Giving at St Mary's

Thank you for thinking about donating to the church.  We are constantly in need of financial support for the day–to-day work of the church in its multitude of activities; for maintaining these ancient and beautiful buildings for future generations to use and enjoy, as well as ensuring that the church’s vital rôle to everyone in the Parish is able to continue. In addition to St. Mary’s basic annual costs of £62,000, any church can be faced with large exceptional items as well, often at short notice.

Many people imagine that churches receive government finance, or that the Church of England pays for expenses, whether enabling ministry, or for repairs; this is categorically not the case.

Indeed the reverse is true, as each church has to pay a Parish Share to the Diocese, to pay for ministry and other costs, whilst repairs have to be funded at a parish level.

Some grants are available from different external sources, but these can be for very specific purposes, and have only limited availability.

You can make a one-off gift, or a regular donation and if you are a taxpayer, you may be able to Gift Aid your donations at no additional cost to yourself.

Cheques should be made payable to ‘Streatley Church Council’ and can be delivered or sent to the parish office at:
The Vicarage, Manor Road, Goring READING RG8 9DR

Parish Giving Scheme

For regular donations, many of our supporters use the Parish Giving Scheme (PGS). This is a national organisation which manages donations and the collection of Gift Aid where applicable on behalf of participating parishes. It is simple to register and set up an instruction online using the PGS website. This link takes you to the PGS homepage and this link takes you directly to the page where you can set up a regular donation to St Mary's church in Streatley.

If you would like further information about giving to St Mary’s please get in touch via the Benefice office (details on our contact page).

We are also supported by the Friends of St Mary’s (FoSM) and you can read more about this charity’s work here.