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Church braced for ‘tough year’
ONE of Hampstead’s best-known churches has launched an appeal for more cash.
Hampstead Parish Church, in Church Row, was consecrated in 1747 and is the final resting place of painter John Constable, Labour politican Hugh Gaitskell and actor Gerald Du Maurier.
But rising repair costs have forced church treasurer Inigo Woolf to launch a fundraising appeal.
He said: “It is going to be a tough year. We have spent £34,000 on replacing the church boiler, another £5,000 on repairs to the choir vestry and we will soon be renovating the belfry. There is also an extra member of staff – a new deacon who starts in the summer.”
Mr Woolf said the church hoped to buy a flat to accommodate a curate at the end of the year.
He added: “Whether we rent or buy is a question the church council will have to decide but we need more money.
“The clergy are not well paid. It is our duty to make sure that they have an adequate stipend on which they can live and raise a family and to make sure that when they retire they have an adequate pension.” |
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