Category: Fundraising

The Giving Machine

A new way to support our parish every time you shop on line.

St Oswald’s has signed up to The Giving Machine – a charity which works in much the same way as Easyfundraising. You can join by registering online (it’s free to do so) and then going to the Giving Machine website BEFORE you start shopping.

  • You can register as an individual with up to 4 different causes (who will each share in the benefits raised by your shopping).
  • You can register for Gift Aid when you sign up, so you can maximise the benefit for your cause(s).
  • You can raise up to 0.7% from Amazon with The Giving Machine

You can still support us through Easyfundraising as before. You may find that some retailers are available on one of these fundraising organisations but not on the other. You may find that one of them provides a larger contribution to our cause than the other. We will keep the situation under review over the coming months.

U-tube video about The Giving machine

How to sign up…

  • Start by visiting The Giving Machine website
  • Sign up as an individual
  • Click on “For Shoppers” (top menu bar) and then select “Support a cause” from the drop-down menu
  • Enter our code in the search field – 266632
  • (or you can type “Bollington” in the search field and then select “Anglican parish of Bollington PCC” from the list)

How to support us when you shop…

  • Start by visiting The Giving Machine website
  • Click on “For Shoppers” (top menu bar) and then select “Go Shopping” from the drop-down menu
  • Include this page in your “Favourites” so you can go straight to it next time
  • Choose a retailer from those listed and then shop
  • REMEMBER – you can ONLY raise money for your cause(s) if you choose the retailer from the Giving Machine page. If you go to the retailer’s website directly, your purchases will cost you exactly the same BUT your cause(s) will NOT RECEIVE a donation

The site also offers a downloadable “Desktop Reminder”, but at present this only works with some browsers (it currently doesn’t work with Microsoft Edge, for example).

St Oswald’s Autumn Fair

2.00pm to 4.00pm at St Oswald’s

Our Annual Fundraiser

A huge thank you to all who worked so hard to make this a success, and to all who came along and supported us. We raised nearly £2,000 for Parish Funds!

Special thanks to The Moss Rose Community Band and to the local businesses that provided sponsorship or raffle prizes:
The Cotton Tree
Chadwick’s Newsagent
Tapa
The Crown
The Lime Tree Restaurant
74 Delicatessen
The Cock and Pheasant
Essential Beauty
The Beefeater Springwood Way
Bollington Print Shop
Bellfield’s Bakery
Bacchus Restaurant
Briscola Restaurant
Bollington Balloons
JJJ Heathcote
The Green
The Church House Inn
The Village Florist

Gin Flight at St Oswald’s

55 people participated in our Gin Flight evening to mark St Oswald’s Day. We enjoyed a variety of gins selected by our host for the evening Heather Kirk (of Concepts of Wine & Dine). Most of the gins had some sort of Ecclesiastical connection. There was also a raffle with many other gin-related prizes.

The event was held to raise funds for our New Kitchen project.

This one was certainly different. It was black. And like Marmite, some enjoyed it, others were not keen.

Afternoon Tea at St Oswald’s – All Welcome

Sunday 1 July 2018

An event to raise funds for the work of the parish.

Sunday Afternoon Tea will be served again on 1 July from 3pm to 5pm! Join us to enjoy cakes, company and crafts and cake. There will be a short performance by our Puppet Group.

Here are a few pictures from last month’s event:

 

St Oswald’s Organ Appeal

Appeal for funds for the restoration of the organ in St Oswald’s Church

The pipe organ in St Oswald’s Church is about 100 years old, although it has only been in this church for about half of that time, having been transferred from a previous church. It was selected only after careful searching for a good instrument. It was well-built, which is amply demonstrated by its longevity, having performed over this long period with mostly routine maintenance. Some minor changes were made when it was installed in St Oswald’s by the Manchester organ builder Charles Smethurst in 1967.

In construction, the organ consists of an electrical blower providing air from outside the building to a set of bellows. The sounding of each individual pipe is controlled mechanically from the keyboards and pedals by a series of levers, wires and leathered valves.

The organ is now in need of some fairly modest restoration which could easily prolong its use for another 50 years. The main concern is the bellows which have been patched up in recent years when leaks have appeared due to the ageing of the leather. To avoid repeated patching and even possible failure of the bellows it is now necessary to remove, refurbish and re-install them. The bellows are large enough to provide a steady air supply even when many pipes are sounding simultaneously.

The organ is an ideal instrument to accompany choral singing and is regularly used, mainly for church services and occasionally for concerts. Since the loss of the lovely Renn organ from the former parish church of St John (which was transferred to Nailsworth) the St Oswald’s organ is now one of the only two remaining church pipe organs in Bollington.
The current estimate for the repair of the organ is about £7200, which although a considerable sum, is comparatively little in the lifetime of the instrument. Quite a small donation from enough people would be sufficient to meet this cost.

If you would like to be convinced of the beauty of the organ and the worthiness of it’s restoration and would like to see or even to play it, this can be arranged.

It is intended that this appeal will also be used to comemmorate Sue Bennett and her contribution to the music of the church, alas, cut short by her untimely death.

There is a donation box in the church if you wish to help. Please mark your envelope “for the Organ Fund”. Donations can also be addressed to “The Anglican Parish of Bollington PCC – for the Organ Fund”