A team of enthusiastic people met on Friday May 29, at St Giles the Abbot Parish Church in Cheadle to try to find ways to raise money for the church.

Cheadle is known for its Roman Catholic Church - "Pugin's Gem" as it is called.

But Cheadle has other gems including the parish church which has stood on a hill at the top of Church Street for hundreds of years and has been used by most families at one time or another.

Cheadle Parish Church, like all other churches in the Church of England, is required to pay a parish share each year to the diocese, and this amounts to thousands of pounds – that is before things like lighting and heating are taken into account.

It's difficult to raise money at the best of times, and these certainly are not the best of times, so church goers are trying to come up with some innovative ideas to put fun into fund-raising.

We have several events in mind, so please look out for details and come and support us, or if you are a fund-raiser yourself, give me a call on 01538 750531 and suggest future schemes we might try.

We need all the help we can get – Cheadle Parish Church is something to be proud of, both as a building and as a community. Cheadle seems to have lost facilities recently, and it's up to us to see our church is there for many generations to come.

Margaret Ellis

Fund-raising co-ordinator

Cheadle