Benefice of Langelei

St Benedict’s Church Bennetts End –

Parish Profile for Team Vicar

Contents About St.B’s ...... 3 Strengths ...... 3 Weakness ...... 3 What we are looking for in a new team vicar ...... 4 Living God’s Love...... 5 Our Vision:...... 5 Our Priorities ...... 5 Our Goals ...... 5 The Benefice ...... 6 Location ...... 6 Community ...... 7 Census Data...... 8 Education ...... 10 Leisure and Recreation ...... 10 Worship ...... 11 Pastoral and Ecumenical ...... 12 Leadership ...... 12 Ministerial Team ...... 13 Electoral Roll ...... 13 Organisations ...... 13 Buildings ...... 14 Finance ...... 15 Communications ...... 16 ‘Come join the hive at St B’s...... 16

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About St.B’s St Benedict’s is a wonderful church based on a united fellowship of young and old who love and support one and other. We are there for each other when times are tough and we rally together when we need to achieve.

Strengths At St B’s we have a warm, close, family congregation that care deeply for each other. We always pull together and work well as a team which is very important with such a small congregation.

We not only worship together but also spend much time socialising together as well. We organise regular events with lots of laughter and fun.

We are capable of achieving great things when we put our minds to something. Two years ago we took on the mammoth challenge of raising £25,000 for a disabled toilet after we realised that the lack of facilities was impacting on some of our members and visitors. We also raised the funds to re‐ carpet the church floor.

We have fulfilled much of our MAP together, such as increasing the regular Junior Church sessions we offer on Sundays and hosting study groups at key times such as Advent and Lent.

Weakness St B’s has a small congregation and many of the members are older in age. This means that physical work (setting up Church Fayres, etc) is left to just a few people and this can prove difficult to organise at times.

We have struggled with finances for many years and although we generally manage to balance our books we are reliant on a pastoral grant of £10,000, without which St Benedict’s would struggle to survive.

Although St B’s is centred in the middle of Bennetts End, our visibility within the community is not as we would like it to be. Many local people are unaware that there is even a church within the parish.

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What we are looking for in a new team vicar The new Team Vicar of St B’s will need to be vibrant and outgoing, capable of encouraging fun, laughter and worship within the church. We have a relaxed style of worship at St B’s and wish for this to continue. However, we are open to trying new styles of worship.

We are proud to host a real mix of congregants with different views and values and the new vicar will need to be able to unify us through a mix of prayer, song and worship. It would also be great if the new vicar would be willing to pick up some of our instruments and lead us in song. (tambourine/triangle will suffice!!)

The new vicar must be a good preacher, able to deliver engaging and interesting sermons and must be able to speak on many levels to keep the congregation focused on their spiritual growth.

It will be important for the vicar to be involved with the pastoral care of both young and old, as well as to be seen out and about in the local community.

They need to be a good listener and having a sense of humour is also hugely important.

Interest in primary education, and experience in working closely with a local school, are highly desirable.

This is an appointment within a team, and will involve taking services and other participation in the work of the other parishes in the benefice.

There is a strong feeling within the parish and benefice that members of the team must take their day off each week and take all their holiday entitlement each year to allow them to benefit from a time of relaxation and renewal. This is an attractive, well‐supported and rewarding job.

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Living God’s Love

Our Vision:

We fully support the Benefice of Langelei’s mission statement: To bring Christ to the community and the community to Christ. Stemming from this our own mission statement is: To grow in Christian faith, our witness and our service to this community. In five years’ time we want to be described as a friendly, welcoming and generous community who have a vibrant faith that is expressed in serving and supporting our neighbourhood, the Benefice and the town. Our Priorities

Our three key priorities for the next five years are:

1. To continue to grow in faith, numbers, witness and service.

2. To offer good quality opportunities for children to develop their faith and sense of belonging.

3. To develop our existing outreach and support to the local and wider community. Our Goals

In light of these priorities, our five SMART goals for the next years are:

1. Continue to provide opportunities for faith to grow and develop through a variety of groups and activities. 2. Provide a consistent Junior Church on at least two Sundays per month, more if helpers are available 3. Offer attractive and appropriate activities for our older children; link with Benefice and Diocesan activities. 4. Continue to send anniversary cards to all children baptised at St. Benedict’s in the past three years. 5. Improve communication: a. Address signage at the front of the church b. Design a welcoming and warm logo for the church c. Collect email addresses from baptism families to increase contact opportunities

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The Benefice (www.beneficeoflangelei.org.uk) The Benefice of Langelei was formed in the autumn of 2009 and was created out of the enlargement of the former Parish of Chambersbury (St Mary's, Apsley End, St Benedict's, Bennetts End and Holy Trinity, Leverstock Green) to include All Saints, Kings Langley. The benefice is multi parish, each church having its own distinctive ethos and each PCC driving mission and ministry across the parish.

A Team Council was formed in 2010 with representatives from each parish, the Council's business being matters which the four PCCs delegate to it. Consequently, the Council has assumed responsibility for the administration of certain financial matters that affect all the parishes. The Council has also a communications group which produce the benefice newsletter.

There is an openness and willingness to collaborate across the benefice where that seems appropriate and helpful. Currently St Mary's and All Saints run joint baptism preparation sessions, the parish treasurers meet to discuss matters of common concern and there is joint confirmation preparation across the benefice. The staff team meets usually every Monday morning for worship, catching up on news from the churches and to do a certain amount of business. There is the expectation of commitment to the weekly meeting. The team also meet socially from time to time.

Location The Benefice of Langelei is located on the South East side of Hemel Hempstead (including Kings Langley). St Benedict’s is in the heart of the Benefice, in the Parish of Bennetts End. The church itself is situated on the corner of Peascroft Road, with large windows overlooking the local parade of shops which acts as a hub for the local community.

Hemel Hempstead is a new town based in West with direct links to both the M1 and M25, the town has a moderate industrial estate and attracts London commuters.

Hemel Hempstead

Hemel Hempstead

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Benefice of Langelei

Community Hemel Hempstead was built offering overspill housing from London and was officially declared as a new town in 1947. Bennetts End is one of the original satellite communities within the town and was largely built in the 1950’s.

The community of Bennetts End has grown consistently over the years and has become a very multicultural location within the town. Bennetts End is still home to some of the original residents that left London in the 1950’s. These people are in general, very community minded and have been very proud of their neighbourhood. Some younger residents view the community less positively and some see it as an area to move away from. There is a mixture of owner occupied and local authority housing within the parish.

The neighbourhood is now home to a significant proportion of Pakistani Muslims and there is a small but very active mosque within the parish.

Some high level demographic data is charted on the following page:

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UK Census Data for Bennett’s End 2011 Age Range

7% Preschool Age 18% 7% Primary Age 11% Secondary Age 20% 15% 18-29 30-44 22% 45-59 60+

Dwelling Type

16%

Houses Flats/Apartments

84%

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Dwelling Composition Single 5%0% 9% Married with dependants 25% 6% Married with no dependants 6% Cohabitating with dependants 27% 22% Cohabitating with no dependants Lone Parent with dependants Lone Parent with no dependants Cohabitating Same Sex no dependants

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There is no Parish Council within Bennetts End. Our neighbouring parish (Nash Mills – St Marys, Apsley) has a very active Parish Council. Hemel Hempstead is part of and is governed by : below is a link to the council website. www.dacorum.gov.uk/

There is no village hall within Bennetts End, however there is a very active community centre based in the hub of the community and many activities are held here on a daily basis for all ages.

The people of Bennetts End work both locally and further afield with a small number commuting into London. There is an issue with unemployment within Bennetts End with approximately 30% of households having no adults in employment.

The Church is based at the heart of the community, we have a church hall which is regularly used by many community groups, including: Green Lane Children’s Centre, Rainbows and Brownie packs and a mother and toddler group. The church reaches out regularly to the four primary schools and one secondary school attending assemblies and hosting key assemblies within the church. We open our doors regularly by our summer and Christmas fayres as well as other seasonal events such as our Christmas Tree Festival.

Education There are four Primary schools within Bennetts End; Lime Walk, The Redding’s, Hobbs Hill Wood and Chambersbury. There is one secondary school; Longdean. Most of these schools have had a recent ‘Good’ rating from Ofsted, Lime Walk School has received a notice of improvement required. There are two Church Primary schools within the Benefice; Nash Mills (St Marys – Apsley) and Leverstock Green (Holy Trinity). There are further education facilities available in the surrounding area including West Herts College.

The primary schools are invited into the church to get involved with seasonal events: Lime Walk school choir has been a regular at our annual Christmas Tree Festival. Leisure and Recreation

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Bennetts End has a lively and vibrant community centre which hosts a variety of different activities each week. These activities include a Friday lunch club, martial arts, café, dancing and many more. The community centre is positioned on the corner of Coronation Fields, which is a large park land with children’s play park, tennis courts and cricket training nets. There is a further adventure playground on the border of Bennetts End.

The local public house is situated opposite the parade of shops near to the Church. The pub is a low rent establishment which attracts many of the less desirable local patrons. Although the pub can be a hub for disruption the landlord is a local businessman and has supported the church with events, such as the Christmas Tree Festival.

Just outside of Bennetts End is the Jarman Fields Complex which has recently been regenerated removing the local night club and replacing this with the XC centre (indoor climbing and skate park) the local athletics track and a bustling network of food and drink establishments. We are also closely located to the Hemel Snow Centre which is an indoor ski centre hosting real snow and further eating establishments.

Worship At St. B’s our services follow Common Wordhip and include the Eucharist. Our previous service schedule has been as follows:‐

1st Sunday of the month 10am Eucharist Service

2nd Sunday of the month 8am Eucharist Service

10am Family Service (non‐Eucharistic)

3rd Sunday of the month 10am Eucharist Service

4th Sunday of the month 10am Eucharist Service

5th Sunday of the month 10am Family Service with Communion

Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we hold Morning Prayer at 9am

At St. B’s we have a broad age‐ range within the congregation, from 2 to 92 years, however there is a noted delta in the middle age range.

The congregation at St Benedict’s is approximately 50 members with an average weekly attendance of around 25‐30.

At St B’s we are fortunate to have a full lay team including readers, intercessors and servers. We also benefit from a retired reader with PTO and a priest with PTO.

St B’s hosts approximately 12 Baptisms per year and hosts the benefice confirmation service every four years. Last year St Benedict’s had five candidates confirmed and we currently have three children attending the admission to communion course. This course is targeted at children within the benefice who are aged 7+.

At St Benedict’s we hold all special services throughout the year including; Harvest, All Souls, Remembrance Sunday, Christingle, Christmas Eve Midnight Mass, Mothering Sunday and Holy Week. In addition to these services we hold an annual toy service which is held in early December in support of the Salvation Army.

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St B’s has a redundant organ in the church which we do not have the funds to repair. The music at services is provided by an electronic keyboard donated to the church by a former congregation member.

Music is managed by our Director or Music and we enjoy a mix of modern and traditional hymns with occasional assistance from the congregation and some percussion instruments! When our organist is unavailable music can be provided by a small portable cd player which we fondly refer to as “Cyril”.

During services vestments are worn, candles are lit and we use a said Eucharist.

Pastoral and Ecumenical St Benedict’s is a member of Churches Together in Hemel Hempstead. In 2012 representatives of member organisations met to refresh its vision. Its purpose is to:

 Provide a common voice for member churches when engaging with the wider community including the Borough Council and other statutory authorities.  Facilitate communication between member churches and between churches and the wider community.  Encourage partnership work between churches and churches and the wider community; this includes helping to identify activity that is done better together than separately and encouraging and assisting the delivery of that activity; it also includes shared worship and learning opportunities.  Support each member church at the heart of community proclaiming by its words and demonstrating by its deeds the love of God.

Initiatives under the auspices of or supported by Hemel Churches together include Street Pastors, Pray Hemel, Hemel Healing on the Streets, Crossover, Discovery, DENS (Dacorum emergency night shelter) and CAP. It organises the Good Friday witness march and worship in The Marlowes town shopping centre. See www.hemelchurches.org.uk for details.

St B’s actively supports DENS, especially its Hub foodbank, Discovery and Pray Hemel, All the Deanery churches along with most other town churches host Pray Hemel (breakfast at 8, prayer 8.30 – 9.30) over a 2 year cycle. We are scheduled to host Pray Hemel on December 3rd 2016.

In regard to pastoral care in the parish, in addition to the occasional offices and regular assemblies (currently by the vicar) in all the schools, we offer home communion, opportunity for prayer/chat in or after morning prayer on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and a prayer diary which is used to inform our intercessions, particularly at morning prayer. Lay involvement in these is encouraged but very few have the time or energy. However, the older members, who mostly live near each other in the community, continue to look out for each other, as has been the pattern since the New Town “estate” was established. Any concerns are quickly raised with the ministry team, Churchwardens or PCC members.

Leadership The duties of Churchwarden are currently shared between Robert Hammond (Rob) and Kate Garvie. Both Rob and Kate work and so shared responsibility is the only viable solution. Rob is a time served

Page | 12 plumber which makes him ideal for the hands on support with the upkeep of the church buildings whilst Kate takes on the more administrative side of the wardenship. A large part of Kate’s role is the management of the church hall and liaising with the various groups that use it. The hall is an effective vehicle for generating funds for the church.

Both Rob and Kate are also especially needed with fundraising; although St B’s is a small congregation, through the motivation of the churchwardens we always manage to achieve great things.

The churchwardens of the benefice meet are members of the Team council, meeting 3 to 4 times a year; they are also trustees of the Leverstock Green Religious Education Fund, and have to meet with the other trustees approximately 3 times a year also.

The St Benedict’s PCC currently has 12 members ranging between the ages of 30‐80. We hold regular quarterly meetings in which the Vicar, Wardens and Treasurer all offer reports. Decisions are made by a democratic vote and all meetings are minuted by the church secretary.

Occasionally sub committees/task groups are formed for planning seasonal and occasional events such as summer fayre, Christmas fayre, etc.

Ministerial Team At St Benedict’s we have the benefit of additional clergy from the benefice including Canon David Lawson who is our Team Rector and Rev. Lizzie Hood who is the Rural Dean and Team Vicar.

We also have a retired ordained minister as part of our congregation who will assist with occasional services, a Retired Lay Reader with PTO and an ordinand.

Electoral Roll There are currently 40 congregation members listed on the St Benedict’s electoral roll but this needs to be reviewed due to recent deaths, relocation of key members and new attendees.

Organisations We have an active mother and toddler group which meets weekly in the church hall. This group is run on behalf of St B’s for the wider community.

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Buildings St Benedict’s was built in the 1950s in a modern style based on the plans for Coventry Cathedral. It has a large window facing North West and overlooking the local shopping precinct. The church is well cared for and is in good condition. We are very proud to have recently raised additional funds to build an extension housing a disabled toilet and to re‐carpet the interior of the church. The church is fitted with an induction loop system for the hard of hearing.

Grounds are limited at the church but include a small grassed area at the front which is rarely used and a small, enclosed garden adjacent to the church hall, which we have also proudly raised funds to have landscaped. There is a small carpark at the rear of the church hall (of which 4 spaces + 1 loading bay are designated for church use, the remaining section of the carpark is assigned as resident parking for the properties adjacent to the church, comprising an additional 10 spaces, which are not for church use). There is no graveyard attached to the church.

St Benedict’s has a medium sized church hall at the rear of the building. The hall is situated much lower than the main church and is accessible by steep steps which some congregation members struggle to manage. Alternative access can be made from Barnacres Road. The hall is equipped with a fully functioning kitchen as well as male/female/disabled toilet facilities.

St Benedict’s Vicarage is situated next to the church and provides four bedrooms, a driveway and garage as well as a large well‐kept rear garden. On the whole the property and garden are in very good condition.

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Following our last quinquennial report the electrics in the church hall and kitchen were rewired and certified and the toilet facilities were refurbished. There is a recommendation to update the church hall kitchen and the signage at the front of the church, but apart from this the church was noted as being in very good order.

Finance Below is a snapshot of the 2014 audited accounts, the 2015 accounts will be audited shortly but the initial reports are that we are starting in a much better position than the previous year.

General Fund All Funds

Income £34,164 £36,246

Expenditure £34,447 £42,626

Profit (Loss) (£283) (£6,380)

We ended the 2014 with a deficit on the general fund of £283 and an overall deficit of £6,380. The overall deficit is due to expenditure from the Fabric Fund on electrical work, the garden and the men’s toilets in the hall.

KEY POINTS TO NOTE

General Fund:

 Pledged giving was £242 below budget and was a £1,582 decrease on 2013. Plate collections were £322 below budget and £436 less than in 2013  The tax rebate claim was £639 above budget and £598 above 2013 figures. This reflects a change in tax law that allows one‐off donations of less than £20 to be claimed without proof of gift aid, making most of our plate collections eligible  Fees from weddings and funerals were £723 below budget  Church Hall income was £1,441 above budget, and £1,115 more than in 2013  Grants for £925 were received (£175 above budget). £175 of this figure was a grant

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 St Benedict’s share of the Deanery Lay Dev Officer, which appears under expenditure  Fund raising was £554 above budget and £407 above 2013 figures  Repairs and Maintenance expenditure was considerably higher than expected (£1,579 above budget) and £3,145 higher than in 2013. This reflects addition cost to replace windows, the audio loop system and an electrical check  Utilities expenditure was significantly lower than budget (£1,471) and £522 lower than in 2013  Fund raising and general costs were both higher than budgeted (£528 and £683 respectively)

Other Funds:

 Disabled Toilet: This still retains a final payment of £564.50 due upon completion of minor items  Fabric Fund: Received income of £1,263 due to tax refund and interest, and expenditure of £7,857 (electrical, garden and men’s toilets)

Our Parish Share for 2015 is £21,602. This includes a Pastoral Support Grant of £10,000.

Christian stewardship within St Benedict’s in managed by envelopes and pledged giving.

As a mission church with struggling finances, it is not our practice to give away a percentage of the church income to charity. However, we regularly give financial support to the following causes;

 Bishop’s Harvest Appeal  Ruth – Our sponsored child through World Vision Aid  Christingle Collection in aid of the Children’s Society  DENS food bank  Christian Aid  Salvation Army – Via our Toy Service

Our expenses are largely paid in full however there are many congregation members that do not submit expenses and consider monies spent as an additional donation to the church. Our current vicar does not claim travel expenses for weddings/ funerals. Also the cost of internet in the vicarage was not claimed as an expense as the family requirement was much larger than the usage for church business.

Expenses for 2013 £1163; expenses for 2014 £1170; expenses YTD (to June 2015) £818

We have a benefice office and administrator, shared between all the churches within the benefice. In 2014, our annual contribution towards costs was £2083. For 2015, we have paid £1008 for the period January to June.

Communications Communication within the church is mostly via our weekly bulletin sheet which details general notices, future events, prayer requests and service details. There is a benefice newsletter which is published quarterly, St Benedict’s being actively encouraged to contribute to the newsletter. The Benefice of Laneglei also provides a group website which is largely underutilised due to a lack of skill set to make regular updates. Congregation members do use this site for accessing upcoming readings and copies of the weekly bulletin sheet. Regular notices are given at the start of each service to update congregation members.

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Come join the hive at St B’s

PRAYER

PRAISE PEOPLE PUDDING

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