AGM DOCUMENTS
1. Agenda for the Meeting on Monday 26th October at 7.30pm 2. Minutes of the 2019 Meetings 3. Vicar’s Annual Report 4. Annual PCC Report and Financial Reports.
1. ST. ANDREW’S PARISH CHURCH, LONGTON.
THE ANNUAL VESTRY MEETING & THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
MONDAY 26th OCTOBER, 2020 COMMENCING AT 7.30pm in the CHURCH
AGENDA:
ANNUAL VESTRY MEETING - ELECTION OF CHURCHWARDENS
1. Opening Prayers 2. Apologies for absence 3. Appointment of Churchwardens 2020/2021. a. Minutes of the meeting for the Election of Churchwardens 29.4.19 b. Chairman’s Comments. c. Elections ANNUAL PAROCHIAL MEETING.
Minutes of the Annual Parochial Meeting 29.4.19. 2. Chairman’s Report and Comments. (already circulated) 3. Annual Report and Financial Statements of the PCC: Year ended 31.12.19 (Charities Act 1993) a. Annual Report. b. Statement of Financial Activities c. Balance Sheet & Notes d. Independent Examiner’s Report.
4. Electoral Roll 5. a. Report on the property of the PCC, the fabric, goods and ornaments of the Church. b. Presentation of the Church Log Book (Terrier) and Inventory. 6. Synod Report. 7. Annual Report of the Parish Safeguarding Officer 8. Election of new members to the PCC 9. Proposal that the Readers be accepted as ex-officio members of the PCC 10. Confirmation of Sidespersons - 2020/2021 11. Appointment of Independent Examiner to the PCC for the year ending 31.12.20 12. The Churchwarden’s Measure 13. Other matters of Parochial or general interest (inc questions and comments submitted to the Chairman in advance of the Meeting) 14. Closing Prayers.
SOCIAL DISTANCING WILL BE MAINTAINED AT ALL TIMES IN THE CHURCH AND FACE COVERINGS MUST BE WORN THE MEETING WILL BE AS SHORT AS WE CAN MAKE IT TO LIMIT THE TIME SPENT IN THE BUILDING ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2. Longton St Andrew
The Minutes of the Annual Vestry Meeting and the Annual Parish Meeting held in the Church Hall at 7.30pm on Monday 29th April 2019
Annual Vestry Meeting
1. Opening prayers 2. Apologies for absence: Mrs A Parkinson, Mr A Bateson, Mrs C Bateson, Mr C Coxhead, Mrs J Whitehead, Mr J Miley, Miss E Anderton, Mrs K Broadley, Mrs S Molder, Mrs C Grilli 3. a. Minutes of last year’s meeting were proposed by Mr D Thompson and seconded by Mr M Reynolds. Accepted as a true record. b. Chairman’s Comments – the Vicar thanked the Church Wardens for their help and support during the past year, both personally and also on behalf of the Parish. c. The following nominations were received: Mrs J Bond - Proposed by Mrs J Doerich and seconded by Mr J Miley Mr M Reynolds – Proposed by Mrs B Baller and Mrs M Nuttall Both were duly re-elected, and it was noted that Mrs Bond had agreed to stand for only one year, under the Church Warden’s Measure (see later under 12.)
Annual Parochial Meeting
1. Minutes of the meeting in 2018 were proposed by Mr K Dowley and seconded by Miss A Lyles and accepted as a true record. 2. Chairman’s report – previously circulated. No questions 3. Treasurer’s report a. Pages 1 – 4 The Annual Report – proposed by Mrs S Rawlings and seconded by Mrs M Thompson. Accepted by the meeting b. Pages 5 & 6 and pages 9 – 13. Mrs S Tipping spoke to her report, explaining that the format has to be this complicated as we own too much in assets, principally the church hall. Page 5&6 are the summary, with pages 9 – 13 being the details. Sadly we have lost a number of Gift Aid and donors during the year. She asked that givers notify her of any change in tax circumstances. Collections are slightly up on last year, partly because of the school services and major services such as Remembrance Sunday. Fees are down as there have been fewer funerals. Major works as shown include the work on the stage and lighting in the Hall. Assets shown as the book figures but cannot be sold. Investments are slightly down on the day. Investments usually bring in between £350 and £400 pa. Restricted figures shown on p.13 covers the payments for electrical work. There were no questions on the figures. Proposed Mrs J Doerich, seconded Mr D Thompson Accepted by the meeting. c. Pages 7 & 8 – these pages remain the same each year. Proposed Mrs C Mitchell, seconded Mr K Dowley. Accepted d. Page 14 – the Independent Examiner’s Report -self-explanatory, she does an excellent job and oversees every detail. Proposed Mrs J Slinger, seconded Mrs J Powys. Accepted. Mrs S Tipping demonstrated the new smart donation equipment – a very simple system, using card payments. Can be used in conjunction with Gift Aid envelopes. The Vicar thanked Mrs Tipping for all the work that she does during the year and also for presenting the Reports. Banking money has become even more difficult with the closure of local banks. The Vicar also proposed a vote of thanks to the Independent Examiner 4. Electoral Roll – in 2018 there were 213 on the roll, now 136 after the completion of the new Roll. Still too many people on the roll who do not attenC church regularly. Each person listed cost £240 on the annual share.
5. Report on the Fabric and Property – there is a Chancellor’s Visitation in June, even if the electricians are still in. The PCC expressed thanks to Mr C Coxhead for his work in ensuring that the Graveyard is made safe. There have been many issues during the year, not east of which was
‘The Hole’. The Vicar thanked Mr Reynolds for his perseverance and hard work in getting resolution to the problem, despite Lancashire County Council never actually communication with the Church.
Lighting and Rewiring: The wiring situation was fortunately discovered before the building was damaged. The electricians are doing an excellent job and were praised for their cleanliness. The work should be finished within 4 weeks of the meeting. The work is expected to cost £64k and it is hoped to replace this the maintenance fund over the next couple of years.
The Vicar also thanked Mr Reynolds and the Gardening Group for making the grounds so attractive. The Vicar also thanked Mr D Thompson for all his work on the Parish Hall, including the 100 club.
6. Synod Report – Mrs C Greenlees reported on those meetings she had attended during the year. The Rev Simon Cox of Blackpool spoke about the work of Churches Together in Blackpool, providing soup kitchens, food banks and social workers. The meeting also heard about the Bishop’s Harvest appeal for Brazil, encouraging schools to take part. The November meeting heard about the fall in the number of ordinands each year, safeguarding issues and climate change. Bishop Jill Duff spoke about Mission, challenging us to plant new churches in urban areas.
7. Safeguarding – report had been circulated. Mrs Kathryn Pym will be working alongside the Vicar this year and will be taking over as Parish Safeguarding Officer next year. The Vicar has attended 3 courses and the PCC will be undertaking some sessions during the year. We will be posting the Parish Safeguarding Policy on the web page and anyone taking up a post will require references. Risk Assessments will be required for all activities. No adult should be alone with a child at any time in the Church or the Hall. Any complaints must be passed to the Vicar who will inform the Diocese. Every allegation will be taken seriously. We all have a duty to create a safe environment in the church for children and vulnerable adults.
8. Election of PCC members – there were two nominations;
Mrs Jennie Towers – proposed by Mrs J Bond and seconded by Mrs C Bates
Mr Alan Moncrief – proposed by Mrs J Bond and seconded by Mr M Reynolds Elected unanimously.
9. Proposal that the Readers be accepted as ex-officio members of the PCC – Mrs J Slinger
Proposed Mrs J Doerich and seconded by Mr A Moncrief. Accepted.
The Vicar reported that Alan Bateson is doing well in the new nursing home and compliments Carol on her determination and fight to get better care for Alan. Mrs Joan Doerich is now exploring a vocation as a Reader. We wish her well.
10. Confirmation of the Sidespersons – the list had been circulated.
Proposed Miss A Lyles and seconded by Mr T Carter. Accepted.
11. Appointment of the Independent Examiner: Mrs L Fryer of PND Accounting; Proposed by Mrs S Tipping and seconded by Mr D Thompson. Accepted.
12. The Church Wardens’ Measure - St Andrew’s adopts the legal arrangement of a 6-year maximum of service, with up to two more years, if warranted.
Proposed: Mr K Dowley and seconded by Mrs M Thompson. Accepted
13.Any other business: Mrs Rimmer gave notice of her intention to stand down as PCC Secretary from April 2020.
14 Closing words – the Vicar spoke how difficult it is to get people to listen to the Church as the current generations have no Church background and therefore no idea how to behave in Church when they attend Baptisms and Marriages. History shows that although there is a decline in Church attendance, this will recover. It is our duty to keep the rumour of God alive in the world. The Vicar asked for our prayers for Ann and himself over the next 18 months as they prepare to move on to the next stage off their lives following retirement.
Mrs C Greenlees thanked both Andrew and Ann for their work in the Parish.
The meeting finished at 9.10pm
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3.
Longton St Andrew
Annual General Meeting – Monday 26th October, 2020.
Vicar’s Annual Report for the Year ended 31st December, 2019
Once again I am circulating my Report in advance. If there are any questions arising from the Report, or about the Parish in general, please submit them to me in writing not later than Friday 23rd October
Andrew Annual Report
THANKS
As usual, I would like to begin by thanking so many people who have taken responsibility within the life of the Church during the past year.
Many thanks to:
The Churchwardens. Although I will thank them in person at the Meeting, I would like to continue to place on record my deep personal appreciation and the Parish’s thanks to those who have served as Churchwardens - Jill Bond and Martin Reynolds. Their total support and work is very much appreciated. They contribute so much to the life of the Parish in so very many ways. I value their wisdom and advise at all times. The Parish owes a deep debt of gratitude for our Churchwardens who are such excellent servants of the holy Church. Special thanks this year must go to Jill Bond as she ends a 7-year stint as Churchwarden. Jill’s Service, and her attendance and presence at so many Services and events, has been outstanding and very much appreciated. I have always known that I can totally rely on her in different ways and she will be very hard to replace, especially in her unstinting campaign to get me to keep the Vicar’s Vestry tidy!
Thanks to
- Jane for her support and contribution to the worship of the Church and in her running of her Bible Study Group. I know that the Group is in safe hands. We wish Jane well in illness at this time
We give thanks for the life and service of Alan Bateson, for all he gave to our Church community and for his faith. Alan sadly died in the Spring. Our thoughts are with Carol and those of who visited know how much love and care she gave to Alan over their time together.
Also, we remember Joan as she continues on her Reader (soon to be Licensed Lay Minister) training
- to those who help in worship by administering the Chalice, by reading the lessons, by leading the intercessions and by serving.
- to Chrissie Oakley as our Organist and Director of Music, and for her leadership and training of the Choir, and to all who sing in the Choir. I would like again to thank all the members for their dedication and faithfulness. I would also like to thank Mrs Carol Wilson who comes to play for Funerals and Marriage Services.
- to the Sidespersons - at all Services
-to all the members of the PCC. I would like to thank especially Sue Tipping, our Treasurer, and Steve Baxter, our Stewardship Recorder. Special thanks also to Judith Rimmer our PCC Secretary. - to Chris Coxhead who stood down last year as our Health and Safety Officer and especially for his work in the Graveyard) and to Terry Carter who has taken on the role and will be responsible for implementing the Parish Health and Safety Policy.
- to all who have taken their place on the rota for Church Cleaning – the state of the Church is often commented upon by those who visit. - and to Derek Thompson for all his work in the Hall and in running the 100 CLUB – also to both Derek and Margaret for the very many things they do for this Church that no one ever sees. To Margaret as well for her leadership of The Mothers’ Union Branch up to this last year and to Sue Tipping for taking on the role.
- to all who have volunteered to work the screen on a Sunday morning and to Catherine Bates for making up the rotas.
- to Judith Rimmer for handling the Hall bookings.
- to all who have helped to organise and all who have supported the Organ recitals and Concerts in the Church, and to all the Organists and participants of those Recitals and Concerts.
- to Hilary Coop for continually providing clean Altar linen and for sorting the Magazine each month, as well as to Cath Greenlees for her work in compiling the material every month and achieving an excellent advertising revenue
-to all who have worked in children’s activities and mission
-to those who have organized social events in the Church and helped at them
- to Gill Rigby in her role of Under-18s Co-ordinator, and to Helen Thompson and Sheri Rawlings in their leadership of the TeenSpirit group up to March 2020
- to all the teachers and leaders for all their hard work, especially to Denise and all our Pathfinder Leaders and Cath and all Changemaker Leaders. - to Joan and Liz and all involved in the annual Pantomime in 2020. Thanks also to the Longton Players for their generous donations to the Church
- to Joyce and Joan for their support at Tiny Tots
- to all organisational leaders
- to Barbara Yates and all who put together the flower displays every week and for major Festivals. The amount of preparation and work which goes into the displays and especially into the decoration of the Church for major Festivals is much admired and appreciated.
- to Cath, for all she does for Christian Aid , in teaching the virtues of Fair Trade.
-to the Tipping family for their work in keeping the Parish website up to date and attractive to users – especially during the ongoing pandemic when the website has been much used to post news and worship material
- to Kirsty Broadley, Stephanie Briggs and Sue Tipping for all the work they do throughout to the year to promote the work of The Children’s Society.
- to Sheri Rawlings for taking on the role of Data Protection Officer - to the members of the Gardening Group for all their work in the Churchyard
-to Helen Neylan for the outstanding posters for the Christmas Services - to the Revd Peter Taylor for standing in for me when I am away, and our thoughts are with Peter especially during this recent time of ill-health
- to all parishioners for so many kindnesses shown throughout the year and for their commitment as the congregation to the life of the Church here
Finally I would like to thank Ann for all her invaluable help and support at home, as well as her encouragement, and for being Verger at Marriage and Funeral Services. She puts up with a lot with me, and I am deeply grateful for her encouragement when needed.
As usual, if I have forgotten anyone, I apologise. All the work put into the life of the Church by so many is very much appreciated.
As always when we look back, we remember those who have been called to share the eternal glory of God in the full life of the resurrected Christ. We remember them with gratitude and pray that they rest in peace with Christ and his saints.
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This is probably the final time that I will personally present a Report as your Vicar for which I am answerable at the Annual Parish Meeting.
I will compile the report for next year’s AGM for this year of 2020, but by the time the AGM comes round I hope I will have retired and I hope that the Parish will either have heard of an appointment or be in the process of making an appointment to serve in this Parish. It is my heartfelt belief that the Parish needs a Priest living and predominantly working on this side of the by-pass, someone who is present in the Church most days praying for the Parish, someone who is seen and visible, and who is available pastorally when needs arise. Throughout the year there are many occasions when I see the importance of being available as needs suddenly arise in people’s lives and when people, many of them non- Churchgoers, turn to us to find and seek help, advice, comfort and simply suddenly to talk to who has the time to listen.
However, the appointment of a new Parish Priest should not be taken for granted. There are changing patterns of ministry in the Church. We have a shortage of Priests – in 1900 we had 58 Bishops and 25,000 full-time clergy. Now we have around 120 Bishops (like Admirals in the Royal Navy they seem to multiply) and around 8,500 full-time clergy. It doesn’t need a genius to see that we cannot continue to run the system as it is with that number – that there have to be amalgamations of parishes into united benefices and some closures.
To expect a Parish Priest, a Parish must encourage vocations to the Priesthood
In reviewing the life of a Church, the giving in a Parish needs to be at a realistic level. The Bible asks for 10% of income, while the Church of England asks for 5%. How many come near to that level of giving? Early in 2020 the PCC held a meeting with the Archdeacon of Blackburn and the Chairman of the Diocesan Board of Finance and it became clear that the Parish is in huge arrears where its Parish Share is concerned. The problem is that with the Share, and the funds needed to maintain the daily life of the Parish, alongside provision for any major or repair works, we need to raise around £200,00 per annum, instead of the usual £115,000pa.
Also, the attendance at the Church is taken into account. The Churchwardens along with the Patron, and with advice from the Diocese, will come to a conclusion in time and they deserve our prayers. PCC members will represent you in the forthcoming discussions, in the Spring, about what happens next, and I will, while still in the Parish, play no part in that process.
PCC members and Churchwardens must begin the process, with all members of the Parish, in prayer, open to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Also, all PCC members only have the right to take part in these discussion if they are regular attenders at the Eucharist and deeply involved in the worship of the Church. There are important questions to be asked and considered.
It is my own personal view that in the Church of England, with current resources, the day of the single benefice (one Church in one Parish with a Priest) is unworkable and impractical. Around 7500 of our 12,000 parishes are now a part of a united or joined Parish – more than one Parish joined. I do not think that here in Longton the Church, given the current level of commitment and giving, can expect a Priest solely appointed to this Parish.
Within this Parish there is also the problem of the Vicarage, a house that is too large for clergy needs and income today. Birchwood Avenue is a very pleasant place to live but the house, which is in part like a 1950s museum, will need a lot spending on it, and even then the cost of heating and lighting it is too high.
On a personal note I was very sorry to say farewell to Fr Martyn Rogers at New Longton when he retired at the end of the year. He and I shared a Church view and I have valued the many chats we have had over the years. I wish him a long and happy retirement. He has been a good and faithful Priest within the Church and many have benefitted from his ministry over the years.
Recently it was announced that an appointment had been made to All Saints, with the Curate of Bispham taking up ministry in the autumn. It’s strange in one way because of the change in churchmanship from catholic to conservative evangelical. I do not know what this appointment means for the future of ministry here because as far as I can see the appointment at New Longton allows the new Vicar to spend some time, after his first year in office, on academic pursuits.
I have believed for a long time that a reorganization in the Church of England is long overdue. We could manage with less Bishops and we need to amalgamate Dioceses so that we cut the number from around the present 40 to around 20. This would follow the pattern of what has happened in Yorkshire with the amalgamation of three Dioceses. This would save on large amounts of money over a long period. When the last Bishop left and we were asked for our views on the future of the Diocese, I did say in an open meeting that I thought the Diocese of Blackburn should now vote for its own demise, seeking union with the Diocese of Carlisle in a new Diocese of the North.
I continue to view the leadership of the Church of England as the weakest in my memory – except for the ill-fated tenure of Archbishop George Carey - with no real top theologians or scholars gracing the bench of Bishops. I am honest in saying that recent news in the Diocese of Blackburn of the joy of the Bishop of Blackburn taking up his seat in the House of Lords filled me with great sadness. I have never believed in a Church wedded to privilege and power, and the Church of the Crucified God – put to death by the civil and religious authorities – should never seek a seat at the top table of power. Instead, we should be the voice of the powerless and marginalized. In the Gospels, especially St Mark’s Gospel, I don’t think we see and realise just how radical Jesus was in his opposition to the Empire and those who aided and abetted it, especially those in the Temple hierarchy. The wonder of the early Church, before it was made the official faith of the Roman Empire and allied itself with power, was that it spoke to the poor. That’s why it was regarded as so dangerous and was persecuted by the Empire on a regular basis.
There has been so much distortion of what Jesus actually said and did, so much compromise, and we have taken the revolutionary nature out of Christianity’s character. Even the Church, when it came to Latin America and Liberation Theology, which spoke directly to the poor, which many of us thought was authentic Gospel teaching, was opposed and suppressed under John Paul 11.
Today, in the United States we see the mega churches and while we may wonder at the numbers they gather, we should also be aware that the Gospel has been totally distorted into a capitalist backing, smug (the wealthy prosper by God’s will) gun-toting monstrosity. We see images of the President of the United States and his staff praying earnestly in the White House, because that goes down well with middle America, the Bible Belt, and then we hear the same man spewing out his narcissistic and hateful bile against everyone and everybody to praise himself and suit his agenda.
Over the years, those who know me know how angry I have been about the Church of England’s response to the child abuse scandals which have done so much damage. I have always advocated that anyone connected in any way with the scandal should have been removed from office. On a couple of occasions in the past I have called for the present Archbishop of Canterbury to stand aside and over the Christmas period I did so again. This followed an interview he gave where the Prince Andrew situation was mentioned. He said that we should not expect those in high positions to be superhuman moral figures, and that’s true because Jesus offers forgiveness to all through repentance. However, in appearing to defend the Prince, he almost totally ignored the plight of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims – trafficked, exploited, abused and raped. The Archbishop showed that he really still does not get it – that the position of the Church should be one of penitence and that we should stand alongside the abused, the exploited and the marginalized because that’s where Jesus would be. The Church still shows a terribly streak of sychophancy when dealing with those in positions of power, wealth and prestige, and so we almost always find ourselves in the wrong place. The Archbishop has severely lacked the spiritual qualities needed to lead the Church at this time. The same is true of the outgoing Archbishop of York
At the end of the year, I welcomed the appointment of Bishop Stephen Cottrell, Bishop of Chelmsford, as the new Archbishop of York. I have heard him speak a few times and believe that he is one of the best communicators that the Church of England has. I hope in due time that he may be elevated to Canterbury. He is a man of strong Christian principle, intent on proclaiming and living the Gospel.
One of the things that traditionally marked out the major churches was the common prayer of the Church – that you could go into a Church, say an Anglican Church, and recognise the Liturgy and, with variations, the content of the Service. Within the CE the character of Common Prayer was in a Prayer Book, which Cranmer first issued in 1549, and then 1552, revised in 1662 and 1928. Cranmer, himself, stated in his Preface to the BCP that as elements in the Church become corrupted over time and too familiar through use, the worship needed constant reform. It was also true that by the late 20th century the Prayer Book was in great need of revision again – The Book of Common Prayer was horribly wrong in its portrayal of God and the guilt it imposed on believers for simply being human with the element of an perpetually angry God – but that could have been rectified and still maintain a Common Prayer. However, it cannot be said now that the CE has a recognised Common Prayer. We have Common Worship, but, instead of one book, we have multiple volumes. There are good things about Common Worship, in the seasonal material reflecting the Church year as it unfolds, but there are far too many alternatives and in many places within the CE what we would recognize as Anglican just does not exist. One of the main problems with Common Worship was that it was essentially a compromise, with each part of the CE having their say and input – a book designed to keep the CE in one piece and satisfying no one. I grew up at the old Christ Church in Preston which was attached to the Parish Church, now the Minster, the Civic Church of the town/city. If you go into the Minster now it is hardly Anglican at all and totally unrecognizable.
Once you lose that element of Common Prayer in a Church you lose a sense of identity, of who we are, what we are here for.
Worship was never meant to be about entertainment or a feel-good factor for the individual. There is so much shallowness in the Church divorced from Church tradition and wisdom that reflects much of the shallowness of our society. The Christian call to the total transformation of the world to reflect the values of the Kingdom of God – so very evident in the writings of Archbishop William Temple in the 1930s and 1940s - has gone, to be replaced with an individualism which is not there in the concept of the Church set out by St Paul. So much of modern day worship is about the self, which is what so much of our society reflects.
I believe that the Church at the Parish level is one of the great gifts to the people of this nation – totally free at the first point of contact. We are much more inclusive than most people think and I have been proud on many occasions of the inclusiveness and tolerance shown here at St Andrew’s. The Church is the only body in this nation where the rich and the poor, the privately educated and those who left school early, all those of different ethnic backgrounds, and different sexualities can come together as equals – it happens nowhere else in this country. It is easy to ridicule the Church but she is there so often when people have nowhere else to go.
We have a God-given presence across the nation and the Archbishops and Bishops should have been shouting from the rooftops in an age of low self-esteem and lack of confidence, an age of despair, that we are here, ready to accept, non-judgmental, open, loving. Instead we heard the Archbishop accuse the Church of being institutionally racist when at the Parish level it is not.
When I was training and first ordained I was very idealistic about the Church and still am in some ways, although it gets harder to be so. Around 20 years ago I went, with others, to hear the founder of the L’Arche communities (where the able bodied live alongside the handicapped) Jean Vanier speak. I honestly admit that I found him a compelling speaker, a visionary in the Church. Recently, like so many other establishment figures, he has been found to have been a abuser (he died two years ago). In the Church, it’s like being in a boxing match and wondering where the next punch is coming from. We have been so robbed of our credibility that we almost need to go back to the beginning, express deep shame, seek God’s forgiveness, and also especially the forgiveness of those harmed by the Church, and our guilt in protecting many of the abusers at an institutional level, and become a simpler, humbler, poorer Church – the Church of Jesus Christ. I still believe that at her best the Church can be magnificent in her service to the Lord and that so many of our Priests and lay workers are doing remarkable work. I still believe, in spite of all, that the Church is the Body of Christ on earth, a mystical Communion, a holy body, a chosen people. I still believe that she is the instrument of God’s salvation to humanity. I hold in mind a statement I read a few years ago in a book by an American priest: ‘Love the Church as she is and work for what she can and should be’ Let me ask all of you and to urge you to take seriously the demands and obligations of Christian discipleship. The call to follow Christ is a call to give all, and to be a first priority in life. For too many ‘Christians’ the attendance at the Eucharist on a Sunday or a Feast Day has become not a matter of obligation, not our response to the love of our Father in Jesus Christ, but rather a matter of convenience. This is totally unacceptable and we should remember that the Lord himself said that not everyone who called him Lord would enter the Kingdom of heaven. Major Festivals are never a matter of convenience – we cannot have ‘Christianity’ on our own terms. There is a great importance and imperative in joining with the family to mark the Lord’s Day and Festivals.
I should not have, as a Priest, to remind leaders of Church groups, especially for the young, that they should be centred in the Church and the Eucharist. No one area of the Church can be run as an individual fiefdom, independent of all the rest. I was saddened in recent times to remind some of this and to be met with an immature and spiritually childish reaction. It is the task of the Priest to care for souls, to encourage and at times admonish, to speak the word in season and out of season. Yes, the Church has to have a social life, but not to be turned into a social institution. It may be that those who do act so defensively when admonished show a spiritual immaturity that calls into question the nature of their leadership.
It is a fact that most people who will start coming to Church will be those who have been invited by others. Ask yourself – how many people have I talked to about Church and the faith, and when was the last time that I invited someone to come with me?
People will become Christians, or at least ask questions about Christianity, by seeing how Christians truly live out the values of the Kingdom, how truly we follow the path of Jesus himself.
The faith also has to spread within families, learning prayers and how to pray in the home. How many ‘Christian’ families now say prayers in any way together, or, indeed, have a prominent Christian symbol within the home?
In the Roman Catholic Communion, this is the Year of the Word, and I would suggest that we come again to Scripture and read the Parable of the Great Banquet, and take to heart what it says. The banquet is prepared and the invitations sent out, but one by one those invited send their excuses. Notice in the Parable that the invitations are not re-sent. There is no begging of those first invited to re-consider and attend. They have had their chance and it is gone. Now the invitations are sent to those who will respond – the sick, the marginalized, the despised and the excluded.
As you read this text, put in your own excuses in place of those mentioned in the Parable and see how totally inadequate they really are.
Luke 14:15-24 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
The Parable of the Great Dinner
15 One of the dinner guests, on hearing this, said to him, “Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” 16 Then Jesus[a] said to him, “Someone gave a great dinner and invited many. 17 At the time for the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’ 18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land, and I must go out and see it; please accept my regrets.’ 19 Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my regrets.’ 20 Another said, ‘I have just been married, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 So the slave returned and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ 22 And the slave said, ‘Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.’ 23 Then the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled. 24 For I tell you,[b] none of those who were invited will taste my dinner.’”
There are Christians in the world who walk for days to attend a Church Service, especially at major Festivals. There are those who turn out and celebrate in the face of danger and persecution, who pack their churches in the face of threat and violence. And us? – we are consumed by apathy and indifference, with our attendance dependent on whether we think we can fit it in or not. We compartmentalise the faith into 90 minutes on a Sunday morning and don’t break out of that box, even to celebrate the great Festivals and Holy Days of the year.
The pattern of the Christian Year, which so ordered and governed the pattern of life for nearly one and a half thousand years has been allowed to virtually die within 2 generations.
Christianity is a way of life and living. It stems from an experience of the living Lord Jesus Christ and supremely about being with the family in Church to receive the Lord in the Eucharist. The greatest privilege of priesthood is that of celebrating the Eucharist with the holy people of God. It is the centre of everything I do and that’s why after an adult lifetime of celebrating the Eucharist I still cannot understand those who so easily go without feeding the soul on a very regular basis with the real and actual presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament.
It is about transformation – not particularly of the individual, although it starts with the individual, but of society as a whole to reflect the values of the Kingdom of God. How is it that Christians can live so silently and easily with measures passed in our society that are so contrary to the values of the Kingdom, and values which are diametrically opposed to the values seen lived out in the life of Jesus himself?
In its early days Christianity was feared by the Roman Empire because it was a radical movement – can we say that about the Church now? How is that Westminster Abbey held a Service of Thanksgiving for the nuclear submarine crews, carrying weapons that would kill millions, or ringing the bells to celebrate Prince Andrew’s birthday when town halls up and down the country refused to raise the flag? Read the Gospels and find if you can the compromise of the values of the Kingdom in the lives and deaths of St John the Baptist and Jesus Christ – it’s not there, and neither should it be there in the life of the Church.
I say as a Priest who is concerned not just with the running of a Church but ultimately with people’s souls that you should not take the Lord for granted. In the Letter to the Hebrews it is said that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. There are many who simply need to shape up, and step up to the mark in the faith
I would also say as I have said in previous years that no one should have a social life based around Church activities who is not willing to commit themselves to the worship life of the Church. All bodies connected to the Church should be part of one purpose and one purpose only – that set out by St Paul – the using of our gifts to build up the Body of Christ on earth. I say to all Church organizational leaders that it is not enough just to come on Sundays when the leadership is exercised. All leadership in the Church must be deeply rooted and firmly grounded in regular personal attendance at the Eucharist and private prayer.
The call in the Church is constantly to come back to Jesus Christ and to follow in his footsteps and to take heed of what St Paul wrote about the unity of the Church – which was also Jesus’ great desire – and its purpose. There are too many people today who want to belong to the Church on their terms and not on God’s terms, deciding for themselves, often against the teaching of the Church, what is right or wrong, and questions of Church order usually come down to what we think we like rather than is it in accord with the teaching of Jesus and the tradition handed on through the centuries?,
The year (2020) is an important one in the life of this Church as I prepare to retire early in 2021. I am looking forward to setting aside the active Priestly Office and returning to sit in the pews, whether that be in the Church of England, or whether the time has come to consider a different route. Over the years I have become more and more aware of how much the Church of England, which for so long had a valid argument that it was part of the great Church catholic with no innovations that disrupted the apostolic succession and the nature of the Priesthood, has deviated in that, and in matters of ethics, from what we were. I am not sure in some areas of what we actually stand for, and I question whether you can deviate from the direct teaching of Jesus Christ and still call yourself his Church. In the Church of England, the only group who have a ceiling beyond which they will not be offered offices or ministries are those on the traditional wing of the Church, and yet, in the Church, the minority now are the ones who are in line with the vast majority of the world’s Christians.
In the 13th century, one of the greatest theologians in the whole history of the Church, St Thomas Aquinas, approached the end of his life. There is great speculation about whether he had had a stroke or not, but for the last 3 years of his life this great scholar, who had written a great summary of the Christian faith, did not write or speak a word. At the end of his life he wrote, ‘All I have written is but straw when compared to the glory of God’. I think after nearly 40 years the time has come when I feel that I have said all I want to say. There will never be a time when I do not read and enjoy theology, when I reflect on God’s glory in Jesus Christ, but the time comes when all the words have been spoken and it is time to pause, stand back, reflect and pray. Also I think after all the years of giving unstinting support Ann will also enjoy the break from living on the job in largely cold and ill-kept Vicarages which are much too big for today’s clergy.
In the meantime, there is work still to be done here, and while I will be out of the Parish on occasions, especially looking for somewhere to live, the life of the Church will go on. It is novel that this year will see the last time that I do everything, although all that went by the board with onset of the national crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but I hope that members of the congregation will now step up and take over some of the roles that I have carried out over the years.
The life of the Church will go, as it always has done, through the current exceptional circumstances. As I write this Report we are in uncertain times and the best minds in the Church are seeking a way forward, for how we continue as the Church with the pandemic. I would like to place on record my thanks to the Archdeacon of Blackburn who has rung a few times to keep in touch with the clergy. The chats have been much appreciated. However, they were all in the first five weeks or so of the crisis and there has been no word since, and none at all from our area Bishop who is supposed to have special care for the more traditional parishes. The Coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis has hit the nation and the world hard. So many families have lost loved ones and we have seen the magnificent sacrifice of many who have served us so selflessly. We have so many people we should thank and I hope that when this is all over, as it will be one day, by vaccine, medication or we learn to live with a level of the virus, as we do with influenza, we will suitably reward groups of people who have been so ignored over the years. I hope also that we will begin to right some wrongs in our society with some, especially in football, sport as a whole, and entertainment grossly overpaid for their contribution to society while others who give so much are terribly underpaid.
As always, in any crisis, there are many who step forward to serve, while, sadly, there are others who think only of self, who think that any restrictions do not apply to them or who seek only to care for their own needs. We saw this in the early days with the mass panic buying and throughout this period by those who believe they can continue to do as they please regardless of the consequences to others. We have continued to see this in those who openly flout the rules and guidelines so putting others at risk.
Sadly, we have lost some good members of our Church family during this time and it may be that we can only truly appreciate them when we can fully open up again in all areas. In time I hope that Memorial Services may be held, hopefully in my time here, but that is looking increasingly doubtful.
After more than 100 days after we were shut down on 17th March, we re-opened the Church for worship on Sunday 12th July. During the long period of closure I was in the Church every morning at 7.,30am to pray for the Parish and light a candle for all in need.
When congregations returned it was to a very different Church, with 2 metre distancing, 2 out of every 3 pews shut off, constant cleaning with bleach solution and the polishing of pews. At Services, from re- opening I insisted that face coverings should be worn – that has now been made mandatory.
There will be no singing and numbers in the building will be limited. The afternoon Sunday Service has for the time being had to be set aside because of the difficulty in cleaning the Church between Services. Baptisms have been put back and no date has been set for their resumption. The one Marriage Service we had this summer has been postponed until next July.
Funerals are a problem. Throughout the crisis the Crematorium Chapels have been open and I would like to express my appreciation to the Crematorium staff who have worked so hard to maintain clean and safe environments. At the Church we have had Services around the Graveside but obviously that is impractical in the late autumn and winter. A way will have to be found to resume Funerals in Church with no music.
It is becoming increasingly clear that this pattern is the one that we will be following for months to come. As a Priest I particularly felt the loss of our collective Holy Week and Easter, which for is the most meaningful time of the year. As we look forward to the autumn it is clear that Harvest has gone. Remembrance Sunday may be limited the wreath-laying at St Oswald’s (although that is uncertain), and it is more than likely that there will be no Christingle, Nativity Play or Carol Services this year. At Christmas, unless we are shut down again, there will be a Midnight Mass, with a very limited attendance, and anyone wanting to attend will be invited to apply for a seat – no one will be allowed to enter who has not been allocated a seat. Priority will be given to those who have come back to attending the Church since we re-opened. We have, as a PCC, passed the Annual PCC Report and Accounts, and they will be made available when a date is set for the AGM. We have also held 2 Zoom consultations.
It is clear to me that some have reservations about returning to worship. I know there are some in the Church who have underlying symptoms and are shielding, but for all others remember that the most common phrase in the Bible is ‘Do not be afraid’ – used 365 times. With all the cleaning, and the very limited access to the Church building throughout the week, our building and environment is safer than going to the supermarket.
The Church could not remain closed indefinitely, especially when shops, pubs and restaurants were re- opening.
None of us knows how long this is going to last. Certain parts of the national response have been good, but some aspects, especially in Care and Nursing Homes the policies have been lamentable, and still are. In time a national enquiry will look at all aspects and I am sure that some in high places will be found wanting. Politicians have to stop using the word ‘normal’. We have to find a way to live with this virus at some level and things have changed perhaps for good. There will be no ‘normal’ until a vaccine is found, and that may be impossible. We should heed the warning of the Chief Medical Officer, Chris Witty, that we have gone as far in opening up as we can.
It may be in the autumn, with the onset of the flu period, and the general disregard for the guidelines, that we face another major wave of this virus. We may have to shut down on more than one occasion. We will try to keep all informed by using the website and Church noticeboards.
I would like to express my appreciation to John Tipping who has kept the website up to date. I send items through and they appear on the web. John also had a major part in giving advice about and in editing the filmed acts of worship that we put on the web. I would also like to thank Ann who acted as camerawoman through the recordings.
I wrote in one of my weekly letters during the crisis that I hoped that the present situation would put an end once and for all to the idea pedalled by the Government in the 1980s that there is no such thing as society. We have to become aware of one another again, to realise who and what is important in our lives and what we can give up as unnecessary baggage. We are not isolated individuals living regardless of the conditions of others. We are a family with a responsibility for those around us. It has been good to see the air across the world recovering through lack of flights and environmental conditions improving. This is a lesson in what we can achieve in preserving our planet. The waters in the Grand Canal in Venice became clear and dolphins were seen there for the first time in decades.
That’s a reminder that when this is all over, we are still faced with the plight of the planet and global warming. We can tackle the issue as long as we are willing to change our lives. Hopefully many in business will have found that they don’t need to fly all over the world in an age where video conferencing is now the norm.
We cannot just go back to how we were. A bit of humility would be good. For all our ingenuity, we, the dominant creature on this planet, have been brought low by something so small we cannot see it.
Society has to become more aware of the planet and its needs. We have to learn again to live alongside the natural world instead of dominating it and destroying so much. Hopefully we will become a more appreciative society and a kinder society. Only recently a report said that 25% of mammals in the UK were in danger of extinction and many creatures have been placed on the ‘red’ list to denote the extreme peril facing them. We’ve also seen reports that the ice caps are melting faster than anyone thought and that the temperatures on the planet will rise to dangerous levels in the next half century.
The Church, too, will have to change. As a Priest one of the most painful aspects of this quarantine period is the lack of the Eucharist – I am used to celebrating the Eucharist most days somewhere in the Parish – in the Church or people’s homes. For me, it is the centre of life and devotion and it is the greatest privilege of the Priest’s calling to stand in the place of Christ as icon Christi, the icon of Christ. Early on in the quarantine period I took the decision that I would not use my access to the Church or the Reserved Sacrament to either celebrate or receive the Eucharist. I know the Priest offers the Eucharist on behalf and for the people, but my view was that I would celebrate the Eucharist again when we could gather in whatever format in the Church, when we are together as the holy, people of God. The only time that I broke this was on Sunday 28th June, the 40th anniversary of my Ordination as a Deacon in Blackburn Cathedral, and also the 39th anniversary of my first celebration of the Eucharist as a Priest at Holy Trinity, South Shore, Blackpool. It was a great delight to me to gather again with you on 12th July when we were able to re-open.
The leaders of the national Church are to be congratulated for their early decision to shut down all churches – a week before the Government called the official quarantine period. It may be, looking back, that we will see that the Government actually acted too slowly and should have called the quarantine period sooner than that.
It was a strange Holy Week and Easter where we usually follow the Lord to the Cross and through the Cross to the Resurrection. No people in Church. None of the great ceremonies. I was able to place most of the material on the website and many I know followed it through. On Holy Saturday evening, I went down alone and lit, in the total darkness of the Church, the new Paschal Candle celebrating the Resurrection, re-lighting all the Church candles from the renewed Easter light.
Pastoral visiting has also been severely affected, and will continue to be so affected. . We have lost members of the congregation where I feel that we have not been able to fulfil the duties that I have long taken for granted, and I want to thank the families of those involved for their great understanding. My thoughts continue to go out to the families of Sheila Burton, John Mitchell, Keith Dowley, Eileen Flitcroft, Carol Moss and our Senior Reader Emeritus Alan Bateson. In time it may well be that we can hold Memorial Services in the Church to celebrate them in a real way.
Pray for the Church – the last time there was a general prohibition on attending at Easter was in 1213, and the last times churches closed was during the time of the Spanish Flu after the First World War.
We would ask all to continue supporting the Church financially. I know that times are difficult but we still have bills to pay and obligations to meet
We need also now, and in the future, to thank those in our community who have served us, and to be aware of the cost, especially in terms of mental health, to many. Families deprived of each other’s company and grandparents unable to see grandchildren. The constant worry about those in care or hospital, the inability of many to simply say ‘Goodbye’ before death. We need to be a listening Church.
As regards the life of the Church we have continued with a faithful and devoted congregation. At Remembrance Sunday 2019 we remembered the outbreak of the Second World War and played in Church Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s Declaration of War in September 1939. Over the next few years we will join with the nation in commemorating the events of the Second World War and the defeat of one of the darkest ideologies ever to take root in the human mind. We need to be reminded that that ideology did not die with Adolf Hitler. There are those today who would re-write history, question the authenticity of the Holocaust and who would desire the reawakening of the perversion that was Nazi doctrine. There have been attempts by some ‘historians’ to rewrite history and airbrush Hitler’s responsibility for what happened. There are those who see his way of violence and racism is the answer to society’s ills. Seek a scapegoat and persecute them. We need forever to be on guard, to learn the lessons of the past, appreciate the great sacrifice that was made and to fight with every spiritual weapon at our disposal to defeat the evil and walk in the light.
Throughout 2019 we maintained the pattern of worship and the observance of major Festivals and Holy days. Isabel Grilli was crowned as Harvest Queen – a post she will continue to hold through to 2021.
We supported the Food Banks and shelters in Preston and supported through the box holders and the Christingle Service the great work of the Children’s Society. We have continued to support the work of Christian Aid and regularly responded to special appeals when crises arose around the world.
We have maintained out links with Longton Primary School, with their visits to the Church for Services ay Harvest, Christmas and Easter, and for their termly Celebration Assemblies. Sadly none of these will be taking place this autumn and winter. I have made regular visits to Ashbridge School to lead Assemblies and we were to have a major visit to the Church by the School before the quarantine period began.
We have collaborated with South Ribble Borough Council in making our Hall available for the monthly Market and the Church for the Welcome Café, for those with dementia, while carers enjoy a short break. Sadly, the numbers supporting this did not justify its continuing and in autumn 2029 it was decided that the Welcome Café would not open again in 2020.
We hosted the lead-up to the switch on of the Village Christmas Lights in December and made the Hall available for the refreshments afterwards. In July we took a full part in the Longton Live! weekend.
The Gardening Group were active in maintaining the condition of the Churchyard and our thanks go to all involved. In December 2019 work was carried out to the rear right hand corner of the Graveyard to flatter the land where soil had been dumped for years. The work of tidying this up was sadly interrupted by the pandemic.
The PCC would like to thank Mr Brian Wilding for his generous gift of noticeboards for the front of the Hall and inside the Church.
The major work during 2019 was the re-wiring and replacement of the Church lighting system. The work went ahead after a Faculty application was granted and the PCC would like to thank Mr Mike Overton, our architect, and Mr Andrew Cross, the contracted electrician, for all their work. I, for one, would like to express my appreciation for the way the Church was treated during the work, with enormous respect. We did not have to cancel any Services, even though we had no lights at Easter (using an assortment of plug in lights to enable us to hold Services). Every afternoon the Church was cleaned before the contractors left. At the end we have a state of the art lighting system, with coloured lighting being able to be used to mark the seasons or create moods when concerts or Quiet Hours are held. The work was expensive but well worthwhile and hopefully the lighting system will grace the Church for the next 50 years.
Towards the end of 2019 it was decided that tender had to be put out for the maintenance of the Churchyard. It was felt that during the last couple of years or so the standard of work on the Graveyard had slipped. We would like to thank Garden Scene for their work over the years and also we hope that the same relationship will be built up with our new contractors, AA Grounds Maintenance.
Throughout the year, and I have previously mentioned this, finances have been an issue. I am grateful to Sue Tipping who works magnificently to manage our finances. We have introduced a card payment system. I would ask that as many as possible give by Direct Debit which makes the Treasurer’s job so much easier and avoids some bank charges. Many forget that as with our home lives the Church faces increasingly rising costs. Once again I would appeal for giving to be maintained at a realistic and sacrificial level. It costs in the region of £70,000 per annum just to maintain a Priest in a Parish, make contributions to central Church costs and pay for the training and retirement of clergy. On top of that we have the maintenance of the building, which is expensive, and heating and lighting.
It’s a strange time to write a report because the present and future are so very uncertain. As I come to the end of my time as a serving Priest in the Church of England I have been reflecting on the past. I am sorry that the Church which took so much time and money to train us over 7 years never did try to discover the talents and gifts of its Priests back in the 1980s. The Parish system is great but you can’t have a one size fits all for all Priests. I would have loved to have worked with smaller groups and as an academic theologian to have been able to use that more. There is a personal frustration in the belief that we have not been used as effectively as we could have been.
The last few decades have been hard for the Church. Secular practice has dominated and the Church has been pushed, partially through weak leadership, to the margins of society. We are still seen as part of the establishment. We have been hit by many scandals and the child abuse scandal has weakened us more than most people know. We have abandoned previously held positions of belief and practice without any thought of the consequences for Church unity and credibility. Most of all we have ignored the instruction of Jesus that the body should be one and St Paul’s constant instructions to maintain the unity of the Church and heal that unity when it is disturbed. We have become complacent with the way things are which is not the way that Jesus set out.
There is also a sense of personal failure. We, as a generation of Priests, have not been able to halt the decline in Church attendances and Christian practice. In saying that, though, Jesus himself was not an overwhelming success. At the end, he was alone, abandoned even by his most trusted followers. We don’t measure success by numbers in the pews – it may be that in the end we never see the effect of what we have done. I will be a relief to be able to stand back and not have responsibility for the Parish, the building and the Churchyard, and so many other aspects of the parochial life.
These last few months that I have left in the active ministry will be spent preparing the Parish for an interregnum and putting things in order so that the life of the Church can go on, as it must. There has been a Church here since around 1150 and one of the great things about being Parish Priest in a Parish with a long history is that you become aware of your insignificance in the long term view of events. We come and go as Priests and the centuries pass – we become a name on a list – but what continues is the life of the holy people of God in a place, generation after generation, a life spent in the worship of God and in passing the beauty of our faith on from generation to generation, in families and communities.
More will be said in due course and in many ways, while I don’t welcome the present situation we find ourselves in, it will suit me, when I have somewhere to live, to slip out fairly quietly, with the job done, to the best of my ability, at peace with my own theological conscience, and to leave the Parish, hopefully in new hands, to go on to a more glorious future working to the greater glory of our God and Father, in the name of Jesus Christ the Redeemer of humanity.
Revd Andrew Parkinson, MA, Cert Theol
Vicar and Chair of the PCC
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Item 4
ST ANDREW’S PARISH CHURCH LONGTON ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st DECEMBER, 2019
INCUMBENT The Revd Andrew Parkinson, MA, Cert Theol., Longton Vicarage Birchwood Avenue Hutton Preston
BANK Lloyds Bank, Preston Branch, 94, Fishergate, Preston PR1 2JB
INDEPENDENT EXAMINER Mrs L. Fryer Church Row Chambers, Longton, Preston
Page 1 St Andrew’s Parish Church, Longton Annual Report of the Parochial Church Council – for the Year ended 31st December, 2019
BACKGROUND St Andrew’s PCC has the responsibility of co-operating with the Incumbent, the Revd Andrew Parkinson, in promoting in the ecclesiastical Parish the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelical, social and ecumenical. It also has maintenance responsibilities for the Church property
MEMBERSHIP OF THE PCC Members of the PCC, ex-officiate or elected by the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) in accordance with the Church Membership Rules, or co-opted by the PCC at a subsequent meeting for the year 2019 were;
Incumbent: The Revd Andrew Parkinson, MA, Cert Theol
Diocesan Readers : Mr Alan Bateson & Mrs Jane Slinger
Churchwardens: Mrs Jill Bond – all year. Re-elected at the Annual Vestry Meeting 29.4.19 Mr Martin Reynolds – Re-elected at the Annual Vestry Meeting 29.4.19
Representatives on the Leyland Deanery Synod: (2017 – 2020) Mrs Cath Greenlees – All year
Elected Members: Mrs Catherine Bates All year Mr Steven Baxter All year Mr Terry Carter All year Mr Peter Clayton All year Mr John. Coxhead Until APCM 29.4.19 Mrs Joan Doerich All year Mrs Catherine Grilli All year Miss Ailsa Lyles - All year Mr James Miley - All year Mrs Carole Mitchell All year Mr Alan Moncrief From APCM 29.4.19 Mrs Chrissie Oakley From APCM 29.4.18 Mrs Kathryn Pym All year Mrs Gillian Rigby All year Mrs Judith Rimmer All year Mrs Margaret Thompson - All year Mrs Susan Tipping – Treasurer - All year Mrs Jenny Towers - From APCM 29.4.18
Co-opted members: Mr C. Coxhead (until APCM 29.4.19) & Mrs S. Rawlings – from PCC meeting 29.4.19
The PCC met on 8 occasions during the year Committees and sub-committees: The PCC operates through a number of Committees which meet between full meetings of the PCC whenever necessary and each has clearly defined areas of responsibility: a) Standing Committee: This is the only Committee required by law. It has the power to transact the business of the PCC between its meetings subject to any directions given by the full PCC. The Standing Committee has responsibility for all financial matters, Stewardship and the setting of the annual Budget which is then presented to the full PCC for approval b) General Purposes sub-committee: Areas covered: Administration; the Churchyard; the buildings and Fabric; Security, Health & Safety and Lay Staffing. c.) Worship, Mission and Unity sub-committee: Areas covered: Courses; Evangelism; Mission; Ecumenical; Deanery/Diocesan matters; Charitable giving; Communication and Quiet Days Also there is the co-ordination of children’s and youth matters - Tiny Tots, Pathfinders, Youth Group;
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Organisations; Creche; Duke of Edinburgh’s Award; Safe From Harm procedures This sub-committee also covers areas of Pastoral concern - Social; Welcome/Sidepersons: Visiting; Pastoral care; Transport; Lantern Scheme; The care of the elderly; Coffee rotas; Mothers’ Union link; Over-Fifties Lunches: Social events
CHURCH ATTENDANCE:
The following figures are presented by the PCC for the year ended 31.12.19
Communicants: 5220 Baptisms: 22 Other statistics: Marriage Services 6 Blessings 0 Funeral Services in the Church 18 Funeral Services at the Crematorium 2 Burials in the Churchyard 12 Cremated remains interred in the Churchyard 16 Cremated remains scattered in the Churchyard 0 Confirmation candidates presented 0 Candidates admitted to Communion before Confirmation 0 Easter Communicants 167 Christmas Communicants 165
It is almost impossible to offer an exact comparison on any numbers attending Services because there are so many factors that affect attendance. The Church of England announces the numbers attending each year but the strength of the Church should never be judged just by the figures. The Church of England believes that she has a unique calling to all the people of the nation. There are many people in the Parish who would identify with St Andrew’s as their Parish Church even though they never attend or contribute to the upkeep and running of the Church and its mission. Many attend Baptisms, Funerals and Marriage Services throughout the year and these figures are not recorded. Also there are many who simply make use of the fact that the St Andrew’s Church building is open during the week to go in and pray, or to spend a period of silence.
ELECTORAL ROLL:
At the APCM, on 29.4.19 the Electoral Roll was presented and there were 136 names on the Electoral Roll (2018- 213).
REVIEW OF THE PCC YEAR 2019
During the calendar year 201, the PCC met on 8 occasions for normal business meetings The General Purposes sub-committee continued to take advice regarding the upkeep of and the need of repairs to the Church and the Church Hall. Work on the Church and Hall electrics, along with general maintenance, was carried out as and when finances allowed Work is carried out on the Church as and when needed, as finances allow The major concern for the PCC during 2019 was the re-wiring of the Church and the replacement of the lighting system. Throughout 2018 much preparatory work had been carried out in consultation with Mr Mike Overton. Early in 2019 a tender was accepted from Harrison and Cross of Settle. Also a Faculty for the work to be carried out was granted by the Diocesan Registrar. The work was carried out in spring 2019, taking 5 weeks. During that time the Church building was closed except for Services and a full Holy Week and Easter was observed. The work cost approximately £65,000.The lighting system was warmly greeted by parishioners and all accepted that it enhanced the beauty of the Church building. The coloured lighting available above the nave was also used to highlight the seasons and at concerts and Longton Live! Page 3 In the Hall work has continued as finances have allowed. In 2019 the PCC began to address the problem of the lighting in the main Hall. It was suggested that new LED light fittings would be more economical and tenders were gathered with the work to take place early in 2020 The PCC followed all developments within the Diocese The maintenance and appearance of the Church grounds continues to be a priority for the PCC. Concern was expressed that some of the work carried out by Garden Scene in the Churchyard was not up to the accepted standard. It was decided to put the contract out to tender and a decision was to be made early in 2020 The PCC is conscious of its Health & Safety responsibilities and will do all to minimize the possibility of accident. Mr C. Coxhead retired as Health & Safety Officer and Mr T. Carter took on the role. The PCC has striven to maintain the Church, Hall and grounds of the Churchyard to the highest possible standard. In September 2019, as a matter of Health and Safety concern all the gravestones in the Churchyard were tested and many were found to be dangerous. The PCC employed a contractor to shore up each stone and a notice was placed on each gravestone concerned. This cost more than £2000. Mr Carter also prepared a Health and Safety Policy Document to be presented to the PCC early in 2020 The normal consideration of the Annual Report and the Annual Financial Statement took place early in 2019 for presentation to the APCM on 29.4.19 There were few fund-raising events for the Church - the Raffle, Organ Recitals, social events and concerts. The PCC also wishes to express its gratitude to Mr J. Miley and all involved in the Pantomime for the funds raised. The PCC also received various gifts and bequests, and is especially grateful for a bequest of £40,000 received just before Christmas from the estate of the late Alan Dean , and also wishes to thank Longton Players for their annual donation. The PCC also acknowledges with deep gratitude all donations and legacies to the Church
SPECIFIC ISSUES:
The PCC continues to monitor the level of personal giving and has discussed on various occasions ways of increasing the level of that giving. There needs to be a continued and increased emphasis on the responsibility to give as part of the Christian life and commitment. This giving needs to be sacrificial and realistic. The Treasurer has continually expressed her concern that the level of giving is not rising in line with the rise in the level of expenditure, especially the rising level of the Diocesan Share. We are only managing to pay a portion of the annual Diocesan Share and this matter will be addressed with the Diocese in 2020 Mrs Sue Tipping, the PCC Treasurer, has kept the PCC fully informed throughout the year about the state of the finances and has when necessary kept a tight control on spending. The PCC would like to thank Mrs Tipping and Mr S. Baxter for their stewardship of the Church’s finances. The PCC was also made aware on steps taken regarding the future shape of ministry in the Parish in view of the Vicar's intended retirement in 2021. The Patron, Mr Andrew Rawstorne, had met the Churchwardens and spoken to the Vicar
CHILDREN’S & YOUNG PEOPLE’S ACTIVITIES
The PCC was kept fully informed of all activities. The Pathfinders again presented an excellent Nativity Play in Church in December. The PCC has sought to support the Pathfinders by the purchase of resources. The PCC has discussed the future shape of the Pathfinders. The Tiny Tots on Wednesday afternoons continues to be well and enthusiastically supported. A group for teenagers, TeenSpirit, was started and its progress will be reviewed Safe From Harm matters are given the highest priority in all children’s work. The Vicar completed his renewal of his Safeguarding Certificates and training. Mrs Kathryn Pym will take over as Parish Safeguarding Officer in the summer of 2020 The PCC wishes to thank Mrs C. Greenlees for all her work in the past with the Changemakers' Group.
SAFE FROM HARM The PCC continues to take child protection matters seriously. The Parish Safe From Harm Policy is annually reviewed at the July meeting of the PCC.
SCREEN: The Screen has been regularly used at the 10am Service on Sundays, at Quiet Hours, during Holy Week, with the Tiny Tots and in various Courses run through the year.
MISSION AND OUTREACH Within the Parish, every opportunity given is taken to speak to and meet a wider audience. The two notice boards, in the Church grounds, facing the Hall car park, and one on School Lane, continue to be effectively used and the PCC would like to thank Mr Brian Wilding for the generous donation of three notice boards on the Hall frontage and one in the Church. The Parish website has also been of great benefit. It is clear, up to date and informative and the PCC wishes to express its thanks to all in the Tipping family.
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GRAVEYARD - The PCC, through the General Purposes sub-committee has overseen the care of the graveyards and taken steps to make the paths gravestones safe - as previously detailed. The PCC continues to contract out the maintenance of the graveyard. The PCC document is given to all who have relatives buried in the Churchyard about the upkeep of the graveyard and the nature of monuments. This is in line with Diocesan guidelines and regulations. The PCC wishes to express it gratitude to all in the Gardening Group for the hard work which has gone into maintaining the impressive state of the Church grounds and for the work in the rear Graveyard. In December 2019 a contractor was employed to flatten the land in the right rear corner of the Graveyard with a view to improving the appearance and planting shrubs in the future.
HEALTH & SAFETY –
All health and safety matters have been looked at. Fire extinguishers and alarms have been properly maintained. Special consideration has been given to the revised fire safety regulations.
WORSHIP The pattern of worship remained settled in 2019
OTHER MATTERS:
The PCC has supported continuing ecumenical co-operation with St Oswald’s and Longton Methodist Church. The PCC ‘s annual donations to mission agencies and charities will be paid as and when funds allow The PCC continues to promote the use of Fairtrade products In many ways, the PCC has sought to work in co-operation with South Ribble Borough Council, Longton and Hutton Parish Councils, in consultations about the development of the Western Parishes and the promotion of the Parish Church at the heart of community life. The Church took a full part in the organization of and the events of Longton Live! In July 2098, with both of our buildings being fully used. The PCC also supported the monthly Country Markets held in the Hall in partnership with SRBC and the WI. The PCC has also continued to support SRBC in the running of a Welcome Café, using the Church building, to run alongside the monthly Market. Unfortunately due to lack of funding and support the Welcome Cafe ceased in autumn 2019 and will not re-open in 2020. The Church also hosted the events for the Lighting of the Village Christmas Lights
FINANCE: In 2019, the Direct or Stewardship giving decreased by 9% to £41371 - (2018 - £45448), and the Inland Revenue claim was £11394 - (2018 - £11646). This includes GASDS for the first time. Collections on the plate increased by 3% to £4578 - (2018 - £4435) Taking the three elements together - Direct Giving, the Inland Revenue Refund and Collections on the plate - there was an overall decrease of 7% to £57343 - (2018 - £61529). Total income for the year from all sources was £140395 (2018 - £122704) including a generous legacy received in December Expenditure in 2019 was £165236 (2018 - £133742). It can clearly be seen that income is not rising at anything like the rate of the rise of expenditure, or at the current rate of inflation. The Diocesan Share in 2019 was £94402. (2018 - £92,268 ) of which we paid £ 50757 including assigned fees. The PCC were very grateful for contributions made by the 100 CLUB and express sincere thanks to Mr Derek Thompson for his administration of the fund. The PCC will continue to encourage Gift Aid giving and the commitment to Covenanted giving. The PCC is aware of the major financial challenges that confront the Parish and will continue to encourage annual increases in giving as a way of not only maintaining, but also increasing the Church’s ministry and activity.
On behalf of the PCC: The Revd Andrew Parkinson, MA, Cert. Theol - Chair 20th April, 2020
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The Financial Reports will be posted as a separate PDF document before the end of the week. Also posted with Update before the end of the week will be the Fabric Report and Sidespersons’ List.
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