St Mary Brookfield Parish Profile St Mary Brookfield, Dartmouth Park Road, London NW5 1SL Diocese of London Deanery of South Camden www.stmarybrookfield.org 1
Overview St Mary Brookfield is the Parish Church of Dartmouth Park in North London, a residential area between Kentish Town and Highgate and bordering Hampstead Heath. St Mary s has a modern Anglo Catholic tradition which attracts worshippers from the parish and beyond. This is complemented perfectly by our beautiful Victorian Gothic building and our excellent music. St Mary s was founded in 1875 as a daughter church to St Anne s Brookfield to provide for the poor of the parish, and consequently never had reserved seating. This founding tradition of openness and inclusivity is something which we cherish today, and try to give a Christian welcome to all. We see ourselves as an inclusive parish, and our mixed cosmopolitan congregation is a testament to that. Our congregation is small but committed and we have a busy calendar which celebrates feast days with appropriate ceremony and a strong musical tradition which draws in a much larger congregation for major festivals. There is a large and lucrative Hall which allows us further opportunities to serve the local community, and a spacious and comfortable Vicarage. Under the stewardship of the previous Vicar the parish has prospered: the congregation has grown and we have established a very compelling combination of a traditional worshipping style with a universal welcome and a tangible sense of fun, which draws a congregation from well beyond the parish boundaries. His retirement presents the parish and a new incumbent - with a unique opportunity to build on this foundation, to embrace our traditions and use our distinctive proclamation of the Gospel to engage new audiences in the parish and beyond. The next Vicar of St Mary s will have the vision, the energy and the good humour to lead a small but committed and growing congregation on this journey. His or her reward will be a place at the head of a committed community, determined to show that a modern catholic parish can thrive in its mission to bring the joyful message of the Gospel to all. 2
Contents 1. Worship at St Mary s 4 2. The Church Community, its Mission and Outreach 10 3. The Parish 17 4. The Church Buildings 21 5. Towards a Mission Action Plan 26 6. The Next Vicar 28 3
1. Worship at St Mary s Parish Mass Worship at St Mary s centres on the mass. Our main service is the Sunday Mass held at 1100. This is celebrated in the Anglo Catholic tradition with bells and incense, imaginatively accompanied by our Director of Music and a professional Cantor. Members of the congregation take turns to read lessons, prepare and lead intercessions, and to act as sidespersons. All liturgies use Common Worship Order One. 4
The service is always followed by coffee and biscuits, and most of the congregation stay to chat, catch up on news and welcome new or occasional members into church. On Sundays in Lent we usually also hold a smaller Evensong and Benediction, which can attract up to 10 people. 5
Weekday Services Mass is said in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament on Wednesday and Friday mornings. These services attract a small but committed group of between six and eight. Extending our weekday offering and our range of services is something we d like to explore further. Currently the Church is open on Saturday mornings; extending this is also something that would be very desirable. 6
Feast Days and Festivals We celebrate major festivals and relevant feast days with due ceremony. Music is usually at the heart of these celebrations and we engage a small professional choir to sing mass settings and anthems in a wide range of styles. Some highlights include: Easter: A week of devotional masses leads up to a Triduum including Vigils on Maundy Thursday and Holy Saturday, Stations of the Cross on Good Friday and a grand Choral Mass for Easter Day. Christmas: We hold a traditional candlelit Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols with music of an exceptional standard; this draws a congregation of 150-200. Christmas itself is celebrated with a Choral Midnight Mass and on Christmas Morning by a family service of carols with a Nativity. Our Patronal Festival is celebrated with a Choral Mass, usually in the evening to allow members of neighbouring parishes to attend, with a guest preacher, and is followed by a splendid parish supper in the Vicarage. Other Festivals and notable days such as Ascension Day, Ash Wednesday, All Souls Day and Candlemas are celebrated with appropriate masses and processions, and on Sundays in Lent we hold a said Evensong and Benediction. Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols 7
Midnight Mass The Christmas Crib The Choir 8
Attendance at Services 2016 Total Over 16 Under 16 Sunday average 38 35 3 Average communicants during the week (excluding festivals) 18 18 0 Christmas Carol Service 170 150 20 Easter Day 77 65 12 Sick and Home Communion Sick communion is provided for between two and four members of the congregation who are unable to get to church as often as they would like, once a fortnight. This has in the past usually been done by the Vicar, with the Lay Reader called on to provide cover where necessary. Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals The demographics of the parish mean that weddings are relatively infrequent, and rarely more than one or two a year. These are mainly members of the congregation getting married. In a typical year we might conduct 3 funerals and 2 baptisms. Study Groups We hold regular cycles of Bible Study led by our Lay Reader, open to all who wish to come. These take place about once a month, usually on Sundays after church (they have been combined with a soup and cheese lunch in the vicarage, bringing together study and a chance for a social get together). Those who are interested are invited to suggest which parts of the Bible they would like to look at more closely: over the past three years the group has looked at First Corinthians, the gospel of Mark, Revelation, Psalms and some of the parables. We usually also have a Lent group, which meets each week, on a weekday evening. Pilgrimages We have organised pilgrimages far and wide. Our trip to the Holy Land in 2010 (undertaken in conjunction with members of two neighbouring parishes) is still fondly remembered by all those who went. We have also undertaken pilgrimages to Walsingham, Canterbury and Chichester. 9
2. The Church Community, its Mission and Outreach The Congregation There are 76 people on the electoral roll, with a regular Sunday congregation which averages between 30 to 40 people (and usually 3 to 5 children). The congregation is both ethnically and socially diverse. In terms of age, approximately 45 on the electoral roll are in the 36 to 65 age range, and 28 are between 66 and 80. Only 22 on the electoral roll live within the parish boundaries, with 54 outside (in many cases not very far outside, though some members of the congregation come from 2 or 3 miles away). 10
Many members of the congregation are very active. Volunteers play a major role in Church, both in services (doing readings and intercessions, acting as sides-people, sacristan, servers, and administering the chalice), and more widely in the life of the parish, organizing hospitality for patronal festivals and other events, organizing our summer fete and Christmas bazaar (the main fund raising events for the parish), and organizing the winter shelter run at St Mary s church hall (see later). There is also a lay reader and retired lay reader in the congregation. St Mary s employs a professional organist as Director of Music, and uses professional singers to provide a choir for festivals, and to act as cantors on ordinary Sundays. They are welcomed into the congregation, and St Mary s is noted for the excellence of its music, which makes a major contribution to the quality of our Sunday worship. We are aware of the challenges we face as a small congregation in engaging with and inspiring our local community, most of whom are not particularly inclined to religion in any form. Provision of the cold weather shelter has been a major focus of our activity in recent years (see below), enabling us to show our neighbours the church putting the gospel into action. Many more people engage with the Church at public events such as fetes and bazaars. 11
Monthly Newsletter We have for many years published a very full monthly magazine Brookfield News, which is currently edited by a small group of volunteers. This contains parish news, a pastoral message, articles on a range of topics interspersed with humorous comment and jokes. It has wide circulation in the parish, and is published on the Church website. 12
Summer Fete and Winter Bazaar We hold very well-attended events in both summer and winter. The Summer fete is held in the Vicarage garden and captures some of Dartmouth Park s village feel with a range of delicious produce, cakes, strawberries, Pimm s and a BBQ alongside books, clothing, toys and bric a brac stalls. Children are well catered for with a bouncy castle and coconut shy and we hope the new Vicar won t eschew the fund-raising opportunities presented by being pelted with wet sponges! The Winter Bazaar in the Church Hall often has a wider range of stalls and even greater attendance, with more emphasis on bric a brac, clothing and a large tombola. Both events offer great opportunities to cater to parishioners and others who do not attend Church. The 2017 Winter Bazaar in the Church Hall The Church works well as an alternative venue for the Fete in wet weather 13
Cold Weather Shelter The main focus of St Mary s work in the community is our involvement in the C4WS cold weather shelter scheme (http://c4wshomelessproject.org). Every Friday from January to April a group of volunteers comes together to offer Dinner, Bed and Breakfast to up to 16 homeless people. The Church Hall is turned into a kitchen, dining room and dormitory as volunteers and guests sit down to eat a hot meal together. Not only does this endeavour bring members of the congregation together, it also attracts volunteers who are not churchgoers, and shows the wider community that St Mary s practises the compassion it preaches. 14
Concerts The inspiring interior and fine acoustic of St Mary s makes it an ideal venue for rehearsals and concerts. Our resident ensembles the London Medical Orchestra and North Camden Chorus are frequent and very welcome guests making music of a very high standard, and each holds 2-3 concerts a year attracting audiences in the hundreds and occasional radio broadcasts. A full house for the North Camden Chorus The London Medical Orchestra in rehersal Activities with Neighbouring Parishes We enjoy good relations with our neighbouring parishes, and we share occasional services and activities (such as joint study groups). These are enjoyed by all who take part and we hope to do more together in future. As a small parish, we appreciate that we are able to do more when we work together with our neighbours, and with other parishes in the Deanery. 15
Outreach to the wider community Mission and Outreach have proved a challenge for St Mary s, and we are aware that we should be doing more as a parish. There is a state secondary school within the parish boundaries, but it has not yet proved possible to develop a relationship with them. The parish does not have a link with a church school. The main commercial, civic and community centres of Tufnell Park, Archway, Kentish Town, Gospel Oak and Highgate lie just beyond our borders. However this is a challenge we are eager to rise to, and hope that our new Vicar will see this is an opportunity. Although there are no primary schools in the parish, we get regular requests for tours from neighbouring schools. These are always welcomed enthusiastically as an opportunity for children to see inside the Church, most for the first time. We also welcome occasional visits from special interest groups such as The Victorian Society. There is a small but increasing number of Community Events in Dartmouth Park which could provide an opportunity for wider engagement with the local community. For instance we have occasionally taken a stall at the York Rise Street Fair and this is something we would like to make an annual occurrence. 2014 s Street Fair in full swing 16
3. The Parish Location and profile St Mary s Church sits on the corner of Dartmouth Park Hill and Dartmouth Park Road, and is a landmark on the way up from Kentish Town to Highgate. It is in the north of the London Borough of Camden, but on the border with Islington where many of its congregation live. The Parish covers a relatively small area bordering Parliament Hill Fields (part of Hampstead Heath) to the West and the foothills of Highgate to the North. The parish has diverse housing ranging from elegant late Georgian terraces to substantial Victorian villas, terraced cottages and large areas of social housing. It combines many of the characteristics of an inner London parish (social and ethnic diversity, poverty and social marginalisation) with those of an affluent suburb (professional families with a higher than average proportion of no religion, many absent at weekends). Consequently it has a uniquely fascinating and challenging profile. One of the challenges we face is that the price of property locally means that few can afford to settle here. There is a significant amount of turnover in the congregation as people start families and need somewhere larger to live they often have to move out of the parish. That said, a feature of Dartmouth Park is its sense of community: it has several popular pubs and cafes and a small cluster of shops which give it a sense of one of London s smaller villages. Whilst rising house prices have changed its profile, many residents have lived here all their lives. The parish has good transport links with an underground station at Tufnell Park and an Overground station at Gospel Oak, both just outside its borders, and several buses running through it. Central London is only 20 minutes away. 17
The 2011 Census recorded an adult population of 3,397, of whom 20% identified as minority ethnic compared with a diocesan average of 42%. These figures do not represent the congregation however, most of whom live outside the parish. In the parish itself the proportion identifying as Christian fell from 50% in 2001 to 36% in 2011; over half do not identify with any religion at all. For an apparently affluent area there are significant levels of deprivation, particularly in the Southwestern corner, placing the parish in the highest 10% nationally. Combined with low levels of unemployment this suggests that many parishioners work in low-paid jobs, and there are extremes of both wealth and poverty, often living side by side. 18
Finance Under the experienced stewardship of the current Treasurer our financial situation has seen steady improvement over the past few years. In spite of our small size we can call on small but significant income from a range of sources. These include Regular and occasional lettings from the Church Hall. This includes rental income from the three flats we have invested in refurbishment and redecoration in recent years to ensure market value. The Hall is let annually to a Nursery School and occasionally for parties, rehearsals and other functions and organisations. An annual grant from the St Pancras Church Lands Trust this varies from year to year but is currently around 14,000. This is a restricted fund, which may be used only for the maintenance of the worship and the maintenance of the fabric of the church. Hire of the church as a concert venue for local choirs and musicians. A programme of planned giving, and regular donations. The majority of regular donors give by gift aid. Fund raising activities such as fetes and bazaars. 19
Expenditure in 2016 included the refurbishment of one of the hall flats, a major project paid for from our reserves. The largest item is usually the parish contribution to common fund. Increases in the parish income mean that, although we do not yet meet our parish standard costs, we have been able to increase our contribution to the Diocesan Common Fund whilst retaining sufficient funds to maintain our assets, provide for the upkeep of the Church and Services, and begin to make provision for capital expenditure on forthcoming maintenance projects such as that identified by the recent Quinquennial Inspection. This identified the need for major works to the church walls, the costs of which are estimated to be around 250,000. This will require a major fund-raising project, and grant assistance (though we anticipate that part of the cost can be met from reserves) (see more in Section 4). Administration The PCC represents a wide spread of the congregation, with members who have served for less than one year and over 25. It normally meets seven times a year with occasional special meetings; urgent decisions between meetings are made by the Standing Committee of Vicar, Churchwardens and Treasurer. Day to day administration and correspondence is dealt with by the Vicar, while finances are administered by the Treasurer who reports to the PCC at each meeting. St Mary s also employs a part time Hall Manager who handles all bookings, billing, cleaning and access requirements for the Church Hall. During the Vacancy all members of the PCC and many others in the congregation are working together in small teams to maintain the life of the parish and the Church in the absence of a Vicar; this has been a very rewarding experience and has demonstrated a strong commitment to St Mary s from a wide group of people. 20
4. The Church Buildings The Church The Church itself is a magnificent example of the Victorian Gothic style, designed by William Butterfield, the renowned architect responsible for All Saint s Margaret Street and Keble College, Oxford. It is a well-known landmark standing as it does on the shoulder of Highgate Hill, and has a Grade II* listing. The main body of the church was built between 1869 and 1875 and comprises a nave with a high clerestory, flanked by side aisles. The interior features the patterned polychromatic brickwork notable in Butterfield s work. The font and pulpit are also by Butterfield. The nave retains most of its original pews, while the aisles have been cleared. The chancel was designed by William Street and added in 1881; it retains its choir stalls and a richly carved stone reredos. 21
The rood beam and St George and Dragon sculpture are by Ninian Comper, c.1913, and there is also a C15th Nottingham alabaster panel. There is a Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament in the North Aisle which provides an ideal setting for weekday services and smaller gatherings. The altarpiece is also by Comper. 22
The exterior may be imposing but the interior is warm and intimate without sacrificing any of the grandeur. Whilst some Victorian brickwork can feel dark and forbidding, ours is lit up by a series of clerestory windows and a high East Window with fine stained glass by A.E. Buss in 1952. Pevsner describes how its lofty interior makes a show of Butterfield s beloved pattern of red, yellow and blue bricks and stone dressings, and indeed on a sunny Sunday the interior is suffused by a warm glow. A recent addition to the interior is the sculpture The Red Knight which hangs in front of the West window. Created by renowned artist Gerry Judah in 2012 in memory of parishioner James Brolan, a sound technician killed in Iraq, this striking piece of a kind with his two sculptures in St Paul s Cathedral commemorating the end of the First World War complements the Victorian interior and adds a very contemporary touch. 23
The East Wall Project Although the building is generally in good repair the most recent Quinquennial Inspection identified a range of developing faults primarily in high-level brickwork and masonry, particularly around the East End, mainly resulting from poor quality bomb damage repairs in the 1940s. The PCC have decided to apply for a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, which would allow us to conserve the building for the foreseeable future and also improve access and conduct a range of other external and internal improvements - including step free inclusive access to the main entrance. Outline quotes obtained for a programme of work to deliver this suggest that the works required will cost 250,000. An initial grant application was made to the Heritage Lottery Fund in 2017. Whilst other projects were deemed more urgent in this round of funding, we have been encouraged to re-apply. We are fortunate to have several parishioners with relevant expertise and a working party is consulting with our architect with a view to making a revised application in 2018. Raising the funds for the parish s contribution and planning the work will be a major focus of activity during 2018/2019, and one that presents the new incumbent with a great opportunity to make a significant contribution to the heritage and future of St Mary s. The parish is already committed to the project and we have made a start on fundraising. The parish was successful in funding a new roof in 2003, and we look forward to engaging the wider community as we did then. The Church Hall St Mary s has a large and well-appointed Hall a few hundred yards away in the heart of Dartmouth Park. Dating from the early 1950 s it offers a large indoor area with a wide range of uses: it is let to a Nursery School during weekdays, various hobby and sports clubs in the evenings and caters for children s parties and other activities at weekends. There is also a small kitchen and a stage. The Hall also has three self-contained flats upstairs which are let to private tenants. In combination the Hall not only provides an important amenity to the local community, but also a vital source of income to the Parish. The hall is run by the Hall Manager. 24
The Vicarage The Vicarage is a beautiful Edwardian home adjoining the Church on Dartmouth Park Road. It is a substantial house in keeping with its rather grand neighbours and has a pleasant garden, off-street parking and a garage. Described by local estate agents as probably the nicest house in Dartmouth Park it is both spacious and comfortable, with a very well-proportioned reception room and large dining room suitable for parish entertaining, along with a kitchen, study, utility room, parish office and five bedrooms. 25
5. Towards a Mission Action Plan The Current MAP Our current Mission Action Plan has three clear goals which have remained constant for some years: engaging with the community (currently via the C4WS Homeless Shelter); enhancing our welcome and our mission to children. However, the Vacancy has already given us the space and indeed the catalyst to consider our position as a congregation and reflect on new opportunities to redefine our mission. We feel we have the outline of a new, more specific and more challenging plan which we hope will inspire a new incumbent to work with us and indeed lead a process of regeneration of our mission. Identifying our Strengths and Weaknesses As part of our planning for this appointment the PCC has consulted widely with as many parishioners as possible. We have canvassed the views of the entire electoral roll with a simple questionnaire, we held a consultation session led by our Archdeacon and we have had private conversations with most regular worshippers. We have asked people to identify what they see as our strengths, the things about St Mary s that make it special for them, and the weaknesses which we need to address. For such a diverse congregation, the consistency of response has been quite remarkable, and is illustrated by the word cloud below. Essentially we believe St Mary s strengths fall into three related themes: 1. Its distinctive modern catholic worshipping style, with music and ceremony which puts the Sacraments at the heart of worship and creates an uplifting and spiritual experience 2. A tangible warmth in the welcome that is offered to everyone, whether they are regular worshippers, visitors or parishioners who join us just for Christmas 3. In combination these two factors create an important third: an inclusive, genuinely catholic approach that welcomes all, regardless of background, gender, race or sexual orientation. We believe this combination is key to understanding the strengths of St Mary s. Most of our congregation come some distance to worship here because they appreciate the style of worship, but they also feel included within it. 26
Our consultation has revealed an equally clear analysis of our weaknesses too. Two specific points emerged: first, although most people comment on the warmth offered, this can be inconsistent; and second, following the retirement of our Sunday School leader, we have not found it possible to offer special provision for children. However, we were delighted to see that these concerns were invariably expressed as opportunities to grow. We are very clear that: 1. We want to grow our congregation, particularly within the parish. This should involve both numerical growth, and growth as a compassionate Christian community, so that everyone who comes can experience the love of Christ offered through members of the congregation, and all have an opportunity to develop individually as disciples of Christ. 2. We need and want to attract more families into church, especially those with younger children, and significantly increase what we offer to children who attend our services. 3. We wish to engage with the local community more, and more meaningfully, becoming effective witnesses to Christ and playing our part in achieving Capital Vision 2020, the Diocese s initiative to create an outward-looking Church in all of London (https://www.london. anglican.org/mission/capital-vision-2020) These three strands should form the basis of our Mission Action Plan which we can align with Capital Vision 2020: we believe we have a compelling expression of the Gospel message which we can express with Confidence, we wish to develop our Compassion in our support for and engagement with our local community, and our focus must be on developing Creative ways of encouraging and welcoming all our parish and neighbours into Church more often. 27
6. The next Vicar The vast majority of our congregation have only ever known one Vicar at St Mary s, so potential applicants could be forgiven for thinking there is little appetite for change. Far from it: it is clear that whilst there are many personal qualities that we have come to treasure and would want to see repeated, there is also wide acknowledgement that a new Vicar could breathe new energy into our worship and our mission. We are looking for a priest who can demonstrate that he or she: Shares our vision; and has the energy and charisma to increase our congregation and extend our mission; Will work in collaboration with the congregation in making it happen; Has experience in teaching the faith, and identifying and developing new leadership within the congregation; Has a proven ability to engage with children and minister to young people; Has the enthusiasm and commitment to develop links with local schools and community organisations; Appreciates and embraces a modern catholic tradition; Within that tradition, is keen to ensure that it is relevant and appealing to a modern audience Understands the balance between the solemnity of worship and the joyfulness of the life it affirms Has experience of fund-raising for a major building project Is prepared to commit to us and our parish Personal qualities that we will be looking for include: A strong sense of spirituality, grounded in prayer, sharing and teaching their faith A clear and convincing work ethic Motivation for the challenge ahead and the creativity to meet it A collaborative working style with which to build on our strong foundations Clear commitment to equality and inclusivity in all its forms Relaxed and confident with children and young people; An appreciation of the Anglican choral tradition and the central role of music in the Mass A good sense of fun We believe that this will be a very rewarding post for someone with these qualities, and offers a real chance of great success and satisfaction for the right individual, regardless of their age or life stage, gender, sexual orientation or background. 28
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