As last year, my article for the May magazine is a re-run of my portion the APCM report.I know I number of you will have already seen it, but as the meeting was during the Easter holiday a lot of people missed the meeting.There are some full copies of the report in the Narthex for those would wish to read it all.

“My first full year as vicar here has been rather busy, but most enjoyable.One of the aims of this first year was to develop my understanding of the life of the parish, to understand something of the rhythm of the church’s life.Having now had that opportunity I am more able to help the PCC to plan strategically for the medium and long term.With a parish as lively as St. Matthew’s, where there is much already happening, it is important that we don’t overstretch ourselves; and with the 150^th celebrations in 2007 there will be plenty of additional things happening, so we need to be mindful of this.

The PCC has worked very hard during 2006, and I am grateful for their commitment, counsel and dedication.There have been three big issues tackled by the PCC that I will mention here: new service times; Archdeacons Articles of Inquiry and the graveyard.Although mentioned in last years report I must mention new service times in this report too.After discussions at the January PCC meeting, and then going back to the congregation with a compromise, the PCC agreed to a 3 month trial of new service times from March. The trial was a success and there being no complaints or drop in numbers attending the PCC changed the service times to: 8.15am Holy Communion at St. Matthew, 9.30am Parish Communion at St. Luke, and 11am Parish Communion at St. Matthew.The Archdeacons Articles of Inquiry this year took the form of a mini Parish Audit.The time frame for completion was tight, but thanks to the hard work of the Standing Committee and PCC, we returned the forms on time.The reason for having to complete these forms was so that each deanery could formulate a pastoral plan to put forward to the diocese to assist diocesan strategic planning.The results of this exercise showed St. Matthew’s to be a strong church and a viable parish – which didn’t surprise.In the autumn the PCC began thinking about the graveyard, which is a beautiful resource for the whole community, but under funded through fees alone.Whilst the graveyard is in reasonable condition there are a number of issues that needed to be thought about; among them pathways, more space for the interment of cremated remains, unauthorized additions and regular maintenance.It will take time to conclude this item of work, but we have a responsibility to make best use of this resource for the benefit of the whole community.If we fail to keep on top of it now the graveyard could soon look neglected and be unsafe for visitors.

2006 has had some sad moments to it and many members of the congregation have suffered through bereavement this year.I don’t usually mention those who have died, but I do want to mention 4 people who have passed from this world to take their place in glory with all the redeemed: 2 centenarians, Nellie Cobbold and Eugenie Evans, and Ron Kearsley and Ainsley Horrocks - two very faithful servants of the church.This community is a poorer place for no longer having them in it, but we are still richly blessed from having had their presence with us over the years.

The parish has also had some very happy times too, with various social events organised by the Social Committee throughout the year.We are very grateful for their hard work to ensure the success of such events.The main event that they organised in 2006 was the Fun Day at the beginning of July.We were blessed with a very hot day, and although the England football team were playing later that afternoon in the World Cup, the day was well attended by church members and parishioners.It is good to have such events, and I believe they are of great importance in the life of the church and community – my thanks to all who worked so hard to make the day such a great success.

As part of Deborah and I getting to know everyone we held several social events at the vicarage over the summer.It was good for us to spend some time getting to know people at an informal gathering and we hope those who came enjoyed it too.With two parishes and such a large number of church members this seemed to be the best possible way of meeting the greatest number of people; there were a number of people who couldn’t make these events and we are planning to hold more in the future to accommodate them, as well as seeing again those who were able to come.Gathering together for worship is important, but so too is our life together outside of worship.

Ecumenical links have developed nicely this year.As well as the usual Churches Together meetings and our walk of Witness on Whit Sunday, I have attended regular Fraternal meetings with clergy from other denominations who minister in this area.We also had a joint Sunday morning service with Healds Green Methodist church – something that used to happen, but sadly not in recent years.The comments from both our Methodist brothers and sisters and from members of St. Matthew’s were favourable, and we hope to build on this link in the future.

I have made links with all 6 schools in the benefice during 2006, and I hope to continue to build on these relationships in 2007.St. Matthew’s Infant and St. Luke’s primary will of course be my main focus, but it is good to have links with the other 4 schools, especially Chadderton Hall Junior.Andrew Rostron and Andrew Cox have begun building a benefice website (www.stmatthew-stlukechadderton.org.uk) and we are grateful for all the hard work they are putting into this.Within days of going online it was clear that we were getting a good number of hits, proving how useful a tool it is in our ministry.

The worship at St. Matthew’s is, I believe of a high standard, and it is a joy for me to be a part of it.The choir, ably led by our choir master Mr Neville Barker and organist Mrs. Andrea Cottrill has worked very hard in 2006.We are very fortunate to have a choir that leads the worship Sunday by Sunday as well as all the other special occasions that happen throughout the year.We have started to replace the service booklets, something that was necessary as they were beginning to look very worn.Apart from the Parade booklet, which needed a complete revamp to comply with Common Worship, the new booklets are only being tweaked in terms of the content, and reformatted in terms of layout.This is a rolling programme that will be completed by the end of 2007; my thanks to the team of people who are photocopying and compiling them.

The worshipping life of the church, and indeed the whole life of the church, only runs so smoothly because of a host of people doing things quietly in the background, from producing the pew sheet to getting the church ready in terms of setting up ready for various services, from cleaning and flower arranging to producing rotas, from all the people carrying those duties for which they are on the rota for to the servers, Sunday School teachers and youth leaders.There are also a number of people involved in pastoral visiting and taking Holy Communion to the sick and housebound, an aspect of ministry that is very important, whether it is done formally or informally.For all the hard work that everyone does day by day and week by week I am extremely grateful.The life of a church is about team work, and I know we have a very good team who work very hard.It would be difficult to name everyone as space does not permit, but there are some people whom I will mention by name because it would be remiss of me not to.

Our wardens, Mrs. Audrey Laycock and Mr Graham Rowland do a phenomenal amount of work for the church, and I am extremely grateful for all they do.Not only do they look after the fabric of the church and make sure everything is ready for worship they beaver away in the background in virtually every aspect of the church’s life.We are greatly blessed to have two dedicated wardens who do so much.I would also like to mention our PCC secretary Mrs. Gillian Barker who has had a very busy year.Not only has she had to deal with her duties at PCC meetings (a task she always does so well), she has collated and produced the reply to the Archdeacon’s Articles of Inquiry, attended additional meetings, produced this report and been of invaluable help day by day with many aspects of paperwork that would otherwise end up on my desk.Another task that thankfully doesn’t come my way is that of Parish Magazine editor; I am extremely grateful to Andrew Rostron for editing the Parish Magazine and for the rest of the team who print, collate, staple, bundle and deliver it month by month.Clare Clark has taken on the hefty task of compiling an electronic copy of all our grave records.Once completed it will help in the administration of the graveyard, speeding up the process of looking up details, and will complement the card index and grave records that we already have.The four sections most commonly used have already been typed up, and I am extremely grateful to Clare for all her hard work on this project.I wish also to mention Revd Roger Reece, who, I am pleased to say, has been able to find employment in the area, which has enabled him to continue his valuable ministry in the benefice; working as a chaplain in the Salvation Army project is a role that he is very much suited for, and matches his gifts and talents well, and means that we continue to be blessed by his ministry among us as our OLM.

At the end of this PCC’s year our Treasurer, Mr Denis Barrott will be standing down from this particular role after 30 years.We are extremely grateful to Denis for all his hard work as treasurer, not just in this past year, but over the last 30 years.Denis has ensured that the church is in the best possible financial position, a task that has not been easy in the last few years.We are glad that it is only the treasurer’s post that he is retiring from, and look forward to continue working with him in the other areas of parish life he continues to be involved with.

Creation date : 24/05/2007 - 20:32
Last update : 16/01/2009 - 21:43
Category : Church Magazine
Page read 3850 times

 Print preview      Print the page