All Saints' Longstanton St Mary's Over St Andrew's Swavesey St

PROFILE June 2018

St Mary’s Over

St Andrew’s Swavesey

St Mary’s & All Saints’ Willingham

Location

This Profile is for the four village parishes of Longstanton, Over, Swavesey and Willingham. These four parishes are known informally as “5folds”. The villages are located to the North West of the city of Cambridge in the “A14 Corridor”. A new town called Northstowe is currently being built on an old RAF Airfield to the South East of the parishes. The villages have easy access to the M11, the A14 and the A1. The nearest railway stations are at Huntingdon and Cambridge. There are frequent buses to Cambridge or Huntingdon either through the villages or on the Guided Busway. Cyclists can access Cambridge or the ancient market town of St Ives along the dedicated cycle path which follows the Guided Busway. The Cathedral city of Ely is within easy reach by car, and there are a number of National Trust properties within a half hour radius of the villages. You can walk through attractive countryside to the RSPB nature reserves at the Ouse Fen and Fen Drayton Lakes. The villages are traditional rural parishes, which continue to expand owing to the success of Cambridge University and the businesses it attracts into “Silicon Fen”. As the Army and RAF have moved away from the area, the old WWII airfields at Oakington and Waterbeach are being converted into new towns. The four parishes still retain their rural feel and “village life” is at the heart of the communities where neighbours help one another and crime is very low. Being part of this community is very special and you will be warmly welcomed and made to feel at home in no time at all. The populations of the parishes are approximately; Longstanton 3,100, Over 3,300, Swavesey 3,000, and Willingham 4,500. Northstowe is expected to have a population in excess of 25,000 within 10 years. The four villages have good primary schools and there is an 11-16 Village College in Swavesey, which has a good reputation in Cambridgeshire. There are also many pre- school facilities in the parishes and the surrounding area.

At the other end of the spectrum, the Over Day Centre provides care, social contact and a hot meal for a number of the elderly in the parishes. This is run by a group of paid workers and a strong team of volunteers. There is a mini-bus to transport people from the surrounding villages. All four villages have medieval church buildings and Willingham and Over have church halls. Longstanton is in the process of re-ordering the west end of the church. Building of the new town of Northstowe is progressing quickly with the new Church of England Primary School already in use. The secondary school is due to be opened in 2020. Phase 1 of the development will comprise 1500 houses rising to 10,000 on completion. Recent History and Establishment The four parishes are part of the North Stowe Deanery in the Diocese of Ely. The grouping together of the parishes is new, only coming into being in 2016 and is still going through the process of being legally formed following retirements of the clergy of Swavesey and Willingham. These two parishes joined with Over and Longstanton along, initially with Lolworth. After a short period, Lolworth left the other parishes and joined with Papworth Team as they felt that they better belonged in a group of smaller villages. The 5folds informal name has remained. The Deanery Plan allocates the four parishes two stipendiary clergy, a Team Rector to lead the parishes and a Team Vicar. Both posts are currently vacant. At present, there are no licensed lay ministers. The parishes are also supported by several retired clergy who live in the local area. The parishes jointly employ an administrator who works 15 hours per week for whom there is an office in St Mary’s Church Hall. Legal position Presentation to the Living of the Benefices has been suspended pending the outcome of Pastoral Reorganisation. There is a longstanding deanery plan to unite the four parishes to create a new Team, however the formulation of a Pastoral Scheme has been delayed to take account of the rise of Northstowe. The intention is to involve the incoming Priest-in-Charge in ongoing discussions with a view to her/him becoming Team Rector once the Pastoral Reorganisation is complete. Services The usual service pattern for the four parishes is shown in the table below.

All Saints’, St Mary's, Over St Andrew's, St Mary’s and All Longstanton Swavesey Saints’, Willingham Time of main 09:30 am. 09:30 am. 11:00 am. 11:00 am Sunday Service 1st Sunday Holy Communion* Worship Together Holy Communion* Morning Worship 2nd Sunday All Age Holy Communion* Holy Communion* Holy Communion* 3rd Sunday Holy Communion* Holy Communion* Holy Communion* All Age 4th Sunday Holy Communion* Holy Communion* All Age Holy Communion* 5th Sunday Joint Service for all four parishes starting at 10:30 am rotating through the parishes.

*Including separate children’s activities.

In addition, there have been BCP Holy Communion Services starting at 08:00 am on the 1st and 3rd Sundays at St Mary’s Over and on the 2nd Sunday at St Andrew’s Swavesey. These services have been suspended during the vacancy. The average attendance at each main Sunday service is between 40 and 50 and for the early morning Sunday BCP Service 10.

All Saints’, St Mary's, Over St Andrew's, St Mary’s and All Longstanton Swavesey Saints’, Willingham Electoral Roll 2017 52 77 74 77

Occasional All Saints’, St Mary's, St Andrew's, St Mary’s and All Services Longstanton Over Swavesey Saints’, Willingham Baptisms 7 8 9 5 Confirmations 0 0 0 0 Weddings 5* 2 3 4 Funerals at Church 6 8 3 10 and Crematorium Burials 3 0 3 N/A Burial of Cremated 2 6 3 N/A Remains

*Includes one Service of Prayer and Dedication. Three of the four parishes have open churchyards, Longstanton, Over and Swavesey. Finance All four parishes are contributing a full parish share in accordance with the current Deanery Finance Plan. When the four parishes came together it was agreed that, as they were all of a similar size, the PCCs agreed that each should pay the same parish share with the overall total remaining as that requested by the Deanery. Adjustments to the amount paid by each parish are taking place over a three-year period at which point each of the four parishes will pay the same contribution. Details of the financial returns for the parishes for 2017 can be found at the following link. XXXXXXXX Commented [MH1]: Insert hyperlink when files have been uploaded onto the 5folds website. Ministry The four parishes all have long and established traditions and dedicated followers of Christ. Each of the parishes sits on a different part of the traditional to modern spectrum. This is seen as a great strength as it enables people to choose their style of worship with people travelling to the neighbouring parishes. All of the parishes have started to work together as a team, particularly the churchwardens. The parishes have a new website at 5folds.

Within the parishes, there is a Fresh Expression, Inside Out, aimed at bringing young non-church families together. The group is led by people who attend St Mary’s Over and St Mary’s and All Saints’ Willingham. The parishes face the normal challenges of many rural parishes with congregations slowly declining and the average age of the congregations increasing. However, the North Stowe Deanery, as mentioned earlier, is going through a significant population increase not just from the new town of Northstowe but also within the traditional villages. The challenge for the parishes is to reach out into the new areas of development and bring them into our fold, “5folds”, to share with them the good news of Christ. We do not expect the Team Rector to do this on their own but are firmly of the opinion that this can only happen through teamwork and delegating responsibility between the clergy and laity. This team needs to be led by an experienced Team Rector, used to leading church teams through enabling, delegating and empowering those who support him/her. We are seeking an enthusiastic Team Leader with vision and flexibility to develop an evolving benefice of four historic parishes and a developing new town.

A Job Description and Person Specification can be seen at Annex A.

All Saints’ Church, Longstanton Longstanton is an amalgamation of two villages, these being Long Stanton All Saints’ and Long Stanton St Michaels. The present village was created in 1953 and now has a population of around 3,000 which is growing all the time. All Saints’ Church dates from the mid fourteenth century and was built to replace an earlier church on the same site that was destroyed by fire. In 1938 Long Stanton’s association with the military started with the building of RAF Oakington and they continued to be a large presence until 1999. Friendship and warmth is highly valued by the congregation of All Saints’ and we are committed to enabling as many people as possible to feel part of this church family. We have an attendance of 35- 40 at each Sunday morning service. The majority are over 60 but nevertheless active in many areas of our church life, volunteering for church cleaning, flower arranging, coffee rota, reading and assisting with the children’s activities. At the present time, we have three services of Holy Communion Order 1 and one All Age Service. After all our services there is coffee and biscuits and before the All Age Service we provide a breakfast of coffee, juice and croissants. These occasions are a great time for fellowship. Music is provided by a wonderful organist who has been playing since the age of 18 and he is now aged 94. A challenge we face will be to find a replacement for our musician. On each fifth Sunday we hold a joint 4-parish service where the music is provided by a band comprising musicians from 2 or 3 of the churches, this is something we are trying to encourage at All Saints’. A bible study group meet weekly in the home of one of the group’s members. Once a month a Prayer Group made up of church members from St Mary’s, Over and All Saints’ meet to pray for the parishes and other issues of concern.

Our biggest challenge is to provide for and attract the many young families who now live in the village. Our paid Children and Families Worker, shared with St Mary’s Over, is line-managed by the Team Rector. This worker organises Mini-Jaffas, a mid-week service for under 5’s, and also a group for under ones to support and offer fellowship for Mums and new babies. The worker also runs a Sunday School at each Communion service as well as taking Open the Book into the village Primary School. Once a fortnight the teenagers from All Saints’ join those from St Mary’s Over for the Pathfinder Group.

The Children and Families Worker is supported by a committed team from our church family. Along with St Mary’s Over, a mission fund was set up some years ago to fund this position but it is now nearly depleted and needs re- assessing so that this important work can continue.

Our church budget for 2017 was £42,000 but our income over expenditure has been £5,000 short for the last 2 years. The Events Team has organised activities during the year to attract younger people which have been very successful. An Advent Fayre proved popular with the young and included a stall provided by the Primary School. Other outreach activities include weekly afternoon teas open to all held in the communal rooms of the Sheltered Housing in the village in the winter and in the church during the summer months. Our main fundraising event of the year, St George’s Day Fete, is organised by The Friends of All Saints’ Church Longstanton, friends-of-all-saints'-church-longstanton. This has been going for the past 13 years and is a village event which gives us exposure to the wider local community and raises much-needed funds towards the church re-ordering project as well as the church restoration. The church has embarked upon a re-ordering project to install toilets, kitchen and a meeting space within the church building, and we are now close to having the funds in place to start the first phase of the project. This is a sensitive issue and the whole project has just been reviewed and the decision made to do the work in stages as money is raised. We dream of a place and space that links church and halls, sacred and secular, which will enable us to reach out to the local community and respond to its growing needs. In our recent Vision Day, we identified the areas which we felt need improvement within our parish. These are communication, outreach and prayer. The meeting was well attended and highlighted our commitment to growth within our expanding parish. Since the meeting, we have been working as a family to implement and consider ways in which to approach these areas of focus. We are looking for someone willing to join and guide us on this journey and be equipped and motivated to address them. We are very much looking forward to welcoming you into our family.

St Mary’s Church, Over Over lies at the edge of the fens, with farming still a vital part of the village economy, along with a number of healthy local businesses such as those located on the Business Park on the edge of the village. These range from plumbing to floral design. Many villagers commute to Cambridge, working in the expanding areas of IT and Bioscience and also with established employers such as Addenbrooke’s Hospital and the University. Over is a friendly village that has retained a sense of community despite the inevitable expansion in housing and changes in employment that characterise this part of East Anglia. There are few major social issues in the parish, but there are still small pockets of need. Some members of the community, both young families and the older generation, often feel isolated in an era where families can be disparate. Over has expanded with various housing developments over recent years, to accommodate those tempted by the attraction of Cambridge as an area of high- tech development. As a result, the successful primary school has also expanded to nearly 300 pupils. Three of the Governors are members of St Mary’s and the school is welcomed into the church for Christmas and Harvest services as well as for curriculum-related events. The Over Day Centre provides care, social contact and a hot meal for a number of the elderly in the area. St Mary’s has a strong link with the uniformed organisations who use the church hall for meetings and attend parade at the informal Worship Together family service once a month. Baptisms usually take place during this service. Mustard Seed is a lively Community Cafe held on Thursdays, 10 am - 12 noon, in St Mary's Church Hall in Over. All ages are welcome to come and have a cup of tea or coffee and a piece of homemade cake. There is a well-used play area for pre-school children. Frequently there are items for sale too, such as homemade jams and chutneys, bags, jewellery or books.

A Bible Study Group meets in Over every Wednesday morning. Another home group meets weekly on Wednesday evenings in term time. These groups aim to build each other up in our faith and to support each other to become more like Jesus. Pathfinders is a group for young people aged 11-18 years old and is held at St Mary’s Church Hall, Over on the second and fourth Sundays, 7:30 – 9 pm. It’s a fun way to engage with faith and belief. For primary school age children activities are provided in the Church Hall during the communion services in term time. Once a month a Prayer Group meets to pray for the parishes. It includes members from Over and Longstanton. Friends of St Mary’s (FoSM) The present Grade I Listed St Mary's Church dates from 1254, which makes it by far the oldest building in the village. Like any old building, St Mary's Church is in constant need of repair. This applies not only to the stonework and roof, but also to the monuments, fittings, stained glass windows and Churchyard.

The Friends of St Mary’s organise several fundraising events per year and collects membership subscriptions from its supporters to ensure that funds are available to support work on the fabric of the Church. Each year the charity contributes several thousand pounds towards the repair and maintenance of the Church and for this we are very grateful. In 2017, they paid the £30,000 for the new lighting. We have very close links with the Over Methodists and the Senior Steward is the Chair of the Friends of St Mary’s! St Mary's is currently looking into the possibility of installing a complete audio-visual system in the sanctuary in order to expand the church's ability to accommodate more modern forms of services when required.

St Andrew’s Church, Swavesey Swavesey is an expanding village, the working population of which are mostly commuters. We have two schools, a primary school with 320 pupils, and a large village college of 1234 pupils; both schools are highly rated and attract young families into the village. There are also active sports and social clubs for all ages, plus adult learning at the village college. Christians in Swavesey have three churches: two Baptist and ours, St Andrew’s Parish Church. St Andrew’s is the largest church in the Deanery and a Grade I listed building. This is a blessing but comes with significant maintenance and running costs. Recently we have been subject to three roof lead thefts. We have sought and successfully obtained a Heritage Lottery Fund Grant, where we are currently at the assessment phase with work due to be carried out in 2019. St Andrew’s was part of a Benefice which was broken up following the retirement of our long serving vicar and went into a short period of vacancy prior to joining the other 3 parishes. In addition to the services listed above, on the third Sunday of the month a joint Sunday sanctuary service is held at 7:00 pm with the Bethel Baptist Church. We have a thriving Youth Group, called “Branches” which is made up of teenagers who have progressed from the Sunday School. At present, we have a shortage of children attending church that are of primary school age and below. This is a major shortfall that we are seeking to address. Average Sunday attendance is between 40 and 50 with significant increases, 100 plus, on the main Festival Days. Our Christingle, School Carol and Nativity Services attract large attendances particularly the Primary School Carol Service where over 500 attended in 2017. St Andrew’s has a strong outreach programme with the parish council and the local schools where we have run alternate weekly assemblies with the Bethel Baptist Minister for Swavesey Primary School and provided chaplaincy to the pupils in Swavesey Village College. Music is extremely important at St Andrew’s where we have a choir, which sings at every 11:00 am Sunday Service and which is augmented for special occasions. St Andrew’s also has a Music Group that supports the All Age Service. We share bell ringers with St Mary’s Over who ring fortnightly and at major services, plus at weddings when requested. The House Group (Bible Study) is held on the first Wednesday of the 10 month, and weekly during Lent. The Emmaus Group meets every Wednesday morning to discuss the bible. We have a very strong events team that provides an event most months combining outreach and fundraising. Events include Easter and Advent Festivals, a Burns supper, Tea a la Ritz, Snowdrop Day, Children’s Day and a Progressive Supper. St Andrew’s also hosts the weekly Compass Café, every third Thursday of the month at Bethel Baptist church. We also provide a venue for community concerts with strong links to the Swavesey Community Choir. As a church we need to embrace the levers for change set out in ‘People Fully Alive: Ely 2025’, so that we can engage fully and courageously with the needs of our community, grow the Church in Swavesey and the new team ministry whilst deepening our commitment to God through word, worship and prayer. That change is needed is a fact we cannot ignore. As much as church members work hard to support the life and fabric of the church we are still faced with an ageing congregation and meeting the needs of a listed building. The relevance of St Andrew’s to the local community is also now in question: is the church now seen solely as a cultural aspect of village life? Are we welcoming to new people? And are we setting an example of Christian life? That there are ‘green shoots’ is encouraging. There is a flourishing Youth Group that has resulted in new confirmations; and we have seen new members in our congregation who have stayed with us. There is also the ongoing development of joint worship, prayer and community outreach with our fellow Christians within our parishes, Bethel Baptist and the need to expand this. Above all, there is a genuine commitment to witnessing the Christian Life in our community, where we still find goodwill and real potential for growth.

St Mary’s & All Saints’ Church, Willingham Willingham is a large and thriving village with approximately 4500 residents. There is a medieval core surrounded by newer estates, some still being built. Many of the residents are professionals who commute into Cambridge or London. There are also pockets of social housing and various traveller sites, which make Willingham a place of contrasts. The village has many thriving businesses, which include three pubs, an auction room, two convenience stores, hairdressers, a fish and chip shop and a post office. There is a Baptist Church with a committed core of believers and a local Salvation Army (which is soon to close owing to declining membership). St Mary’s and All Saints’ is situated in the middle of the village and so is easily accessible. It has the advantage of a modern built-on hall. This hall is used regularly by various church and community groups. Church activities include: ‘Messy Church’, which meets regularly. During the vacancy, this has been coordinated by the Baptist Pastor and his wife, with volunteers from both churches making up the team. Around 10 families attend for whom ‘Messy’ is their main interaction with church and who represent a significant fringe of the congregation. ‘First Steps’ is a ‘Parent & Toddler’ group that is run by two younger mothers from the church, exploring a Bible story each week. 20-30 families are on the books at any one time and the group has a reputation for its relaxed and welcoming atmosphere. The challenge remains to harness the potential of this group to help people to explore faith further. ‘Sunday Club’ is for children of primary school age. It runs on 3 Sundays a month at the 11am services during term time. Numbers vary from week to week between 0 and 12. The children begin by sharing fellowship and worship in church and then go out for more child-focused sessions. There are usually activities of gathering, exploring the lectionary bible readings, responding to the word (through discussion, prayer, craft, cooking, drama etc) and sending out with a challenge for the week ahead. The children return later to the main service and share what they have been learning.

‘CYFA’ is a group of around 10 young people who meet fortnightly in a leader’s home for food and Bible-based discussion. There is a growing overlap with the Youth club run by the Baptist Church with some members and leaders attending both groups and providing a flow between outreach and discipleship activities. The ‘Music Group’ is a very lively group of one adult plus 5-6 older teenagers who lead the congregation in a range of modern and contemporary hymns/songs. There is an active ‘Mothers Union’ group. They raise funds for MU family charities and hold a monthly coffee morning to which many non-churchgoers come along. Time4T, this is an outreach group of people from our congregation and friends who mostly either don’t attend St Mary’s or who go into the Catholic Church in

Cambridge. The group is very friendly and welcoming and always happy to welcome new people. Refreshments are provided after services giving people space to reflect on the service, both with each other or with the minister who led the service. This social contact is also very important for people to share joys and sorrows and receive the support of others.

Challenges: The core congregation of St Mary’s and All Saints’ is ageing and therefore numbers are falling. Income is similarly declining with the church relying in most years on some of its reserves. The medieval building needs constant maintenance. At the last quinquennial 4 years ago, various minor repairs were identified but the work has yet to be carried out. There are no major projects outstanding. Looking forward: Spiritually, St Mary’s and All Saints’ has an Open Evangelical background and many of the congregation express a hunger to grow spiritually. They are receptive to being led into new ways of outreach and want to be part of God’s mission. The church enjoys the support of the village with many attending special seasonal services at Christmas, Easter and on Remembrance Sunday and there is great potential for some existing activities in the church to touch more people. The congregation are looking forward to welcoming the leadership and vision provided by a new Incumbent and staff team.