The developments that are taking place in the EMC plans for the future.
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Latest News February 2006
Extract of Minutes: -
Epsom Methodist
Church Council held on 2nd February 2006
Church Redevelopment –
Rev. David Winwood, (Chairman) outlined the current position with the
scheme.
Originally, Church Council had agreed to fund the scheme in two parts in
order that the Scout organisation could make applications to Lottery and
other organisations giving money to youth based work. Unfortunately, the
reality is that there have been no positive responses to these
applications. This does not mean to say that monies will never be
forthcoming from these sources but merely that the donation of capital
funds to youth projects in the South East especially is not the flavour
at the moment. Further applications will be made at a later date but the
issues still remains of how to fund the building of the Scouts HQ/Youth
Hall. The Scouts will be launching a public appeal in the Ashley Centre
on Feb. 18th 2006.
The Scheme was sent for approval by the Methodist Property office and
was submitted as an integrated package i.e. main Church and Youth Hall.
In subsequent meetings with representatives of the Methodist Property
Office it has been determined that whilst approval for the Church
Development is likely, unfortunately they cannot support the building of
the Youth Hall at this stage until funding is in place for that part of
the scheme.
At Design team meetings all options have been discussed including doing
nothing or not doing some items in the Church development that might
free up monies to fund the Youth Hall, but even drastic reduction to the
front development would not provide adequate funding. Again no solution
can be found that will enable us to proceed with the scheme as a whole.
The Design team, having exhausted all avenues and after consultation
with the Finance Committee came to the meeting with the following
proposal in the name of the two committees, which was debated at some
length.
Before voting on the proposals, Richard Chandra-Rajan presented details
of the current redevelopment finances and the business plan to fund the
proposal. (simplified chart below)
This proposal was put to Church Council, and reads:-
The Church Council agrees now to move forward with the Church
development as follows:-
-
To accept the advice of the
Property Division to proceed initially with the “front development”
part of the scheme.
-
As part of this work, to
provide to the rear of the site, the necessary services to enable
the subsequent construction of the youth hall.
-
To authorise the Design Team
and Finance Committee to arrange to invite tenders on this basis
and, assuming the quoted price to be in keeping with the current
estimate of cost, to place a contract accordingly as soon as
practicable.
-
To support the Scout appeals
in seeking to improve the availability of funds so as to be in a
position to invite tenders for, and proceed with, construction of
the Youth Hall with the least possible delay and preferably within
the next twelve months.
This proposal was voted on and accepted unanimously by Church Council.
A further proposal was also put to Church Council. As, in effect, there
are two charities involved, it is necessary for the Scouts to formally
‘lease’ the land for the Scout Hall HQ from the Church in order to
comply with requirements of funding bodies. Therefore the proposal that
Church Council gives approval to proceed towards leasing the land for a
Scout Hall HQ under the guidance of the Methodist Property office and
Legal Department was carried, again unanimously.
|
Building Together @ EMC |
|
Cost |
£ |
|
QS Budget Estimate 4 Jan 2006 |
1,302,000 |
|
Fees in the process of being paid |
54,900 |
|
Additional cost without Section "C" |
100,000 |
|
Allowance for inflation from June 05 |
63,680 |
|
Interest on Chapel Aid Loan |
4,060 |
|
Expected Cost |
1,524,640 |
|
|
|
Funding |
|
Deposits as at 31 Dec 2005 |
302,700 |
|
Outstanding Pledges |
88,000 |
|
Tax reclaim |
13,000 |
|
Rent |
21,000 |
|
Sale of Flats |
400,000 |
|
District Advance Fund (grant) |
50,000 |
|
|
|
Reasonably secure |
874,700 |
|
|
|
Circuit Advance Fund |
300,000 |
|
Rank |
30,000 |
|
CAPF |
16,000 |
|
London Committee |
10,000 |
|
Fund for Property |
4,000 |
|
|
|
Anticipated Grants |
360,000 |
|
|
|
Future fundraising events |
75,000 |
|
New Pledges & Donations |
190,000 |
|
" " " Tax reclaim |
24,940 |
|
|
|
Further Local Effort |
289,940 |
|
|
|
Total Funding |
1,524,640 |
|
|
|
Furnishing & Fittings |
40,000 |
|
Funded by Gifts & Memorials |
-40,000 |
MISSION &
REDEVELOPMENT February 2006 Special Newsletter
The Church
Council has now, by unanimous vote, given full authority for the
building development project to go ahead for tenders to be sought and
for contracts to be placed, in the expectation that builders will be on
site by September. It is now twelve months since we circulated a
sixteen page
leaflet about the financial vulnerability of the church and
about the building project. Since then, the general finances of the
church have reached a more stable position and we have tried to keep you
informed of progress with the development project through this web site.
Nevertheless, it is time to bring you right up to date (14 February
2006) with the details of the agreement made by the Church Council and
the circumstances which have led us to the present position.
On 9th
October 2004 the latest development project was launched with the
support of an open Church Meeting. As different kinds of building
developments have been under discussion for about twenty two years, and
one scheme after another has come to nothing, sixteen months is a
comparatively short time, but the impact of inflation on the estimated
costs, and the changes in requirements by certain funding bodies, leave
us with great disappointment that this further period of time, and
therefore considerable amount of money, has been unavoidably lost.
Integrated Scheme
The Church
Meeting gave support to an integrated scheme, which brought the Scout HQ
back into view, as it had to be deferred in the previous project. The
Church Council then agreed to the scheme being funded in two parts, and
permission was given to the Scouts to apply to funding agencies which
would be able to make grants directly to a youth organisation, but not
to the church. The Scouts were also then free to launch an appeal among
Scout families and supporters. These decisions were made with positive
expectation, based on sound experience but, in the last two years, grant
making bodies have changed their major focus from supporting building
developments that would mark the new millennium to new ventures among
young people and particularly among the disadvantaged, but not to
building programmes.
The Scouts
are now sending out
regular updates on fund-raising for the
HQ for the year. They are organising events, approaching families and
supporters and will be launching a public appeal in the Ashley Centre on
the 18th February 2006, but sadly this has not yet secured enough
funding to enable that part of the project to proceed immediately. The
Connexional Property Officers of the Methodist Church, in Manchester,
have given permission for us to go ahead with the rest of the scheme but
, at this stage, not to proceed with the Scout HQ, until the funding is
secure.
Warnings and a
Way Forward
The
Connexional decision was a deep disappointment to us all, especially as
our intention was to build the Scout HQ first, at the back of the
building. This would then have provided an additional facility for use
when the building work moves to the front. Despite this decision, there
is strong determination within the church and among the Scouts to ensure
that the Scout HQ will be built, hopefully on a second phase of
development immediately following the first.
Before
accepting this outcome as inevitable, the Development Group explored
every other possible way, even sacrificially, of cutting out the
entrance and welcome area, by not renewing the toilets or offices, by
foregoing the new bookshop or baptistry, to release funds which would
enable the youth hall to be included in the first phase, but there was
no way of securing sufficient funds to make that possible.
The warning
came from the Connexional staff, as they know from experience, that a
year’s delay for the whole scheme would be likely to add inflation of
around another quarter of a million pounds to the cost! In the light of
these matters the Development Group discussed with the architect and
quantity surveyor ways of proceeding with the development from the front
of the building ensuring that:-
The land which was purchased to enable a larger Scout HQ to be built
would be secured for that purpose and new boundaries drawn.
The drainage, electricity, water supplies and some of the out works,
which would be necessary for the Scout hall, would be included in the
first phase. This would make it possible for the building work to
continue directly into the second phase, to build the Scout HQ, when the
necessary funding and permission are in place.
Funding
Package
The
additional work which will be moved into the first phase will increase
the costs of the project by about £100,000.
Inflation
over the past sixteen months has added almost £350,000.
Connexional
grants from the Methodist Church have been reduced, by decision of the
Conference, for all building projects, by £40,000.
On the
positive side we have managed to secure a grant, which was not in the
original funding package, for £50,000 from our Methodist District.
We are
applying for another extra grant of £300,000 from the Circuit. If that
falls into place we will be back where we expected to be, with £200,000
to raise, plus £100,000 which has now come into this part of the project
from the Scout HQ costs.
(The services
required for the Scout HQ includes new drainage and soak away
system, water supply to new points, gas and electricity ,
arrangements for the heating system , and access to the rear
section, which at the second stage will be completed as a car park
but will be made available in the first stage for the Scouts to
provide some hard core as a base to park the scout vehicles at the
rear as there will be a loss of parking space at the front of the
building. It will be necessary for the four existing garages used by
the Nursery, Guides and Equipment storage to be removed.)
Fund-raising
at the current level, over the next five years, will add another
£75,000, leaving £190,000 for us to find through extra fund-raising
efforts and personal generosity, over a period of five years.
The
Development Group and Finance Committee met together to thoroughly
examine the position, and came to the conclusion that, accepting that
there are final decisions to be made about some grants and that there is
a considerable challenge facing us over the next five years, the
financial basis of the project was sufficiently sound for us to go
ahead, with the anticipated costs being at
£1,524,640.
The Church
Council had a long debate to ensure that every important aspect of the
present position has been explored and understood, and then unanimously
accepted the joint proposal from the Development Group and Finance
Committee.
The decision was reached in a spirit of realism and yet of faithful
trust in God.
Perspective &
Participation
A project of
this size is bound to loom large over the next few years, but it must
not loom larger than God’s calling to mission and outreach, of which the
building development is only one part. We need the prayers,
encouragement, patience and generosity of every person to get us through
to a positive and hopeful outcome. Everyone is invited to contribute,
and to help raise the funds, but we do not want to be ’banging on’ about
money. If everyone makes a small effort we will succeed, without
distorting the church’s life of spirit.
If you would
like a tube of Smarties to fill with ‘unwanted’ two pound coins, I will
gladly give you one!
If you
organise a coffee morning for your neighbours, you could tell them what
we are doing and why and give them an opportunity to offer support.
Michael
Whelton will gladly give you a fiver if you will use it, like the
talents in the Bible, to make more money by baking cakes, making sweets,
doing some knitting etc. and then selling them for the fund.
Support the Book Fair on the 17th & 18th February 2006.
Bring your friends to the Jazz Night on the 4th March 2006.
Spread the word about the Toy Fair on the 6th May 2006.
All these things will rise a little more for the fund.
If you have
some savings and are willing to offer an interest free loan of five, ten
or twenty thousand pounds or so, even for a limited time, that may help
the cash flow at just the time it is most needed.
Then e-mail Richard Chandra-Rajan, the Development Treasurer via...............
Tell people
about the appeal for the Scout HQ and encourage them to make a donation.
Be thou my
vision
I hope this
is not information overload, because it seems important that everyone
should be fully in the picture. When the building work begins we may
find ourselves a little cramped on occasions, and we will lose the car
park throughout, but we are still intending to continue with our full
programme as far as possible.
Thank you for
the vision, generosity, patience, hard work and for the pain and
disappointment that has brought us to this point.
Thank you for
your loyalty to the fellowship of the church and your share in its life
and mission. Thank you for every prayer, every gift and every bit of
work that has enabled us to come this far with the building development.
Thank you for the spirit of diversity and yet of unity within our
Christian community.
Thank you for
the joy and fulfilment that I’m finding in sharing in ministry with you
at EMC.
If you are
among those who have not been at one with the church’s hopes for the
this development, then please accept my prayers and gratitude for
continuing to belong to our church, as I realise that at times that must
be hard.
Please pray
for continued harmony in the family of the church, for God’s guidance
and blessing and for this project to be part of the means by which we
can engage in God’s mission and build up the Christian community at EMC.
That community is part of his gift to us and part of his gift through
witness and service to the community of Epsom.
“If the
Lord does not build the house, the work of the builders will be
useless.”
(Psalm 127
v.1)
As ever David
Winwood
2005