A PROFILE OF THE GROUPED PARISHES OF GUILSFIELD, BUTTINGTON AND POOL QUAY What is Pool Mission Area? Our advertisement for this post, and the three individual profiles below, mention that the successful candidate will be part of the emerging Pool Mission Area and rooted in the parishes of Guilsfield, Buttington and Pool Quay. As a Mission Area we seek to pool our strengths and resources and share in ministry across the entire area of Welshpool and Montgomery and their surrounding villages (the existing Pool Deanery). We aim across this area to provide pastoral care for all and worship which is reverent, accessible and lively, as we seek to fulfill Jesus commission to make disciples. There is significant lay involvement and leadership, alongside ordained and licensed colleagues, in discerning the shape of this future provision, and we are looking for a candidate who will commit themselves joyfully to this venture in faith with their colleagues. ST AELHAIARN S CHURCH GUILSFIELD Guilsfield is a large village, 4 miles north of Welshpool, surrounded by countryside. It has a population in the region of 2000; a mixture of retired couples and individuals and young families whose breadwinners travel to work in the nearby towns of Welshpool, Oswestry, Shrewsbury, and further afield. The church, which is mainly 13th Century, stands in the centre of the village, which has a thriving County Primary School of 140+ pupils, a satellite Doctor s Surgery, Spar shop, Post Office, and 2 Pubs. There is a wide choice of social and sports clubs and activities, amateur dramatics, WI, Mothers Union, and Evergreen Club, amongst others. St. Aelhaiarn s Church is one of 33 churches included in the network of Small Pilgrim Places in Britain. A Small Pilgrim Place is a place that has a presence, a place for people to pray or to spend some time in quiet contemplation away from the bustle of traffic and modern living. The church is included in T J Hughes Wales Best One Hundred Churches and also the AA book Exploring Britain s Churches and Chapels. There is a large Community Centre attached to the school, and the Old School is also available for groups, meetings etc. A Jubilee Hut was built to celebrate the Queen s jubilee and is for the scouts, guides, brownies, etc. We maintain links with the Presbyterian Chapel in the nearby hamlet of Groes, sharing the occasional service, and having an annual series of Lent Lunches. The village contains a wide variety of houses, and caters for all sectors of society. The new vicarage is only about 20 years old, within walking distance of the centre of the village and the church, and in good condition.
The church building is in a good state of repair being lovingly cared for by the congregation. There have been various capital projects over the years to improve, modernise and generally make the building more user-friendly. A kitchen has been installed at the back of the church, and steps have been changed to ramps where possible. Most recently glass doors to the porch have been fitted giving the entrance to the church a much warmer and welcoming look. The porch contains recently restored rare 18th century benefactors boards. This year the interior of the church has been decorated for the first time since it was remodelled in the 1870 s. The church building is open every day throughout the year. The parish has always paid its Parish Fair Share in full and on time, and is financially sound. Currently our pattern of worship is as follows, provided by a full time priest plus NSM (it should be noted that the NSM is about to retire): 1st Sunday 10.30am Modern Matins 3.00pm Rocky s Plaice* 6.00pm Evensong (1984 Church in Wales Book of Common Prayer) 2nd Sunday 10.30am 1984 Eucharist 6.00pm Evensong (1984 BCP) 3rd Sunday 9.00am 1662 Communion 10.30am All Age Worship 6.00pm Evensong (1984 BCP) 4th Sunday 5th Sunday Thursday 10.30am Modern Language Eucharist 6.00pm Evensong (1984 BCP) 10.30am Alternate with Buttington 6.00pm No Service 10.00am Communion (1984) in the Lady Chapel All services are conducted in English and coffee and biscuits are served at the back of the church after morning service. This wide range of services has evolved over time taking into account the wishes and needs of the congregation, and this is at least in part responsible for our maintaining our congregation size. *Rocky s Plaice is a monthly Messy Church-style children s worship for 4-10 year olds with an average attendance of 6-8 young people. We would like to develop this as a way of engaging with children and young people. There is a strong Choral tradition in this church which we are keen to maintain. Our wide range of services is popular with those who attend and it is important that the range of services continues to meet the demand. We are open to new ways of attracting and meeting the needs of those who do not as yet join us, whilst being responsive to the
needs of those already worshipping with us. The congregation is aged largely over 55, with the majority female. The overall average Sunday attendance is around 80. We try to be a welcoming church, and are pleased to see visitors, and encourage new people to join. Congregation numbers grew significantly under our present incumbent although they have remained steady in the last few years. Whilst we are by no means complacent, our Sunday morning worshippers amount to 4% of our parish population and we are one of the strongest churches in the area. The capacity of the church is 300, and it is full to overflowing on Remembrance Sunday and Christmas Eve Carol Service, suggesting that there is plenty of potential for further growth. There are strong levels of lay involvement at every level of church activity, and this should be encouraged and developed. The current incapacity of our vicar has shown up a considerable amount of talent and leadership from retired clerics living in the village, so that part, and even whole, services are taken regularly by the laity. We have a Social Committee that organises a number of events throughout the year, and there is a Music Festival every year, generally in July. There is an active band of bell ringers, with ringing before 10.30am Sunday services and on special occasions. There are currently good levels of contact with our 2 local County primary schools, Guilsfield and Arddleen, and these need to be maintained and developed if possible. The church has a website www.guilsfieldchurch.com and Facebook page www.facebook.com/guilsfieldchurch. There is a strong charitable tradition in the parish, and it is our aim to give away 5% of our income every year, both to home charities as well as abroad. Many of these charities are the less well known ones that get ignored when there is a major national appeal. We believe that the parish needs someone with the energy to take it forward into the future, to encourage new members of the congregation whilst retaining the existing ones, to develop our work with children, and to find ways of working collaboratively with our sister parishes, and further strengthen our links with the wider community.
ALL SAINTS CHURCH BUTTINGTON WITH TREWERN & HOPE The Church of All Saints is situated on the A458 at the junction with the B4368, opposite The Green Dragon public house, where we sometimes hold Church meetings. The river Severn is only a few hundred yards away and Offa s Dyke footpath passes the Churchyard. There are frequent visitors using this footpath who call into the Church which is unlocked every day. There are approximately 900 people in the parish of Buttington, Trewern & Hope. Opposite the Church is the new Graveyard with a car park for 20 cars which is maintained by Powys County Council. Also within the parish is a Methodist Chapel with which we have links. Adjacent to the Church is the old school building which is owned by the diocese and is used every Sunday for refreshments after every service and also for various social events throughout the year; this building also houses toilet facilities, which are not disabled accessible, unfortunately. The Church is Grade2 listed and it appears that there has been a religious building on this site since the early 13th century. In the old churchyard stands a yew tree planted (according to legend) around 850 AD. The Church seats 123 people. The building is in good repair. It has recently been decorated outside. We hope to gain access to funding for interior redecoration in due course. In Trewern there is a flourishing Community infants and junior school. We have links with this school through the children of our church members, and occasional visits as part of the curriculum. On entering All Saints there is a feeling of calmness, warmth and love about this very old Church where worship has taken place for hundreds of years.
Currently our pattern of worship is as follows: 1st Sunday 10.00am. Holy Communion (Modern Language) Sung. Led by the Vicar. 2nd Sunday 10.00am Family Service Led by Worship Leaders. 3rd Sunday 10.00am Holy Communion (1984 Church in Wales BCP) Sung. Led by non-stipendiary clergy. 4th Sunday 5th Sunday 10.00am. Morning Prayer and Praise (Modern Language) Led by Worship Leaders. Holy Communion (Modern Language) Sung. Alternating between Buttington (10.00am) and Guilsfield (10.30am) Led by the Vicar. In all the services the laity participate (reading, leading prayers and assisting at Holy Communion). All the services are conducted in English.We have a strong musical tradition with a small choir and a rota for visiting organists. The average attendance for Sunday worship is 23. The largest attendance is on Christmas Eve for the Christingle Service when the church is packed. The worship committee meets regularly and arranges and designs services as well as leading services. The P.C.C. (17, inc. officers) meets regularly and is chaired by the incumbent. There is a lay co-chair, who is also the electoral roll secretary. There are currently 31 people on the electoral roll. We have a Safeguarding Officer. We have a social committee which arranges and runs events throughout the year: some are fund raising, others are outreach. Activities throughout the past year include a Pancake Party, Mad Hatter s Tea Party, Coffee Morning, and Harvest Festival Weekend (includes a free sit down Luncheon following the Harvest Family Service), a Sunday evening Gymanfa Ganu and Community Carol Singing in the Trewern Community Centre. The finance committee consists of the treasurer, wardens and Gift Aid secretary, and for a great number of years we have never failed to pay our Parish Share in full and on time. As a Church we aim to give to 3 charities throughout the year, one international, one national and one local and in 2014 we aim to give away 5% of 2013 s income.
We currently run a 200 club which raises 2000, half of which must be given in prizes. Every second Sunday of the month we hold a raffle after the Family Service where the prize is donated by a Church member who must have made it, grown it or cooked it themselves: it must not be bought. Members are active in the wider community in roles such as Convener of the Community Centre, School Governor, and membership and Chair of a local social club. Our services and activities are advertised locally and reported in the Welshpool local newspaper. We are actively engaged in discussions leading to the development of a Mission Area, which will be contiguous with Pool Deanery and we understand that the new incumbent will be responsible at parish level for Guilsfield, Buttington and Pool Quay parishes. In Buttington we would welcome an experienced enthusiastic person with good communication skills, fresh and forward thinking ideas who would be a strong leader capable of working alongside a team of lay people guiding, encouraging and directing them in the work of the Church. We also seek a person who is particularly interested in the development of young people through contact with our school, but also with the ability to be able to communicate successfully with all ages of people who attend our Church and be sympathetic to our musical traditions and existing pattern of services. Our main concern is engaging more with the community to increase our worship numbers. For this we need deepening of our spiritual lives, and we hope for help in this.
ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST CHURCH POOL QUAY WITH ARDDLEEN Pool Quay Church is situated alongside the A483 (T) road, approximately 3 miles north of Welshpool in the Oswestry direction. The parish consists of the village of Pool Quay, most of the village of Arddleen, and the surrounding rural area. Pool Quay s name derives from the fact that it was once the highest navigable point of the River Severn and so a quay was built there to serve Welshpool and the nearby Powis estate. Various industries once supported that trade but nowadays agriculture is the only industry within the Parish. A booklet is available giving a fuller history of the area and of the Church. The Parish is very close to the English border and the use of the Welsh language is very minimal but the community, in the main, considers itself Welsh and is conscious of the Welsh culture and identity. The communities are also served by a Presbyterian chapel in Arddleen with whom we have a good relationship. The local county primary school is situated within the parish, at Arddleen, whilst secondary aged children attend Welshpool High School or Coleg Powis in Newtown. The school is very open to visits from the clergy and the previous incumbent visited regularly, as do other clergy whose parishes are within the catchment area. The civil parish roll is just in excess of 300 people. The Church Electoral roll has 29 members all of whom are regular worshippers - average Sunday attendance in 2013 was 28, with 2 of those being under 16. Easter Communicants in 2014 numbered 42. In recent years we have averaged 2 weddings, 4 funerals & 4 baptisms per year. The age profile of the church is quite wide and people find the congregation very welcoming. The Wardens and officers are dedicated to their duties and offer great support to the vicar. The church building was built in 1852 by the Earl of Powis and is dedicated to St John the Evangelist. It was a separate Parish until 2008, when it entered the Welshpool Group of Parishes but is now becoming part of the Guilsfield Group. The 2011 quinquennial report said that the building is in very good repair with only limited remedial work identified in the report. The main body of the church provides seating for approximately 80 people. The church was extensively remodelled in recent years and houses a fully fitted kitchen, a large meeting room and an upstairs room mainly used by the youth club. Accessibility is very good with level access, a car park outside and a toilet with disabled access. The building is kept open daily from dawn to dusk. The churchyard is kept in good order and is still in use - there are burial plots available to last approximately 20 years.
Pattern of Worship 1st Sunday 2nd Sunday 3rd Sunday 4th Sunday 5th Sunday 10.30am Holy Eucharist (2004 rite) 10.30am Holy Eucharist (2004 rite) 10.30am Family Service 3.30pm Evening Prayer or Compline (1984 rite) 10.30am Holy Eucharist (2004 rite) 10.30am Morning Prayer (1984 rite) The meeting room is used for coffee after all Sunday morning services, providing a very valuable opportunity for fellowship. There is a Prayer Group (lay led) takes place at 8:30am on 1st Tuesday of each month, a Lent Study Group and services are held daily in Holy Week. Other special services include: an early morning Ascension Day Eucharist, Harvest, All Souls Day, a Crib Service etc. There are four Lay Worship Leaders who regularly lead Family Services, two Chalice Administrators and a team of lay intercessors. A well-established youth group, led by the laity, meets fortnightly during the school term time. There is an average attendance of 15-20, aged between 6-16. There is a Trust Fund within the parish which is for educational purposes, the trustees of which are the vicar and the two Wardens. There is a small Mothers Union, meeting on the 3rd Wednesday of the month and a Good Companions lunch club for (mainly) retired people from this and surrounding parishes. An average of 35 people meets for this four times a year with a meal, entertainment and short service. The meeting room is also widely used for Deanery events, Diocesan Training sessions and other private hire events. A small but committed group of volunteers enables us to cater for visiting groups by appointment. A highly successful coffee morning runs one Saturday each month which provides a good opportunity for fellowship as well as income for the church. The fair share is paid in full and our financial situation is healthy.