St Mary's Church
Swaffham Prior is rightly proud of our church. It enjoys a very special place
in the identity of the village. It is very beautiful, has fascinating stained
glass, interesting brasses and much of historical value both inside and out. It
also gives a very special interest to our village in that it has another church
within its own boundary and while this is not unique it is very unusual. Not as
many of us actually worship there as used to but we still have willing
volunteers who look after it, keep it clean and tidy and prepare it for
services and other community use. In the days when the pews were full we were a
rich parish with money to pay our bills, meet all our local commitments as well
as our obligations to the wider parish, and still have some to spare. However,
pews at services today are not as full as they were and weekly offerings donÕt
produce what they once did. Unfortunately our costs have not diminished with
the congregation: we still need to pay our bills; we still need to make our
contribution to the diocese. We do still have a small army of dedicated people
who fundraise throughout the year in order to make ends meet. The community
benefits from their efforts. We recently had a very successful Village Festival
which raised a substantial amount of money for the coffers. We have also just
had Gift Day when the whole village was asked to contribute to the Church.
About thirty householders did so. The amount raised, together with the Festival
money, covers approximately one sixth of our annual responsibilities. And those
were our major fundraising events of the year!
The church is an important part of our village. We all like to think it will be there for us when we need it - even if that is only to be hatched, matched or dispatched. No one surely wants it to disintegrate. There may well be a case for setting up a "Friends of Swaffham Prior Church" to look after the fabric of the place separately from what goes on inside. If every householder gave just £1 per week, (a fiver a month!), we could cover most of our obligations.
Please think about what the church (or its absence) means for you and make a contribution if you can. (All the better if it can be gift-aided as that means we can get a tax bonus from the government of 28p for every pound given.)