The Croaker Memorial Church

14/11/2018

A leak in the roof above Church's rear wall was fixed in March, and the wall repaired and repainted. This work was in part paid for by donations to the church made at my mother's memorial service last December, plus a grant from the Liverpool Plains Shire Council. I've just been informed that the Council has awarded the church another grant to do similar fixes at the altar end of the church. With all the work done over the past decade during which my mother was a church trustee, it's looking good as it approaches its centenary!

Mark James

30/10/2017

Dear Croaker Family and Friends,

Our annual Christmas service at The Croaker Memorial Church at Caroona will be held at 7pm on Sunday the 3rd of December, followed by supper in the church grounds. We do hope you can come. Please RSVP by the 27th of November. As usual, I will be staying at Henry’s in Quirindi on the Sunday night.

At 1pm on the day of the service (note the later time) we will be having our usual luncheon at the Impact Cafe, 8 Station St Quirindi (02 6746 3068), where everyone pays for themselves. If you'd like to come, please let me know before the 27th of November so I can book tables.

Church News

Last year’s service was again taken by ladies from the Quirindi Uniting Church. Thank you ladies. There was a smaller crowd, but we all enjoyed the evening despite the extreme heat.

This year we lost two Croaker family members that I know of:
Susan Sutton (Staughton) on 5/6/17, and
Mary Croaker (Isbister) on 28/6/17.
Each family received a condolence letter from the church trustees.

Last year’s application for a $2000 heritage grant from the Liverpool Plains Shire Council was successful. Combined with $2000 of church donations, we had the crumbling plaster in the vestry and at the front of the nave repaired and repainted, and had the broken and vandalised sub-floor air vents replaced. This work was skilfully done by local builder Scott Shaw. I’ve not seen the work, but Tommy is very happy with it, with Scott taking care to use heritage-preserving lime paint. Scott also threw in a repair to the vestry door lock, and put a lock on the toilet door (no more chain and padlock!).

In August we applied for another grant to repair the roof and the cross on the Eastern end of the church, and repair and repaint the water damage on the back wall beneath these. If this grant is successful, we will use $3436 of church funds to proceed, finally securing the church from water entry, but not leaving us with much.

We acknowledge a donation from David and Helen Croaker, and Tommy’s regular payment of the Christmas service power bill, which I had not known about. Our only income is from generous donations, including money from the Christmas service plate, heritage grants, selling Croaker Church cards, and a bit of interest.

In September we also had the church inspected by Quirindi Pest Control. They saw no sign of termites, but were unable to fully inspect the sub-floor. There was some wood rot in the toilet. The church and toilet were sprayed for spiders, which Tommy says are terrible.

On behalf of the Trustees, I'd like to wish you all a happy and safe Christmas.

Joan James
(02) 9449 4801
[email protected]
2 Hicks Ave
TURRAMURRA NSW 2074

31/10/2016

Dear Croaker Family and Friends,

Our annual Christmas service at The Croaker Memorial Church at Caroona will be held at 7pm on Sunday the 4th of December, followed by supper in the church grounds. We do hope you can come, the country is looking lovely after the recent rains. Please RSVP by the 23rd of November.

At 12 noon on the day of the service we will be having our usual luncheon, this year at the Impact Cafe, 8 Station St Quirindi (02 6746 3068), where everyone pays for themselves. If you'd like to come, please let me know before the 23rd of November so I can book tables.

Church News:

The church hosted a wedding and a christening this year. The Hoddle family, who held the christening, gave the church a generous $500 donation. If anyone would like to use the church, or visit the church and see inside, please let me know.

Last year the church was offered another heritage grant from the Liverpool Plains Shire Council, but unfortunately we couldn't schedule the work before the council's deadline, so we had to forfeit the grant. We did however get the rickety old pit toilet reinforced — $675 of work that heritage grants won't cover.

In August we applied for another $2000 matching-funds heritage grant to replace the broken and vandalised sub-floor air vents, and to repair the plaster in the vestry and at the front of the nave that rising damp has caused to crumble. The drainage work we did some years ago seems to have stabilised the rising damp problem, so it was a good bet to go with simple patching and painting rather than the much more expensive injection of a rising damp barrier and complete re-plastering. We should hear the result of our grant application before the Christmas service.

My sister June's family has repaired the vandalised plaque at the base of her memorial tree in the church grounds. But there was recently a new instance of vandalism or damage, where one of the memorial gate cement posts was left leaning. Some people got together and fixed this. I will find out who they are, and thank them.

Last year's service was taken by Barb, Lynnie, and Ian from the Quirindi Uniting Church. Thank you to them, and to Patricia and Tim Duddy for making the church look magnificent. We had a great attendance. The Quirindi Uniting Church will again hold this year's service.

We are still blessed with Tommy Clift's help looking after and looking out for church throughout the year.

You will be delighted to know that in August BHP decided not to proceed with its Caroona coal mine. This is in great part due to the persistent resistance of the local community action groups. But Shenhua is still hanging on with its Watermark coal mine, further north near Breeza.

On behalf of the Trustees, I'd like to wish you all a happy and safe Christmas.

Joan James
(02) 9449 4801
[email protected]
2 Hicks Ave
TURRAMURRA NSW 2074

05/11/2015

Croaker Church News:

Caroona farmer and grazier George Clift — who with his wife Tommy have done so much for the church over many years — died earlier this year. We will miss you George. A sympathy card was sent to Tommy and her families from the trustees of the church. Tommy is still involved in church affairs.

In November 2014 the church was awarded a $1465 grant from the Liverpool Plains Shire Council's local heritage fund, which, with matching church funds, was used to re-mortar around the windows to prevent water entry. We are likely to apply for another grant this year to help with needed maintenance, including repairing some of the recent vandalism. Two rear vents were destroyed, and the plaque under the tree that was planted for my late sister June was torn off its stone base and left bent on the ground.

June's tree was damaged by frost, but with Tommy's care, is thriving.

I'd like to acknowledge two donations from Neville Kimber, whose family lived at Caroona many years ago: $100, plus $50 at the church service from “The Old Caroonaians”.

With the church again looking magnificent after being prepared by Tommy, last year's service was again taken by the Rev. John Brentnall from the Quirindi Uniting Church. There was a good attendance, and included the Nativity Story told through the building up of a nativity scene.

It was a very stormy weekend, but while it was raining heavily going in to the service, the weather was beautiful for the supper afterwards.

Before the service, the students of the Quirindi branch of The International School of music gave an enjoyable Christmas-themed concert, with solo, group, and choir pieces. It was nice to see some of the families of the concert children stay on for the service.

On behalf of the Trustees, I'd like to wish you all a happy and safe Christmas.

Joan James
[email protected]

27/10/2014

Croaker Church News:

On the day before last year's Croaker Church Christmas service I attended a musical concert held in the church by the students of the Quirindi branch of The International School of Music. Each student, and Melissa their teacher, are to be congratulated on a splendid performance. A real tear jerker! A donation box received $151 for the church. The concert organisers decorated the alter with nativity scenes, which they generously gave to the church.

We had our usual luncheon at The Coffee Pot. It was great for me to have Maureen and Fran, cousins from my father's side of our family, attend.

The church had been prepared for the service by Tommy and Patricia Duddy. It looked stunning as usual. As country weather is so unpredictable, it was cool. Not like the 40° the year before.

The service was again taken by Rev. John Brentnall, with Melissa on the pump organ. Two of Melissa's students gave an impromptu singing performance to cover a projection glitch with a story for the children in attendance.

In August I travelled to the church to meet with Tommy, Ray Christison (the heritage advisor for The Liverpool Plains Shire Council), Christopher Bart (from Australian Heritage Restorations), and two painters, to determine the highest priority maintenance tasks, and the best way to do them. Overall, Chris said that the church was in good condition for its age. But even though the drainage system installed several years ago has slowed the problem with salt and rising damp, areas of paint continue to peel, render has fallen off, and a crack has appeared in the back wall. Chris quoted about $50,000 to first secure the church against water entry via the roof, windows, and ground (via injection of a damp course chemical), then to re-render the walls up to the rising damp line. Painting would be a waste if this was not done first.

Current church funds are very limited, so even with a $1500 council heritage grant (which we've applied for, and should hear the outcome very soon), all we can do is repair the mortar around the windows.

If you can come up with some brilliant fund-raising idea, let me know. One of the ideas I thought of was to hold a Croaker family reunion, and charge each person some entry fee. What do you think?

The Croaker Memorial Church Trust is now registered with the Australian Taxation Office as a charity and a not-for-profit, which gives us tax advantages, but unfortunately doesn't allow donations to be tax deductible.

On behalf of the Trustees, I wish you all a happy and safe Christmas.

Joan James

04/11/2013

Church news:

The 2012 Christmas service was well attended, even though it was about 40°. (This year you might like to bring both a fan and a jumper — country weather is so unpredictable.) The service was conducted by the Rev. John Brentnall from the Quirindi Uniting Church. Accompanying him was that church's ladies musical group, who played guitar and led the singing. All backed by Tommy's always-stunning flower arrangements. During the service the Reverend engaged the children in the congregation with questions about a cartoon story that he had projected onto a screen.

Before the main service friends and family of my late sister June attended a gathering for her in the church grounds, where we scattered her ashes and planted a tree with a plaque. Tommy Clift has been taking care of June's tree throughout the year, and I'm looking forward to seeing it again. A second plaque in memory of June was added to the other Croaker family plaques on the North church wall.

After the service we had our supper in the grounds. I thank everyone who brought food, and I especially thank Tommy for providing the tables and the tea and coffee urn.

On Saturday before the service a group led by Tommy cleaned the church. Thank you to everyone who worked in the extreme heat. We also thank Tammie Clark of Quirindi for her offer to help with the church.

Sadly Eric Duddy passed away this year. His service was held at the church. Tommy told me that there were so many people at the service they could not all fit in. She also said that the church looked wonderful. The Duddy family have been great supporters of the church over many years.

There was also a death in the Croaker family, as my dear brother James (Jim) Oliver Croaker Perrottet died in September.

Thank you to everyone who bought our fund-raising cards. We sold most of them. Please go to the church's page if you'd like to buy one or more bundles of ten. Further substantial funds were raised because June had requested that donations be made to the church instead of flowers. Thank you for your generosity.

We didn't receive a Liverpool Plains Shire Council heritage grant this year, but will try again next year. If we can get a grant that matches our current Maintenance Fund balance we should have enough to get the damp-damaged walls re-plastered and the church painted inside and out, including the roof.

15/10/2012

Croaker Church greeting cards are now available for order.

All proceeds are used to maintain the church.

Each bundle contains ten cards with matching rustic envelopes, and is $20 including postage within Australia. You can buy as many bundles as you like.