January 2007
The end of another year and it has been a particularly busy one for us. This time last year we were wondering whether we could manage to do anything to help the church raise the money needed to repair the bells. We knew it would take a lot of effort but we've made a start and the fund is coming along nicely. Our target is to be able to get the bells repaired in time for their 300th birthday in 2011 and to meet that target we have to raise £1,000 a month every month for the next 5 years. We've not quite managed that rate in our first year but we're pleased with the progress considering that we started from nothing. Next year we will spread our net wider and hope to do better.
We have been very grateful for the response from the village and the support you've given us. The most encouraging feature has been the way in which money has come in from the most unexpected sources. We had the sponsorship from the Dilshad in November (followed by some excellent publicity in the Birmingham Mail) and in the last month we have had three more unexpected donations.
- The first was from the Flower Mill in Alvechurch. They held an Open Evening on December 1st and split the proceeds of their raffle between the St Laurence Bell Fund and a special school at Marston Green in Coventry. They have already been helpful to us this year by selling tickets for our fund-raising events and this extra contribution came as a complete surprise.
- The second was from the Alvechurch Ex-Services Asoociation. They held a raffle at their Christmas meeting and they too decided to donate the proceeds to the bells.
- Finally we had a donation from the Lace Group in Glenda's memory.
All were very welcome.
Our next big event will be the Bellringers' Dance on January 27th in the Ark. There will be entertainment from 8:00 until midnight and dancing to traditional songs and music from Brenda Scott and her band. We've been pleased by the compliments we've had about the food at previous events and we'll be serving a hot and cold buffet during the interval. There will of course be a bar. Look out for more details of the programme and tickets after Christmas.