Annual Report and Accounts for the Parochial Church Council of Raithby

Incorporating the churches of St Peter, Raithby St Vedast, St Martin of Tours, Withcall

For the year ended 31st December 2018

Aims and Purposes

Raithby Parochial Church Council has the responsibility of co-operating with the incumbent in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish of Raithby the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical, as well as the maintenance of the fabric of the churches and churchyards at Raithby, Tathwell and Withcall and the churchyard at .

Objectives and Activities

We are part of the Benefice of Woldmarsh, an Anglican Christian community, worshipping in - and working from - nine churches, in villages across the Wolds and marsh. We are inspired by the Bishop of Lincoln’s call for ‘faithful worship, confident discipleship and joyful service’. In our mission to the people here we seek particular encouragement from the mobile ministry of Jesus Christ amongst the rural communities of his homeland, as recorded in Luke 8: ‘He went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.’ It is our sacred duty and joy to continue his work, aided by the Spirit, in the villages of Lincolnshire. As God's pilgrim people we move around our churches for worship, being prayerful, active and present in all of our communities. The PCC is committed to inviting and enabling as many people as possible to worship in our churches, to have access to the sacraments of the Church and to become part of the Christian community. To this end we strive to forge strong relationships between the church and local families and organisations. In summary, we exist to  communicate a comprehensive and glorious vision of God and the nature and purpose of his creation,  to help people to be formed into the image of Christ and to live out their faith as his disciples  to nurture human flourishing and the common good according to God’s will.

We primarily aim to achieve this by  Worship, prayer and catechesis  Provision of pastoral care  Missionary and outreach work.

Achievements and Performance

Worship, Prayer and Catechesis

The parish Eucharist is the central act of worship, taking place on a Sunday morning at 10.30am. According to the longstanding benefice rota this happens in a church in Raithby Parish once a month. Numerous members of the congregation read the lessons from Scripture, and a few actively assist the priest by administering the chalice, under licence.

Fr James Robinson was informally introduced to the congregation at a Songs of Praise service at Legbourne in July. Fr James was then Instituted and Inducted there on 3rd September by the Archdeacon of Lincoln and the Bishop of Lincoln, who preached the sermon. The church was full, with a good contingent from Fr James’ former parish in and representatives from our local community. A buffet in the Community Centre finished off a wonderful evening of thanksgiving and fellowship.

Major occasions in the church calendar provide important opportunities to draw less regular members to worship. In the days building up to Christmas an evening of festive readings and song was thoroughly enjoyed by all at St Martin’s, Withcall. Thanks are due to David Martin and the Caritas Community Singers for their performance.

A carol service was also held at Raithby, with the church as full as anyone could remember: we had to use the ‘overflow’ seating in the choir. While the service followed a traditional format, the children present were invited up afterwards to help create the crib with Fr James.

The idea of introducing an early morning, simple Eucharist on Christmas Day at Raithby did not receive a large take-up, but was appreciated by those present and did increase the opportunities for worship across the benefice on that important day.

It has become a tradition to begin Good Friday with a Stations of the Cross devotion, celebrated whilst walking from Home Farm to St Martin’s in Withcall. The carrying of the cross, and pausing for prayer and reflection is deeply moving. We are grateful to Henry and Pat Smith for their hosting.

The daily offices are now said publically Monday – Thursday (Friday being Fr James’ day off). Initially this did involve a morning prayer at Tathwell but without any take-up. Therefore after initial experimentation the pattern now centres around Legbourne, and , but will remain under review.

An renewed emphasis on the church’s teaching ministry, began by Rev’d Alan Hayday during the interregnum, has been developed. Fr James gave a talk on St Luke’s Gospel to mark the beginning of Year C in the lectionary cycle on Advent Sunday.

The occasional offices remain an important point of contact and ministry within the wider community. In 2018 there were 2 baptisms, 4 weddings and 4 funerals.

Baptisms are now strongly encouraged to take place during the Parish Eucharist, to enable the congregation to welcome their newest members, and for the candidates and their families to be more directly introduced to the worshipping community. This has had a positive impact across the benefice, not least in drawing more children into the Sunday morning services.

As part of our commitment to working closely as part of the Louth and East Wolds Mission Community, Fr James attends monthly – and occasionally celebrates – the 11am Eucharist at St James’, Louth, and Choral Evensong on a Sunday. The Mission Community also makes the commitment to celebrate the Eucharist together on Red Letter Days in various churches across the deanery. All church members are of course welcome and encourage to attend any of these services.

Especial thanks should be given to Rev’d Alan Hayday for his work in leading our worship during the interregnum; to our reader Helen Marsden for her dedicated ministry, and to Liz Marshall for enhancing our worship greatly with her organ playing.

Deanery Synod

The parish represented on Deanery Synod by Henry Smith and David Martin. Fr James and Helen also attend and report back. In general it has been a good year for the deanery, with 2 vacancies filled (including our own). Nevertheless with 3 multi-parish benefices still without an incumbent the clergy are stretched. The deanery office continues to provide essential and effective administrative support. In order to ensure this service is sustainable all benefices have been asked to contribute a monthly payment of £70. The division of the deanery into 2 Mission Communities, with Legbourne Woldmarsh united with Louth and , has helped to create a more collaborative and mission-focused environment. One fruit of this has been the provision of a Eucharist, attended by members of the Mission Community, on important feast days.

Pastoral Care

Fr James has made visiting the sick and isolated a priority, as well as calling on members of the congregation for a more general chat. The availability of a visit, for whatever reason, as well as the opportunity for anointing for healing and/or the sharing of Holy Communion is advertised in all newsletters, noticeboards and on the website. The public praying of the daily office on most week days offers a point of contact with the parish priest, should a person wish to have a talk.

The Lunch Club, organised by but active across the benefice, provides an opportunity for the elderly and alone to enjoy a meal out in the company of friends. Numbers can range from 12 -25+. Christmas Lunch was held in the Orangery in Woody's Bar with carols led by Patrick and "Wild Berry Mix".

Mission and Outreach

The summer concert at Raithby was highly successful as an event and as a fundraiser.

The Tathwell Arts Festival, held in the church and churchyard over the May bank holiday weekend, continues to be a major event in the life of the church and the wider area. Significant numbers of artists submit work for display and sale, drawing visitors from near and far, who are also tempted by the wide range of home cooked refreshments on offer. Enormous thanks must be expressed to the festival committee, who plan longs and hard through the year, and to all volunteers who give of their time and talents. As well as being an important fund raiser for the church, the festival achieves a huge amount in community engagement and cohesion. The involvement of the 2nd Louth Scout group is an example of this. It is a tribute to the hard work and vision of many.

Withcall took part in Lincolnshire Heritage weekend, with the Home Farm museum and café open to appreciative visitors, and entertainment provided by the Community Singers. The wet weather did not dampen the mood! Other fundraising/outreach was achieved at Withcall through motor cycle events, dog training days, Beagle dog walk days and falconers.

Church and Fabric

In October we welcome Fr Gavin Kirk, the Archdeacon of Lincoln, to carry out his visitation inspection of the churches and their contents. This proved an excellent opportunity to ‘get our house in order’, according to the guidelines send ahead by the Diocese. Fr Gavin was pleased by what he saw, and had some helpful recommendations to share. Thanks are due to the wardens for their diligence and care in getting things ready for him.

Raithby: The condition of St. Peter’s is generally good, thanks to the hard work and care of previous years, which has allowed us this year to simply continue our programme of regular maintenance.

Tathwell: In October, and after years of fundraising and planning, we were able to begin the reordering of the interior of the church. Some pews were removed at the east and west ends of the nave, together with the pew platform. New York stone flooring was laid, and some pews replaced in order to create a small “community” meeting area at the west end, and a space to relocate the font at the east end. The latter task awaits the stonemasons, but when complete it will release space in the tower for catering, and enable congregations to participate more easily in baptisms, without the need to deal with the steps. We continue to search for an effective and economic heating system, (despite improved technology this still may be a contradiction in terms!) together with other improvements to the comfort and accessibility of the church. Our two churchyards saw long awaited developments also: the surgery on the magnificent cedar at Haugham, which had been delayed while the initial planned work was reviewed and the survey at Tathwell of the Cavendish Bentinck memorial obelisk, a Listed structure. The Thomas Chaplin memorial in the chancel (a very rare example by the noted sculptor Prince Hoare of Bath) was also surveyed, and we await the formal reports on both, which will advise us on any safety work required. Decades of weathering etc have taken their toll, but hopefully, we will not have to dismantle and rebuild them yet.

Withcall: The fabric of the church building is in a very good state of repair as far as we can tell, although we await a Quinquennial Inspection. We were able to install a new electric heating system with financial help from the Countryside service, and we also purchased a new electric organ.

We would like to offer our sincere thanks to all who volunteer to help keep our churches and churchyards in good order.

Ecumenical Relations

We continue to develop our relationship with Methodist Chapel, and were delighted to join them for their annual Covenant Service.

Communication

A Benefice website was launched this year. Funded by the Diocese and managed by Fr James, it provides a necessary point of contact for people seeking information about our life and worship. It is updated regularly and contains all service information as well as celebrating events and achievements.

A monthly notice sheet is produced and disseminated across the churches, which sets out services, readings and notices for the month, along with material for prayer and contemplation.

The Woldmarsh Parish Magazine continues to have a wide circulation across the benefice. As well as raising funds for the PCC, it helps spread the word about our activities and inform readers with articles concerning local history and interest. Thanks are due to all contributors and distributors, and of course to Sandy and Shirley for lovingly crafting and producing it.

Extra efforts are being made to keep noticeboards clean and up to date. Every church notice board has information about the benefice and how to contact Fr James.

Efforts are also being made to help visitors to the churches to enter a pilgrims. Every church has a sheet to write down names of people to be prayed for at the Parish Eucharist (or privately by the priest if preferred) as well as material welcoming people into the church and teaching about the faith.

Financial Review

Currently the finances of each church and churchyard within the parish is managed independently of one another. Enormous thanks are due to those looking after the accounts. There are financial achievements to be celebrated this year: income for St Martin’s and St Peter’s exceeded expenditure and we were able to pay our entire parish share (contribution towards Diocesan running and ministry costs) St Vedast’s has dipped into its savings in order to pay for exciting reordering of the interior, including the removal of certain pews and relaying of stone slabs. With more works planned for 2019 this is a reminder of the financial challenges that the insurance and maintenance of our church fabric involves, as well as how dependent we are on the generosity of those who support our work financially. We do not receive any outside funding, and are indeed required to also raise just over £5000 a year to contribute towards parish share. We are blessed to have generous benefactors and wish to express sincere thanks to all who have supported us financially over the past year. We will look to running a stewardship campaign in the coming year to bring us up to speed with diocesan recommendations and allow for better budgeting as we look forward to the future with confidence. We may also have to reconsider our insurance arrangements, following advice from the archdeacon at his visitation.

Structure, governance and management

The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church Representation Rules. Membership of the PCC consists of the incumbent (our rector Fr James), churchwardens, the reader and members of the electoral roll who have been elected by fellow members. All those who attend our services are encouraged to register on the electoral roll and consider standing for the PCC. The PCC members are responsible for making decisions on all matters of general concern to the parish, including deciding how the PCC funds are spent. New members will receive any necessary training and guidance. The PCC met 2 times in 2018.

Administrative Information

The parish of Raithby is situated on the eastern edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds, to the south of the country market town of Louth. It is in the deanery of Louthesk and the , within the Church of . The correspondence address is: The Rectory, Church Lane, Legbourne, Louth LN11 8LN. The PCC is a body corporate (PCC Powers Measure 1956) and a charity currently excepted from registration with the Charity Commission.

PCC members who have served at any point in the calendar year ending December 2018 are:

Ex Officio members: Incumbent: Fr James Robinson Reader: Helen Marsden Wardens: Mark Pocklington and Jeanette Dale (Raithby); Russell Howard and Margaret Cooper (Tathwell); Henry Smith and David Martin (Withcall)

Elected members: Barnie Canter (Secretary) John Dickinson Jane Dickinson

All Wardens and PCC members are sincerely thanked for their invaluable hard work and dedication.

Approved by the PCC on 14/3/2019 and signed on their behalf by Fr James Robinson (chair of PCC)