise for that; but we want to do it with a smile, with a two way relationship and we will also want to do it regularly (albeit in small amounts).
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You can help
Will you become a ‘Friend’ and commit yourself to a regular annual or monthly donation to help Pear Tree Church serve both this generation and generations yet to come?
If you would like more information about this ‘Friends’ scheme, please contact the Church Wardens:
Either Jim Inglis on jean@inglif.orangehome.co.uk or Peter Spencer-Fleet on peter_fleet@hotmail.com
The following documents can be downloaded here
This contains the details in the main text of this page
If you want to support the running costs of the Gray & Davison Organ - this document has full details of its history and construction
If you want to become a 'Friend' and donate on a regular basis
This is a special form which we encourage 'taxpayers' to complete which allows us to obtain a refund from the Inland Revenue - it's worth 28 pence for every £1 a 'Friend' donates - so well worth it.
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The Friends of Pear Tree Church is a Charity Registered in England - Number 1100029 |
