Wrexham Mission Area Application Pack November 2020 A Profile of the Diocese of St Asaph The Diocese of St Asaph is a diverse and hopeful community of faith. With roots in the Celtic church and a wealth of character and tradition, we seek to continue to uncover our shared vocation as God’s people in the Church in Wales in the north east of the Province. We are a Diocese in good heart and seek to persist in responding joyfully to God’s challenge. The Diocese follows the English/Welsh border in the east, whilst the western edge is delineated by the Conwy Valley. The northern boundary runs along the North Wales coast as far as Llandudno, but only takes in part of that town. The southern boundary runs from the lower end of Llyn Tegid (Lake Bala) across to Dolfor, just south of Newtown in Powys. Ecclesiastically it is bordered by the Dioceses of Chester, Lichfield and Hereford on the northern and eastern sides. To the south we border Swansea and Brecon Diocese and to the west, Bangor. The Diocese is predominantly rural, with many parishes having populations of less than 1000. However, there are important and continually developing industrial and commercial areas around Deeside (one of the largest industrial parks in Europe) and Wrexham and significant smaller developments along the two main arterial roads (A55 and A483). The coastal strip is home to traditional holiday resorts and tourism is an important industry in many parts of the Diocese. The largest employers are the local authorities through education and the health services with two large general district hospitals at Bodelwyddan and Wrexham. Wrexham hosts a refugee and asylum seekers support centre (supported by the Diocese), while migrant worker groups in the region (largely white EU) are involved in both industry and agriculture. A significant number of care workers come from the far- east. Together with many of the rural areas in the UK, the agriculture sector within the Diocese has endured many shocks and changes, including the foot and mouth crisis, the changing structures of agricultural support from the EU, increasing fuel costs and the unfolding impact of global warming. Welshpool and St Asaph have two of the largest livestock markets in Europe. The Diocese has 51 Church Schools, nearly a third of the total Church in Wales schools, and these are spread across 6 local authorities. St Joseph’s Anglican and Catholic High School in Wrexham is the only shared faith school in Wales and all our schools are an important way of providing mission and ministry to the young people of Wales. About Wrexham… Situated on a relatively flat plateau between the lower Dee Valley and easternmost mountains of Wales, Wrexham is the largest town in north Wales. Originally a market town with surrounding small villages, Wrexham is now coalesced with a number of urban villages and forms north Wales' largest conurbation. Historical Context Archaeological evidence testifies to the activity of people in the Wrexham area as far back as 1600BC. With the gradual increase of population, Wrexham became divided into two distinct townships, Wrexham Regis (under the control of the Crown) and Wrexham Abbot (generally the older parts of the town,belonging to Valle Crucis Abbey). In the period prior to the industrial revolution, Wrexham was recorded as a market town with a population of under 2000, which had developed a reputation for its leather and nail making industry. In the mid 18thcentury, however, the town grew rapidly as one of the centres of the Industrial Revolution in North Wales. In 1762, the entrepreneur John Wilkinson (1728–1808) opened Bersham Ironworks which was followed bythe smelting plant at Brymbo in 1793. All these developments went hand in hand with corresponding improvements in the means of transportation. The Act for the North Wales Mineral Railway was passed in 1845 and by amalgamation with the Shrewsbury, Oswestry and Cheshire line, it became the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway, which was opened in 1849 and five years later absorbed into the GWR. In the mid to late 19th century Wrexham had over 35 breweries, and grew a proud tradition of brewing both ale and lager. In 1882 German immigrants set up Britain's first lager brewery under the name ofWrexham Lager. One by one, however, the brewing concerns either migrated to or passed under the control of, the great English centres of the industry. Just 2 miles (3km) south of Wrexham town centre, Erddig, a National Trust property, was home to the Yorke family until 1973. Its last resident, Philip Yorke, handed over a house in need of restoration as years of subsidence caused by the workings of Bersham Colliery had caused a lot of damage. The house is today one of the most popular stately homes in the UK. The latter part of the 20 century saw much decline in industry in the town. The leatherworks in Petrefelin and Tuttle Street, the many coal mines in the area, thebrickworks in Abenbury, Brymbo Steelworks and the breweries all closed (although Wrexham Lager was revived in 2011 to serve the pub trade and is now available in various pubs throughout the county). In the 1980s and 90s funded in part by the Welsh Development Agency, a major dual carriageway (part of the A483) was built, extending the existing bypass and connecting it with nearby Chester, which in turn had connections with other big cities such as Manchester and Liverpool. A new single carriageway was also built to improve, links towards Shrewsbury and Birmingham Manufacturing, Services and Construction Following the demise of heavy industry in Wrexham, there has been a shift to major high techmanufacturing. Approximately 25% of employment in Wrexham County Borough is now in the manufacturing sector. Most of the manufacturing industries are based in the Wrexham Industrial Estate(the UK's second largest industrial park) and the industrial parks around the A483 corridor to the west ofthe town. Major companies include Brother, Cadbury, Cytec Industries, Calypso, J.C. Bamford, and Kellogg's.International pharmaceutical and chemical companies are also well represented including Flexsys, Ipsen and Wockhardt. In addition, there are a growing number of jobs in service, financial and technology industries. Shopping Wrexham houses one of the largest shopping centres in North Wales. In addition to the main shopping streets in the town centre, a cluster of retail parks are situated around the inner ring road at the Border and Central retail parks. Central and Island Green retail parks are in the town centre close to Wrexham Central railway station. Plas Coch and Berse retail parks are on the outskirts close to the A483. Thenewest development, at Eagle's Meadow (connected to HighStreet via a bridge) includes Debenhams, Marks & Spencer, H&M, Next, River Island, TenPin Bowling and Odeon. There are three traditional covered markets (Butter, Butchers and People’s Markets) plus North Wales' largest open air market based in the town centre each Monday. In recent years a number of smaller independent retailers have started trading in and around the town centre with many of the larger stores under pressure from online shopping and now covid 19. The recent development of ‘Ty Pawb’ as an arts centre with small trading outlets and a communal eatery has been a positive development as is the location of ‘Xplore’ formerly ‘Techniquest’ in a former department store. Prison HMP Berwyn situated on the industrial estate is currently the largest jail in Europe catering for over 2,000 prisoners. It was opened progressively from 2016 and is a major employer in the town. There is a dynamic chaplaincy team supported by many of the town’s churches. Education Within the Wrexham Mission Area there are fourteen primary schools and four high schools in addition to St Christopher’s Special School. In addition, Coleg Cambria now one of the largest FE colleges in the UK offers a wide range of courses from Further Education to HNCs and Foundation Degrees for full and part time students, apprentices and part time community learners. Glyndwr University was granted full University status in 2008 having been a member of the University of Wales since 2003. The University has approximately 8,000 students including over 500 from outside the UK. Mapping and Insight information Up to date socio-economic and demographic information about Wrexham Mission Area is available on the diocesan website using our Mission Area Insight and Mapping application: https://churchnearme.co.uk/resources/wrexham.html The Mission Area Leader Revd Jonathan Smith welcomes any informal discussions about life in the Mission Area, 01978 350797, or by email [email protected] About All Saints Church… We celebrated our centenary in 2012. Many of our congregation live locally, either in the Edwardian terraced houses or in newer estates. Our congregation varies in age, from 4 years to 91 years. Newcomers comment upon what a welcoming and friendly church we are and how we make them feel at ease. Each January we support Women’s Aid, with a toy service, and we are always overwhelmed by the kind donations from our congregation of bedding, toiletries, games and toys, that are needed so desperately by this organization. Church Hall activities Sunday School is held every Sunday morning in the hall at 10.30: towards the end of the service, the children join us in church and share with us what they have been doing. We have a shared lunch in the hall after our family service which is held on the first Sunday of each month. Craft Group is held every Monday afternoon from 2pm-4pm. Youth Group is held every Thursday evening from 7pm—9pm during school term time.