Achievements

 Our Vision

The Parochial Church Council (PCC) and the Harberton Community Church Community Fund members share a vision for the St Andrew’s church building. It should not only be a place of worship and reflection but its role in hosting community activities should be greatly widened.

To achieve this we first of all need a building which is fully weatherproof. Then its facilities must be brought up to modern standards. We need to address the necessary church repairs identified by a five-yearly architect’s inspection (The Quinquennial Inspection Report).

How the work is planned and organised

The Parochial Church Council is the governing body of the church. It comprises the Rector, Church Wardens and other lay members from the local church community. The PCC has responsibility for seeking approval for any alterations to the church building (which is Grade 1 listed), the care and maintenance of the fabric, and for financing building projects. The PCC is greatly assisted by the inspecting architect in commissioning and managing the work and of course by the HCCF and other donors for covering the costs. Father Jim Barlow is Rector for the nine churches of the Totnes Mission Community. Our current Church Wardens are Alicia Stolliday (07977 588527) and Sally Watson (07889 280191), to whom any enquiries about past and future church building improvements should be addressed.

Achievements – and how the costs have been covered

Much work has been done since the establishment of the HCCF charity in 2017. Donations made through HCCF fundraising have contributed significantly to the costs of improving the fabric of the church. These HCCF funds were raised through a variety of events (“having fun whilst fundraising”) and a large capital appeal in 2018 (The Tick Tock appeal).

Here is a breakdown of the major works completed to date and the extent to which fundraising through the HCCF has helped:

The HCCF also supports an ongoing maintenance fund for smaller repairs, and helps with church insurance costs.

The Friends of St Andrew’s Group has been in place for over ten years. The regular monthly contributions of members, paid directly to the church, are greatly valued because they have paid for elements of maintenance work, significantly the boiler replacement in 2018, lighting and electrical repairs and improvements, handrails at the front entrance and much more, to the tune of £23,000 over the last 10 years.

We also had a significant legacy which helped fund the work on the church clock.

The extensive support and funding from the community has given us a good foundation to make applications to grant giving bodies. Huge gratitude is due for these funds which have totalled nearly £33,000. These are our funders:

The National Churches Trust
The Devon Historic Churches Trust
The Headley Trust
The Elmgrant Trust
A trust which prefers to remain anonymous
Our Parish Council (for the Churchyard Maintenance)

Total investment to date in our church building

All this generosity has resulted in a total investment in the church building of over £103,000 between 2017 and 2024.

Perhaps not surprisingly, given what we have achieved with the support of our community we were given the Nayler Award for excellence in Church Maintenance by the National Churches Trust in 2022.

The next stage of the work will involve the replacement of the church roof so that what lies beneath it can be enhanced to make the church building an even more hospitable place by 21st century standards. We will be particularly focussed on having kitchen facilities...and toilets!

The charity’s accounts

An annual return is made by the HCCF to the Charity Commission each year, for the year to 31 March. Click here to see the latest report.

How can you help?

See the Get Involved page of our website