The Priory Church of Deeping St James 1 Parish Profile for the Priory Church of Deeping St James 1. Contents Section Page 2 Welcome to Deeping St James 3 3 Deeping St James 3 4 The Parish 4 5 Worship 6 6 Clergy and church support teams 7 7 Music 8 8 Children 9 9 The PCC 11 10 Other Church Groups 12 11 Finances 12 12 Communication 13 13 Church Partners 14 14 Consultation 15 15 Moving Forward 17 16 What we can offer you – and what we are looking for 17 Appendices 1 Parish Statistics 19 2 Local statistics 19 3 Bishops Mission Initiative 20 4 The Vicarage 21 2 2. Welcome to Deeping St James From the Curate, the Churchwardens and the PCC Welcome to the Priory Church of Deeping St James. Thank you for your interest in the position of Vicar of our parish, and for taking the time to look at our parish profile. With a number of schools and many housing developments in the parish there are plenty of opportunities to build and grow – with outreach being part of our vision for the future. We would love to hear from you and answer any questions you may have. 3. Deeping St James Location Deeping St James lies at the southern end of both the Diocese and the county of Lincolnshire. It is situated on the northern bank of the River Welland, about 7 miles north of Peterborough and 9 miles east of Stamford. The parish is bounded on the west by the adjoining town and parish of Market Deeping and to the north and east lies open farmland. Deeping St James is (in terms of population) the largest of ‘The Deepings’, a collective term used to describe the villages of Deeping St James, Market Deeping, Deeping Gate, West Deeping and Deeping St Nicholas. The area is very low lying and this gave the Deepings their Saxon name, translated as ‘deep places’ or ‘deep lands’. The Deepings have a total population of around 15,000, of which Deeping St James accounts for just over 7,000 (2011 census data) Under the South Kesteven District Council ‘Local Plan’, further development is expected in the area before 2036 and ‘Deepings First’ is the joint Deepings Neighbourhood Planning Group, covering the parishes of Market Deeping and Deeping St James. It is a community group, working with the support of Market Deeping Town Council and Deeping St James Parish Council, to take responsibility for the creation of a Neighbourhood Plan to help the local community influence the planning of the area in which they live and work during 2018 and 2019. The link for further information on The Deepings Neighbourhood Plan is: http://deepingsfirst.org.uk/ The Village The old village of Deeping St James is clustered around the Priory Church, with more recent residential developments and a mixture of estate housing to the north and east, which is still expanding. Most of the properties are owner occupied although there are also areas of good quality social housing. The village has no central shopping area but has several small parades of independent shops and food outlets scattered throughout the parish as well as numerous businesses and light industry. Information on local businesses can be found at www.deepings.co.uk. A larger supermarket can be found in the adjoining parish of Market Deeping. Other Christian denominations are well represented in Deeping St James. In addition to the Priory Church, there is a Roman Catholic Church, a Methodist Church and two Baptist Churches. 3 Schools There are two Primary schools in Deeping St James, Deeping St James Community Primary (one form entry) and Linchfield Community Primary (two form entry), both of which are Lincolnshire Local Authority maintained schools with associated playgroups, and both of which regularly use the church for festivals. There is one Secondary school in Deeping St James, The Deepings School (1,500 students on roll) which is an Academy and part of the CfBT Schools Multi-Academy Trust and has a Sixth Form. Some children from Deeping St James undertake their secondary education at local Lincolnshire Grammar Schools (Bourne Grammar, Spalding Grammar, Spalding High) or at The King’s School, Peterborough (the Cathedral school) which many members of the congregation have attended as it is the closest Church secondary school (always heavily oversubscribed, with admissions criteria based on Church attendance). In addition, there are two further Primary schools in the neighbouring parish of Market Deeping - of which William Hildyard is a Church of England Primary School and Market Deeping Community Primary school is a Lincolnshire Local Authority maintained school with the local Children’s Centre on its site; both these schools also have playgroups. There is one private pre-school nursery in Deeping St James – the Treetop Caterpillar Nursery – as well as one on the boundary of the parish – the Headstart Nursery. Residential Home In 2015 a new residential care home opened in Deeping St James. Braeburn Lodge provides residential and nursing care, including care for people with dementia, and is registered to provide accommodation for up to 60 people. There are currently around 40 residents. Information about the latest inspection report for Braeburn Lodge can be found at https://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-1865508530 4. The Parish The Church The Priory Church of St James is a 12th century parish church set in a closed churchyard with an adjacent church hall and vicarage. Consecrated on St James’ day 1139 as a Benedictine Priory, the church of Deeping St James has been a place of worship for more than 850 years and is a Grade 1 listed building. Originally founded as a daughter cell of Thorney Abbey, the Priory Church has a rich history involving some figures of national importance. As was the case with numerous monastic houses, the Priory was dissolved in 1539, but the church continued to function as a parish church. In the late 18th century, the resident curate of the time, the Revd John Mossop, founded the first Sunday School, which according to Diocesan records was the first in the county. At the end of the 19th century, the Revd William Henry Cooper helped to provide a new roof for the south aisle, stained glass windows, central heating and new oak pews. Isabella, Marchioness of Exeter became one of the first women in the country to become a churchwarden in 1900. In recent times significant improvements to the building have taken place including the complete re- wiring of the building, new heating, a state of the art lighting system throughout the church and the installation of CCTV to improve security. In 2016 the lead roof of the south aisle was replaced and a roof alarm installed. Also on the south side of the building, the Corpus Christi chapel, designated for private prayer, has been refurbished with a new altar, chairs 4 and other fittings. In addition window grilles have been installed to protect the important 19th century Ward & Hughes stained glass windows. Some years ago an enclosed children’s corner was created in the south aisle, and recently the rarely used south aisle pews have been temporarily removed to create space within the church for toddler worship and social activities. A faculty to make this arrangement permanent is currently with the Lincoln DAC. Church tours are regularly requested from historical and parish groups as well as schools. For further information on the history of the Priory Church see http://www.dsj.org.uk/history/ Parish Map Benefice of Deeping St James, Lincoln Diocese Ordnance Survey licence number 100040148 ©Crown copyright and database rights 2018 The Vicarage The Vicarage is a 5 bedroomed Victorian house built in 1839, with a garage and a number of stone outbuildings. It is situated adjacent to the Church. Some time ago the house was deemed to be too costly to maintain into the future, and a modern house was bought for the use of the Vicar and family. However although the accommodation was good and met the criteria for clergy housing, the house was never visible to the community, parking in the cul de sac was difficult and it was around half a mile from the Church. Following discussions about the unsuitability of the location of this modern property, the diocese recently agreed to re-instate 16 Church Street as the Vicarage. Plans were drawn up to modernise the old Vicarage and extensive work is now being carried out to ensure that the house is ready for occupation in spring 2019. Further details of the vicarage can be found at Appendix 4. 5 The Hall Between the Church and the Vicarage is the Church Hall, owned by a separate Trust and managed by a group of five Trustees, who include the Vicar and Churchwardens. The Hall is used for both church and community activities and facilities include a hall complete with stage, toilets and a large kitchen and storerooms. There is also a large garden between the Hall and the Vicarage which, although owned by different bodies, is shared by both and is used for outdoor activities, including the annual Rose and Sweet Pea Show & Village Fete, the Church’s major community and fund raising event of the year. Members of the congregation currently look after the Church Hall part of the garden. Over the past year the kitchen has been completely refurbished, but further major work is needed to treat dry rot and carry out roof repairs to the building. The estimate for this second phase of work is around £25,000. By August 2018 just over one third of that total had been raised, but due to the persistence of the Church Treasurer in making many funding applications we have recently had a major grant which should now allow the work to be completed 5.