ANNUAL REVIEW CONTENTS Item No. Rev. Paul Hardingham’s Introduction 1. The Parish of St. Peter’s Halliwell 2. The PCC: Trustees of the Parish 3. Review of PCC Meetings – Andrew Reid 4. Finance Report - Peter Caffrey 5. Electoral Roll Report - Paul Gray 6. Safeguarding Report - Chris Winstanley 7. Deanery Synod Report - Craig Vincent 8. ALMS Report - Jean Mort 9. Annual Wardens Report - Elian Winstanley 10. National & International Ministry – Rev. Craig Watson 11. CAP Centre - Sam Wolstencroft 12. Parish Centre - Amanda Blease 13. Staffing Report - Joan Johnson 14. Health & Safety - Elian Winstanley 15. IT & Documents - Paul Gray 16. St Peter’s - Paul Hardingham 17. St. Andrews - Steve Walsh 18. Barrow Bridge - Carolyn Rigby 19. Smithills Fellowship - Ross Pyle 20. Appendix - Finance Report Extracts 21.

APCM REVIEW 2019

‘My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practise real love.’ 1 John 3 v 18 (The Message). As our text for 2019 reminds us, practical love in action is essential if we are to take our vision forward. We have expressed this in our Mission Action Plan, which aims to develop our vision (‘Transforming Bolton Together in Jesus’ name’) by identifying the priorities over the next 3- 5 years. Each church in the parish has their own priorities in the MAP, alongside those for the parish. Here is an update in terms of the Parish Priorities during 2019:

Priority 1: To repair, refurbish and extend St Peter’s Building ‘We want a building that is fit for mission in the 21st Century and helps people to grow in knowing God through worship, community and commitment as disciples of Jesus.’

During the year we have obtained a faculty for the repair work on the Tower, as well as preparing the faculty application for the repairs on the Link Corridors. In a series of congregational meetings, we have also considered ideas about an extension to the church to improve our facilities and refurbishing the church and lounge. As a result, we have repainted the inside of both and plans are in place to look at the floors and chairs.

Priority 2: To develop a strategic approach to mission across the parish: ‘We want to develop a strategic approach to mission, that will effectively grow whole life disciples of Jesus, who make a difference for God where they live, work and spend time with others.’

We see our strategy in terms of ‘Sowing, Reaping and Keeping’. Sowing involves organising social events and that build relationships with those outside the church community. In 2019 we have been developed the Community Café across the parish, including Open Days at St Peter’s. Party in Park took place, with a stronger evangelistic emphasis. This included evangelistic talks on the main stage, a marque where people could express thoughts about God, tee shirts for helpers inviting a response and organising a follow up discussion group on matters of faith in the weeks after the event. Reaping opportunities have included running Alpha courses across the parish and planning a Mission Weekend, Believe in Bolton, in May 2020 led by the , involving churches across the town. As part of our preparation, we ran the ‘Everyone Welcome’ course, to encouraging our churches to be more effective in welcoming all in the things we do.

Priority 3: To work for the establishing of God’s kingdom: ‘We are committed to working for the transformation of our community and town, in partnership with community groups and organisations and local churches.’

We have continued to develop our work on Johnson Fold Estate in 2019 with the Storehouse Pantry at Hope Centre, partnering with Urban Outreach and Bolton at Home. We have also worked with the Methodist and Catholic Churches on the estate, with joint prayer events together. With the agreement of the Diocese and Deanery in October we appointed Revd David Brae as Associate Minister at St Peter Halliwell and Young Adults Pioneer in Bolton Town Centre. He was subsequently licenced on 1st March 2020. While being appointed to St Peter’s, Dave’s increasing focus will be on planting a church for 18-30s in the centre of Bolton.

Rev. Canon Paul Hardingham

The Parish of St. Peter’s Halliwell

Comprises four fellowships meeting in: St. Peter’s Church, 419 Church Road, Bolton, BL1 5RR. St. Andrew’s Church, Tattersall Avenue, Johnson Fold. Barrow Bridge Mission, Barrow Bridge Road. The Chapel of Smithills Hall & St. Peter’s Smithill’s Dean Primary School. Each of the four churches has its own Leadership Team to deal with matters particularly concerning its own fellowship. These Leadership Teams are sub-committees of the Parochial Church Council. With the exception of St. Peter’s, each fellowship holds its own General Meeting and issues its own Annual Report. By the Parochial Church Council (Powers) Measure 1956 the PCC is required to co-operate with the Minister of the Church in promoting in the Parish the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical – this the PCC continues to do very readily. Attendance in the Parish averages on a Sunday 349 adults and 137 children (from the October Census)

The Electoral Roll numbers are 486 currently.

Bankers: Each Fellowship banks with the Royal Bank of Scotland. Funds are also held with the Central Board of Finance and CAF Bank.

Funds are held with the Central Board of Finance.

Legal Advisor: Jane Monks (Diocesan Registrar)

Architects: Byrom Clark Roberts & Bradshaw, Gass and Hope.

Auditor: A.L. Bentley and Co., Parish Office: St. Peter’s Parish Centre Chartered Accountants. 347 Church Road, Bolton BL1 5RR.

Parochial Church Council -Trustees of the Parish

Clergy: Rev. Canon Paul Hardingham Rev. David Brae (from March 2019) Rev. Craig Watson Rev. Oli Preston (until Aug 2020) Wardens: Paul Gray Elian Winstanley Deanery Synod: Jean Mort Shirley Clark Stephen Brierley* Craig Vincent David Cieszynski Barrow Bridge Carolyn Rigby / Helen Yarwood Smithills Ross Pyle / Helen Stainthorpe St. Andrew’s Steve Walsh St. Peter’s Miranda Rathmell Elected : Peter Caffrey Treasurer (retired) Amanda Blease Parish Business Manager Malcolm Peake Rita Wright Joan Johnson Brian Johnson Steven Johnson Stephanie Mawhinney Dave Starkie Co-opted: Andrew Reid Parish Secretary * Stephen Brierley is Deanery Budget Secretary and attends the Diocesan Board of Finance.

Review of PCC Meetings for 2019

The PCC held meetings on seven occasions during the 2019 financial year when members of the committee considered the matters of parish business. Each of the four churches within the parish submitted reports and budgets for discussion and approval. Reports were also received from the Deanery Synod and the various PCC sub-committees. Risk assessments, safeguarding, staffing, approval for parish activities, The Renovation projects for St. Peter’s Church, maintenance issues, expenditure and the general business of the Parish have all required attention during the year. It is not possible in the space available to cover everything in detail. The Financial Statements of the PCC Leadership Team were formally approved and accepted by Rev. Canon Paul Hardingham, Jonathan Hargreaves of Donnelly Bentley & the Wardens in July 2020. Peter Caffrey has served St. Peter’s Church as Parish Treasurer for many years & has decided to stand down. During that time, he has introduced & overseen many new procedures & systems that have very significantly updated & improved the accounting for the Parish. This has included negotiations with the Diocese to determine mutually agreeable Parish Share contributions that have at times been difficult to achieve.

Phil Weaver will take on the Treasurer role from late in August 2020

Elaine Vincent has been taken on for the post of Parish Finance and General Administrator working part time in the Parish Centre.

The ALMS Michelle Hyams Ssekasi – Pastoral (Smithills) & Helen Stainthorpe – Prayer and Spirituality (Smithills) came to PCC Meetings during the year to give presentations on the valuable work that they are doing to help people in the Parish.

Chell Perkins Fundraising has been employed to help us in preparing applications for funds for the restoration & repairs needed to St. Peter’s Church. Roy Attwood has done a lot of work himself & in conjunction with Chell Perkins Fundraising in identifying funds that will potentially help us with our projects. There is a need to put more emphasis on how the Church can interact with & benefit the local community. The interior of St. Peter’s has been redecorated & applications to replace the carpets inside the Church & to illuminate the Church Road elevation with wash lighting are ongoing. Research by Roy Attwood has revealed that the stained-glass East window is by the 19th century designer Thomas Willement & will therefore require restoration rather than replacement, a report for this has been obtained. A Church Heritage Open day was organised in the summer of 2019 by Roy Attwood & other members of the congregation that was well attended & received by the local community. The PCC approved funds for tree-work to be carried out in the Churchyard including the felling & removal of the venerable Ash tree adjacent to Church Road. Funds were also approved for improvements to CCTV & AV Systems in St. Peter’s & St. Andrew’s churches. The PCC give thanks for God’s inspiration and guidance during 2019 and will make every effort to continue to act faithfully on behalf of the Parish during the coming year. Andrew Reid – PCC Secretary

Finance Report for the APCM for 2019.

During 2019, as a parish we were able to pay the full amount of our agreed Parish Share of £160,000. At the beginning of the year PCC agreed a budget which required increases in giving of around 5%. By the mid-point of the year the offerings and donations were not on target to achieve the budgeted increase in income. At the beginning of September, a summary of the Parish finances and the prospect of around £20,000 shortfall on projected income was prayerfully presented to all four churches within the Parish. During September and October the income increased significantly in part as result of a number of one off donations totalling around £10,000 (subject to addition for Gift Aid).

I now look at Galatians 6v9 and reflect on these words; “So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up”.

The accounts for 2019 now show that the offerings and donations increased at each of the four churches resulting a total increase across the Parish of £17,300 (around 7%). This allowed us to meet the full Parish Share payment whilst also apportioning £2,000 per month for catching up on general repairs including upgrading the heating system to the Parish lounge and redecoration at St Peter’s Parish Church.

Income totalling £18,730 was generated from use of the Parish Centre by community groups including Church Road School and Zak. Barrow Bridge and St Andrew’s also generated income from use of their buildings by community groups. The use of Parish buildings by community groups builds up our engagement with the community as well as generating income.

The support for our National and International Mission also increased by around £5,000 during 2019 with offerings and donations totalling £44,468 added to which was a Gift Aid recovery of £8,800.

The direct donations to support both the Youth Minister and the CAP do not cover the full costs of these ministries both of which are supported by salaried members of the Parish ministry team. 2019 was the final year of a three year grant funding period for both ministries The balances being carried forward are sufficient to enable both ministries to continue during 2020.

Expenditure of £22,627 was incurred from the Repair and Build for the Future fund primarily on site investigation and professional fees associated with preparation of detailed designs necessary to progress Faculty Applications and more specific estimates of cost for both the Tower Repair and Link Corridor/Entrance Foyer projects. At the end of 2019 the balance held in the fund amounted to £60,847.

As a fellowship of Bible believing Christians we should not tire of doing what is good and live to please the Spirit being open to using the resources God has provided for each of us to build up our church both physically and spiritually to share the love of Christ.

It has been a privilege to serve the Church as Treasurer for the last eight years and I thank all those who have provided support and encouragement in carrying out this role. I express my particular thanks to:

Amanda Blease for her work as Parish Business Manager in both day to day management role and in developing contacts with the wider community.

Elaine Vincent in her role as Parish Finance Administrator in maintaining the detailed accounting records and keeping track of income and expenditure.

The Treasurers at the sister churches Dave Park at Barrow Bridge, Val Beasley at Smithills and Bruce Sibanda at St Andrews also Geoff Gunshon for his work on the Missionary accounts and Shirley Clark for her work on the CAP accounts

Phil weaver for his work on Gift Aid administration

The banking team Sheila Bateson, Dave Willescroft and Roy Schofield.

The sides people, especially Jennifer Hulme and Ray Unsworth

Peter Caffrey – Treasurer

Electoral Roll Report October (2020) There are presently 486 people on the Electoral Roll for the Parish. A breakdown by church as follows:

Resident in Affiliation Non-Resident Total Parish Barrow Bridge 56 22 78 Smithills 73 27 100 St. Andrews 12 15 27 St. Peters 118 163 281 Total 259 227 486

10 year profile

Red indicates a full revision of the Electoral Roll was carried out that year. The most accurate figures are therefore those shown in red. In the six years from 2013 to 2019 membership fell by 128 or 21%.

Paul Gray - Warden

Safeguarding Report for 2019 As a church, we have both a legal and moral responsibility to ensure the safety and well-being of children and adults with care and support needs. This commitment is fully shared by the Church of England nationally and by the Diocese. The Diocese formally approved and published a new, comprehensive Handbook of Policy and Procedures entitled “Safeguarding Children and Adults at Risk” in 2016 (last revised in 2017) which can be viewed on the Diocesan web-site (https://www.manchester.anglican.org/safeguarding). This document was formally adopted by our PCC as our Safeguarding Policy and copies are displayed at each of our worship centres. Group leaders in particular should ensure that they have read and understood the document and fully comply with the policies and procedures therein. The last six months have seen a massive reduction in our children and young peoples’ work as a result of the COVID Pandemic. The Diocese has kept us informed of current safeguarding policies concerning the changes. During this time, a limited number of online groups have been meeting over Zoom. Our youth minister, Sarah Saxon, has consistently updated our social media safeguarding policy in line with the Diocesan guidelines. This has enabled Sarah and the youth leaders to have meetings with the young people in a safe environment during lockdown. The Handbook has been sent to all our leaders working with children, youth and adults at risk. It stipulates that any adults working with children or adults at risk should have been checked under the Government’s Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). This check needs to be updated every five years. In addition, they are required to attend refresher training at least every three years. We also require new volunteers to provide two references who will testify to their good character. The DBS check is required even if volunteers have been checked by another organisation or agency such as their employer. Each fellowship within the Parish has its own safeguarding representative who can perform tasks such as checking identity documents. These are as follows: Fellowship Representatives: St Peter’s Cath Hargraves, Smithills Jill Jones, Barrow Bridge Nicola Caffrey, St Andrews Hope Centre Chris Winstanley. We have also displayed posters in each of our worship centres entitled ‘Promoting a safer church’. These provide full contact details of our church safeguarding representatives. Our website has a link on the front page which gives the same information. During the past year, 21 people have completed or updated their DBS verification. If you have a concern and would like to discuss a safeguarding issue, please contact me directly on 01204 844313 or by email to [email protected]. Finally, may I extend a huge thank you to Sarah and all of our volunteers for their co-operation and commitment in ensuring that we uphold the highest standards of protection for the people we come into contact with. Chris Winstanley Parish Safeguarding Officer

Deanery Synod Report for 2019

Representatives on Deanery Synod: Stephen Brierley (Deanery Budget Secretary), Dave Cieszynski, Shirley Clark, Jean Mort and Craig Vincent, plus the clergy. Jean Mort also attends the Bolton Deanery Mission and Pastoral sub-committee meetings, which look at the future vision and role of Bolton Deanery.

Introduction

Deanery Synod meets 4 or 5 times in a year in churches throughout the Deanery. The meetings comprise: a presentation from a guest speaker (to which any one is welcome); news from the host church; reports from Diocesan and General Synods and local matters which the Area Dean has for the meeting. (Rev Chris Bracegirdle is Area Dean). Some issues that were relevant to us at St Peters are summarised below:

'Children Changing Places'

When synod met in September 2019 at St Matthews Church. There was a presentation from the 'Children Changing Places' team. This is the project which the C of E centrally has funded for Manchester Diocese for the next 5 years. It is a youth and children's discipleship project which employs a project manager, 3 children and family workers (setting up toddler groups and working with 30 C of E Primary Schools to improve their links with churches) and 3 chaplaincy assistants (for Canon Slade, St James' and St Catherine's Academy) to set up and support discipleship groups in schools. The aim is to reduce the loss of children from churches and to support Christian children in schools to develop their faith. They also help with Fresh Expressions of church such as 'Messy Church', 'Cafe Church' and 'Wiggle Worship'.

New clergy for St Peters

The Diocese created the post (now occupied by Rev David Brae) which is a role split between being a minister to pioneer student and young adults work in the town centre (working towards 70% in time) and being a minister in St Peters' Parish (eventually 30%).

Manchester Diocese and Deanery Reorganisation

In January 2020 the synod meeting was held at the Parish Church for a presentation from Jean, the explaining the plans that the diocese has for changing the deaneries and coping with a decline in both clergy numbers (because the diocese can't afford to replace them) and congregation numbers. The plans are in the document: 'Manchester Diocesan Strategy 2020-2030' which is on the diocesan website. We were shown a video from the on the plans, under the themes on 'Growing, Nurturing and Serving' and the plans for planting churches, engaging children and young people, training in evangelism and protecting the environment. Deanery reorganisation is to be part of this with the present 20 deaneries reduced to 7:

1. Bolton (amalgamating the 3 existing deaneries of Dean, Walmsley, and Bolton) 2. Bury and Rossendale 3. Manchester North East 4. Manchester South and Stretford 5. Oldham and Ashton 6. Rochdale 7. Salford

At present, the 20 Area Deans combine their role with running a parish, but in the new structure there will be 7 full-time Area Deans without parish responsibilities (although they will assist churches during times of clergy vacancy.)

The archdeacon explained that change was needed because:  The Diocese had a deficit of £1million in 2019, so clergy numbers have to be cut (losing 30 clergy over the next 3-5 years in the diocese).  Only 1/3 of parishes paid enough to cover their own clergy costs.  1/3 of congregations are less than 35 people.  The number of people attending our churches continues to fall, all-age average weekly attendance fell by 20% over the five years from 32,200 in 2012 to 25,800 in 2017.

Archbishop of York's Mission to Bolton

Paul Hardingham gave a presentation on the mission in May 'Believe in Bolton' explaining the key events and how churches are encouraged to join in with their own ideas and promotion in the run-up to it.

Craig Vincent

ALMS Report for 2019 Authorised Lay Ministers (ALMs) are lay people active in church life, who have been identified by their parish as having a particular gifting, vocation or calling to share in the team ministry of the local church. ALM ministry takes many different forms depending upon the needs of the Parish and the giftings of individuals. Following a Training Course an ALM is commissioned by the Bishop to serve in an area of ministry such as administration, children's, or youth ministry community, mission, worship, pastoral, prayer and spirituality, ecology and creation. ALMs are expected to work collaboratively as part of the wider parish ministry team in serving, resourcing and encouraging all God’s people to carry out the vision and mission of God’s Church. St Peter’s Parish currently has 6 people who have trained and been commissioned as ALMs to work in the following areas Shirley Clark – Worship (St. Peter’s & St Andrew’s) Libby Greenhalgh – Youth & Children’s Ministry (St Peter’s) Joan Johnson – Worship and Pastoral (St Peter’s) Jean Mort – Worship ( St Peter’s & St Andrew’s) Michelle Hyams Ssekasi – Pastoral (Smithills) Helen Stainthorpe – Prayer and Spirituality (Smithills).We were pleased earlier this year to welcome to the team Libby Greenhalgh who has transferred from St Paul’s Astley Bridge. Sadly, this year we were saddened to learn of the death of Anne Gorton. She will be greatly missed by the ALM Team and so many people in the Parish as a vibrant advocate and catalyst for Mission. 2020 marks the 10th Anniversary of running the ALM Scheme in the Manchester Diocese. It was decided not to train new ALMs this year but have a fallow year to use the time and resources to celebrate, reflect and renew the vision for the next 10 years. There have however been opportunities coordinated by both the Deanery and the Diocese to get together and to undertake training. In April we attended a Safeguarding Training at Church House. In July ALMs joined together for A Collaborative Ministry Day in Bury. In September the Re-Commissioning Service took place in for those ALMS who have held office for the last 3 years. In March 2020 we hosted the ALM Refresher Day at the Parish Centre with 50+ ALMs attending as a group

We are appreciative of the support we receive from the Vicar Canon Paul Hardingham. This year we have met as a group to discuss our respective roles and how we can support each other. Jean Mort

Wardens Report –2019/2020

Introduction: 2019/2020 has been an especially busy and challenging year for the churchwardens. The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic in March generated a great deal of additional work in the form of keeping up to date with government restrictions, attending various Diocesan meetings, preparing risk assessments, live streaming our services, updating our parish web site etc. We have also tried to maintain momentum on the various maintenance and enhancement projects even though progress has been slower than we would have liked as a result of the public health situation. The following summarises the activities during the year. Build and Repair for the Future: The Faculty application for the Tower repairs was submitted and has been duly approved by the Diocese. A pre-tender estimate (PTE) was commissioned to provide an idea of the likely costs involved and this came to about £350,000. Link Corridors: The condition of the links corridors has continued to decline, and replacement is now considered to be very urgent. After a great deal of design work and various surveys and inspections, the faculty application for the link corridors was submitted and approved by the Diocesan Advisory Board. However, an objection was received at the public consultation stage which meant that the design needed to be changed. As the link corridors connect church (a listed building under faculty control) and the extension, we also needed to obtain Planning Permission and Building Control approval from Bolton Council. Planning Permission and Building Control approval have now been obtained and, as such, our Faculty application has been granted. A PTE was commissioned, and the cost estimate came to about £190,000. East Window: Research has revealed that our East Window was designed by Thomas Willement who was one of the most successful of England’s early 19th century stained glass artists. Therefore, whilst it is in very poor condition, it has considerable provenance and will probably need to be restored rather than replaced. The PCC commissioned a report on the condition of the window which confirmed that it is in poor condition and in need of major restoration work. The Wardens are in the process of preparing a Faculty for the restoration based on the recommendations from the specialist company who generated the report. We have also requested an indicative estimate for this work. Fundraising: The Wardens, along with Roy Attwood, our Partnerships Manager, have worked extensively with Chell Perkins Ltd (https://www.chellperkins.com/) who are a Christian company specialising in charity fundraising. The PCC tasked Chell Perkins to explore options for obtaining grants for both the tower and corridor projects. The PCC determined that grants could be sought from the Heritage Lottery fund for the tower repairs, as this is now the major source of funding for heritage buildings. However, the heritage lottery funding streams have been closed until at least

2021 due to COVID-19. Even when they restart accepting applications, we have been advised that the possibility of successfully obtaining grants from Heritage Funds is negligible, as they will focus on funding organisations who are likely to become bankrupt as a result of COVID-19, leaving the buildings in their care to deteriorate. Consequently, we have suspended work on applications for the Tower works and are focussing on the Link Corridors project. A detailed "Case for Support" document has been compiled. Running to 14 pages, it describes the community needs and then explains how a modern entrance and renewed linking galleries are key to widening the use of the buildings and providing new opportunities to share our faith. Chell Perkins Ltd, together with Roy, have prepared in excess of 20 applications for grants, which have been submitted. However, potential funders can take up to 6 months to respond. At the time of writing, we have been offered grants to the value of £20,000 and the team expect that we will eventually receive offers of around £130,000. Many of these grants require us to demonstrate community support for the project, and we have now received a total of 8 letters of support from community and para-church organisations. The Wardens would like to thank Roy for the incredible amount of work he has put into the fundraising effort to date. Conclusion: We are now in a position to proceed with both the corridors and the tower repairs, subject to finances. The next step is to formally request tenders from potential contractors to actually do the work, but this is contingent on us having the funding available. The Wardens propose to seek further contributions to the Repair and Build for the Future fund with the aim of being able to complete the corridor replacement work during 2021. COVID-19 response: The Wardens have continually reviewed the current guidance from the government, the Church of England and Bolton Council to ensure that we are fully compliant. The Wardens would like to thank our church family for their understanding, patience, and compliance as we all cope with these restrictions. The Wardens have also attended various webinars organised by the Diocese and hosted by the Bishop of Bolton and the Archdeacons. The agenda covered topics such as: closure of buildings for worship, care of buildings, finance implications, implications for corporate worship, website information details, APCM and Archdeacons’ visitations, churchwardens training etc. Page 3 of 6 Risk assessments have been prepared for our various buildings including St Peter’s Church, the Parish Centre, Smithills Chapel, the Hope Centre and Barrow Bridge Mission. Our thanks go to the leadership teams in the sister churches for their assistance in this. We have updated our website to support the lockdown situation. This has included a revised home page, the addition of sections covering Sunday Live (with Catchup), Thought for the Day, Pray for the Muslim World, Urban Outreach and KickStart. An online donation facility has been added to the Parish website. This offers three options – (i) General Fund, (ii) Repair and Build for the Future, (iii) National & International Ministry A booking system enabling worshippers to reserve seats at our 4pm service was developed and is available on our web site. While our church buildings were closed, we have livestreamed a service weekly over Zoom. Thanks to a generous benefactor, we have been able to design and install a live-streaming solution within St Peter’s Church. Our services from the church building restarted on 13th September. Since then, we have added live music and we hope to invite our church family back to church shortly. It is intended that live-streaming of at least one service every week will continue indefinitely, and a policy document has been prepared to ensure that privacy and safeguarding requirements are fully complied with. The chairs in church were temporarily replaced with plastic chairs from the Parish Centre as a result of difficulties in sanitising the upholstered chairs as they are in a heritage building. The chairs have been spaced to allow 2m between pods in all directions, as per Diocesan guidelines. Comms Team: A ‘Comms Team’ has been set up. They take responsibility for developing communications across all social media. Additionally, they have received training on the management of the website and now manage this on an ongoing basis. After having some issues with bulk email delivery, a new service provider has been engaged and delivery rates are now close to 100%. Page 4 of 6 General Maintenance Minor Projects and Faculties The table shown as Appendix 1 below lists some of the other faculties/projects that the Wardens have prepared over the last few months, together with their current status. It is intended that, unless otherwise stated, these will be financed from the general maintenance fund. Graveyard: There has also been a great deal of work done to keep our churchyard safe and tidy. The Wardens would like to thank Ben Mitchell for his work in this area. Several faculties have been applied for and approved covering graveyard maintenance. The most notable cover the pruning of two mature Common Lime trees after complaints from neighbours and the felling of the large Ash tree at the front of church which had become dangerous. Ben has also spent considerable time pruning and tidying the grounds of the Parish Centre. A gentleman who visited our Heritage Open Day kindly donated a new gate which he has installed on the Moorside Avenue side of the graveyard. The Wardens formally thanked him on behalf of the PCC. A Faculty to remove the conifer tree at the north side of church has been granted. The Diocese tree surveyor has identified it as being too close to the church fabric with an inappropriate type of tree. The Wardens are investigating the possibility of re-instating the car park at the bottom of the church yard. This will involve resurfacing both the car park area itself and the path leading to it, replacing the 5-bar gate and the addition of lighting and security cameras. The Wardens have recently been shocked and saddened by the wanton vandalism of memorial headstones in our graveyard. Some of the graves affected are relatively recent and still tended by local families. The Police were immediately informed. We have sought and received legal advice regarding the PCC’s responsibilities in this matter and the PCC will consider what further actions we could take to make good the damage. St Peter’s Church: After the annual safety inspection, it was reported that four of the church heaters required replacement of their burners. This has now been completed and all heaters are operational. After a recent service, we were advised that the boiler in the church extension (installed in 1984) is at the end of its life. The boiler has been replaced and a new heating control system installed. Various repairs to the church roof (re-fixing of tiles etc) have been completed. In St Peter’s Church, radiator shelves were installed above the heaters. Substantial dampness was discovered in the Vestry due to roof leaks. This also rotted the skirting boards. The leaks were repaired and repainted and repainted. New skirting boards now need to be fitted. The wardens worked with the clergy to prepare policy documents regarding the disruption of evening worship by visiting young people.

A colony of bees which had taken up residence behind the plasterboard in the organ loft was finally fully re-homed, after several attempts. The void which the bees had colonised was filled with insulation material to prevent new infestation and new plasterboard was installed. Our thanks go to Ben Mitchell for his work in removing the bees. The church and the church lounge have been repainted in ‘heritage white’. Our thanks go to Keith Forrester for his workmanship in completing this. New lampshades have been installed in the lounge to replace smashed ones. An ‘Access Audit’ has been completed on the church by Helen Stainthorpe & Julie Wilde. The Wardens and PCC are considering their findings. A group from The Leadership Team and PCC has met to discuss floor covering in church and a Faculty application was made but rejected. We are continuing to investigate options. Parish Centre: The lift in the Parish Centre is now 20 years old and parts are becoming difficult to obtain. A recent repair cost £2038 and £3000 was spent on repairs in 2017. The lift has had a long life due to relatively modest usage but is now in need of replacement. A replacement lift will cost circa £30,000. A window which shattered owing to excessive heat during the early summer was replaced. New LED lights have been fitted in the Jubilee room. St Andrews House: St. Andrew’s House became vacant once Oli and his family have moved to Bridlington. The Wardens inspected the property and are pleased to report that it is generally in good condition. Our thanks go to Oli and Jo for leaving the property in such good condition. It has been agreed that the property will be rented to Lindsay and Rachel Flintoff in the short term, and a Tenancy Agreement has been signed. Just prior to his leaving, Oli reported some vandalism had occurred to the gate adjacent to St Andrew’s House. Steve Walsh has kindly agreed to carry our repairs and cover the area with a fresh coat of anti-climb paint. St Paul’s Vicarage: The Wardens worked with the Diocese to prepare St Paul’s Vicarage, which was in need of several items of maintenance, for occupancy by Rev Dave Brae and his family.

Appendix 1: General Maintenance Projects:

Faculty Reference: 2019-038196 Description: Redecoration of church interior Church: Halliwell: St Peter, Created: Fri 09 Aug 2019, Status: Completed Funding: Maintenance Fund Comments: Work completed

Faculty Reference: 2019-029250 Description: Installation of CCTV system to cover potential entry points: Church: Halliwell, St Peter, Created: Thu 10 Jan 2019, Status: Work Completed Funding: Maintenance Fund Comments: Work completed.

Faculty Reference:2019-038112 Description: Installation of an AV system at Johnson Fold: Church: St Andrews (church code 624194) St. Andrews, Created: Tue 06 Aug 2019 Status: Faculty granted, awaiting Practical Completion. Funding: Designated Donation, Comments: Awaiting installation.

Faculty Reference: 2019-043167 Description: Installation of Electronic Noticeboard Church: Halliwell: St Peter Created: Mon 16 Sep 2019 Status: Rejected by DAC Funding: Maintenance Fund Comments: Rejected by Diocese – Faculty abandoned. Comms team exploring alternative approach.

Faculty Reference: 2019-045905: Description: Installation of two LED floodlights to provide approach path lighting to the church. Church: Halliwell: St Peter, Created: Sat 14 Dec 2019, Status: Faculty granted, awaiting Practical Completion Funding: Maintenance Fund Comments: Awaiting installation. Expected Cost: £500.

Faculty Reference: 2020-047049 Description: Extension of existing CCTV system at St. Andrews (Hope Centre building) Church: St. Andrews, Created: Sun 02 Feb 2020. Status: Ready for formal application Funding: Designated Donation

Faculty Reference: 2020-048788 Description: Installation of external wall-wash lighting to the north face of the church Church: Halliwell: St Peter Created: Fri 21 Feb 2020 Status: Application with Registrar Funding: Maintenance Fund Comments: Objections received at public consultation, wardens responded on behalf of PCC – awaiting decision from Chancellor

Faculty Reference: 2020-053101 Description: Re-carpet the church interior Church: Halliwell: St Peter, Created: Mon 13 Jul 2020, Status: Rejected by DAC Funding: Maintenance Fund. Original proposal rejected by DAC. Need new approach.

Other Projects

Refurbish St Peter's Church Car Park (Maintenance Fund) Estimated cost: £25,000. Replacement of chairs in St Peter’s (Maintenance Fund) Repair damaged drainpipe (Maintenance Fund) Installation of live-stream system (Designated Donation) - Work completed.

Elian Winstanley - Warden

National and International Ministry Report for 2019

We have seen God at work over this year through our National and International Ministry. This year saw us engage in prayer for both the Muslim world during Ramadan, and for the first time, the Hindu world over Diwali. These prayer initiatives continue to be mirrored by people in these faiths who are discovering that Christ is more than a prophet and is the only way to God. We have welcomed to our congregation those who have not only made the choice to follow Christ out of these world faiths, but have had to flee from their home country to escape the persecution that came as a result of that choice. Over this year we have seen a much closer co-ordination of mission work between the four churches of the parish. This has maintained the independence of each church in its approach to mission whilst allowing for interdependence to grow, benefitting all four churches through events and support. We have seen Tim Ball go out to Central Asia, with Saint Andrews taking the lead in his support; the Kenyan Borehole project completed, led by Smithills, bringing clean water to the community there; and the return of Lindsay and Rachel Flintoff from Thailand, supported by Barrow Bridge and Saint Peters. All this, and much more, has been achieved despite the challenges of Covid 19. Our church community has welcomed visitors from Pakistan during this last year. Young people and Teachers who have been encouraged to continue in their walk with Christ in their own land, even though they face great challenges because of their Christian faith. We have supported Release International in their work to strengthen the Christian community in Pakistan. We welcomed our mission partner who works in Pakistan this year. They shared with us the challenges and joys of working in Pakistan. The suffering that has been experienced by our brothers and sisters there, brought us a real sense of sadness. This was compounded by the impact of Covid 19 on the Christian community there. We saw God release a significant amount of resource from Saint Peters Parish to contribute to the Diocesan Appeal to help the Diocese of Lahore. The amazing things that God is doing with and through His people in Pakistan encouraged us and inspired us. Our mission partners around the world have suffered as a result of the uncertainty due to Brexit and Covid 19, as this has reduced the value of the money that we give due to falling exchange rates. This has, in part, been offset by God releasing more funds from His people. The situation is still tough as we have not been able to fund all the projects that our mission partners put to us last year. We look to the Lord to release yet more resources from His people to support our work overseas and our mission partners in their Christian ministry. We continue to discover that members of the parish do not realise that regular giving to church does not contribute to this work. If you would like to give to our National and International Ministry, please use the facility on the Church website or contact the Parish Centre. Closer to home, Create Bolton continues to bless the town through its many ministries. Our mission partners continue to work with the Asian community in Bolton, bringing the practical expression of God’s love into their lives. Our activities to support Urban Outreach through, for example, BL lunches, Christmas Dinner on Jesus, and the Grub Tub to mention a few has enabled Saint Peters to play its part to help those in need in Bolton. As a result, we have played our part on the national stage through Christian ministry in our town. Our commission to bring the Good News to the wider world has been fulfilled through the work of our other mission partners in Zagreb, Croatia; Jerusalem, the Holy Land; Tak, Thailand; as well as through those who continue to support the Christian community in the Middle East and in Nepal, India and Pakistan. In closing, the latest mission partners to join the parish portfolio are the Watsons, who are going out to Nepal as soon as Covid 19 permits, to work with CMS in the Kathmandu International Study Centre, bringing Christian education and Teacher Training to Nepal, providing education for the children of Christian Mission Workers who operate in Nepal. We want to thank all our mission partners for their willingness to be obedient to God’s call on their lives and to honour that commitment by Saint Peters Parish being faithful to our commitment to support them as they bring the good news into all sorts of different contexts around the world. Rev. Craig Watson

CAP Report for 2019

2019 seems a lifetime away as I write this in April 2020 during the Coronavirus pandemic. And yet it is a tonic to do so, as it gives us the opportunity to reflect on what God continues to do through our CAP ministry and the hope that he offers to us all. There is nothing more important than telling people who don’t know him that Jesus is alive, loves them and wants them to have the abundant life he offers. We have the privilege of telling complete strangers these truths every week.

We have so much to thank God for! We have had a record number of 22 debt free clients in 2019 - 13 clients/families now living without the pressure of unmanageable debt – and 11 clients saying either a big ‘yes’ or a small ‘yes’ to Jesus for the first time. 7 adults and 4 children also went on CAP discovery breaks (a short holiday with sessions on self-esteem, anger, worry and forgiveness)

We visited 32 families / clients in the period January to September of 2019 and 26 of those worked well with us and moved forward on a CAP plan. The reasons people don’t are varied: addiction, change of circumstances and also, we can sometimes empower people on a first visit to handle their finances themselves, which is great. We still manage to tell them that God loves them, that there are answers to their worries and feeling of failure and to offer prayer in their own home, for their own situation. October 2019 – January 2020 was difficult as CAP announced a ‘Time to Breathe’ period: they stopped any new clients being visited and processed during this time. The reasons were varied and complex but essentially the high demand for their service meant that, month on month, their workload was 37% more than their Debt Operations teams were able to handle. They needed ‘space’ to give the proper care to their current clients. We supported their decision and used the time to help our current clients and to offer more evangelistic courses.

We are so well supported by the Parish in many different ways. Your generous giving allows the centre to operate, as well as to bless clients with Christmas gifts, Easter eggs (with the gospel) and various items of clothing or furniture. Your practical support allowed us in 2019 to hold various events either specifically for clients or ones to which they were invited and included. We again hosted a Christmas Party when the team cooked a delicious Christmas meal for over 40 clients.

The Coffee Room and the Well continue to be a fantastic resource for the CAP Centre. They are always welcoming, often bustling with a lively and casual atmosphere. They provide extra opportunities for clients to come into our ‘home’ to discuss financial concerns but also to mingle with Christians who befriend them and show God’s love to them. We look forward to the future and are grateful for the financial support of many in the parish, and welcome all offers of support in prayer, as support workers or financially. Thank you.

Sam Wolstencroft

St. Peter’s Parish Centre Report on activities for 2019

As I review another eventful year, I continue to thank God for the amazing provision we have here at St. Peter's Halliwell in the multi-use and flexible space that is the Parish Centre.

During 2019 a variety of activities and ministries routinely took place in the Parish Centre – including, for example, Toddler Groups, Open Door, The Well, Stressbusters, TREAD, BOOM, and LIGHTHouse. In addition, a Children and Communion course was held and Connect groups met regularly throughout the year, along with lent groups, discipleship groups, a Recovery group, a football group and Café Church. As the base for Christians Against Poverty (Bolton North), it’s activities were supported through the Coffee Room and the provision of CAP Money and Alpha courses. Other events held here included the first Breathe conference (a gathering for youth workers), Rev. Vinny Whitworth’s goodbye ceilidh, an away day for another church, Home for Good, Youth Unite, and, on behalf of Manchester Diocese, another Authorised Lay Ministry course and Foundations for Ministry course.

We have been able to continue to build on the relationships we have established with external hirers whose presence is very much valued here and who provide us with, amongst other opportunities, a much-needed income. This includes Church Road Primary School who continue to use the centre during term-times for their sports lessons and also Refresh Dance who held their very successful third summer school in the centre. Zak’s Childcare, who have been using the centre for their Before/After school club since 2015, also used the centre as the base for their holiday clubs throughout the year. Other weekly external sessions included Moo Music and Creation Station (activities for babies and pre-schoolers). Heaton House Nursery held their end- of-year Graduation ceremony here again and we were pleased to be able to provide a venue for one of the groups of young people from Bolton Lads and Girls Club to put on a show when they were let down at the last minute. Weekly aerobics and pilates sessions have continued throughout the year and, a long-standing session from the Alzheimer’s Society - Singing for the Brain - also provided their support group for those living with dementia.

In September, we welcomed a new hirer - INTERACT School of Performing Arts - to the centre on Saturday mornings. This well-established group were excited to acquire the Parish Centre as their new base in this area of Bolton. Also, in November, a new branch of Sweaty Mamas (an exercise group for mums together with their babies/toddlers) started on Wednesday mornings. This has been a great opportunity to open our doors and welcome new groups of people from our community (and beyond) into our Parish Centre, and for them to be able to find out more about all that goes on in the life of our church.

Thankfully, there were not any major maintenance issues in the centre during last year. I reported in 2018 that some long-overdue lighting improvements had been made in Noah's Ark. I can now add that the main downstairs room in the centre, the Jubilee Room, has also benefitted from a complete lighting overhaul. The resulting transformation with the new LED fittings has been very well received and made a considerable difference to the usability and ‘feel’ of this room.

Finally, I am delighted to note that Elaine Vincent joined our small staff team in April and is based in the Parish Office. Elaine and her family have been members of St. Peter’s Church for many years. Elaine has proven herself to be a great addition to our team, settling very quickly into her role as Parish Finance and General Administrator (part-time, 15 hours per week). We are so thankful for the many gifts and experience that Elaine has bought to this post and her willingness to serve on this team.

If you want to find out more about any of the activities mentioned, please feel free to contact me. I look forward to all the opportunities the coming year will bring but am aware that without the brilliant team of group leaders and volunteers that we are blessed with, many of these things simply could not happen at the Parish Centre. My thanks to you all for your commitment and your willingness to serve God in this place.

Amanda Blease Parish Business Manager

St. Peter’s Staffing Sub-Committee Report for 2019

The members of the Staffing Sub-committee are Brian Johnson, Tanya Johnson and Joan Johnson (Chair). Our staff: Amanda Blease – Parish Business Manager, Elaine Vincent – Parish Financial and General Administrator, Sam Wolstencroft – CAP Manager, Sarah Saxon – Youth Minister, Lewis Banister – Caretaker (St. Peter’s campus), Shirley Neal – Cleaner (St Andrew’s/Hope Centre).

Our number of employed staff has now increased to six as we have added Shirley Neal, the cleaner for St Andrews/Hope Centre, to our staff. The reason for this is that the PCC of St Peters Halliwell has responsibility, as employer, for all our staff and this also ensures that all staff have equal rights.

Amanda Blease, Parish Business Manager, has certainly settled into her role over the year and likewise, Elaine Vincent, Parish Financial and General Administrator. This has ensured the continued smooth running of the necessary business side of our parish programme.

Sarah Saxon, our Youth Minister, returned from Maternity Leave at the end of 2019 with a full programme for our youth.

As we are all painfully aware, all of our lives have been changed since March 2020 because of the effects of the Corona Virus and this has necessarily affected the lives and work of our staff, and also the work they have been able to carry out.

Whilst Amanda, Elaine and Sarah have continued working, albeit much of it from their own homes by Zoom, email and telephone, Lewis was placed on furlough from 1st. April until 7th. September and Sam from 4 May until 24th May and later on, part time furlough from 1st. September until 25th. September.

Now that the church and parish centre are open and limited activities have recommenced, a little normality has returned for our staff but this does not diminish the difficulties they have had to endure over the past months when they have not been able to carry out the work they are committed to.

Therefore, it is fitting to thank our staff for their forbearance during these months and our prayers are with them as they endeavour to resume ‘normal working hours’ and achieve their aims.

Joan Johnson.

St. Peter’s Health and Safety Report for 2019 The PCC approved the revised Health and Safety Policy in May 2018. The current Health & Safety policy is on display in all our church buildings. Every effort is made to ensure that all our activities across the Parish including work done by tradesmen comply with the Health and Safety Policy. There have been no occurrences during the year when problems have occurred. The Clergy, Churchwardens, PCC and staff continue to monitor and adhere to all guidelines and regulations issued by the Government, the Church of England and Local Government in regard to COVID-19.

The position of Health and Safety Officer is currently vacant and the PCC are looking for a new post holder. Elian Winstanley

IT & Documents Sub-Committee - Report for APCM 2019

The storage of documents by key role holders/leaders across the Parish from paper based to cloud-based storage in a way that they can be more easily accessed independently of the originator is encouraged and ongoing. Documents may currently be held electronically, on paper or both, the Diocese requires that certain key documents be retained as paper copies. In any event documents should be held with an appropriate level of security. Documents range from important correspondence, personnel files, safeguarding documentation, minutes of meetings etc. In order to clarify those documents of importance the Subcommittee will initiate a survey amongst key role holders/leaders. Previously the subcommittee considered the implications of the new data protection legislation - GDPR. A consent form is available from the Parish Office which must be signed by individuals to authorise communications of various types. The appropriate forms have been completed by all on the Electoral Role. A suitable privacy notice is included on the Parish website. Paul Gray

St. Peter’s Church Report for the year 2019

The current members of the Leadership Team are: Miranda Rathmell (Chair – finished in summer 2020), Helen Johnson (Secretary), Paul & Kathryn Hardingham, Susan Banister (left in 2019), Linda Foster, Paul Saxon (left in 2019), Amy Lilley (joined in 2019), Keir Simister & Mark Leaver (joined in 2020).

During 2019, the focus of the Leadership team has been to work on the Mission Action Plan. This was put together on the basis of discussion at the Ministry Leaders’ Meetings in January and September. The plan has three parts: Knowing God, Growing in God and Going for God, with specific actions in each section. This operates alongside the regular weekly ministries and groups of the church. The Leadership Team members maintain links with ministry leaders, for the purpose of encouragement and communication.

Knowing God

During the year work was done on developing the midweek Compline Service, which was appreciated as a quiet service in the week. Steve and Steph Mawhinney worked with members of the 11.15 service to re-imagine the service, to make it more mission focused. The result was the launch of Café Church in September, which met once a month in the Parish Centre for ‘café style’ church and once a month on a Saturday for a meal and social. The aim is to encourage those outside the church community to connect with the service and this has happened with a number of our CAP clients. The aim has also been to increase the number of small group Alpha and Start Courses, which have happened through the year in homes and the Parish Centre.

Growing in God

In an effort to promote Connect Groups, a number of different styles of group were run during Lent, with a focus on different activities. There has also been an emphasis during the year on improving our Welcome Ministry in the church, especially on a Sunday. This has involved establishing a 9.30 Welcome Team, having coffee in church after 9.30 All Age Services and running the ‘Everyone Welcome’ Course for leadership teams across the 4 churches. The team has worked with PCC at looking at some of the issues relating to the refurbishment of the building, including redecoration and considering new chairs and carpet. In September we had a church weekend away at Quinta in Shropshire. It was a great event, with over 120 adults and children spending the weekend together. Our speaker was Andrew Belfield from licc, who spoke on the theme of whole life discipleship.

Going for God

During 2019 a number of events were held to open the church, with the aim of increasing its visibility in the wider community. We held an Open Day in July, with refreshments, art work from local schools and displays from different groups in the church. This was followed up with a Heritage Day in September, with a focus on the history of the church. Both events were very successful, bringing in around 100 people at both events. A big thank you to Roy Attwood for all his hard work in making the Heritage Day such a success. We have also used the church for concerts with the New Rosemere Operatic Society, which have been well attended. Work has also been undertaken to improve our social media presence, so that the wider community are aware of our presence and activities.

Paul Hardingham

St. Andrews Church Report for the year 2019

First of all, a big Thank You to all those folk from across the Parish and from the local community who contribute to the work that goes on at St. Andrew’s every week. May God continue to pour out his blessing upon you as you give of yourselves in these ministries.

Ministry: Our regular Sunday attendance figures continued to be low, averaging in the low 20’s for adults. We have seen much sickness this last year. Messy Church continued to meet monthly in the church with a lively interaction with families from the local community. Many of the older youth also took on a more positive role in helping to run certain craft activities during the sessions. The planning meetings for Messy proved to be beneficial for mentoring and encouraging these youngsters. R’Place continues to serve the community meeting every Tuesday. Providing a wide and varied programme to all sections of the community. Our connect group meets regularly in the church. The Youth team continued to organise sessions each Friday during term time. The session was split into two with different age groups in each.

Community: We continued to have strong partnerships with both Bolton at Home and Urban Outreach. The three churches on the estate had been organising collective events in the previous year, however, with Vinny leaving and the minister from the Triangle taking a sabbatical, and St. James looking at closure, the enthusiasm dried up somewhat. Bolton at Home held reviews for membership to the storehouse pantry, this resulted in a substantial number of memberships being terminated. This did create an amount of tension from members and some volunteers. Unfortunately, the church was cast in a poor light for this although it was purely a Bolton at Home initiative. We were again involved in the School lunch project through the Summer holidays whereby those families who would normally receive free school meals can come to the church to get a packed lunch for that day. The Community Carol service was well attended given that it is a busy Sunday. Representatives from the Triangle, St. Cuthbert’s (St James connection) and our own youth group took part. Fr. Chris spoke very well. Finance: We are pleased to report that we managed to balance the books and pay our portion of the Parish share and community costs. Our finances have remained relatively stable through this last year (2019) with a slight increase in the regular giving through the bank but a marked decrease in weekly collections. Mission: We were pleased to continue with support to our mission partners during the year. They are the Bagley’s of Urban Outreach Bolton. The Flintoffs in Thailand.

The Bellevue fellowship in Bulawayo Zimbabwe as they continue to build their chapel.

Mags Southern working with Sams.

Mags is due to retire at the end of the year. We decided that we adopt a new mission partner to take her place, this was to be Tim Ball.

Maintenance: During the year small items of maintenance were carried out. A CCTV system was purchased and is partway through installation. A sum of money was made available to look at upgrading our IT/AV capabilities. A plan was drawn up for us to install a large Smart TV in the hall which would be wired for use via a laptop; this would also include a digital audio system. This work is still in hand.

Opportunities: During the year we were blessed by a large number of folks from across the estate making use of our church buildings in some way. This creates a tremendous opportunity for mission and evangelism, would you please continue to hold us in your prayers as we look to God for vision, enthusiasm and courage. Should you wish to get involved we would be delighted to facilitate.

Steve Walsh

Barrow Bridge Annual Report for 2019

“ We are therefore Christ’s Ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us” Our text card for the year. I am sure when our leaders at St. Peter’s chose this verse to be the text card for 2020 they did not realise just how significant the message of this verse would be for our current circumstances, in the midst of a global pandemic. Now more than ever we need to stand up, speak out and be such ambassadors. In normal circumstances I would have been writing this report in March of this year, commenting on the previous year. Six months on it is hard to recall that year without seeing events through the lens of Covid19. Between April 2019 and March 2020 Barrow Bridge continued to work on our Vision. Know God, Grow in God, Go for God. Our young people have continued to be a significant part of our Church, leading services, taking an active part in helping with different aspects of services manning the computer and welcoming on the door. They have always been willing to get involved in some of the events run by the mission so last year saw our young people in the river during our annual Duck race , building a bonfire in November and being marshals as well as serving refreshments at our Christmas Tree Festival. As part of our effort to encourage people over the bridge into the Mission and develop links with the community we teamed up with Huddle Up to run a trial café between March and May. This was open for breakfast and lunch on Saturdays and was run by Katie from Huddle Up and her team along with volunteers from Barrow Bridge. After this trial Katie concluded that a regular Saturday café wasn’t viable and suggested one off cafes, to accompany particular events. So, we had a Treasure Hunt Café, an evening cafe to cater for our annual bonfire and a café to accompany our Christmas Tree Festival. Sadly, Katie still felt this wasn’t working for Huddle Up so the café has ceased. The Leadership Team had planned to run our own café for future events however this has not happened because of Covid19. Following on from running an Alpha course in 2018, we held another in the Autumn of 2019. We had a core group of four women who attended all sessions and another who attended some. Once again, the Caffrey’s very kindly hosted this. All the women found a greater closeness to God and deepened their faith. We had planned to re-group and discuss next steps for the group at the end of February / beginning of March but had to cancel our plans. In the Spring of 2020, we began a Faith Pictures course at The Mission, we had approximately ten attendees, unfortunately we only had the chance to run two sessions before we had to close due to lockdown. The pastoral team have continued to play a very important role in the life of The Mission, leading prayer times at the Mission, keeping in touch with those that are in need for a variety of reasons by phone, visits and cards. The role that the team play cannot be underestimated. To build fellowship within our church we made a simple but effective change within the Mission, following on from a Welcome course that some of the Leadership Team attended we put out small tables and chairs in the back room for our fellowship to sit on and enjoy coffee, this had a noticeable effect upon improved interaction. Continuing this theme Dave and Vicky Park very kindly opened up their home to the church family for a barbecue, this was very much enjoyed by all. Thank you - Dave and Vicky. The Mission has continued to be used by a number of groups including a local singing teacher, The Woodland Trust, other churches for away days, a school holiday club. The use of the

Mission by these organisations has helped our finances considerably. Thanks go to Ian Hart for overseeing these bookings. In addition, the Mission has been used by our own groups; the banner group which did meet every other Monday producing beautiful banners for our Church, the worship group for practises and for prayer. As mentioned earlier we have run a number of events to reach out into our local community over the year. Another very well attended and sunny Duck Race, the fellowship at Barrow Bridge played our part at the Party in the Park, having a stand rock painting. Our annual bonfire run for the first time by Andy Maden, thanks go to him and his team. A weekend of a Christmas Tree Festival run by Vicky Park and her team. This event was attended by three local schools, a toddler group and a youth group. Over the weekend there were particular times when there was focus, an opening event on the Friday night with a choir, singing by some of St Peters school and a closing event with hand bell ringing. This weekend was also used to support Kay Munayer and her work in Bethlehem for The Shepherds Society, Kay happened to be in Bolton for the Christmas Tree Festival weekend so she manned an Olive tree stall and other items made in Israel , profits went to The Shepherds society. March 2020 onwards Since the closure of the Mission due to Covid 19. Many aspects of church life have continued but in different ways. Our regular connect group has continued to meet via Zoom and has in fact increased our meetings to weekly instead of fortnightly. Numbers have increased too with new members joining us who are unable to access their own church groups. We have made our way through Paul’s letters , beginning in March with using N.T.Wright’s online materials and now moving on to Paul’s other letters in chronological order and taking it in turn to lead these sessions. We have continued to keep in touch with one another using the Barrow Bridge WhatsApp group , phone calls and socially distant visits. A few have regularly joined the coffee and chat sessions after the Zoom service on a Sunday. Ian Hart has headed up our Neighbourhood church group. Members of Barrow Bridge have taken part in our online services, leading worship, preaching, and leading prayers. Sarah Saxon and Carolyn Rigby visited our secondary school age children with goody bags, while Janet and Kate Ainsworth visited our primary aged children with chocolate. In order to be ready to resume meeting in our building the leadership team are going to be carrying out a Church of England risk assessment so that when we are allowed we are ready to welcome our church family back. Until this time comes we will continue to be a “ Church without walls “ and striving to be “ Christ’s ambassadors”. Blessings Carolyn Rigby

Smithills Chapel Annual Report for 2019 Writing this report during a year that has been far from normal as we reflect over a year that was full of encouragement, great outreach events and opportunities and building new relationships. The plans of the Smithills Leadership team continued to build on our 3 priorities for our fellowship. Pastoral Care, Mission Events & Sunday Services and Discipleship and Service. We continued our work under the Pastoral Care banner as we developed our church welcome and building on a team to come alongside members of our Fellowship and our wider community.

Cafe on the Green held 4 times a year has been such a blessing in so many ways it also looked to be a blueprint for other parts of the Parish to replicate it in some way in the future. It raises money towards our overseas Smile campaign and encourages many of our young people into service as well as people around our community coming into our building to enjoy some fellowship and meeting with new people. We eventually agreed our way forward with our second Sunday service each month with a café style service very different to our normal service where we shared breakfast and shared God’s word in a different style with group work at our tables and story sharing , we were blessed with a building full of people at each of these services and new members of our fellowship were coming through our doors to join with us in this new format. This is something we will be very keen to continue and is now part of what we are about in Smithills. Our mission work both at home and abroad is always at the forefront of what we drive at Smithills , and again we were amazed again that the popularity of our Christmas market brought more people to contribute , more people getting involved in serving in some way and more money being raised to gift to Urban Outreach Christmas Dinner on Jesus some £8500 , praise the lord for his generosity. We also give thanks again for his provision in Smithills achieving our Parish share financial commitments. The year was so exciting as we stepped out in faith in many different ways, we were continually amazed at the blessings we were witnessing as a Leadership team and as a fellowship, as we continued to work through our set plans and learn and build upon each one of them. However, it was also a year that as a Community we were dealt a heavy blow, two rocks of our fellowship sadly passed away this year, both losses came as a huge shock. Firstly Barbara Shuttleworth someone who had been part of Smithills forever and for me personally a woman who has been part of my own journey going all the way back to my Alpha days, then Anne Gorton fell ill and was never to recover, again a woman who served our Church with Wisdom, Humour and a huge amount of Grace and a big heart, both of these members of our Church were always at the centre of what we did at Smithills whether established ways of doing Church or involved in the new initiatives mentioned in this report. As always God supports all of us in many ways as we deal with the good, the bad the difficult and the sad. We have much to give thanks for as we again reset and look to move forward in a new way.

Smithills Leadership

Appendix – Finance Report Extracts: