Report on the Fabric, Goods and Ornaments

St James Church Finchampstead For Year Ending December

2010
All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own,
but they shared everything they had. Acts 4:32
Overview
The security and long term maintenance of all our Fabric, our Goods and our Ornaments is an
important ongoing task for the Church. The Church of England oversees this by requiring each
Church to produce a FGO Report and also by requiring the Area Dean, on behalf of the Diocese, to
undertake an annual inspection where the Churchwardens are mandated to provide documented
evidence of all properties and assets together with all the key Church and service registers, logs
and various statistics, insurance certificates, etc. to show that St James’ Church is being run
efficiently and effectively from year to year.
This FGO statutory report is required to be presented at the Annual Parochial Church Meeting which
provides details of the basic fabric of the Church building, and of any significant additions,
disposals or other changes during the year. It should be read together with the reports of the
Fabric and Property Committee and the Conservation Working Group.
The Churchwardens are mandated to keep the Church and its contents under regular review and
there is an item by item annual audit carried out. Two formal pre-structured ‘Green Folders’ are
now issued by the Diocese and are regularly maintained;
• CHURCH PROPERTY REGISTER – This contains a complete ‘Terrier and Inventory’ of all
Church property, which includes both, buildings, fixtures and fittings entrusted by the PCC
and within the Church campus.
• THE CHURCH LOG BOOK - This contains a comprehensive ‘Log & Record’ of all alterations,
additions, removals, and repairs to fabric, fixtures & fittings of both the Church and the
Churchyard.
The Conservation Project
2010 has been particularly busy in the maintenance of the Terrier & Inventory with many of the
fixtures & fittings having been removed from the Church, carefully listed, packed and stored and
subsequently returned to their related locations after the project was completed. The ‘old’ pews
were finally sold to local members of the congregation and residents and only a small number
remain in storage.
The Conservation Project is now complete and we are coming to the end of the retention period for
the identification of any ‘snags’ to the contractors work. In this regard the work undertaken by Farr
& Roberts was of such a good standard that only a minimal level of snags are being experienced.
The church building was finally re-dedicated by the Bishop of Oxford in March 2010 and by the
Bishop of Reading with a ‘civil’ service in July 2010.
The final project included; relaying of the red & black aisle tiles, laying new floorboards, removal
and re-plastering of all loose wall plaster, re-wiring of all the electrical power and lighting circuits,
installation of new heating and lighting and AV system to extend the sound and vision to the North
Aisle congregation, the Ringing Chamber and also ducted over to the Manor House. This enabled us
to install 4x integrated CCTV cameras streaming a video recording directly to the AV system
improving our security capability. Conservationists carefully cleaned much of the worst stonework
and new ‘Portland’ flagstones were laid in the Sanctuary area. New pews and chairs were included
and new cabinet joinery work encloses the electrical equipment and provides new storage for Altar
frontals.
Much unplanned work also took place concerned with:
• the North Aisle ceiling which in the end required to be totally removed and new lathe & hair-
plaster ceiling created together with completely new external roof battens and re-tiling of the
roof with the added protection of roofing felt.
• the re-pointing of the Tower, especially the upper levels and weather courses which had been
on Quinquennial reports for some time, which was a golden opportunity to do this whilst all the
scaffolding was on site.
 (Fabric, Goods and Ornaments Report 2011, continued)
• the 15th century east window stonework was also repaired by the conservationists and now only
requires some minor work to a few small glass panels.
• the conservationists also restored both the prayer boards in the Vestry and the 1660 Royal
Hatchment newly placed on the wall of the North Aisle.
New pews and chairs were added at this time and new cupboards were built to encase electrical
equipment, provide storage for our altar frontals in the North Aisle and beautifully built robe
cupboards in the Vestry.
We took advantage during the project to install an additional fire alert/alarm system which is now
connected directly to the emergency on-line services desk via the control panel in the Manor House
This work was undertaken by RES our current fire services contractors.
Outside the Church, we acknowledge the contribution from the Churchyard Trust who provided the
funding for the new, but re-cycled York Stone pathways and the renovation of the main gate to the
car park.

Churchyard Monuments
The Fabric & Property Committee has developed an ongoing plan which is reviewed at the F & P
meetings. General maintenance of grass and hedges are undertaken regularly both in the Manor
House grounds and the Churchyard and the memorials and monuments are surveyed from time to
time to ensure that they don’t become a health hazard. Cleaning and tidying of the memorials is a
time-consuming task but we are gradually improving the condition of those which are suffering
from overgrown flora, ivies and lichens, etc.
Many thanks go to the Churchyard Trust members who have diligently raised funds for the
maintenance work to the Churchyard and its gates & fences and funding the regular grass cutting
contracts. The churchyard is visited regularly by both local and past residents and it is a very
important part of the role of the Church at this time. The space for burials is getting very short but
the interment of Ashes adjacent to the southern boundary wall has proved to be a successful
location.

Local Crime
Over past months there has been a spate of break-ins associated with many Churches in
surrounding Parishes. The reasons for the break-ins seem to have been variously looking for re-
sellable valuables and other items and some of course seeking roofing lead, etc. The break-in here
at St James in January 2011 unexpectedly only removed the small leaded window in the porch, but
there had been several occasions where the 1590 door bolt appeared to have been withdrawn with
the purpose of returning later and gaining easy entry.
Our current CCTV has proved very useful but we are currently reviewing the need to add further
cameras and increasing the capacity of the CCTV recording media enabling us to extend the period
of ‘look back’. We have also taken the precautions of putting away out of sight much of the
silverware, etc.

Thanks
We have received two new Kneelers within the past year and also a generous gift enabling a new
altar frontal to be made to our own design. Also the visiting Vermont Choir in October 2010
presented us with a ceramic communion chalice set as a ‘thank-you’ for hosting and
accommodating them during their time with us.
Conserving a 12th Century Grade-1 listed Church building, the Manor House, the surrounding
grounds, the wider campus fencing, walls and boundaries, etc. is a massive task which takes a lot
of time and talents. Huge thanks go to all those who support this effort and a special thanks to the
Tuesday Working Party who toil through rain or sunshine. There is also a significant amount of
regular work involved with; cleaning the Church, cleaning the silverware, washing altar linen, etc
and we are immensely grateful to all those folks who help us to keep the life of the Church moving.

Ed Sampson, Churchwarden, March 2011