“We are united in bringing the light of Christ into our communities” Parish Profile Benefice of The Huntspills and Mark

Contents Page 1 Welcome to Our Vision for the Future of the Benefice Holy Cross Mark

Page 2 Who We Are Page 3 Ministry and Worship Page 4 -5 Wider Reach and Youth Work Page 6 Deanery and Diocesan Information Page 7 Parish Boundaries and Statistics Page 8 -9 The Rectory Page 10 -11 All Saints Church East Huntspill Page 12 -13 Holy Cross Church Mark St Peter and All Hallows West Huntspill Page 14 -15 St Peter and All Hallows Church West Huntspill Page 16 Vacancy Prayer and Conclusion All Saints East Huntspill Visit us at easthuntspillchurch.org.uk markchurch.org.uk westhuntspillchurch.org.uk

Welcome to Our Vision for the Future of the Benefice Page 1

Is God calling you to this Rural Benefice? We are praying for the right person to help us on our journey to the next stage in the development of our Benefice and maybe that person is you!

We are blessed to live in a beautiful rural part of Somerset, adjacent to the coast, set in quiet countryside. We are a recently formed Benefice of the three villages of The Huntspills and Mark, who have vibrant, community-minded populations that are eager to grow. In our Profile we have explained where we are now and our vision for the future. Key Tasks Skills  To continue the work of co-ordinating our Benefice  A pastoral heart who is friendly, approachable, a good listener,  To encourage and develop our links with the encourages us in our strengths and is visible at times of need schools and young people  A deep understanding and love of rural ministry and someone  To deepen the pastoral care demonstrating the who appreciates the link between the Church and Village Life good news of Christ  A spiritual leader who will inspire us with hope for the future  To balance traditional and modern styles of  A pastor who will celebrate our joys and sympathise with our worship troubles  To guide us with our plans for the future  A good sense of humour and the ability to read minds!

A Benefice-wide community survey was carried out and followed by vision mornings. From these we have identified the key tasks, skills and qualities of the Incumbent.

All Saints Holy Cross St Peter and All Hallows East Huntspill Mark West Huntspill

Page 2 Who We Are

The Benefice of The Huntspills was formed in 1976 and Mark was welcomed in 2013. We form a vibrant and lively part of the Somerset countryside, close to the coast, beautiful Mendip Hills and wildlife rich Somerset Levels. The historic city of Wells, Glastonbury Tor and outstanding natural beauty of Cheddar Gorge are all on the doorstep.

The three rural parishes are of similar size, with a varied social mix and age groups. Those not employed in leisure or farming industries, commute to nearby towns. All the villages have a few traditional working farms, although the number of farms decreases every year. There are many whose families have lived in the area for generations and with that goes a very strong sense of community. Mark and East Huntspill enjoy their village Harvest Home celebration (a tradition of well over 100 years) when the whole village congregate in a marquee for lunch and celebrations. West Huntspill has a village flower show, well known for its high standard and being one of the best village shows in Somerset.

Mark and East Huntspill have recent small low-cost housing developments for local people and another small development of 40 homes is in the planning stage at East Huntspill. A major housing development (500 homes) is being planned at West Huntspill which may change the demographics of the village. Public transport in West Huntspill is good with a regular bus service along the A38, however in East Huntspill and Mark public transport is limited. Train service is good with a station located in the nearby town of Highbridge, being on the main Bristol to Exeter line. Each village has a Primary/First School and Pre-School. Mark First & Pre-School CE Academy is up to the age of 9 years. Whilst East and West Huntspill Primary Schools are federated the children stay to 11 years. Plus, a selection of local private schools. Medical facilities are available in the small local hospitals of Burnham-On-Sea, Bridgwater and Weston-Super-Mare, with large hospitals in Taunton or Bristol. Medical Centres are available in Highbridge, Burnham-On-Sea, Woolavington and a Doctors’ surgery in Wedmore.

We are a Fairtrade Benefice

Ministry and Worship Page 3

Lay Pastoral Assistants Church Wardens Lay Worship Assistants As a relatively new Benefice we have begun to meet as Churchwardens and the leadership team is growing in strength and depth, but we are aware that there is work to be done to ensure that each Parish feels included and valued.

Services in the Benefice of the Huntspills and Mark Date East Huntspill Mark West Huntspill st 1 Sunday 11am Holy Communion 9.30am Morning Worship 3pm @3 A Service for children and families in the Balliol Hall nd 2 Sunday 5pm Choir & Organ led Evensong 9.30am Holy Communion 11am Morning Worship rd 3 Sunday 3pm Songs of Praise 9.30am Friends & Family Service 11am Friends & Family Communion In East Huntspill Church Hall

th 11am Morning Worship 9.30am Choir led Communion 11am Holy Communion 4 Sunday

5th Sunday 10am team Service alternating between the 3 Churches Tuesday Worship 10.30am – a short informal service in the Lady Chapel, St Peter & All Hallows Church, West Huntspill Until vacancy once monthly early Sunday Morning BCP Communion Services were held in both East & West Huntspill, plus the first Sunday of the month was a Holy Communion Service at Mark Church. We are blessed with retired Clergy who have been wonderful during the vacancy.

Page 4 Wider Reach Mission As a Benefice we believe it is our duty and our joy to show our faith in action. We achieve this by highlighting various causes and supporting those in need at home and abroad. Although each church has longstanding charitable causes they support, we do also work together on mission. One example is Christian Aid Week when St Peters/ West Huntspill have a door-to-door collection during this week and Holy Cross/ Mark Church hold a coffee morning. We have also held Christian Aid services, sometimes jointly as a team. We link in to the Burnham & District Christian Aid Committee. Other mission work over recent years has seen us raise money with soup lunches for Water Aid & Royal British Legion, Harvest Suppers for Mary’s Meals and Matthew Rusike Children’s Home and collections from Christingle services for The Children’s Society. We support the local Highbridge Area Foodbank by holding collections throughout the year and particularly at Advent, Christmas and harvest time. It is well supported by all of our local schools.

Ecumenical Links We have strong ecumenical links in our Benefice, in particular with the Methodist Chapel in West Huntspill, where they host an annual Day of Prayer for Christian Unity. Members from the Methodist Chapel also join us for our monthly small group – Doughnut Dialogues. We work together with the Methodist Chapel (W Huntspill), Gospel Tabernacle (Highbridge) and Hope Baptist Church (Highbridge) to hold an annual (Women’s) World Day of Prayer service. Youth workers at Holy Cross Mark have worked with a youth organisation called Movement, bringing young people together in rural areas for worship evenings. This opened up links with St Marys Wedmore, Bagley Baptist church & other local churches.

Youth and Children ’s Work Page 5

All three Parishes have links with their local schools and invite the schools into church for special services, varying from church to church, but including – Harvest Festival, Easter, Christingle children’s service. All schools also spend days in church as part of their curriculum, which is a great opportunity for church members to get to know the pupils and the staff. Our youth, children and young families get involved with various church events such as helping at harvest supper, coffee mornings and running stalls at summer fetes, car shows and Christmas Fayres/Bazaars.

West Huntspill holds an informal monthly family service called @3 on a Sunday afternoon, where children and their families can join in “messy church style” with craft, Bible story and songs. Mark has longstanding strong links with Mark First School Academy who hold end of term services and their Christmas nativity play in the church. We are maintaining these links during our vacancy by continuing to run our Holy Cross Club after school once a month and visiting the school for assemblies each half-term. Some of the school families are regulars at our Friends & Family service in Mark held on each third Sunday. We start with croissants then Bible story, songs and craft. The children join in with Bible readings and prayers. One of the parents is our craft coordinator at this service and amazes us with her creative ideas each month – we all want to have a go! Mark Youth Group pack and send shoeboxes to Operation Christmas Child each year and other members of the church have joined in on occasions. Last year we were excited to hear that our shoeboxes ended up in Ukraine.

Our vision statement is to bring the light of Christ into our communities and nowhere is this more important than into the lives of our children and young families. They are our heartbeat, our excitement, our present and our future.

Page 6 Deanery and Diocesan Information

The Diocese of Bath and Wells is one of 41 Church of England Axbridge deanery is situated from the Diocesan dioceses in the country. West coast at Brean as far as Easton at Deanery The diocese stretches from Portishead in the north to the other end towards Wells. We are Crewkerne in the south, Minehead in the west to Frome in the east. mainly made up of rural villages. Burnham parish is our largest of around 12,000 people. However, our main tourist Our vision, and the diocesan strategy that is emerging from it, speaks of the areas around Brean and Berrow can attract as many as 100,000 story of Jesus; his life, teaching and work, his death and resurrection; the story people in peak tourist season. Axbridge Deanery is also home which is the context of our faith and the content of our message. to the famous Cheddar caves, another area of significant tourism. The area around Highbridge and Burnham has seen We seek to live this story as disciples of Jesus Christ in the world and to tell it, significant housing development and population growth. both in sharing the good news and by the way in which our lives speak about We have great respect for each other in all of our different Him. contexts and I am pleased to say that our chapter meetings Bishop Peter’s work on a new vision and strategy for the diocese began during are very supportive as we share our joys and our concerns his first year as Bishop of Bath and Wells, which he spent visiting parishes and over a pub lunch and help each other through the often listening. complex demands of parish life. Deanery Synod gathers around four times a year where we encourage active The diocesan strategy is built around three priorities: participation through discussion in groups and in plenary.  To place mission and evangelism at the heart of all we do. We have been known to meet in unusual places, such as on a  To re-align our resources towards mission. dairy farm or in the beautiful setting of Bagley Baptist with  To identify, develop and release the gifts of all our people. stunning views across the Mendips.

This has been developed in a number of areas: The current deanery mission plan includes space for creativity  Deaneries. Each deanery now has a Deanery Mission Plan (DMP) to responding to current context. The plan celebrates the way, identify and address priorities for mission in the local area. This has that as a deanery, we are good at working across boundaries encouraged a lot of collaboration across deaneries in mission and and encourages ways in which we can support each other by discipleship development. DMPs will continue to be important in the sharing in training opportunities and the creation of local coming years as decisions about resource allocation will be made in the teams with neighbouring parishes and in local ecumenical light of what the plans say. settings.

 Pioneering and fresh expressions. Our Pioneer Project (part-funded by As part of the plan, whenever a vacancy arises, the deanery the national church) seeks to encourage pioneering across the Diocese to mission and pastoral group considers and makes reach those communities where we currently have little impact. Deaneries recommendation to the parish to consider one of the and parishes are being resourced to develop pioneering within their “Champion” roles we are developing. The rural setting of the areas and to encourage the vocation of those who are called to work with parishes of West Huntspill, East Huntspill and Mark offers the people outside the inherited church. opportunity for the successful candidate to take the lead on rural ministry across the deanery and to create opportunities Lay ministry and vocation. Our priority is to develop the ministry of all God’s for learning for colleagues and parishes. As a new venture there is plenty of room for innovative thinking. people, lay and ordained working in partnership. We increasingly emphasise lay

leadership and ministry in our diocesan programme, and we are developing The Reverend Richard Neill, Area Dean new pathways for lay vocations in order to allow this to develop

Parish Boundaries and Statistics Page 7

Parish Boundaries for Benefice of The Huntspills and Mark

Benefice 2018 Statistics East Huntspill Mark West Huntspill Team Average attendance at an 9 adults 28 adults 24 adults ordinary Sunday Service 6 children 2 children Easter Sunday 24 70 65 Harvest Festival 54 130 79 Remembrance Service 53 182 92 Carol Service 35 130 169 Christingle 150 73 68 Mid-night mass 70 Christmas Day 51 Baptisms 11 3 6 Weddings 1 0 6 Funerals 2 9 13

The Rectory is located in West Huntspill, 100 metres from St Peter & All Hallows Church. It is a modern well-maintained four-bedroom house, set in its own grounds with a well-established garden. There is a large parking area at the front and the drive is protected by a cattle grid. The large garage is attached to the house by an internal door.

Kitchen

Lounge Breakfast Area

The front door leads to a small entrance hall which gives access to both the office and the main house.

The ground floor consists of a parish office, lounge, dining room, kitchen, utility room and toilet. Both the lounge and dining room have doors opening onto the rear garden.

On the upper floor there are four bedrooms, a family bathroom and a separate toilet. Three of the bedrooms have built-in wardrobes and all four enjoy views to the rear of the property. Study

Dining Room

View of Garden from Main Bedroom

Main Bedroom

Page 10 All Saints Church East Huntspill

Congregation All Saints Church has a small dedicated congregation who attend the variety of Sunday Services offered in East Huntspill. The Crib & Christingle Service on Christmas Eve is very well attended by the community. We are blessed with an organist who plays for every service. We have good links with the Village Primary School, where there is a new Head Teacher. The previous Rector visited the School for fortnightly assemblies and the School children walk to a Service in Church each term. The village Pre-School children also visit Church to make flower decorations and enjoyed visits from the previous Rector. We have a joint monthly village magazine with West Huntspill, “The Huntspill News”; a monthly calendar for the Benefice and an excellent up to date website. Community Community events are arranged by All Saints Community group. They are very well attended by villagers and beyond. They range from the traditional Summer Fete, Christmas Bazaar, Pancake Supper, St George’s Supper, Harvest Supper, All Saints Supper, Strawberry Tea and monthly Cake Sales to Treasure Hunts, Quizzes, Bingo, Murder Mystery Evenings, Race Nights, Skittles Evenings (at the village pub), film nights and a variety of music nights from Elvis to ukuleles. During May 2019 we held our first ever Classic Car Show raising money for local causes, which was a great success and we hope to now make this an annual event. Finance We pay our Parish Share every year, however more income comes from community fundraising than from giving, which is a concern, but it has been like this in East Huntspill for many years. All capital projects in Church are paid for by fundraising and grants. We have a repairs and fabric fund for Church maintenance; this was part of the criteria for the English Heritage grant for the roof repairs in 2014 and will last at least until 2024.

All Saints Church East Huntspill Page 11 Building All Saints Church was built in 1839 at the centre of the rural community of East Huntspill. It is surrounded by an open Churchyard, with space for many years to come. However the cost of maintenance of the Churchyard is a drain on Church finances. All Saints Church, East Huntspill became a joint Benefice with West Huntspill in 1976 until the formation of The Benefice of The Huntspills and Mark in 2013. The Church is open daily from 10am to 3pm. Major works and refurbishment have taken place at All Saints Church over the last 5 years:-  2014 – Major roof repairs and internal redecoration. (£168,000)  2015 - Re-ordering the west end of Church, new flooring, servery area, storage cupboards & seating plus bringing water into Church (£25,000)  2016 - New heating (£20,000)  2017 – Churchyard wall repairs & a new notice board  2018 – 2019 – Restoration of the stained glass windows, including new window guards (£25,000)  2019 – New audio/loop system due to be installed – funding of £5,000 from Community Lottery  Future plans – new lighting

Church Hall The Church Hall built in 1855, originally as the Village School, is just across Church Lane. It is used by a variety of groups weekly/monthly and for parties as well as Church community Vision events. Whilst we try to The Challenges for us all in East Huntspill are to build on the keep the building in good links with the Primary School and the community events to encourage good order, constant families into Church, to develop the area in the west end of the Church and make it maintenance is required. into a real community hub.

Page 12 Holy Cross Church Mark

A beautiful, vibrant church and community, with great potential for increased congregation and wider activities within and around the church, waiting for a new Rector to lead us. Congregation and Friends We have a faithful congregation, with many families attending for generations, with the faithful elderly, as well as younger families who have been attracted by the monthly Friends and Family service Traditional vestments are worn by priest and servers. Laity assist with chalice, intercessions, offertory, reading. Tuesday Fellowship (which replaced Mothers’ Union), has guest speakers, occasional outings, and is enjoyed by all. A group of volunteers run the Wednesday coffee mornings, in the church, free to the community with cafetiere coffee and home made cakes, with usually 30-35 attending of all ages and a few canine companions. Mark holds a Harvest Thanksgiving service in the church, followed by a Somerset traditional Harvest Home lunch, sports day and tea, in a nearby field. Lenten Peace and Advent Peace are celebrated each year. This is a half hour of reflection, peaceful quiet music and candles. An annual Remembrance service is a main event in Mark, with British Legion attending, and laying of wreaths round the War Memorial. 1,000 poppies were knitted for the 1918 Centenary by both church goers and the wider community. Many people support the church and various events, but don’t attend church regularly. We have an annual Lent Lunch, with donations for WaterAid. As well as being a Fairtrade church, we also hold a Fairtrade stall at church events.

Fundraising Youth and Children We hold regular fundraising events, such as a variety of There is a good relationship with Concerts, flower festivals, Tea and Tower Mark First School CE Academy, tour, Christmas Bazaar, Harvest Supper etc. who join us for special services We make and sell Greetings cards. and Festivals. They hold end of Finances term services three times a year. markfirstschool.co.uk Mark Church is solvent and we pay our Holy Cross Club is run by church Parish Share in full each year, and have a members, and meets in the little in reserve. school once a month. Our finances are reasonably healthy, some An active Youth Group meets of which is earmarked for improvements to fortnightly, and follows the main the back of church. events of the Christian Calendar.

Holy Cross Church Mark Page 13 Building The Church of the Holy Cross, Mark is a large, beautiful, well kept building, on the edge of the Somerset Levels, with 13th century origins and many interesting artefacts and features plus a closed church yard with a War Grave and a new cemetery nearby. Its rural location on the main road through the village is visible for miles especially when illuminated at night. Seating capacity of over 200 with excellent acoustics, with potential for more events. Interior A large group of volunteer flower arrangers, including those from the wider community, decorate the whole church for major festivals, plus weddings, baptisms and funerals. We are in the process of improving the kitchen, toilet and storage facilities, subject to planning, which is in the final stages. A loop system is in place and we are hoping to upgrade the sound system. The nearby Church Hall and church car park is used by local groups including a toddler group, church youth group and Women’s Institute, plus fundraising coffee mornings etc. Music The organist/choir master leads a strong choir who rehearse weekly and lead the singing monthly in addition to festivals, weddings and special occasions. The choir also leads the singing for monthly Evensong at East Huntspill. A beautiful two manual, pipe organ, which has been recently overhauled, is used to accompany the singing. The Village The village has two pubs, a post office, general store, working farms, an agricultural store, a carpenter, two timber yards, bed and breakfasts, caravan sites, craft workshop, Ki Aikido headquarters, a saddlery, and a garage. There is a large Village Hall used by any local clubs, with play area, basket ball court, skate park and outdoor gym, plus an active Bowls Club and Cricket Club. Avalon camps, supported by the community, are held annually on the church field over two weeks. These camps are for disadvantaged children from Bristol. A Parish Magazine containing news of the church and the services, as well as community events, is circulated to subscribers by a group of volunteers. markvillage.co.uk

Page 14 St Peter and All Hallows Church West Huntspill The Parish of West Huntspill occupies half the western edge of a broad valley between an area of flat land known as ‘The Levels’ and the North Somerset coast. The Village The village is thriving, active and sociable, approximately three miles from the popular seaside resort of Burnham-On-Sea and seven miles from Bridgwater. There are good road connections both North and South via the M5 to major towns such as Taunton and Bristol. The nearby station of Highbridge has good rail connections with regular services to London, the Midlands and the North. The area is rural and in 2012 the Parish had a population of around 2,000. Buildings in the village are a mixture of old and new, interspersed with farms. Stand in the middle of the village and all you will hear are sheep or birds singing all surrounded by fields and footpaths that lead to the estuary. There are four pubs/restaurants nearby that are known in the area for their cuisine. Many of the villagers have escaped from large cities and have come to spend their retirement in a pretty peaceful environment. The People and Services We cherish the church as an historic building, and a place to mark life’s events. Some come simply for quiet peace and meditation or to be welcomed to our range of Services. Current Services include once a month an informal family service in the adjacent Balliol Hall at 3.00 p.m. called ‘@3’ where children and their families join in with craft, Bible stories and songs. We have a ‘Morning Worship’ service, Family & Friends Holy Communion and Holy Communion. There is a Service on a Tuesday morning for all including vulnerable adults. We have a Prayer Group ‘Gathering in Prayer’ which meets fortnightly. Our yearly ‘Christingle Service’, ‘Crib Service’ on Christmas Eve afternoon and Carol Service are very well attended. The Church The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that a Saxon church was set up somewhere in West Huntspill, and it is probably safe to assume that this first church would have been on the ‘pilgrim route’ to nearby Glastonbury Abbey. The first mention of Huntspill appears in the Domesday Book and it is thought that the name derives from ‘huns pill’ or a port on a tidal inlet. The current church was established round 1208 and then rebuilt in the 1400s. Sadly the building was gutted by fire in 1878 and the whole of the woodwork was destroyed. Amazingly all was restored especially the roof and re-opened in 1880. The Church is a beautiful Grade 1 listed building and has amongst other things a 17c Font. St. Peter & All Hallow Church has been noted as a ‘building of significance ’ and is also referred to as ‘The Cathedral of the Levels.’ The Church is very popular for Weddings

St Peter and All Hallows Church West Huntspill Page 15 We realise we have shortcomings which we hope a new Incumbent could help us with, but we hope you like the sound of our Village and will come to see us, you will be made very welcome. Churchyard Our Churchyard is of special interest. It is maintained by a group of vulnerable adults from ‘Huntspill Projects’ who come weekly to tend it. Here one can see wild life, beautiful established trees, seating in various places and beautiful birdsong. A major project Finance We aim to repair the Tower and Roof, while carrying out re-ordering to The Church remains solvent. Collections, the West end of the Church, this is at the ‘planning stage’ with work Donations and Planned Giving with regular due to begin in the next two years. Hopefully funding will be in place fundraising and social events are very soon. By adding a new kitchen and toilet facilities we will unlock sufficient to pay the Parish Share and for the our potential and extend our outreach and mission opportunities. general running expenses of the Church. New development Balliol Hall

It is anticipated that a new development of 500 new houses, a school The Church has free use of and medical centre on the Highbridge edge of the village might the well-equipped and self increase the number of younger families and help redress the otherwise funded Balliol Hall. This is run predominantly mature population. A new Incumbent will hopefully be by a management committee able to maintain and develop links with the school and other groups. and is a very active centre in the community. Other points of interest The Church has a peal of six bells which are rung by an enthusiastic team before every Service and at Weddings. We are adjacent to the National Coastal Path and on the edge of a site of ‘Special Scientific Interest and Nature Reserve’. There are three Rivers which surround us one being The Huntspill River which was man-made, there is also the River Brue and River Parrett. There are also lovely Walks, a large Village Green, and 2 Vintage Pumps. Other Groups include ‘Model Railway’, Cricket Club, Table Tennis, short mat Bowls. Allotment Society, ‘Aikido’, Horticultural Society, Cub Pack, Mini Day Centre, a very successful Drama Club ‘Huntspill Players’, West Huntspill ‘under-fives’, keep fit classes and a ladies lunch club. An annual event is the Vintage Classic Car Show which draws in hundreds of visitors.

Page 16 Vacancy Prayer and Conclusion

Vacancy Prayer God of Mission Who alone brings growth to your Church, Send your Holy Spirit to give Vision to our planning, Wisdom to our actions, And power to our witness. Help our church to grow in numbers, In spiritual commitment to you, And in service to our local community, Through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen

Our new Rector will have the chance to work with, lead and connect with a vast range of people, wherever they are and whatever their situation. Together with the support of the Church Wardens, Lay Assistants, and all three communities, they will help us set our vision and lead us onto the next exciting stage of our Benefice Journey. They will need a compassionate heart for this mission, eyes that look beyond Parish Boundaries for inspiration and strength to cement and build on the developing partnership that links the three Parishes. We could be just what you’re looking for! “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself."