Diocese of St Albans Archdeaconry of Hertford Welwyn Hatfield Deanery PROFILE of the Bishops Hatfield Team Ministry and for the appointment of a Team Rector in the Parish of Bishops Hatfield St Etheldreda with St Luke 1 of 27 INTRODUCTION This document is in 5 parts. 1. Summary of the Bishops Hatfield Team and general information 2. About our team - who we are, what we offer and who we need 3. Profile for Bishops Hatfield St. Etheldreda with St Luke 4. Summary profiles: 4.1 St John South Hatfield 4.2 St Michael and All Angels Birchwood 4.3 St. John the Evangelist Lemsford 4.4 St Mary North Mymms 5. Sources of further information 2 of 27 1. SUMMARY OF THE TEAM AND GENERAL INFORMATION The Bishops Hatfield Team Ministry 1.1 This consists of five parishes and six churches centred on the town of Hatfield which was the original benefice. The Bishops Hatfield benefice was divided into three parishes at the beginning of 2013. It comprises: St Etheldreda’s in old Hatfield with St Luke’s adjacent to the town centre, St Michael’s Birchwood to the north and St John’s to the south of the town. 1.2 The two parishes of St John’s Lemsford and St Mary’s North Mymms which lie respectively to the north and south of Hatfield had earlier been comprised into a team ministry. 1.3 The Team Rector has been and will be based at St Etheldreda’s and has responsibility also for St Luke’s church. There are currently two Team Vicars, the Rev Amanda Duncan based at St John’s South Hatfield and the Reverend Julia Boothby based at St Mary’s North Mymms. The Bishop had directed that there be one further full time appointment of a team vicar to be priest in charge of St Michael’s Birchwood and St John’s Lemsford and that vacancy is in the process of being filled with the recent appointment of the Rev Paul Seymour. There are prospects for further appointments in the future if circumstances permit. 1.4 The team ministry is further supported by the Reverend Susan Stilwell, and four Readers exercising ministry across the team. Lord Salisbury’s chaplain, the Rev Canon Carl Garner also provides support to the team. 1.5 Strong ecumenical links are maintained with the University of Hertfordshire and the local Methodist minister attends the team meetings and is responsible for the leadership of the De Havilland Community project, an Anglican/Methodist joint initiative. We also work with one of the local Catholic parishes. 1.6 One of the future tasks for the team will be to propose the redrawing of the boundaries of the parishes within the team in particular those of St Michael’s Birchwood and St John’s Lemsford to accommodate new residential areas and the implementation of a Local Plan when it is in place. Current Team Initiatives The Root Group 1.7 The aim of this project is to encourage young people thinking of ordination to gain a year’s experience working with both University of Hertfordshire Chaplaincy and the Bishop’s Hatfield Team but focused at St John’s Hatfield. Our aim was to recruit four students, but only one suitable candidate emerged this year and started in September. The Rector’s role is to be the personal development supervisor of the students. The Rev 3 of 27 Amanda Duncan and Rev Allan Smith, the University Chaplain are the placement supervisors. 1.8 The Diocesan Vocations team has tapped into new initiatives from Church House that are promoting schemes such as ours across Church of England and this has developed funds for the project. The De Havilland Project 1.9 This is an ecumenical venture with the local Methodist Church who have taken the lead. It began about 7 years ago to work in the new housing developments on the former airfield in particular based on Salisbury Village and in the Garden Village. Initial funding for 5 years enabled Rev Nina Johnson a local Methodist minister to be rehoused to be based on the project and it employed a full time community worker and a part time youth worker in the project. After the 5 years funding was not renewed. However some groups were established and continue including youth groups and a Saturday morning neighbourhood club. 1.10 Some Anglican money has been found to supplement the Methodist contribution to continue the work of building up a church group “Journey Light” led by Nina which meets once a month on Sunday evening. This is the part of the project with which Rev Sue Stilwell is involved. The plan is to expand work with this group and for Nina and Sue between them to lead it to a point when it can become a full ecumenical project. The group has the potential for establishing a foundation which could lead to a second initiative of planting church in this housing area which is likely to expand under the future Local Plan when this becomes a reality. Hatfield 1.11 Hatfield is a town and civil parish in Hertfordshire in the borough of Welwyn Hatfield. It is a diverse community dating back to Saxon times. It was originally focused on the Hatfield House estate and the town grew from that. With the coming of the railways the town centre shifted to the west and grew significantly with the opening of the de Havilland aircraft factory prior to the Second World War, and even more so when it was designated one of the eight ‘new towns’ to ring London after the war. In the post-war years the aerospace industry grew and became the largest employer in the area. 1.12 It has a current, and fast growing population of approximately 50,000. It is 20 miles (30 kilometres) north of London. A train service runs directly from Hatfield Station to Kings Cross, taking approximately 20 minutes on the fast service. It also has easy connections to the M25 and M1. 1.13 The focus of the centre of the town shifted twice. Once with the coming of the railway and then, more significantly, from the 1930s, when de Havilland opened a factory. Until the 1990s when the then British Aerospace factory closed, Hatfield was associated 4 of 27 with aircraft design and manufacture which employed more people than any other industry. The closure was a cruel blow to the town. 1.14 As a post-war New Town it has much modernist architecture from the period. Effort has been made to keep alive some significant examples of this heritage. In the last decade the redevelopment of the old airfield site echoes that heritage - our new Police Station and Magistrates’ Court look suspiciously like fifties airport buildings! 1.15 The closing of the British Aerospace business in the town in 1992 had a serious impact on the area. In recent years the expansion of the University and the establishment of the Hatfield Business Park along with redevelopment of the former airfield site have meant that the town has continued to grow in population and there has been a revival of commercial activity .The popular Galleria Outlet bridges the south end of the A1(M) tunnel with a Tesco Extra at the northern end. Other shopping is found nearby in London Colney, St Albans and Welwyn Garden City. The nature of the local community is reflected in the town centre where Polish and Chinese supermarkets sit next to Halal butchers near the Asda superstore along with the plethora of fast-food outlets that can be found in many student influenced towns. 1.16 15 years ago the town became the focus of the world’s attention with the tragic events of the Hatfield Rail Crash. The playwright Sir David Hare wrote a play on the state of the railways called ‘The Permanent Way’. The pivotal moment in the play focuses on the events of the crash which provided a watershed in demand for radical improvements in our privatised railway system. Interviewed by the playwright, our then Rector said ‘If Hatfield is in a play, I’d like it to be mentioned as a town of determined people. I would like to see a drama of people who make things work. This town will regenerate and rebuild and rise out of all this’. 1.17 We are now beginning to see evidence of Hatfield’s ‘can do’ spirit. The Old Hatfield Charette plans (see section 3) are changing the landscape of the old town month on month. A proposal to redevelop the town centre foundered due to the recent past economic situation; however smaller- scale development has continued with a spirit of optimism and positive action from the town and borough councils. 1.18 The University of Hertfordshire is the UK’s leading business-facing university and has a diverse community of staff and students. The student community, including overseas students drawn from more than 85 countries, study on two modern campuses in Hatfield and across the globe in partner institutions and through online study. This global community represents all the major world faiths. With over 2,650 staff, it is one of the region’s largest employers and has been ranked as one of the top 100 universities under 50 years old. There are a range of student faith societies and The University’s multi-faith centre, “The Key”, sees over 1000 visitors each week during term-time serving as a focal point for the spiritual life of this diverse community.