Dear Friends

I hope you are all safe and well? 

It seems we are moving towards opening up the church again for private prayer, I do not think we will be allowed to do this in June, which is a disappointment, almost certainly in July. However  I have no idea when we will be allowed to open our doors again for worship. I have to say I long for the day when we are able to do this. Our on line community is good, but nothing beats our physical presence – it reminds us that the worship of Almighty God is a corporate affair. Until that time we continue as a Church to do what we can. 

Of course some things never change, our commitment to the Diocese of London, to the Diocesan Common Fund continues. We pay by Direct Debit just in excess of £7,000 per month; salaries for those at work continue to be paid, as do the usual expenses. We have been able to make some savings and will continue to do so. 

What has changed significantly is our income. Unfortunately just before lock down our tenant left the flat for a new home east of the City. We have had interest in the property, but nothing concrete, there may be the possibility of a short term let arranged to commence in August, but as yet nothing definite. Occasional offices have ceased as have all our collections, other rents and donations. In short our income has collapsed. We are very grateful to those of you who contribute to our church by Standing Order and to those who have made electronic donations, you are our salvation and our life line.  Ironically the first two months of 2020 were excellent and we were on course to end the year with a small surplus. We had, for the first time in years, managed to eradicate the deficit. Well that feels now like a lifetime ago. We will end the year solvent, but only because we have dipped into our reserves. I say dipped, I really mean plunged!

If you do not have a regular financial commitment to St Nicholas, could I encourage you to consider the possibility. You can find details of how to set up a Standing Order on our website, you can also find on our website a new facility which enables you to make a single donation. We have hoping to get the same facility set up on our Facebook page as soon as possible. Once the church is open again we are hoping to have available a contactless one touch facility for single donations. To help us weather this particular and extraordinary storm could I plead with you to consider, if you can, a one off donation to help? We would be very, very grateful. As always, thank you for all your support, St Nicholas could not exist without you all. I hope and pray that God will continue to bless our life and work together, now and into the future.

God bless and please stay safe

Simon