Bybrook Team Ministry – Worshipping, Growing & Sharing …



St. Margaret’s Church

Yatton Keynell

Parochial Church Council

Annual Report

For the year ending 31st December 2018

Priest in Charge (Rector Designate): Revd. Marc Terry

Team Vicar: Position vacant

Churchwardens

Pamela Rawlins & Wanda Hall

Contents

Composition of PCC 2018 & Bybrook Ministry Team Pg. 2

St Margaret’s Goals & Bybrook Benefice Mission Pg. 3

Churchwardens’ Report – Worship, Church Life & Outreach Pg. 3

Fabric Report Pg. 8

Flower Report Pg. 8

Children's work Report Pg. 8

Café Church Report Pg. 9

Fundraising Pg. 10

Tea and Toast Pg. 10

Financial Statements & Highlights Pg. 11

Bell Ringing Pg. 13

Composition of the PCC 2018

Anton Campbell, Lay Chair

Elisabeth Ford (up to end of March 2018)

Wanda Hall (Churchwarden March 2018 to Dec 2018)

Pam Rawlins (Churchwarden March 2018 to Dec 2018)

Judy Dix (Secretary)

Alan Foreman (Treasurer)

Pam Rawlins, (Chair of Fabric Committee)

Claire Campbell

Mike King (Fabric Committee)

Owen Upton (Fabric Committee) (up to September 2018)

Anita Parsons (Appointed Auditor)

By Brook Ministry Team

Associate Minister – Revd. Gillian Parkin

Licensed Lay Ministers - Anton Campbell, Alison Flint, Mike King, Mary Pope, Diane Ross-Smith, Len Scott (to Sept 2018), Pam Tayler, Tim Woodward

St Margaret’s Goals

St Margaret’s support the Bybrook Benefice vision and mission stated below but our growth plans have specifically focussed on

To be a welcoming church

To partner in the local community through outreach

To encourage children's work through Sunday School, Edward Bear and The Ark

Bybrook Benefice Values and Mission

At the end of 2014, a new Vision Statement was launched by the Ministry Team and Team Council, to help us to understand our calling as Christians. Based on Matthew 28:16-20.

“Worshipping, Growing, Sharing.”

Because of this understanding, as a group of churches, our desire is:

To love, serve and worship God

To love and serve one another, our local community, and the wider world

To live and share with others the good news of Jesus Christ, because we know that we are loved by God.

In our mission, we aim:

To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom

To teach, baptize and nurture new believers

To respond to human need by loving service

To seek to transform unjust structures of society

To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.

Churchwardens’ report - Pam Rawlins & Wanda Hall

Worship, Church Life and Outreach

Wanda Hall and Pam Rawlins began their tenure both as returning Church Wardens in April after a break of four years or so. They work well together and soon established separate areas of responsibilities. Wanda mainly focusses on the day to day church activities whilst Pam deals with the administration and organising of rotas. Mike King has stepped in and continues to help with the locking and unlocking of the church, setting the heating and helping with the refuse collection. We want to thank Elisabeth Ford for being church warden in the last year and a half on her own, up to April, after Andy Stovell stepped down half way through the previous year. It can be a stressful job for one person and physically demanding preparing the church for different uses, so well done Elisabeth.

At the beginning of the year, during our vacancy period, the Benefice was completing its search for our new Priest in Charge. In June, we were delighted that Revd. Marc Terry joined us. He, along with his wife Shelly and daughter Phoebe, seem to have settled in well and we are grateful he decided to take the hit of two house moves which meant he could start the job sooner than planned. He was licensed at Grittleton on 5th June by Bishop Lee.

Our rota of church services Holy Communion on the first Sunday of the month led by Revd. Marc Terry, Morning Praise now moved to the second Sunday, led until September by Len Scott, LLM, with help from Mary Pope, LLM. All Age worship, now on the third Sunday, led by Anton Campbell LLM and his team. Thanks to the dedication of Anton and Len we managed to go through the first half of the year without missing a single service. Holy Communion services, on the first Sunday, were led by ordained priests from outside the Benefice until Marc took them over. Sadly, towards the end of the year Len Scott decided to step down but we are pleased to say that he and Maureen have continued to be part of our worshipping community and Len has continued his ongoing duties as Sacristan. We are fortunate that we have members of the congregation who are trained as Chalice Assistants for each of the Holy Communion services; these are Mary Pope, Pam Rawlins, Kathryn Upton and Anton Campbell. We also have a host of readers and coffee makers to give that ‘St. Margaret’s Welcome’.

We continued to hold Team services around the Benefice on fourth Sundays and the fifth Sundays were dedicated to our Benefice wide Change Programme, that we based on the Diocese Creating Connections initiative – these services were held in the Yatton Keynell village hall.

Morning Prayer took place regularly on Thursday mornings at nine o’clock, led by Mary Pope or Pam Rawlins and attended by a small group of dedicated people.

We want to thank our two regular organists, Eric Gough on the first Sunday and Graham Seeman on the second Sunday. We are very grateful for their playing as it enhanced the musical content of the service. During our All Age Service Anton Campbell, Owen Upton, Phil Hall and Barry Pullen wonderfully supported the singing, now using our AV system of a microphone and overhead screen – eliminating the need for hymn books.

This year we only had one Wedding on 15 September led by visiting Priest Revd. Alice Kemp. There were five Baptisms, one each in January, February, March, May and Sept and a Thanksgiving in November. This year we had three Funerals, one in March, November and December. And a memorial service in July.

See below for the breakdown of attendance during 2018. It demonstrates that our busiest service is Holy Communion, especially boosted when we have Baptisms. Closely followed, almost equally, by All Age Worship and Morning Praise, with more children attending the AAW. Because Morning Prayer runs every week and has a small but committed group that number is high too. Funerals, Christmas services and Harvest boost attendance figures.

Children attending make up just under a third of our visitors. We are pleased with the strong connection we have with the Bybrook Valley school and the hard work of those involved with children especially Anton Campbell, Claire Campbell, Beth Borthwick, Cilla Palfreyman, Mary Pope and Revd. Marc Terry. Sadly, we do not have figures for Café Church or Tea and Toast attendance.

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On the social side, we continued with our annual outreach by hosting Cream Teas for the village at the Market Cross in August and a BBQ following our Harvest Festival on 9th September. Thankfully the weather was fine on both occasions and demonstrated good links with the Parish Council. We enjoyed our annual Safari Supper organised very ably by Lynne Lawton. During Lent there was a Lenten Lunch in the church hosted by Wanda Hall.

Our Christmas Calendar was very busy as usual. We had a Christmas tree in the front of the church, donated by Pam Rawlins and decorated with the help of Kathy Salkeld. Judy Dix and the flower team did a great job in making the church look lovely.

We began with a joyful and well attended Carol Service on 16th December led by Anton Campbell. Elisabeth Ford prepared and donated the mulled wine. We followed that by Carols Round the Market Cross on 21st December, thanks to Owen Upton’s talent on the keyboard. Claire Campbell and Revd. Marc Terry led an Instant Nativity for children on Christmas Eve afternoon followed by a Midnight Holy Communion celebrated by Revd. Marc. We are very grateful to Rob Lawton who stepped in and played the organ. On Christmas Day, there was the usual lively All Age Worship service led by Anton Campbell and Revd. Marc Terry.

The year ended with a Team Service on 31st December, led by Revd. Gillian Parkin.

We continue to thank the those who throughout the year made sure the church was always clean and tidy and the brasses sparkling. They are: Judy Dix, Linda Baldwin, Delia Lambert, Wendy Dash, Ann Turner, Mike King, and Wanda Hall. Along with the professional help of Symply Dazzle who we employ on a monthly basis.

Our Children’s work has continued and we want to shine a light on the excellent work that Cilla Palfreyman does in encouraging young people into our church. See her report later. We also want to thank the ladies at Café Church and Tea and Toast for continuing to encourage people to meet and socialise in church. See their respective reports later.

A new social Craft group was started this year by Hannah Minty meeting every other week in the church on a Monday evening and has proved very popular. We want to thank them for making the lovely Remembrance Wreath out of crocheting.

And finally, we want to thank Margaret Dyke and Gillian Parkin for their fund raising efforts in continually fund raising via the cake sales and Christmas Market. Please see their report later.

Our link with the Wider Bybrook Benefice – Pam Rawlins

St. Margaret’s strongly supported the Benefices response to the Diocese Creating Connections programme. At the beginning of January 2018 Pam Rawlins, Merope Sylvester (Slaughterford) and Caroline Cook (Littleton Drew), guided by the Revd. Victor Howlett began work on a ‘change programme’ to create better connections between the 10 churches in the Bybrook Benefice.

We held an open meeting to invite people across the Benefice to get involved to ask two questions ‘What is working well?’ and ‘What could we do better together?’ Feedback from these meetings gave a clear picture of the areas to focus on and resulted in a road map for change and strategy being created at Benefice level. At the end of January Bishop Lee visited St. Margaret’s to talk to the Benefice congregations about the need for change and to discuss getting prepared for a new Priest – on these matters he also urged us to pray. The Team Council approved the plan and on 29th April we held an open event at Yatton Keynell village hall to share information on the 4 areas of focus. These were Churches meeting together, Outreach, Children’s Ministry and Communications. Our next event on 29th July was an Iona type service led by Revd. Victor Howlett again in the village hall.

When Revd. Marc Terry was in post we began to plan for the Sept 30th event which was a Human Harvest one, enjoyed by everyone with a ‘bring and share lunch’ afterwards. We want to thank Victor for his help in supporting this initiative which has done a lot to bring people closer together across all the churches.

Later in the year we made the decision, supported by the Team Council, now to make the fifth Sundays Cluster Sundays and return to the pattern of ‘celebrating the difference’ in our churches every fourth Sunday by rotating around the 10 churches.

Future strategy will continue with the theme of Creating Connections and Making Disciples.

Fabric Report – Pam Rawlins

The Fabric Committee led by Pam Rawlins along with Alan Foreman, Mike King, Phil Hall and Owen Upton continued to complete items on the Quinquennial report.

On major issue is still outstanding, the maintenance of the church yard. This question came about due to a request for repair to walls at Church Cottage. This resulted in some quite substantial research going back through the years and taking legal advice from Harris & Harris Solicitors. This is still work in progress and discussions with the Parish Council and Wiltshire Council are ongoing.

The AV system including a hearing loop project is now paying dividends and has been used very effectively in almost every service, for funerals, weddings and baptisms and is increasingly used by the Diocese to hold Safeguarding training. The first of these courses for the whole Benefice was held on a very cold night in January led by an LLM from the Diocese. Around fifteen people attended.

Thank you to Laurie Upton who comes along and operates the system for at least two services a month and to Anton Campbell and Owen Upton for their persistence in getting a good, easy to use solution in place.

Various other jobs have been carried out, some by local tradesmen. Mike King replaced the tiled door to the toilet store cupboard with an oak one; the water heater in kitchen was replaced; a lock to the AV system was installed; floor tiles, in the original font position, were tidied up; the external doors were varnished. Wanda and Pam had a tidy up in the vestry.

Jim Bruce-Scott continued to manage the church yard. Pam continued to maintain the Contemplation Garden which gets well used and appreciated and is maturing well.

Many thanks to the committee who all worked hard especially Phil Hall who has put in many hours doing small maintenance jobs around the church.

Flowers in church – Judy Dix

We are fortunate to have a team of volunteers who provide us with arrangements throughout the year. Individuals create displays on a monthly basis and we get together for a bigger team effort for occasions such as Easter, Harvest and Christmas.

The enthusiasm of the volunteers has always meant that we have had some striking displays for our religious celebrations which helps to make our church a bright and welcoming place.

The team this year consisted of: Linda Baldwin, Melo Brand, Wendy Dash, Judy Dix, Elisabeth Ford, Clare Lawrence, Helen Peppler, Pam Rawlins and Kathy Salkeld.

Due to ill health and other commitments we are always looking for people to join us if only to take on the responsibility for flowers for one of the months.

We would like to invite anyone who feels they might have a little time to spare and would like to have a go. New ideas, enthusiasm and creativity are always welcome and we learn from each other.

Children’s work – Cilla Palfreyman

 

Treasure Seekers, a Sunday School aimed at the younger age bracket, has had yet another really encouraging year. The numbers have gradually grown over the year, so we have a core group of little ones coming along regularly, and we also welcome others who attend now and again.

We meet twice a month and vary the venue, sometimes in church or more often we have been over to the barn or outside in the churchyard. The aim is for the children to listen to bible stories and learn more about Jesus, in a fun and relaxed atmosphere and come along with their questions too. We include singing, a short prayer time and learning a memory verse, and we vary the craft activities to fit in with and reinforce the story.

 

It is very rewarding to see the children having such fun together at the end of the church service, and to see so many young families being welcomed into church.

 

Café Church - Wanda Hall & Alison Eagles

Cafe Church continues to run successfully providing funds for the church and a welcoming place for a delicious meal and social meeting.  The menus are always varied and imaginative with surplus produce donated by villagers put to good use.   Seasonal favourites such as sweet and savoury pancakes, are very popular; hot and warming dishes during the colder months are well received.

 

Cafe Church attracts a variety of customers from passing cyclists and walkers to regular attenders from villages around calling for a chat, a catch up with friends, a meal or even occasionally help with a problem.

  

The Christmas Meal was again a great success this year with 24 people attending and enjoying a superb meal and there was a raffle of prizes provided by the helpers.

 

On Sunday 9 December, a Christmas Tea Party was held and over £500 was raised in donations and from the raffle. Fun was had by all and further Tea Parties are planned for 2019.

 

Both Lynne Thompson and Ann Payne decided to step down at the end of March after being heavily involved for many years in the running of Cafe Church and they are missed by the team and regular customers alike. Margaret and Barbara from Kington St Michael have stepped up to regularly help on the first Tuesday of each month and Mary Leonard is a very regular helper now. The full team is: Wanda, Mary, Charles, Rachael, Barbara, Margaret and Alison.

 

Contributions from Cafe Church for the year ending 31st December 2018 were £3127, which are down on last year as the number of customers has decreased and higher expenses are taken each week.

 

Fundraising for St Margaret’s – Margaret Dyke & Gillian Parkin

Margaret Dyke and Gillian Parkin continue to hold the monthly cake stall outside the Post Office in Yatton Keynell from February to November and for this financial year raised £1,141.70 and grateful thanks go to Mark Hayward in allowing the stall to be held outside his busy shop.

Both Margaret and Gillian were extremely busy over the festive season baking, decorating and wrapping Christmas Cakes, pudding, jams, marmalades and pickles over the months leading up to their sales at Castle Combe Christmas Tree Festival organised by Ann Chapman and Jane Halliday, Nettleton & Burton church’s Christmas Fair and the wonderful Yatton Keynell Christmas Fair ably organised by Zoe McGinn and friends and held in the village hall. We raised a total of £1,047 for St Margaret’s although this may not be reflected in the current year’s accounts.

Tea and Toast – Margaret Dyke

On Mondays during term times there is a warm welcome to all who wish to come and join us for Tea and Toast – the pendulum has swung this year in the opposite direction and we seem now to have more mums and dads than we do old generation and it’s a great way for both age groups to mix and there’s lots of banter each week. We have visitors drop in from time to time whilst taking someone to the surgery or cycling through the village. One lady from Grittleton was very impressed with the set up. Mostly we are a Yatton Keynell bunch and it’s lovely to see friends from Biddestone pop in from time to time too.

I must record my thanks to Judy Dix and Ann Turner for standing in when I have been unable to make it and extra special thanks to Charlotte Bruce who always turns up bearing goodies enjoyed by everyone. Thanks of course to the PCC of Yatton Keynell in letting us hold this event in St Margaret’s.

We are a very happy, chatty group of all ages and of little or no faith, but whoever you are there is the same warm welcome. But we cannot always guarantee toast.

During the financial year, we received £296.85 in donations and £200 has been paid to St Margaret’s.

Finance Report – Alan Foreman

I am pleased to give you a brief financial statement for St Margaret’s Church Yatton Keynell for 2018, in what has been a positive but challenging year but also forward looking with the appointment of Revd. Marc Terry as our new Priest-in-Charge.

As in previous years, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Phil Hall for his invaluable help and his continued commitment in dealing with the weekly collections and banking for St Margaret’s and he continues to help and provide much valued advice to the Fabric Sub-committee.

Within the General Fund voluntary income as a result of giving has started to increase again which is a very welcomed turnaround with a number of new regular givers. The gift aid receipt has reduced as this is based on the April 2017-April 2018 tax year when income reduced but I would hope to see this increase with the increase in giving and service collections. Whilst it is pleasing to note that there has been an increase in regular monthly giving, there continues to be a shortfall. The PCC at the end of 2018 became a member of the Parish Giving Scheme and together with the drive of the PCC and Revd. Marc we hope this will provide renewed impetus.

An amount of £4,000 was transferred from the Appeal account to the General account help cover the costs of Church usage from user groups whose funds are deposited into the Appeal account and this will be continually reviewed.

As this will be my final year as Treasurer I thought it would be interesting for you to see where we were in 2013 when I started in my first year, and where we are now. In 2013, the giving totalled £9,380 and in 2018 £7,313. Our Diocesan share in 2013 was £6,048 and in 2019 will be £12,300. Our Benefice share in 2013 was £1370 and in 2019 will be £2,154. As you can see with all other income and expenditure staying the same we have approximately £9,000 less than we did in 2013 and it is vital that the income from giving continues to increase (and particularly planned giving) in order to maintain a healthy and vibrant Church.

Our energy bills have remained level, and water usage continues to be monitored.

Following the Quinquennial report, carried out in 2015, a number of very important actions and works were identified. These needed addressing to maintain the fabric of St Margaret’s Church to a level, which will protect the integrity of the Church for the future. A Fabric Sub Committee was established under the guidance of Pam Rawlins, with all works prioritised and many now complete and funded through our Appeal Fund. These are continually monitored to maintain the fabric of the Church, and improvements are reviewed and planned for the future.

It is pleasing to see the AV system is installed and being much used in many and varied ways, to enhance the input and output that different groups and people take from it.

The discussions regarding the condition and ownership of the boundary walling and the status of the graveyard continue.

I have no hesitation in repeating myself from all the previous financial reports that I have given. A very special mention must be made to all those who give their time and energy to help keep St Margaret’s a vibrant and active part of Yatton Keynell and wider community. A special mention as always goes to Café Church, which continues under the guidance of Wanda Hall, and all of the many helpers that give much time and effort. To Margaret Dyke and Gillian Parkin for their continued outstanding contribution in sale of cakes pickles and jams, in all weather, and this year the fantastic rewards that came over the Christmas period from them once again. Tea and toast, a fantastic Summer Fete and The Safari Supper organised by Lynn Lawton. Those who took part in the Wiltshire Historic Churches cycle ride and any event and anyone that I have not mentioned, St Margaret’s Church thanks you all for another year.

It is with sadness that I leave as your Treasurer as I have very much enjoyed being a part of the St Margaret’s community and I give my very best wishes to the new Treasurer, the new PCC and Revd. Marc, and all the friends and parishioners of St Margaret’s.

Bell Ringing – Claire Campbell

The bells in Yatton Keynell had been silent for a couple of years so at the end of 2017 I decided it was time to get them ringing again, encouraged in part by the “Ringing Remembers” campaign which was part of the centenary celebrations and encouraged towers across the country to ring for remembrance, but also to replace the fallen ringers who gave their lives in the first world war. I managed to recruit the help of George Tomlin, who had recently moved to the village and along with the help and support of Roger Haynes and Bob Mustow from the Chippenham ringing branch, to whom we are incredibly grateful, we were able in January to run a campaign to find people who wanted to come and give ringing a try. The response has been amazing. Some people have come, given it a go and decided it is not for them, some have said they would love to give it a go but just haven’t made it yet and others have come and fallen in love with it. At the end of the year we had 6 shiny new learners, the youngest of whom is just 10 years old, although this record has now been beaten with a new recruit who started in January at age 8! We also have two people who have returned from a 15 year or so break from ringing. It has been wonderful seeing everyone take on this new challenge and I am really proud of them all.

After lots of hard work, it was wonderful to be able to ring for the Remembrance Sunday and we must thank Brinkworth who donated us their mufflers in order for the ringing to be half muffled before the service. Since then, we have been able to ring for a few Sunday services and it is very much hoped that in 2019 we will have a strong enough team to be able to ring more frequently.

If anyone is curious about ringing and wants to come and see what it is all about and maybe even try having a go, you would be most welcome. We currently ring every Tuesday 7-8.30pm at St Margaret’s, Yatton Keynell.

15 March, 2019

Pam Rawlins & Wanda Hall

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