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      • Friends of Binsted Church   ('FOBC')

        Registered Charity No. 282344

         

        We are a charity run by, for, and with help from, the residents and friends of Binsted.  Some of us worship in our 12th-century village church, others use it for community events such as village meetings, concerts or the Arts Festival.  We all value it as a community resource and gathering place, and a precious part of our heritage for nine centuries. 

        The Friends raises funds to help maintain the fabric of the church.  You can donate regularly and the government will add Gift Aid.  Our main fund-raising is delegated to the Strawberry Fair Committee.  The Strawberry Fair raises about £6000 a year, and the Committee usually gives about half of that to the Friends, and the other half to guest charities.  FOBC also provides the Strawberry Fair Committee with banking facilities to enable this fundraising work for the Friends.

        FOBC has met or contributed toward the cost of all kinds of repairs to the Church, including the windows and roof, damp proofing and gutters, steeple, and churchyard walls.  More funds are needed to deal with dampness in the old plaster.

        You are warmly invited to support the Friends, using the donation form.

         

        Binsted Church’s Story in a Nutshell

        St Mary’s Church Binsted is a beautiful and inspiring little building, overlooking the quiet and peaceful Binsted Rife valley.  Usually 20-30 villagers and friends of Binsted meet for a service at least once a month, and the church also hosts concerts and talks. 

        It’s built over an ancient iron age embankment, which separated the kingdoms of Cogidubnus and others when the Romans first landed here. A pit for making a bell for the church was dug into the embankment’s ditch in medieval times.

        The present flint church, built about 1140 but probably replacing an earlier wooden one, is the centrepiece of the scattered medieval village of Binsted, in sight of the Moot Mound to the north.  Binsted’s houses and land are scattered around a promontory of the dip slope of the downs, which reaches out into bird-filled marshy brooklands and the Arun

        Ancient survivals preserved in the church include wall paintings of a saint and what has been called a Tree of Life, together with a lovely carved stone font, and three small Norman round-arched windows.  

        Other features from the 1867 restoration, including the rood screen beam, removed in 1947, whose ends can be seen in the walls. 

        The church's story is the story of all the people who have lived and loved here and it is that, woven into the fabric of the church and the flowers of the churchyard, which makes it so special.

        Donation Form

        Please copy, print and post this section to the Treasurer of the Friends of Binsted Church:

        Mrs Maggie Moore Meadow Lodge, Binsted, Arundel, West Sussex  BN18 0LQ

        Name:  Address:

         

        Telephone: Email:

        □ Please send a Standing Order Form

        □ I enclose a donation of:

                £10             £25         Other:  £…………...

        I would like the Friends of Binsted Church to treat as Gift Aid all donations I make, or have made since 6 April 2000, until further notice. I am a UK taxpayer, and will inform you if I cease to pay tax.  (please delete this part if inapplicable)

         

        Signed ………………………………………
        Date     …………………………………..

        Insurance Policy Certificate