Social and economic
Introduction, Foundation of the parish, The church, The presbytery, The clergy, Parish, Congregation, Spiritual, Education, Social and economic, Some notable events, Acknowledgements
In 1868 the annual cost of running the parish was about £96. Income was about £108, of which only £8 came from the parishioners, the rest from Mgr Witham and from letting out the surplus land at the rear of the church and the stable – presumably Fr Rodgers did not then keep a horse but went everywhere on foot, perhaps hiring a carriage when necessary.
Mgr Witham made an endowment, which, together with the rent from the spare land, by the early 1900’s was producing an income of about £120 pa. The running costs had risen to nearly £200 pa, the difference (about 35%) being contributed by the parishioners in the form of offertory collections, bench rents and door money, Altar Society contributions etc. With a virtually static endowment income (it never reached £200 pa in any of the next 60 years), as costs gradually rose, so did the proportion contributed by parishioners until by 1920 this accounted for 50% of the running costs of the parish.
The first mention of social events in the Notice Books was in 1924, when Fr Knuckey announced that Miss Edleston invited everyone to a Garden party at her home. This was to become an annual event, held in late August or early September. In 1926 he announced that there would be a Social Evening, admission free but by ticket only.
During the 20’s, with post-war inflation, expenditure was rising more rapidly without a commensurate rise in income. In 1927 income contributed by the parishioners met only 40% of the running costs of the parish compared with over 50% a few years earlier, and the Diocese had to make a grant to cover costs in that and the following year. When Fr Dent arrived in 1929 he set about raising money. He incorporated a Sale of Work into the Garden Party, which produced a profit of nearly £35, and a Whist Drive and Dance later in the year raised a further £5. Nevertheless, the Parish account was overdrawn by nearly £60 at year-end. The following year a Whist Drive and Dance on Easter Monday raised £10, and the profit on the Garden Fete increased to £50. (To put these figures into perspective, in those days the average take-home pay was no more than about £3 per week. To match these results today, a Whist Drive and Dance would have to raise some hundreds of pounds and a Fete some thousands). The end of 1931 eliminated the overdraft. Over the years the fund-raising social events became more frequent, with dances not only in the Montalbo Rooms (now the Village Hall) but also occasionally at the George Hotel, Piercebridge. The main event was still, however, the annual Garden Fete and Sale of Work, the income from which had risen by the early 50’s to about £150. It is evident from the headings in the Notice Books that months of planning went into this event. Fr Dent died shortly before the 1951 Garden Fate and Sale of Work. The day after the event the supply priest standing in announced, “Thanks for all concerned in making a success of the Sale of Work. I marvel at the fact that you were able to work together in such a spirit of harmony & happiness without either knowledge or effort from myself. It speaks well for Fr Dent who even in his absence had everything arranged, your goodwill & co-operation prepared and even delightful weather after a dreary week provided for us on the day itself”.
For nearly 30 years the mainspring of the Garden Fete had been Miss Edleston. In 1952 Fr Jacobs announced that: - “There will be a meeting about the Garden Fete at Miss Edleston’s tomorrow night at 8. I want all those who are interested in it to be present. The reason is that this is the last one that Miss Edleston will organise. Not because of me, but because she feels that she & those who have helped her are too old to continue. That is why I want you to do your utmost to make it a success.”
Miss Edleston was then 87. The parishioners took up the challenge, the Garden Fete (subsequently held in the church grounds) continued to go from strength to strength, with income rising to over £200 before the end of the 50’s. Nevertheless, inflation was taking its toll. The direct contributions from parishioners (including an outdoor collection which had been started at some stage) had stabilised at about 40% of expenditure, but the virtually static endowment income, which had contributed some 65% of expenditure at the beginning of the century, was now only some 20%. In 1952 a Football Pool was started which, with profits from the Garden Fete and other social and fund raising events, was producing an income from these sources of some 33% of running costs. Nevertheless, a gap between income and expenditure was re-emerging.
When Fr Stanley arrived at the end of 1955, he set about correcting this situation, a task to which, with his outgoing nature, he was well suited. Social functions increased in number with usually at least two Parish Dances a year held in various venues such as the Montalbo Rooms, the George Hotel at Piercebridge, Winston Village Hall, the Majestic in Darlington, etc, and he initiated various types of fund raising efforts – Whist Drives and coffee mornings or evenings in the homes of parishioners and sometimes in the presbytery, jumble sales and occasionally concerts in the Montalbo Rooms (now the Village Hall) or Academy Rooms (now the theatre). In 1959 he had the old stables converted into a parish hall where events might be held, although this was never a great success. Perhaps it was not large enough and the Montalbo Rooms, which Miss Edleston had left to the village and which were coming on stream as a Village Hall about the same time, was a more appropriate venue – Fr Stanley even arranged fund raising efforts towards the cost of converting them. He encouraged both the outdoor collection and the football pools, replaced in 1962 by the Parish Trebles. The net result was that by the early 60’s the running costs of the parish were being completely covered by direct contributions from parishioners and by the profit on social and other fund raising activities in just about equal proportions of 50% each, leaving endowment income to pay for some much needed maintenance and improvements such as the treatment of the woodworm in the church, the conversion to oil-fired heating, electrical rewiring of the church and presbytery, the building of the grotto in the church grounds to Our Lady of Lourdes, etc. No doubt the increase in the congregation helped in this, but nevertheless it was a remarkable achievement. As has been mentioned, none of this was at the expense of the spiritual life of the parish. In his daybook for 1965 (the only one to survive) he was regularly recording attendance at Sunday evening devotions of 40 or more, peaking at nearly 100 when there was a procession.
The 1960’s saw a general change in social habits, with television, pop music and motoring starting to compete for disposable income with the more traditional forms of recreation, and St Osmund’s parishioners were not insulated from this. For a couple of years before Fr Stanley’s death the income from social activities had been declining, although more than made up for by increased profits on the Parish Trebles. The character of Fr Stanley’s successor accelerated this process. Fr Duffy, a charming man, was then 65, had spent virtually all his life in educational establishments and had no taste for social events. With the driving force gone, activity started to wither away more rapidly. The 1966 Garden Fete and Sale of Work was an indoor event, held in November and making little profit. This was the last one. Also in that year the Parish Hall (which in any case had been losing money in the last year or so) was closed for that purpose, and subsequently rented out to a playgroup. The income from Miss Edleston’s endowment started to materialise at about this time, removing the necessity for special fund raising, and all fund raising activities, not just those of a purely social nature, gradually ceased. By the time the author arrived in the parish in 1972 there were just the remnants of the outdoor collection, then amounting to about £2 a week from a handful of parishioners, which in turn also ceased. Neither did the offertory collections keep pace with inflation, and by the early 80’s the contribution from parishioners towards the running costs had reduced to fewer than 20%. Furthermore, the traditional second collection at Sunday Mass for the benefit of external causes had, with a couple of exceptions, ceased with contributions to these being made by the priest from parish funds.
In the last year or so a revival has started. At the time of writing (March 1992) parishioners’ contributions are re-approaching 40% of running costs, probably helped by the increased numbers attending St Osmund’s. In 1990 the Garden Fete was revived, held in the church grounds and with the profit donated to a charity. Because of the work to the presbytery, one was not held in 1991, but there have been two well-attended dances held in the Village Hall, and recently events such as a Pie & Peas Supper with Beetle Drive etc held in the new Parish Centre. Time will tell whether the momentum gathers pace.
