Thatcham Annual Parish Meeting Annual Report 17Th April 2016

Thatcham Annual Parish Meeting Annual Report 17th April 2016

Contents / page
Parochial Church Council 2015/6… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … / 2
Team Rector’s Report………………………………………………………………. / 2
Background…………………………………………………………………………... / 3
Report of the proceedings of the PCC…………………………………………….. / 3
Membership… .. …. …. …. …. …. ….. …. ……………………………………... / 3
Committees…………………………………………………………………………... / 3
Report to the accounts……………………………………………………………… / 4
Stewardship Secretary’s Report………………………………………………… / 5
Fees… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … / 6
St Barnabas Church……………………………………………………………….. / 6
Mothers Union … … … … .………………………………………………………… / 7
Safeguarding Report……………………………………………………………….. / 7
ABCs… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … / 8
Children and Young People - Pathfinders…………………………………… … . / 8
Youth Work – the beAt … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …. / 9
Music at St Mary’s…………………………………………………………………… / 11
Bellringers’ Report … … ….. …………………………………………………… ... / 12
Deanery Synod………………………………………………………………………. / 12
Churchwardens ………………………………... … … … … … … ... … … … … / 13
Fabric…………………………………………………………………………………. / 14
Inventory……………………………………………………………………………… / 14
Pastoral Team………………………………………………………………………. / 14
Flowers - Sewing Group… … … … … … … … … … … / 15
Little Churches, Home Communions, C.A.M.E.O… … … … … … … … … … / 15
Men’s Breakfast - House Groups - Prayer Ministry – Oasis – Pub & Prayer / 16
Missions - Christian Aid –Fairtrade & Traidcraft- West Berks Foodbank - Children’s Society – US …...... / 18
Social Events … … … … … . … … … … … … … … … ……………………..... / 21
Service Rota - Welcomers………………………………………………………… / 21
Connect and St Mary’s Website………………………………………………… / 22
Appendix 1 Accounts for 2015
Appendix 2 Minutes of the APCM 2015

Thatcham Parochial Church Council 2015/6

Ex Officio

Revd. Mark Bennet
Revd. Pat Jones
Revd. Marion Fontaine
Revd Brenda Harland
Revd Alec Gill

Churchwardens

Stephen Walker(2015)
Joan Collins (2013)
Colin Waters (2013)

Deanery Synod Representatives (to 2018)

Anne Roper
Chris Watts
Mike Watson
vacancy

Co-options

John Collins (Tower)
Karen Walker (Children)
Judith Caton (Social)
Peter Harvey De-Gioia (Treasurer) /

Elected Lay Members

Lourdes Cottam (St Barnabas)
Ron Palmer (St Barnabas)
Debbie Waters St Barnabas)
John Hicks (St Barnabas)
Corinne Lee-Philpott (St Barnabas)
Chris Druce (2013)
Kevin Dunwell (2013)
Andrew Ducker (2013
Viv Druce (2014)
Win Easen (2014)
Mike Stevenson (2014)
Gary Collins (2014)
Mary Stagg (2015)
Bayo Kester (2015)

Team Rectors Report

This is not my normal review of the year – I’m interrupting my sabbatical just to give a few highlights and memories of 2015, even though the wonderful Christmas services with standing room early are a rather distant memory. We had a memorable Lent too, with the weekly reflections, and an enjoyable parish weekend in July which somehow fitted into a busy time for everyone.

We have seen Alec grow in confidence and ministry experience, including Saturday morning sessions for dads. The choir and musicians have continued to enrich our worship at St Mary’s, and at St Barnabas the team and the relationship with ThatchamParkSchool have grown productively – with the school achieving an excellent report on their Church ethos (the “SIAMS” report).

My own year has seen a developing role as chair of Governors at Kennet school, as well as appointment as Area Dean (my sabbatical has given me a chance to reflect a bit on how that will work). Beyond the parish, I’ve been involved with WATCH – known for the campaign for women to become bishops, and 2015 was a year of great celebration – including our own Candlemas service in Thatcham.

We’ve faced challenges – including finance and buildings, with the anxieties they inevitably bring – but faithful prayer draws us into relationship with God and puts our struggles in perspective. All who can make it are welcome Monday to Friday at 9.00am at St Mary’s for our service of morning prayer (about half an hour). And we have importantly continued to develop the pastoral team.

But the highlight of the year was for me joining in with the Partnership for Missional Church project, led by the Bishop of Reading – sometimes it has felt a little bit slow, but with patience we have seen new people getting involved with an important part of our work, and in the first, listening year, have spent some time building on the parish weekend and becoming more aware of each other and the community around – and holding that knowledge and learning in prayer, putting God at the heart of things

Mark Bennet

Parochial Church Council - Background

Thatcham PCC has the responsibility of co-operating with the Team Rector and the Team Vicar in promoting in the parish the whole mission of the church – spiritual, pastoral, evangelistic and ecumenical.

The PCC met five times during the year, in April, June, September, November and February.

Highlights and resolutions from this year included the decision to take up the Pastoral Mission Project, Meeting Room improvements,repairs to the roof (bees and tree), parish share, finances and events.

Arrangements were made during 2015 for 93 baptisms (98in 2014) and 9 (9) weddings. In addition there were 59 (43) funerals (30with a service at St Mary’s, 28 services at a crematorium and 1 at Thatcham Cemetery Chapel).

Membership

Members of the PCC are either ex officio, co-opted or elected by the Annual Parochial Church Meeting in accordance with the Church Representation Rules. St Barnabas Church is represented on the PCC by up to 5 members elected by their own church meeting.

Committees

The PCC operates through a Standing Committee and groups, which meet between full meetings of the Council. The Standing Committee is the only Committee required by law; it has power to transact business of the Council between meetings, subject to any decisions made by the PCC.

FINANCE REPORT

Report to the Accounts December 2015

St Mary’s General Account (day to day running of church activities) shows a further deficit of £4,564 (£3,992 in 2014). The St Barnabas General Account shows a reduction of £1,652 during 2015 (reduction of £3,466 in 2014).

Incoming resources from Donors (collections/stewardships/tax reclaims & donations) werelower in 2015 compared to 2014 (£29,137 lower, around £23k of this difference was due to one off specific Fabric Fund donations and donations for the new chair purchases in 2014). St Mary’s General Account showed a very slightly higher income of £435 when compared to 2014 (£86,337 vs £85,902 in 2014), whilst St Barnabas income was very slightly lower in 2015 by £183 (£10,312 vs £10,415 in 2014).

St Barnabas continue to provide much needed funds for the Parish Share. £9,000 in 2015 vs £11,000 in 2015. We again managed to pay the Parish Share (our contribution to the diocese for clergy stipends, housing and pensions) in full. However, the 2016 Parish Share will increase by 2.2% to £87,717. We do however, continue to benefit from a 1% reduction to this by paying the Parish Share via monthly Direct Debit.

The Fabric fund showed a balance of £29,476 at the end of 2015 (£25,973 end of 2014), primarily as a result of the mast rental income we receive each year from Vodafone. We continue to try to build this fund for essential repairs due within the 2016-2017. On top of this, I am reliably informed that the bees above the Pathfinders room have now moved home to somewhere in Enborne! (watch out for the future article about this in ‘Connect’).

There was no expenditure on the Outreach Fund in 2015.

We have again faced yet another challenging year. There is a real need to increase Stewardship giving if we are to be able to do the much needed Fabric works and pay the Parish Share again in full in 2016. If anyone is thinking of increasing their Stewardship payments during 2016, please feel free to come to speak to me, Chris Watts or a member of the clergy.

I would again like to extend my very extra special thanks to Chris Watts for his dedication in getting everything financial in its rightful place!Finally, I would like to also thank the PCC, Mark and the Churchwardens for their support with a great deal of additional praise to Ann and Ron for their support and assistance in keeping the financial management of the two Churches running.

Investments and Fund Structure

There have been no changes to the structure of the St Mary’s PCC funds during 2015.

There follows a brief description of the history, management and restrictions of each of these PCC managed funds.

Hatherley Fund

224 Beenham Hill sale proceeds.

The capital arose from the sale of a house given to the Church in 1935 for a succession of curates to live in. The income is applied for general parish purposes and so is unrestricted. The first call on it is the payment of clergy expenses.

Thatcham Church of England Charity

The original capital arose from two-thirds of the sale proceeds of the Old Infant School in the Broadway; one-third is administered separately by the Diocesan Board of Education.

This charity is governed by a Charity Commission Scheme sealed on the 21st May 1980; the clear income from the permanent endowment is for furthering the religious and other charitable work of the Church of England in the ecclesiastical parish of St Mary’s Thatcham and is therefore an unrestricted fund. All the income is applied in the parish.

The Church Estate Charity

Charity Commission ref – 00436

This is an ancient charity referred to in the Charity Commissioners Report of 1907; the income is to be applied to the upkeep of the church and the churchyard so this is a restricted fund.

Income is derived partly from investments and partly from 6/16ths of the income from Moor Meadow Charity, administered by Thatcham Parochial Charities.

The Rookery Church Fund

The small amount of income arising from the legacy by Mrs Hall who died in 1916, directing that the income should be restricted as its use for the fostering of the Sunday school. The Rookery was the name of the house.

Bankers: St Mary’s PCC - Lloyds TSB Bank plc & St Barnabas - HSBC

Independent Examiners: Witcombs, Turnfields Court, Thatcham

Investment Managers: BlackRock Investment Managers, 33 King William Street, London. EC4R 9AS.

A summary of the Accounts together with the Independent Examiner’s Report is attached at Appendix 1.

Peter Harvey-Di Gioia

Stewardship Secretary’s Report – St Mary’s.

A total of £ 59,433 was given through the Stewardship Scheme in 2015 - £38,308 by Standing Orders. The balance came through weekly envelopes and Gift Day donations. In addition £16,690 was reclaimed from HMRC (£15,490 in 2014,). This tax reclaim included £1,000 (currently the maximum allowed) from the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS) introduced in 2013.

50 donors used weekly envelopes at St Mary’s.50 donors gave through Standing Orders at St Mary’s. Over 66% of the total giving comes through Standing Orders.

Most payments have been reviewed in 2015 but overall numbers of regular givers has shown a slight net reduction. Please continue to review your giving at least annually – index linking is a principle worth considering. Occasional donations (as at the Gift Day and bequests), are greatly welcomed, but commitment to regular giving is essential if we are to pay for our priests, maintain the fabric and support sustainable growth of the church in Thatcham.

I would again encourage everyone to make a will and to consider making a bequest to St Mary’s. It is not difficult to arrange and can make a significant difference to the future of a growing church in Thatcham.

Fees in 2015

The main heads of income and expenditure for the Fees account are set out below. The fees are received for weddings and funerals.

Income / 2015 / 2014
Weddings, Renewal
of Vows and Blessings / £ 6,308 / £ 12,808
Funerals / £12,575 / £ 8,660
Other income / £ 96 / £ 85
Expenditure
Payments due to Oxford Diocese / £ 9,273 / £ 9,778
Transferred to PCC / £ 9,706 / £ 11,775

Chris Watts

St Barnabas Church

Another exciting year has unfolded at St BarnabasChurch. We marked the closing of the year with the delivery ofa beautiful contemporaryaltar graciously given to us by St Bartholomew's Church in Reading.It takes pride of place each Sunday and symbolises areal senseof being embeddedin Thatcham Park School. The school use the altar to enhance Collective Worship.

We started up a Children's Group twice a month on the Sunday mornings we celebrate Communion. The children have a real sense of ownership and the group is ably facilitated by a small rota of enthusiastic church members. You really can see a boost ofconfidence as these young people flourish at St Barnabas.

Our well established Wednesday House Group continues to cover some challenging topics. The Kestrels House Group continues to go from strength to strength.We are blessed with the presence ofchurch membersfrom the Kestrels and the Chaffinches alternate weeks at St Barnabas.Theynot onlyparticipate, but also bring a real energy to our worship.

Café Worship has really developed and creates opportunity for people on theperiphery of the Church to join us in a more informalworship setting We enjoy sharing fellowship and 'breaking bread'together, while enjoying somevery imaginative breakfasts. This has proved to be a very welcoming forum for families joining us for Baptism Welcome.

S.O.S afternoons continue to be the highlight of ouryear.We are beginning torecognise familiar familieswho are really committed to coming to share in this experience. Wehave become quite slick in rolling out the session. It is a delight to see the children sweeping the hall floor as the end of theevening. We hadvisitors from St George's Wash Common, who came along to see how we do things at S.O.S. They were quite overwhelmed with what they observedand felt we offered a great model in a 'messy church' style of worship.

We 'set sail' last year on an exciting voyagethat is'Partnership in Missional Church'.We journey with St Mary's.We embarkedin conditionsthat felt initially to be somewhat'misty waters', but as we progress we are beginning to pick up momentum and gain some clarity. It is a question of 'watch this space' as the Holy Spirit navigates our course.

In our midst at St B's we have many gifted people from caterers to musicians!Wehave people who play invaluable roles in the community. We are an eclectic bunch, who roll out church, feed over a 100 at S.O.S and who are always keen to meet a challenge and support each other. I thank them all for making God's Church at Thatcham Parkaratherunique place of worship. I personally extendmysincere thanks to Brenda for her support and dedication as Associate Priest.

Pat – Team Vicar

Mothers’ Union

It was with much regret that it was agreed that Thatcham would cease as a Branch of the Mother’s Union at its February meeting. Due to illness and other commitments - from November 2015, the committee was reduced to 2 members only and one of those was wishing to stand down at the AGM in April. It was apparent that none of the regular attenders at meeting felt able to take on the responsibilities and duties required and it was therefore agreed reluctantly that the Branch should close.

It is envisaged that, in the first instance, the Wednesday afternoons currently used by the meetings will be taken up by a Tea and Chat social opportunity which will be open to hopefully appeal to the wider church community.

It is still possible to become Mother’s Union Diocesan members or to remain involved if you so wish. An application form is available on the internet at The Oxford Mother’s Union website or you can phone me on 820718 and I will download a copy for you.

Viv Druce

Child Protection/Safeguarding report

2015 has been another thankfully uneventful year.

We have not had any safeguarding concerns reported this year.

At the PCC meeting in November 2015, as the result of an enquiry following the previous PCC meeting, we confirmed and clarified that as a church we adopted the Diocesan Safeguarding policy over 10 years ago and since then have upheld and adhered to this.

Throughout the year Brenda has ensured that all people involved with children on behalf of the parish have received appropriate training and all DBS applications and documents are up to date. Steve Rice in his role as Verifier, has checked all documents before sending the forms away for DBS clearing. Our grateful thanks should go to Brenda and Steve for all time and effort they expend ensuring that the church and all those working with children on the church's behalf are doing so within the Diocesan guidelines and our Child Protection policy. Thanks should also be expressed to our Child Advocates, Leanne Cox and Duncan Wood for St Mary’s and Colin Waters for St Barnabas.

Karen Walker

ABCs and ABCs Dads 2015

2015 saw another busy year for ABC including the introduction of ABC for Dad's and another successful crib service.
ABC for Dad's started in the 2nd half of 2015 and runs once a month on aSaturday morningfollowing the same format as the ABC group on a Wednesday. The difference is that it is designed for Dad's/Grandad's/male carers to bring along the children and the inclusion of a bacon roll is temptation indeed to try it out.
ABC has seen an increase in the number of babies during 2015 with the carpeted area at the front overflowing at times with all the babies.
The service part of the session is also well attended consisting of a different story each week and a number of interactive songs for the children to be involved with. The favourite by far is still when the children all “jump for joy". The arts and crafts activity during the play session is always well linked with the theme or topic of the story each week.
The crib service on Christmas Eve is always a highlight of the year, with many of the children who attended ABC dressing up and featuring in the service. The church was once again packed and brought a real sense of community spirit during the festive season.

Julie Atkins

Children and Young People @ St Mary’s 2015

At St Mary’s church we have groups for children and young people during the 10 o’clock service on 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Sunday of the month.