The Friends of St Peter's is following the precedent of other villages, where local people like an easy way to be able to contribute to the maintenance of the church building, its contents and the churchyard, even if they are not involved in the life of the church itself.
The Friends' fund is entirely separated from the normal running costs of the church, which are met by the congregation (in Stoke Fleming currently around £26,000 pa).
You may have noticed that the flagpole on top of the Church Tower is missing. The old Community Flagpole was last flown at half-mast in memory of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Unfortunately it is no longer fit for use and had to be removed.
In order to raise funds to replace it, we organised a Photo competition for Mobile Phones.
Kindly sponsored by Michael Sutton’s Cellar, we managed to raise enough to pay a new flagpole on top of St Peter’s Church.
The winners of the competition were:
- Gareth Owen for the 'View' category.
- Dan Bridge for the 'Closeup' category.
- Mike Dodsworth for the 'Quirky' category.
We thought it would ‘just’ be a pole, but no … there are many things to consider such as resistance to strong winds (the strongest winds in the area are at the top of the Church Tower), resistance to rot and corrosion due to the salt and acid in the air, ease of maintenance – it’s not everyone’s idea of fun having to go to the top of the tower to paint/varnish and/or clean a 6 metre flagpole on a regular basis, and the general safety for those having to take the pole down for maintenance. Part of the specification is for a stainless steel base that not only secures the pole firmly to the top of the tower but also allows it to ‘hinge’ down for ease of maintenance.
Working in conjunction with John Dietz, the Church Warden, all of these considerations are being addressed and we should have the new pole up and running fairly soon.
You do not have to be a church goer to support this important and beautiful asset to such a special village.
Stoke Fleming has retained its church only because previous generations have looked after it, through hard times and good, for their successors. We are so lucky to live in very active village; what sort of legacy do we wish to leave for those who come after us?
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