THE CHURCH IN WALES YR EGLWYS YNG NGHYMRU Annual Vestry Report For year ended 31st December 2019 Parish Mission Prayer Father, pour out your Spirit Upon the people of this parish, and grant us a new vision of your glory, a new experience of your power, a new faithfulness to your word, and a new consecration to your service, that your love may grow among us and your kingdom come; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Minutes of AVM held on Sunday 28th April 2019 at Nolton Church 5 Coity Sunday Club 6 Coity Church Choir 7 Nolton Church Choir 7 Coity Church Bellringers 8 Tuesday Fellowship 8 Mothers’ Union 9 Coity Church Flower Club 10 Report on Conferences 11 Events Committee 12 Fabric Committee – 2019 13 And that’s not all… 13 Description of the Parish 14 Objectives 14 Administrative Information 14 Members of the Parochial Church Council for 2019/2020 15 Organisation of Parochial Church Council 15 The Mission Sub Committee 15 Finance Sub Committee 16 Fabric Sub Committee 16 Electoral Roll 16 Parish Sunday Services 16 Financial Report 17 PCC Report and Financial Statements for the year ended December 31st 2019 Introduction As expected 2019 proved to be a year of continuing major changes in the Parish. The vacant incumbency was advertised and from the excellent candidates Rev Maggie Thorne was offered, and accepted the position of Vicar of the Benefice. The licensing took place on 13th June and, at last, we were in a position to reduce some of the workload which had fallen on our hard working curate, Rev Mark Broadway. We were thankful for the hard work and dedication of Rev Mark during the vacancy and for the support and work of the Area Dean, Rev Ian Hodges. Unfortunately, the dispute between some members of Nolton congregation and the Administrator had not been resolved before Rev Maggie took up her post. This was eventually brought to a conclusion to prevent further disruption to our work in the Parish. Sadly several parishioners felt they could no longer remain in the congregation, including Keith Jones and Linda Jenkins who, together with their spouses had been dedicated workers as Warden and in other areas for many years. The administrator left our employment and, after a short period when Bianca Broadway covered the position, a new administrator, Allison Rogers, was appointed and is settling into the work. The arrival of the new Incumbent gave us the opportunity to approach our work with new ideas and review some of our longstanding procedures. The PCC committees have been restructured to become more effective and our hopes and plans for the future reviewed. We are grateful to all those in the Parish for their patience and support during the vacancy and special thanks to those who have taken on extra, unexpected tasks but with God’s help have risen to the challenge. We are now looking forward to a period of stabilisation and development as we work together in supporting Rev Maggie to Grow God’s Kingdom in the Year of Pilgrimage 2020 and spread God’s love in our Community and beyond. 2019 Annual Vestry Report by the Vicar You will already be aware of the Diocesan 2020 Vision, but I’ll remind you here that it is 3-fold and encourages every member of the Church in Wales to tell a joyful story, build our capacity for good, and extend the Kingdom. At this time the Ministry Team comprises the Revd. Maggie Thorne (Vicar), the Revd. Mark Broadway (Assistant Curate), and Chris Judd, Huw Jones, Peter Craven and John Dixon, our licensed lay ministers. As you’ll be aware, our Benefice is a very busy one, and I thank the Team immensely for their ministries as I am certain all the congregations we serve do too. I am also deeply grateful to our churchwardens and to the whole of the PCC for their ongoing commitment and hard work. Everyone will be aware that the Parish has had a rough time over the last 18 months. This culminated in reaching a settlement with our Parish Administrator and Hall Manager who left our employment in September. I am grateful that Bianca Broadway could step in as a temporary solution to our problem and bring the office to a more stable position. I had hoped that we could have finished all our decorating in time for a permanent Administrator, but that wasn’t to be. Allie Rogers joined our team in December and she is gradually getting things to run smoothly. There has been an almost total clear out of detritus and out- moded files, complete redecorating and re-carpeting, plus a re-thinking of how the hall is being used, the abolition of the weekly Pews News and the forming of the monthly parish magazine. The Hall Team is a happy one and functions very well together. Most recently, hall security has been on the agenda and we now only have access to the building via a key pad. 1 Across the Parish our worship is chiefly sacramental with the Eucharist currently being celebrated every Sunday in all three of our churches, with the exception of Brackla on the 1st and 3rd Sundays. At the moment, my aim is to cover two Eucharists on a Sunday morning, thereby allowing people to get to know me, although I appreciate that wherever I preside at 9.30 I am always in a rush to get to Nolton. Apart from annual leave, Nolton always sees me on Monday morning, at which we have our revived Healing Service (preceded by Morning Prayer); and Coity always sees me on a Tuesday morning. A traditional service of Evensong is upheld weekly in Coity, apart from a bi-monthly Taize service. Unfortunately, Evensong and Compline at Nolton have not been viable services and for now they have been removed from our rotas. I hope that this will change in the future. In addition, a monthly Mothers’ Union Eucharist is held on Thursdays and a further Eucharist on Fridays. Music for our Sunday services and pastoral services continues to be offered by a variety of organists, choirs and musicians. My thanks to you all for your time, commitment and expertise, all of which enhances our worship. As a musician myself, this is a total joy! Most age groups are being catered for in our services. However, Nolton struggles to attract young members, and Angels and Cherubs, which was designed to bring baptism families to the church, has not been a particular success. Such is life that most young mums return to work as soon as they can and the connection made at baptism is lost. A family party was held in the summer which brought the younger members and baptism families together in a delightfully relaxed and happy way. This will be offered again this year. The Fingers and Thumbs playgroup that use Coity Hall asked me for a weekly service. This has been provided and I have suggested that the group come to Coity Church for this so that it can be opened out to other families with young children. Unfortunately, this idea has not been particularly well received although I shall keep trying! I have already mentioned to our new curate-to-be, Ceri Holloway, that it would be wonderful if she could make young families a priority for her ministry. I am hoping, especially with the licensing of Christopher Robinson, our new Non-Stipendiary Minister, that we will be able to offer an after school church in Brackla. The school is keen on this idea, so watch this space. I am aware that for some it is difficult to see so few children at a Sunday service, but it really isn’t the case that children aren’t attending church, they just come on a different day and worship in a different way to how most of us have been used to. The children at Archdeacon John Lewis are now receiving ‘Open the Book’ assemblies regularly where they are exposed to Bible stories, short reflections, prayers and hymns. There is considerable enthusiasm from children and staff and I thank the team for all their hard work, even though they have a great deal of fun in the process. The REInspired Project has also begun in AJL’s and Coychurch School and I have collaborated with the Revd. Martyn Evans in taking the project to Maesteg Comprehensive School. I will bang on and on about these projects. They work. It’s a simple as that. But…..they are heavy on volunteers, so if you can join one or both of the teams, I would be delighted because we can then reach out to more schools. The Pilgrim course takes place on Sunday afternoons in the Rectory. So as not to allow it to become burdensome, and recognizing that people have other things to do, the course is punctuated by weeks to accommodate other events. Other Bible studies occur around the benefice at various times which are noted in Pews News. Through Lent, the Revd. Chris and Huw have been sharing leading the Diocesan Bible Study in Coity and Nolton. So far, we have 16 weddings taking place this season, 2 that have been booked for next year and one other for 2022. After a well-received wedding preparation day in January, I intend to offer a second in May, and a 2 party of some sort later in the year so that the couples may return, show off their photographs and strengthen their link with us. Baptisms, funerals and interments of ashes are conducted regularly and I thank all who help at the preparation days and services in any way.