St George S Church, Lupset, Wakefield

St George’s Church, Lupset, Wakefield

Annual Report 2014

Background

St George’s PCC has the responsibility of co-operating with the priest-in-charge in promoting, in the ecclesiastical parish, the whole mission of the church, pastoral, evangelistic and ecumenical.

Membership:

Members of the PCC are either ex-officio or elected by the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) in accordance with the Church Representation Rules.

During the year 2014 the following people served as members of the PCC:

Priest in charge Rev Martine Crabtree

Lay Reader – ex officioMartin Bailes

Freda Jackson

Pauline Shaw

ChurchwardensMichael Tattersall

Alan Shaw

Representatives on the Deanery Synod:

Jane Read (from AGM 2014)

Michael Read (from AGM 2014)

Elected Members:

Elected AGM 2014 to serve for 3 years

Carolyn Broadbent

Rose Mallinson

Susan Ward

Elected AGM 2014 to serve for 1 year

Cynthia Abercrobie

Elected AGM 2013 to serve for 3 years

David Bowes

Sue Shuff

Jean Smethurst

Elected AGM 2012 to serve for 3 years:

Juliet Taylor

Mel Broadbent

Committees

The PCC operates through a number of committees which meet between the full PCC meetings.

Standing committee

This is the only committee required by law. It has the power to transact the business of the PCC between meetings subject to any directions given by the council. It comprises the Priest in Charge, the churchwardens, the PCC secretary and the PCC treasurer. The Standing Committee met twice in 2014.

Finance Committee

This is incorporated with the Standing Committee and attends to any matters regarding the income and expenditure, budgeting and stewardship of money as directed by the PCC

The Legacy Committee

Set up in 2005 to attend to any monies in the legacy account and includes members of the PCC and other interested parties. It can make recommendations to the PCC but has no powers. The legacy committee did not meet in 2014.

Electoral Roll. The current roll was compiled in March 2013. In January 2014 there were 77 persons on the roll. During the year 2 names were added and 1 name was removed. In December 2014 there were 78 people on the roll. Cynthia Abercrombie

Church attendance:

The usual Sunday attendance, counted during October was 62 of which 10 were under 16. The attendance at festivals and for baptisms when attendance usually reached about 80.

Report of the Priest in Charge 2014

“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is part of it.” (I Cor 12:27)

This is a time to celebrate the wonderful family of God that make up the many parts of the worshipping group at St George’s. We have lots of busy and gifted people who contribute to the life of this church. I would like to take the opportunity to thank all of you for what you offer to our work and mission. We are able to do so many great things because of all the generous people who give their time, gifts and money.

The PCC have done a great job this year. They have shown a lot of commitment and generosity. I particularly thank the PCC Secretary, Treasurer, Churchwardens; they have a demanding role in the life of the church and give so much time to their tasks.

We are blessed to have so many people who contribute to the ministry team: We have 4 Readers at this church and 1 at St James, 5 Pastoral Ministers, the Revd Joan Viles who works mostly at St James, but also helps out here and the Revd Rachel Bailes who alongside being full time Chaplain at the hospital is a full part of the church family here and often helps and supports the ministry team. We also have Phil who is now training for Ordination and Belinda who is training to be a Reader. I am very grateful for all that we do together as a team. I would like to take the opportunity to thank Phil and Belinda for all that they have given over the many years they have been here. I pray that God will bless them in their new ministry when they move to start Phil’s curacy at Normanton.

There are many others who I would like to thank for all that they do: The Prayer Ministry team, The House group Leaders, The Junior Church and Youth Leaders, The new Messy Church helpers, Guide and Brownie leaders, The food bank team and the new Soup kitchen workers, The worship group and their leader, Undiminished and the Sunday night team, The Mara team, The All age service team, those who serve refreshments, clean the church, iron the linen, join the maintenance working team, flower arrangers, the new Chatty craft group, the Christians Against Poverty team, Parish giving officer, Schools work, Deanery Synod representatives, Wakefield Prison fellowship team, Fair trade representative, those who look after the newsletter, notice boards, the church website, and social media, Alpha leaders, helpers, and books, St George’s Saturday evening group leaders, Bembridge House team, Parish weekend organisers, Social event organisers and helpers, St George’s Lupset Ltd Trustees from Church, Electoral Roll Officer and lastly, the most important team of all - The Mission Team and that is everybody! What a big and amazing list of people! Thank you all!

This year the Mission team have planned many great events to encourage church growth and build up the church family. All people are encouraged to take part in these events. We have enjoyed such events as the afternoon tea, Alternative Halloween, Noah’s ark fun day working with the Centre, the bonfire night service and party, the Golden Halo Awards, Beer & Hymns and The Harvest lunch. We are developing work with young families through the Messy church days. We are also meeting new people in the community through the growth in Chatty craft, the food bank and soup kitchen. We also have other events such as the Christmas services and the Memorial service that also bring new people into the life of the church. This work has been very good and we are observing new people and a growing church – Praise God!

This is certainly a busy church. We celebrate the many parts that make us one body. We pray that God will fill this church with love. May we love and appreciate each individual member of our church family and spread out that love into this community and beyond. Rev Martine Crabtree

Churchwarden’s report 2014

Alan and I have enjoyed working with Martine throughout 2014. This year again, was one of basic maintenance of the church fabric and continuing the necessary work identified by the Quinquennial survey, carried out in May 2011. This has mostly been done by the men’s working group which meets on the last Saturday in the month. The majority of the work which they are able to undertake has been completed but they will continue to meet to do any items of general maintenance. The major items of expenditure being the organ repairs, the CCTV control replacement, and the 5 year wiring check. During the year we have met with Health and Safety committee of St George’s Lupset Ltd enabling us to share concerns and address them in the spirit of co-operation. Alan Shaw, Mike Tattersall (Churchwardens.)

PCC Secretary’s review of 2014.

The full PCC met nine times in the year and all meetings were quorate. Four vacancies were filled at the APCM in March 2014 to make up the full complement of nine elected members.

Under Rev’d Martine’s chair the PCC have again had a very full year, they have fulfilled their statutory duties and given formal consideration to all aspects of church life.

The PCC is responsible with the churchwardens for ensuring that all issues of health and safety and safeguarding are well managed and that we are up to date with legislation and the requirements of the bishop and Church of England.

The Safeguarding policies for both Children and Vulnerable Adults are up to date and the new advice on checks from the DBS is being followed.

During the year the PCC have taken the following action on behalf of the whole church.

• Continued to support and promote the Alpha Course
• Attended and responded to consultations about the new diocese of West Yorkshire and the Dales.
• Received, discussed and responded to information from the Diocese about becoming a joint benefice with St James’ Thornes.
• Developed and encouraged a range of outreach events designed for people who are new to church and on the fringe of activities
• Held a Vision day to consider the way forward and priorities for church growth and development
• Started to look for a new Audio/ Visual system
• Planned a calendar of activities designed to appeal to all groups within the church
• Reviewed seasonal services and considered changes for the future
• Agreed substantial support for the visit to Mara and that in future a monthly gift would be sent to Mkirira/Kiamajoje.
• Joined in with the services that marked the end of the Wakefield Diocese and the inauguration of the Diocese of West Yorkshire and the Dales.
• Ensured that issues of Health and Safety and copyright legislation are regularly discussed and appropriate action taken.

This year the PCC have particularly focussed on aspects of outreach and ministry across the church and have given their backing and encouragement to all the work of St George’s. Much has been done and the PCC has reviewed all the work done within church and tries to provide appropriate support for all those working to share the gospel in so many ways in our community.

Freda Jackson

Treasurer’s report 2014

The church finished the year with a surplus of £2461 with no expenditure being made from the legacy account. The main income changes for the year were an increase in the amount recovered from tax on covenants with the submission of a 12 month period following the short period last year. Overall expenditure remained in line with the previous year but there were a number of increases and decreases with the exception of repairs which have increased over the previous year by £3410 relating to the organ repairs CCTV control equipment and the 5 year wiring check. Looking into the coming year the current prediction is for a surplus of £1500. Mike Tattersall.

Parish Giving Officer`s report.

St George`s continues to be a generous church.
As a PCC we give generously to charities including Christians Against Poverty from our annual budget. The food bank is generously stocked and staffed by members of the congregation.
Members of the congregation here at St George`s continue to give of their time and energy to help in the smooth running of our church.
However while we do give generously financially to St Georges, we continue to "sail close to the wind" when it comes to balancing our budget at the end of the year.
I would prayerfully ask that everyone look carefully as to how they might increase their giving to St Georges in 2015. Mick Read

Music Group report of 2014

The Music Group is a team of people (of varied ages) in our church with the gift of music, who have a heart for worshipping God through it. We meet prior to the Sunday morning service both to rehearse and to prepare ourselves and the congregation for worship. Our aim is to enable the congregation to engage with God through musical worship.

The music for services is chosen with careful consideration of the theme and readings for each particular occasion. We aim to provide a balance of different styles. New songs are introduced occasionally and feedback on these is always welcome. The music in 2014 has been planned by Rev Martine Crabtree and me in the main part, and ably assisted by Tracey Yates on occasion.

This last year has again not been the easiest for the group as we have not been at full strength due to ill health for a couple of us. Our pianist, Ken Winter-Briggs, has left us to worship at a church in the Harrogate region. Ben Percival is now at Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and so we miss his week by week commitment to the group, however, we are pleased that he has been able to join us on occasions when he’s been home. However, through the commitment and dedication of the team we have still been able to lead the congregation in musical worship for all the regular Sunday morning services during 2014 as well as for special services such as Lent, Easter and Christmas. The group planned and led a Northumbrian Compline service during Lent and a Taizé style evening in Holy Week. The group also planned and led the Carol Service.

We found that as the year went on fewer and fewer of us were making the Tuesday night rehearsals. Following a meeting we decided to trial meeting on Saturday mornings, less often, but for a longer time, in the hope that we most of the group could attend each time. This is still in its infancy and we will have a better idea next year at this time whether it is working or not.

On several occasions we have shared worship with our friends and neighbours at St James’ and we have welcomed this opportunity to get to know each other better and to appreciate the different styles of worship of both churches.

We are also pleased that Rev Rachel Bailes joins us occasionally either playing her flute or singing.

We are grateful to Janice Holt who has helped us out on the piano for our Memorial Service, Christingle Service and our Carol Service as well as on some normal Sunday mornings when we have been short of musicians.

Julia Percival on behalf of the Music Group

Deanery Synod

We have attended 2 Synod meetings.

In November Synod met at St John’s. We discussed how the Deanery would be resourced with specific regard to training. The essence was that training needs of churches would be decided via consultation rather than the Deanery deciding what training was needed.

In February this year we met at St Catherine’s. We discussed Away days and Parish Weekends. We were also given a presentation on How to share the gospel with Muslims.

Mick and Jane Read

St George’s Lupset Limited

The Community Centre continues to develop its range of activities and hundreds of people use the facilities every week. The church is represented on the board of trustees and Rev’d Martine works closely with the managers to develop new ideas and ways in which we can support each other. St George’s Lupset employs almost sixty people. Many of these are the staff of the four high quality Childcare Centres the company runs. We are an Adult Education Centre for the area and a wide range of courses are provided and are well attended. The range of activities for our children and young people has extended with the Youth Café and we are very pleased that the police say that this has had a significant impact on the behaviour of the Young People on Lupset. The Community Café provides excellent snacks all day at very reasonable prices and is becoming a meeting place within the community. In recent months a new partnership has developed with Age UK and this is likely to grow significantly over the coming year. The working between church and centre is extending and we have partnership activities such as Crafty Chat and the Foodbank. We also shared the Funday in July which was attended by well over 300 local people. This was a very successful day and everyone enjoyed it. As the cuts in local service provision from the Council and the NHS get deeper the Community Centre is asked to take on more and it is likely that there will be many more developments in 2015.

Freda Jackson

Christians against Poverty

In 2015 debt continues to be significant factor in the life of many people living in the UK including those living within our parish. This is evident from the amount of people using our food bank. It is on the heart of many people at St Georges to do something to help. St George`s Church are supporting Christian`s against Poverty in a variety of ways. For the third year we are supporting our local CAP centre (along with other churches in the area) run from St Helen`s Sandal financially in the sum of £1000 per year. This will contribute towards their running costs. Members of St George`s are again helping at the CAP centre and are working as “befrienders” to the CAP clients. Members of St George`s have run CAP Money courses in 2014. Mick Read

St George’s Youth Church Report for 2014/15

Catherine, Christine and I have enjoyed another year leading the children’s worship and youth group with the help of Rose, Becky and Matthew.

With the growing numbers of younger children we have adapted to cater for children from 18 months. We prepare activities for pre-school, juniors and 11+ children each Sunday morning and hopefully we can cater for whoever turns up on the day. We have been able to recycle some of the material we used when our own children were pre-school!