NORTHERN ECHO'S ARTICLE ABOUT ST THOMAS CHURCH BROMPTON

A CHURCH in financial dire straits has launched an urgent appeal for help. St Thomas' Church, in Brompton, near Northallerton, has been struggling to make ends meet for the past few years. A total of £13,862.68 has come into the church since January, but £22,254.87 has gone out. Now it has announced it can no longer pay its parish share of £1,250 a month. This is an amount payable to the York Diocese by each church that falls within its boundaries. When the amount payable by each church is being calculated, the size of the civil population and whether or not there is a permanent vicar are taken into account. Ability to pay is not. The diocese has demanded that St Thomas' pays £21,544 this year as its parish share, which is £1,795 a month. The church said it would try to pay £1,250 and has done so for seven months. But July's payment will be the last, adding to the debt the church already owes the diocese. To make matters worse, the church still needs to find £100,000 for urgent repairs to its lead-covered roof. Deputy treasurer for the church, Doreen Newcombe, said: "We are in dire straits really. "We have had to cancel the banker's order as we just haven't any money to carry on paying the parish share each month. We have been digging into our reserves to try and meet the parish share." Mrs Newcombe said as well as paying for housekeeping expenses like electricity bills, the church also has to make sure the building passes an inspection every five years. After the last one in 2005 it had to get a new boiler, which cost about £4,000. The church has done what it can to raise money and even applied for a grant from English Heritage to help with the roof but was turned down. Another application is to be made this year. Anyone who can help the church to raise funding should call Reverend Michael Snowball on 01609-772436