News from Friends of the City Churches

As Christmas draws near, some of the City churches will be the venues for selling charity Christmas Cards. (see page 4) So if you haven’t already bought yours perhaps it would be a good way to help a favourite charity, possibly discover a new charity and certainly an opportunity to see inside our City churches. The more we look in them, the more we find. It is not just their architecture; it’s their memorials to those long dead but who were often very important in the lives of the parishes in which they lived and worked. Now most City workers come from far and wide by train, tube, bus and car.

City churches’ fittings can also be fascinating, from the sword rests for the Lord Mayor to the churchwardens’ pews, fonts, screens, communion rails and alms boards. They were the subject for a fascinating sell-out talk to the Friends by Andrew Davies in the Church of St Ethelburga last month. So lift up your eyes from the sales tables to the wonders about you as your browse through the Charity Card shops this month and next. These shops are often run by volunteers, just as many of the charities to benefit are themselves helped by volunteers. Our Executive Committee are all volunteers, and very busy ones at that, as they process applications for membership, organise events, sort out the finances, write for our quarterly newsletter, prepare merchandise, care for our growing collection of pictures and guides and prepare rotas. Volunteers help man our "Open Office" on Thursdays 11am-2pm and also help deliver City Events to the City churches.

And of course there are the large body of Church Watchers, all volunteers, who sit in 9 of the churches to allow them to remain open when otherwise they would have to be kept closed for security reasons. We have now taken on Church-Watching at St Botolph’s Aldgate, and have been approached by another church too. Even with sixty-plus watchers it can be quite difficult to provide a consistent opening all year round. So why not join the Friends and contribute to our work at a practical level? We are also looking for people for our committee, and our treasurer will have completed three years sterling service by the end of this financial year and rightly deserves a break, and we really need a back up for our membership secretary. Or have you any other skills to offer?

If you don’t see a Christmas card you fancy in one of the City churches, remember that we have our own for sale at £4 for ten + postage. It features the icon of the Virgin Mary in St Magnus the Martyr and is available by post from our office. We also have a 2005 calendar with colour photos of 12 different City churches for £5. To make the most of your church visits, based on three separate walks, we even have our own pocket guide for just £2. Please make cheques payable to ’Friends of the City Churches’.

Our volunteers will be happy to despatch your order!

Friends of the City Churches, St Magnus the Martyr, Lower Thames Street, London EC3R 6DN tel 020 7626 1555

e-mail      www.london-city-churches.org.uk