Macey & Bond – Blog

An archdeacon has come out to say that the decision to increase the fees required for church weddings and funerals is the victim of “unfortunate” timing, with fears abounding that people will be even more likely to marry in a registrar’s office as a result.

Members of the Church of England Synod have voted to raise the cost of a church wedding from £296 to £415, over four times the £100 fee for a service in a registry office.

Archdeacon of Loughborough the Ven David Newman said “If people want to have a wedding or funeral in church they will try to seek it out.

“It is unfortunate this decision has come at a difficult economic time.”

He does add that the increases were as a result of churches trying to catch up to fees, stating “Most churches are listed buildings with an enormous upkeep.

“Clergy who are present at funerals and weddings give a lot of time both before and afterwards – it is not just for an hour in church.”

The higher fees now include the cost of lighting and the administration work that goes into a service however there are still other aspects, such as heating and organists, that are not included in the fee.

Income from weddings, baptisms and funerals accounts for £35 million granted to the church every year, of which £15 million is used to pay the clergy.

Rev Lee Francis-Dehqani, vicar of Oakham, concluded “We are very keen that no couple will be priced out of a church wedding.”

Recent figures released by the Office for National Statistics have revealed that 30.6 million overseas residents visited the UK during the course of 2011, which is an 800,000 person increase on the figure from 2010

According to http://www.telegraph.co.uk “Almost half of the increase was accounted for by people from Asia, South America and Africa. Visits from Brazil rose by over 50 per cent, while Chinese visitors rose by a third as people from emerging markets flocked to the UK.”

Additionally visits from American tourists rose to their highest levels since 2008 and it is generally believed that the royal wedding did much to encourage tourism in the country.

This is bolstered by statistics that claim that an extra 350,000 tourists came to the country during April 2011 when compared to April 2010.

Visitors also spent £17.8 billion over the course of the year, a 5% increase on 2010.

Patricia Yates, director of strategy and communication at VisitBritain, commented “We have had three straight years of declining arrival figures, so for 2011 to show a return to growth, with 800,000 more overseas visitors coming to Britain, is great news.”

A woman’s marriage has been officiated by her former teacher in Kent. The wedding between Emily Yorke and Adam Thain took place in a walled garden in Wadhurst Castle and was officiated by Registrar Linda Turner, who was Emily’s first primary school teacher.

The bride wore a fitted, halter-neck dress, made of ivory lace decorated with diamante crystals and the couple eventually moved on to a wedding marquee when they held their reception at Haremere Hall, an Elizabethan Manor House in Etchingham.

The bride is a beauty therapist and the groom is the managing director of a furniture company.

A couple from Barlby claim that companionship and compromise are the keys to a healthy and happy marriage as they recently celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary, marking 60 years together as a couple.

Dorothy and Brian Collins met a little over 60 years ago at her 16th birthday party and from there started a relationship that would survive for six decades.

Dorothy spoke about their wedding, stating “It was a lovely day. It was frosty but the sun was shining. We spent a week in London for our honeymoon and we were there on the day the Queen’s father died.

“We read the news on the street bulletins and we couldn’t believe it. It was strange as it meant a lot of places closed but we had a wonderful time.”

The couple claim that not going ahead with anything that they didn’t agree upon was one of the major reasons that they have managed to last as a couple, with Dorothy adding “Sixty years is certainly an achievement. I think we’ve just always helped one another get by. We both keep pretty fit. We still go dancing both at Drax and at North Duffield. Brian still rides his bike to go and get the paper.

“I’m a keen knitter and Brian loves to read about sport or war – we’ve got books flowing off the shelves!”

A video has emerged on the net recently that perfectly displays the dangers of flying a helicopter too close to a marquee.

The video shows a twin propeller Chinook helicopter flying over a large festival that was being held in north western Libya. The winds generated from the blades sent the enormous marquee flying into the air and onto its side, taking some of the party-goers with it.

Footage of the incident emerged on YouTube last month and media outlets the world over are now showing it. It is unclear if anybody suffered injury in the incident, however there have been no reports that anybody was hurt.

To view the video head to http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8412155

A village near Somerton has announced that it is preparing a massive party in celebration of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee later in the year, with a large marquee the latest addition to their party.

The residents of Kingsdon have been preparing the four day festival since 2009 and have recently been awarded a grant of £3,000 to go towards getting things sorted.

They are already planning a concert to mark the jubilee, featuring jazz pianist Anthony Sycamore and classical singers Tim Pitman and Rebecca Robinson.

Organiser Wally Elliott commented “Kingsdon has been awarded a grant of £2,852 from the Big Lottery Fund towards the cost of our celebrations for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. This money can only be spent on items already agreed with the Big Lottery Fund. It is predominantly towards the cost of hiring the marquee and ancillary equipment and the beacon for the church tower.

“A grant of £290 has also been made by Kingsdon Parish Council from the children’s fund to pay for the entertainer at the tea party.

“Planning started for the jubilee celebrations way back in May 2009 when a deposit was made for the marquee and equipment. Since then, fundraising has been non-stop, with all sorts of activities, including treasure hunts, a continuous series of quizzes, plant sales, an Ann Summers party, sale of home-produced honey, raffles at the shop, social events in the village hall with a very successful royal wedding weekend of a scarecrow competition, bacon butty morning, quiz, disco and a tea dance.

“This Christmas we had an evening of song and a Boxing Day quiz in the village hall. The final quiz before the celebrations is now on sale at the shop and Kingsdon Inn. The jubilee fund currently stands at just over £6,200.”

A wedding venue that became embroiled in a planning row that led to a suspension on the events being carried out there has managed to work out all of its problems and will now be able to hold weddings again.

Sarah Beeny’s Rise Hall has encountered a number of different planning problems from East Riding Council over developments that were made to the former convent. Specifically there were concerns over fire safety regulations and building control.

This led to the venue’s licence to hold weddings being suspended, which lead to the owner seriously considering selling it.

However the problems have now been ironed out and the venue is free to hold ceremonies again.

Events specialist Dine is managing the venue on Ms Beeny and husband Graham Swift’s behalf and their managing director commented ”There was an impasse regarding the licence.

“The council was not happy with some issues and would not send a registrar to Rise Hall.

“But once the council gave us a clear list of what needed doing, the work took just two days to complete.

“This is a building that needs to be loved and to be used.

“We are happy for Sarah and Graham and for clients already booked with us.”

New statistics in relation to church weddings have revealed that the amount being held has increased for the first time in a number of years. The figures show that there has been a four percent rise in the number being held in churches.

Despite this increase, there is still a dip in overall church attendance, which seems ton indicate that recent measures to ease the requirement for getting married in church seem to have had an effect.

The Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Revd Graham James, commented “It’s encouraging that making it easier in law to have a church wedding – while investing in research and development to help care for couples and guests – has started to bear fruit.”

The figures also revealed that there has been a decline in the number of couples getting married, however they also showed that the number of people getting a Church of England wedding rose from 56,700 in 1009 to 58,700 in 2010.

It is being reported that the celebrations for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee are likely to eclipse those for the royal wedding last year, with the number of street parties likely to exceed the amount that were held during the silver jubilee of 1977.

Hundreds of people across the country have already written to their local councils to state their desire to hold their own celebrations for the event, despite the fact that it is still more than four months away.

The surge seems to indicate that the royal wedding revived Britain’s love of street parties, with the upcoming jubilee expected to eclipse the 1 million people who attended parties for the royal wedding.

“I think it will be the biggest year for street parties since 1977, the Queen’s silver Jubilee,”said Chris Gittins, the director of Streets Alive, an organisation which promotes street parties.

“It will lift the nations’ spirits with the poor economy. We need a bit of a bash. A street party is a fantastic English tradition, like Christmas, whether or not you are a Royalist.”

Bath Racecourse has announced that it will be stepping in to offer couples their marquee for free after a host of different couples were left in the lurch due to the closure of a nearby wedding company.

Aspire Venues, which organised events at Chewton Park near Keynsham, went into administration before Christmas, leaving many people without a location for their wedding.

Luckily the racecourse has stepped in to offer customers of the company with the use of their marquee, which can hold 300 people, free of charge.

Events manager Cariad Silk commented “After reading about all the couples whose weddings have been affected by the Bristol-based wedding firm’s collapse, I decided that we could help save some of those couples weddings by offering our luxury marquee free of charge.

“Bath Racecourse still has some dates available for 2012 wedding receptions and is positioned very close to the three wedding venues affected so hopefully couples can transfer many of their suppliers easily.

“I have worked very closely with brides and grooms to-be who are getting married here and you get to see how important having that perfect venue is.

“I can only imagine how distressing this has been for the couples affected and I hope we are able to help some of these couples who could potentially lose their wedding venue.”

The usual charge for hiring the marquee is £1,500.