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2 ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF ST MARGARET’S, PUTNEY FOR THE YEAR 2020 PRESENTED AT THE APCM 23rd MAY 2021 CONTENTS WHO’S WHO AT ST MARGARET’S 4 REPORT ON THE ELECTORAL ROLL 5 TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT 5 VISION 13 LAY FINANCIAL SUMMARY 15 INCOME 16 EXPENDITURE 17 DEANERY SYNOD REPORT 19 FABRIC REPORT 20 SAFEGUARDING REPORT 20 CHURCHES TOGETHER IN PUTNEY AND ROEHAMPTON 21 CHILDREN AND YOUTH 22 SOCIAL MEDIA 23 THANKS TO TEAM ST MARGARET’S! 25 APPENDIX: FULL FINANCIAL REPORT FOR CHARITY COMMISSIONERS 26 3 WHO’S WHO AT ST MARGARET’S 2020 The Vicar: The Revd Dr Brutus Green The Parish Administrator: Helen Hargreaves The Reader: Anne East Assisting Clergy: The Revd Pauline Jenkins Director of Music: Nick Miller REPRESENTATIVES ON DEANERY SYNOD: Andrew Gairdner Ann Grieves John Roberts LAY MEMBERS OF THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL (Sep 2020 – May 2021) The Churchwardens: Hilary Belden Andrew Gairdner1 Mike Harrison1 Ben Speedy The Secretary: Helen Hargreaves (non-voting) The Treasurer: Tony Hawksley (co-opted) Elected Members: Final year: Joanna Beadsley Hilary Belden Sarah Cooper Marie Evans 2nd year: Simon Brownlee Becky Knee Humphrey Roberts Ben Speedy 1st year: Jonathan Crane Deborah Guinea Robyn O’Connor 1 Legally Andrew Gairdner and Mike Harrison are the Churchwardens though all have equal weight and responsibility in the life of the parish. 4 REPORT ON THE ELECTORAL ROLL Church membership at May 2021 Electoral Roll Officer - Helen Hargreaves Electoral Roll 127. Since September 2020, 3 people have come off the roll and we have had 7 people added to the roll. 87 live within the parish and 40 outside. As our Electoral Roll is over 125 we are entitled to have four Deanery Synod Representatives. Sadly, since the last APCM three long standing members of our church have died – Ann Fell, Jack Miller and Jean Brooker. TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT Overview – Redefining Church In 2019 St Margaret’s was a growing church. More connections, more activity, Sunday attendance increased by 30% and an increased income of £35,000. 2020 began in the same vein and in the first quarter church attendance continued to grow at a rate of 20%. Normally, we might now be remembering fondly the installation of the priest-in- charge as vicar and attendant celebration. However, the early optimism of the year was quickly overshadowed by the pandemic and rapid transformation in which all areas of church life changed out of recognition. Activity in the Church and Hall since has been sporadic at best, reacting to government instruction and advice. And while September and October saw some return, November saw another lockdown and the hoped for return for Christmas disintegrated to leave 2021 beginning with a long period of restrictions, which is only in May beginning to ease. On the other hand, I am extremely proud of how we have responded to the challenges and opportunities we’ve faced. From the beginning we have combined charitable giving and acts of service, with new forms of prayer and worship, together with support for the community and arts. We will only understand the full ramifications and impact of both the pandemic and our work within the community in years to come, but in some remarkable ways St Margaret’s has turned itself inside out and found a new vocation in the community. The Medium is the Message The Archbishops took the unprecedented decision that from Mothering Sunday 2020 all churches should close, with no one – even vicars – using them for prayer or worship. While this decision has been questioned it resulted in an immediate requirement for an entirely new approach to liturgy. From that Sunday we began streaming services at first from the vicarage, then including the director of music (who was in Yorkshire). With time we improved in our use of technology and were able to split screens and then bring in more of the 5 congregation to read and perform intercessions. At the same time the vicar’s streamed morning and evening prayer was noticed and several commented on how it book-ended monotonous days. The reader was soon taking services and eventually other members of the congregation stepped in so each day was led by someone different. The community of prayer that gathered each morning was between 10 and 20 every day, with fewer gathering for evening prayer. Streaming services was felt by the vicar to be the most satisfactory means of virtual- church but by introducing Zoom coffee, at first just after the service, later followed by a midweek catch-up, there was a more participatory means to keep our community connected. Efforts were made to include children with songs in the Sunday service and a midweek virtual playgroup and Sunday school. The Sunday School team also introduced challenges and activities, which the vicar was able to present on Sundays. Before the end of the first lockdown we had succeeded in installing first-rate streaming equipment that meant when some of the congregation returned to services in church in July, no one was left behind and in this mixed mode everyone had a great seat in church! A special mention here must be made for Mark Steward who produced a beautiful cabinet to house and protect the equipment. Before the pandemic the church had a facebook page that made occasional notices and a recently reconfigured website. In 2020 all of these have adapted rapidly, with the addition of Instagram and especially Twitter which has provided a good connection to other churches and activity locally and in the diocese. Permanent improvements to our mission are as follows: 1. The streaming of services increases our reach beyond the local. It means those who are housebound for any reason can still access services. Because we have made the investment our streamed services give a good representation of what we’re about and provide an accessible way in to the community. 2. The streaming of services has great pastoral importance in allowing access to services for weddings, baptisms, funerals and other services for those who are unable to attend, abroad or absent for other reasons. 3. The streaming of morning and evening prayer has created ex nihilo a daily community of prayer. People gather each morning online to pray together, and in the evening we gather in person and online. For myself this is perhaps the greatest achievement of the pandemic. I believe it has stimulated the discipleship, spirituality and vocation of all involved. Followers 6 The Shape of Worship 2020 has seen a great deal of liturgical innovation in adapting to the changing circumstances. Before the pandemic began we had brought in a chanted psalm between the readings, which increases our use of Scripture and brings a new style of music, and an alleluia to introduce the Gospel. The pandemic has required us to use a professional singer to lead the worship – at times only one person has been permitted to sing in church. Several people have commented to me that they prefer this set up as it has allowed us to have some beautiful music in church in a more reflective style. While this use has simply been an adaptation to rapidly changing and difficult times, it has also demonstrated the benefit of supplementing our worship with professional musicians and helped in thinking through different scenarios for the shape of our worship. While there is a cost to using professional musicians, in this year it provided much needed work for musicians, a welcome chance to perform, and many cantored for free in thanks for being given opportunities for rehearsal and recording space, or a fundraising recital. There have been a large number of adaptations to the pandemic. Especially felt has been the ban on congregational singing, the withdrawal of the chalice, the end of sharing the peace, impossibility of serving, requirement for facemask, hand- sanitising and track and tracing, the 2m distancing of pews, the great difficulties found in holding a Creche and Sunday School, and end of all hospitality. With the most immediately attractive aspects of church-attendance withdrawn – fellowship, families and singing – and a less comfortable and physical worship, the faithfulness of St Margaret’s has been sorely tested. The quick commitment to streaming and the efforts of many in maintaining connections has been a testament to our resilience. We will not know the full impact of the pandemic for some time on our worshipping community. It was encouraging to see, however, that on the first Sunday in May we had the largest congregation Sunday by Sunday in the last ten years. This suggests that we have remained largely connected and made new connections. With a strong pattern of families especially moving house and the disruption to Sunday School we will have to work hard to regather the community. While Christmas collapsed around us as the lockdown gathered, a highlight of the worshipping year was Christmas Eve carols in the garden. This must be repeated as it provided a truly magical moment at a time when other carol services and most planned activity was fast being cancelled. The Easter 7 Vigil returned in the vicar’s garden on Saturday night and was repeated in 2021 in church for the first time in many years, but received appreciative comments. It was also the scene of drama as Stephen Stavrou, a vicar at St Michael and All Angels, Barnes, stepped in at the last minute and the vicar had to leave before the end of the service to attend the birth of Apollo on Easter morning. The largest change to our worship has been the impact of live streaming.