ST. MARY’S CHURCH.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20707, 3 May 1929, Page 4

ST. MARY’S CHURCH.

ANNUAL MEETING. The annual meeting of St. Mary'e Church, Mornington, was held last evening, the vicar (the Rev. S. J. Cooper) presiding oyer a fair attendance of parishioners. . " ■ ‘ ; In his annual report the vicar "stated that although unable to report any great forward move they had managed to: maintain their position, attendances at, services, and finances being much about the same ‘ as: last year. ; Their contribution to missions was very creditable; but they should not rest satisfied until every communicant realised the great importance of - this branch, of church, work. . Oho would, like to see , the day when the,'current expenses of the parish were met altogether by the. weekly freewill offerings- of parishioners, thus allowing- the money raised by sales of work and concerts to be. used entirely for buildings, charitable, and" other purposes. ‘ At -the present time the Ladies’ Guild, gave substantial support to the parochial funds, and they were, greatly indebted to them for the generous amounts received.,During the year he had given Bible lessons regrilarly, at the Mornington School, visited the public, and private hospitals weekly, held "many ■ private celebrations of the Holy Communion for the sick in their homes, and had conducted seven funerals, officiated at six marriages, 13 baptisms, and prepared and presented eight candidates for: the rite of Confirmation. . . In-moving The adoption of the annual report, the chairman stated that" they had experienced an up-and-down year, but in . the. end the scale was fairly..well balanced.- ’ The'. contributions towards the mission quota amounted to . £6l 16s sd, which constituted a record for the parish, being only 3s 7d short of the full quota. The vicar’s churchwarden (Mr S. P. Mirams), in seconding the motion, stated that the year’s figures compared very favourably with those of the previous period. During the past year receipts , from all sources, showed an increase of over £23 as-compared with the receipts for the .previous year, but whereas! in that year they had commenced -with a credit balance of £24, in the year under review they had bad. to commence .with a debit balance of nearly £l4. ~ The .income derived by means ,of the envelope system bad increased, by about - £l3, but there bad been an expenditure of '£3l oh the vicarage. The motion was put to the meeting and carried. '

The following office-bearers were election for the ensuing year:—Vicar's churchwarden, Mr S. P.. Mirams; people's churchwarden, Mr E. L. Birt; vestry—Messrs C. T; Bates, W. Boyd’, H. 'Poupart,, L. P. Cabot, G. Swan, A, Hall, and H. Barton.;