Vicar's Annual Report, 2010-11

Dear Friends

An Annual Report provides a wonderful opportunity for honest reflection and realistic assessment of how we function and minister as a church which is set at the heart of the community of Charlton Kings. Self-assessment is never an easy matter for we sometimes fail to see the weaknesses or acknowledge the strengths. It is therefore encouraging when we receive feedback from those who are not regular worshippers at St Mary's. They may be visitors attending baptisms, weddings or funerals. Or perhaps they are making a casual visit to view the building or come to spend a few moments in prayer in a place which seems to capture a sense of mystery and wonder through architecture, stained-glass windows and other significant signs and symbols. What has encouraged me over the past year is the huge number of positive comments about the church, but in particular about the warmth of welcome that people receive when they come to join us in worship. It is a real privilege to be Vicar of a parish church where hospitality and friendship are tangible qualities. All of us, sadly, can recall times when we have visited churches and experienced a less than impressive welcome. I am pleased that St Mary's is a place where everyone can feel welcomed and valued and I thank you all most warmly for the part that you play in this ministry of welcome.

The following pages indicate something of the variety of Church life at St Mary's and of the number of people of all ages who are involved in many and varied activities. A healthy and thriving church can only exist where there is a willing army of volunteers and we are fortunate to have many enthusiastic and keen helpers. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who work so hard to ensure that so many aspects of church life continue to flourish. To enable God's work to be done requires not only that people are generous in their commitment of time and abilities but that we are also realistic about our financial growth and security. We have all been affected by the recent economic uncertainty and rising prices and the church housekeeping fund has inevitably been challenged by these changing circumstances. A generous response to our Gift Day in July meant that we were able to end the year with a very small surplus but the forecast for this current financial year is rather bleaker. We have been heartened by the response to the ‘Giving for Life’ scheme which was launched last year and hope that more people will wish to join in the coming weeks.

Members of our PCC had a useful and productive Away Day at Andoversford in September and we were grateful to David Smith from St Barnabas Cheltenham who was our facilitator for the day. We spent a good deal of time discussing how we might work more effectively as a team and delegating more tasks to the sub-committees who are responsible for different aspects of church life. A strong feeling emerged that we should consider the appointment of a Parish Administrator which would release the clergy for other tasks and improve communication in all areas of church life.

Over twenty church members joined in a memorable pilgrimage to the Holy Land in October last year. It was particularly good to visit the school for partially sighted and blind children in Bethlehem for which so much money has been raised through the charity lunches organised by Joyce Parsons at regular points throughout the year. We also enjoyed two 'Get to Know You' events last year with the aim of encouraging more social contact amongst our church members.

I am, as ever, extremely grateful to Leonora, Pauline, Jean and Gordon my colleagues in ministry for all their support and their willing assistance in leading worship and in preaching. Leonora continues to act as Diocesan Link Officer for our partnership diocese of Västerås in Sweden and we are hoping to make a visit there in June this year. Leonora has also recently completed a placement at St John's Churchdown where she was keen to learn more about Local Ministry Teams. We were pleased to present five candidates for Confirmation at Tewkesbury Abbey in May and we are always pleased that the pastoral offices provide a great opportunity for engagement with many people who have had no church links in the past. You will see from the figures presented earlier that we are kept quite busy with baptisms, weddings and funerals. Sadly, a number of loyal church members have died in the last year and we gratefully acknowledge their commitment and generosity. Their names will be recorded at the start of our Annual Meeting.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who enhance the life and worship of the church in a number of ways. As I mentioned earlier, visitors gain a strong impression of church when they come to St Mary's and I like to think that our provision of well-presented liturgy and good music are considerable strengths. Neil and the choir are to be thanked for their commitment and it is good to see the junior rank of the choir growing in number. I am also grateful for the faithful ministry of servers and Eucharistic assistants and to those who read and lead intercessions. Our flower arrangers cause us to marvel and appreciate vivid seasonal colours especially at the time of great festivals when the church looks at its best. We are grateful to Margaret Walker for co-ordinating their efforts. Church cleaners work hard to ensure that the building is well cared for and we thank them for their work. St Mary's is fortunate to have a fine peal of bells and we thank the ringers for their dedication and commitment through the year. Our ministry to children and young people is a key part of our work and I want to place on record our thanks to Sarah Nicholls and Megan Hozier for their outstanding work in Junior Church. Fiona Bromelow continues to run Little Fishes on Thursday mornings with much success and we are most grateful to Fiona and her helpers. Open House continues to provide families with informal and interactive worship on the first Sunday afternoon of each month. The tea afterwards is always a highlight for which we thank Pat Sherwell and members of the Mothers' Union Team. Open the Book continues to be a great success in local schools. In the past year a new team has been established at Charlton Kings Junior School in addition to the team already in place at Glenfall School. A third team has recently started at Holy Apostles School. In the autumn we ran a very successful study course on Sunday evenings by way of an introduction to the New Testament. We were delighted to have the Revd Dr David Wenham as our guest speaker for four sessions.

We thank our other employees for their hard work and commitment throughout the year - Tracy Rae, our Church Hall Cleaner, Margaret Eccles our Verger and Sacristan and Siobhan Kingston our Parish Secretary. We are grateful to Derrick and Margaret Walker for taking on the care of the Parish Centre and of lettings. Thanks are also due to Dilys and Alan Jones our magazine editors and to Penny Tappin who organises the distribution.

For the future we need to ensure that we continue to faithful in worship and prayer and outward looking in terms of ministry and mission. The Ecumenical links which we enjoy with our sister churches in Charlton Kings are much appreciated though I sense that we need to work on strengthening the links and improving communication for the future. The exciting prospect of a Passion Play for 2012 is sure to create an atmosphere of anticipation and excitement and this may well be a factor in ensuring that those links are strengthened. We are grateful for Peter Grainger's vision and enthusiasm for this project. Some major work on our church building is likely to go ahead soon including repairs to the Stained glass 'Rose' window; the renovation and painting of guttering and down pipes and much needed stonework repairs to the boundary wall. Our audio-visual plans continue to gather pace and it is hoped that we will have a more permanent scheme in place shortly. This will mean less work for David Brawn and Martin Grinter who have done so much to enhance our worship and communication through visual images. I would like to think that by the time I write this report in twelve months time we can be looking back to the successful creation of a new Memorial Garden in our churchyard.

In conclusion I would like to thank our Churchwardens Anne Grinter and Gordon Wenham for their wonderful support and friendship throughout the past year. The amount of time and energy that they give so freely is hugely appreciated. Thanks also to our other church officers Anna Tonge and Alan Smith who are so thorough and efficient in secretarial and financial responsibilities. There are many others not mentioned in the above report who help and assist in small but significant ways and make St Mary's what it is - a warm centre of worship and prayer and a real Christian presence in the community. Thank you for your continuing support, kindness and generosity and may God bless us as we continue to reach out in love to all those around us who we are called to serve in the name of Jesus Christ.

Revd Michael Garland - Vicar of St Mary's Charlton Kings March 2011