The PARISH of MUDEFORD Carol singing around the Parish Remembrance Day Service Parish contact details: Vicar: Revd Canon Helen Griffiss 01425 276267 revhelengriffiss@gmail.com Churchwardens: Mr Tony Eden 01202 473003 anthony.eden84@btinternet.com Mrs Maggie Raine 01425 616652 maggieraine@aol.com Web site: www.allsaintschurchmudeford.webs.com Annual Report 2016 The Churches of All Saints Mudeford & High Cross Somerford 12
Introduction April 2017 Income and Expenditure for 2016 Welcome to our new look Annual Report! More detailed reports and the full Financial statement will be available for the Annual Parochial Church Meeting on the 26 th April. We have introduced this report for two reasons. Firstly it makes easier reading about the work of the Church as a whole and secondly we review the progress that we have made with our Parish Mission Action Plan. It was launched in November 2015 and in it we set out a five year plan for our Parish. At our Away Day in June last year we took time out to review the progress, challenges and opportunities in meeting this plan. There is still much to do, but we have made good progress and my prayer is that it will continue in the years ahead. Blessings, Helen Priority: Regular Review of Mission Action Plan The Revd Canon Helen Griffiss Weekly Worship at All Saints: Mudeford, Christchurch BH23 3HS Sunday: 8.00am Holy Communion 10.00am Sung Eucharist 1st Sunday in the month 5.30pm Church in the Round (4.30 Nov - March) Informal Service in the hall 2nd and 4th Sundays 10.00am Children's Groups Wednesdays 10.00am Holy Communion (BCP) Our Vision for Mission: This Parish seeks to be inclusive in extending God s kingdom, by encouraging the whole community to grow in the Christian faith through prayer and worship and to care for others through pastoral and practical support. 2 11
Finances and Premises The building and grounds of All Saints Church continue to be maintained in very good order. The majority of this work is undertaken by volunteers and is organised by Vera Gale and Mary Thomas. In addition work has been undertaken at High Cross Church to maintain the buildings. Although High Cross is only eleven years old it is starting to need a regular level of maintenance. All Saints Church continues to promote the Parish Giving scheme as the most efficient way of providing a regular income to the Church. However, it must be noted that our other sources of income are essential if we are to meet all our expenses. In particular: the Gift Day in September the income from the regular letting of the hall to outside users (and this means keeping the buildings in good order through regular cleaning and repair). the money raised through social events. the income from weddings and funerals Our Common Fund (or Parish Share which is our contribution to the Diocese) continues to increase year on year and in 2017 will increase by about 3000. Our direct giving will need to increase by at least this amount if we are to meet all our commitments. On the positive side the running costs of our church have not increased thanks to the voluntary work undertaken by church members for which we are very grateful. Priority: to maintain a strong worship, community and social base during 2017. We pray that our Church members will continue to support our Parish during the forthcoming year. Worship and Nurture Everything we do at All Saints Church flows out of our central activity of worship. We meet for worship every Sunday at 8am and 10am and at 10am on Wednesday. Once a month we meet on a Sunday afternoon at Church in the Round and children and their carers meet for Messy Church once a month (except August). Our numbers have been maintained and we have welcomed a number of new people who have moved into the area. The Mothers Union continues to meet weekly in prayer and discussion and the Prayer group meets in the Church each Wednesday morning. We have been invited to Avon Priority: To continue to Reach Nursing Home to take encourage new people to be involved in church activities communion services there once a month and a number of residents join us when we have outdoor services. It is a real pleasure to take them out so that they can join us at our outdoor events. Our Mission Action Plan (MAP) has challenged us to develop younger worshippers in planning and leading worship and become involved in all aspects of our worship. Priority: This programme is ongoing as we seek to find, develop and train our younger people. Average weekly attendance at worship services in 2016 8am Holy Communion 18 25 10am Sung Eucharist 65 80 Wednesday Communion 8 12 First Sunday - Church in the Round 45 60 Monthly - Messy Church 15 20 children Monthly communion service at Avon Reach Home 15 20 Some other Services at All Saints in 2016 Baptisms 13 Weddings 7 plus 1 Blessing Funerals 12 10 3
During 2016 we have maintained our two Bible Study groups and the numbers attending have increased. In addition a house group was formed in September to accommodate those who wanted a different style of study, worship and fellowship. It is called What would Jesus do? or WWJD. This meets one of the objectives in the Mission Action Plan by forming a new Exploration group which is rooted and grounded in the Gospel. Lent is always a special time for us and in 2016 over 30 people took part in the Diocesan course called I witness. In addition, we held two Lent lunches with St. Joseph s Catholic Church, which gave us the time to share in fellowship, enjoy a frugal meal together and raise money for CAFOD and Christian Aid. In June we held an Away Day at Branksome Dene for PCC members as well as the wider congregation. In the morning we revisited our plans in the Parish Mission Action Plan to see how and where they need to be updated. After lunch we welcomed Ruth Crosland, a local Lay Minister who gave us an insight into people living with dementia. This was also included in our plan (MAP) Priority: To continue developing our awareness of people living with dementia Music is a very important part of our worship. The Revd Helen has trained the choir and Audrey Wild has played the organ each Sunday morning at the Sung Eucharist. A music group led by Bob Miller plus four musicians have played at the Church in the Round service. A meeting is held to plan this service and once the theme is agreed, Bob then chooses the music a variety of older as well as modern songs. This style of service has proved popular not just with existing Church members but also those new or wishing to explore the Christian faith. The music group at Church in the Round 4 Home and Away Support for charities locally, at home and abroad remains a high priority and we have been able to maintain at least 10% of our overall income to the chosen charities. This level of giving is one of our objectives as set out in the Mission Action Plan. Our giving to charities comes from three sources: Our Mission Pot, which is always in Church, directs our giving to a specific charity every two months. Specific fund raising events are held to support a particular charity The Parochial Church Council at the end of each year allocates 10% of our regular giving to charities. Two examples are particularly worthy of mention in 2016. In Bournemouth, Mary Randell works tirelessly to help the homeless, and after she came to give an address at a Sunday service, our giving was directed to supporting her work. One of our Church members, Tony Eden, went out to work at a Mission Hospital in Eastern Zambia. This was his fourth visit undertaking maintenance work at the hospital and the money he took with him from the church enabled him to help repair much of the essential equipment and fittings at the hospital. St Francis Sunday School Priority: To maintain our level of giving to charities in 2017 9 St Francis Hospital, Zambia
At the end of July, we took part in the Mudeford Arts Festival which takes place on Mudeford Quay Green. We provided over 1,000 cups of tea and coffee and many hundreds of delicious homemade cakes over the weekend, as well as providing a craft tent for children to use their creative imagination. At the end of the weekend we held our annual Songs of Praise service in the lifeboat station on the Quay which was packed out with regular members and visitors. Three other groups have continued throughout 2016 Mainly Men led by Bob Miller, the Mudeford Art Group led by Lovedy James and the Upper Room Book club led by Vikki Miller. Each group attracts a Children enjoying the Craft Tent loyal group of followers; some are Church members while others are from the wider community. Everyone is welcome. The Parish magazine, known as The Anchor is produced in house ten times a year. Its editor is Vera Gale and each month she produces a magazine that is lively and full of local stories and events that have taken place. 140 copies of the magazine are produced and distributed which keeps everyone in touch with what is going on in the Church and local community. Vikki and Judy serving refreshments at Little Stars During the year, three Church members (Judy Eden, Vera Gale and Chris Green) went on a Food Hygiene course and obtained their certificates for the next three years. We continued to have a Traidcraft stall on the first Sunday of each month which is organised by Pauline and Neil Williams. Our Church is a strong supporter of FairTrade products. 8 In November, the PCC approved three people attending a Diocesan Lay Workers programme in 2017 with the objective of developing Lay worship leadership and Pastoral care. This was an initiative at Diocesan level. Children and Young People We are constantly reminded that young people are essential if the Church is going to survive, and this is uppermost in our minds. We struggle to recruit families with young children into our Sunday morning service and this is an ongoing priority. The three Children s groups, Sparks, Ignite and Flames meet on the second and fourth Sunday of the month and they use ROOTS which follows the Lectionary themes. Nativity and Christingle at High Cross Church We have a loyal and dedicated team of volunteers to teach and support the children. At the end of the service, the children explain what they have learnt and this often helps the adults to further understand the theme. We have three other groups as part of our outreach to youngsters in the parish. The first two are mother and toddler groups; Little Saints who meet at All Saints Church and Little Stars who meet at High Cross Church. In addition we run a youth club known as Soul Juice for youngsters between 10 and 14 years of age at High Cross Church. This club is run jointly with the United Reformed Church. 5 Chris teaching a song at Messy Church
In our Mission Action Plan we identified the Somerford Estate as a hard to reach area within the Parish and in November the PCC agreed that we would employ a Family worker to get to know and support families in this area. Priority: To employ a Family Worker when a new priest is appointed In addition, as part of the Mission Action Plan, we applied to Moorlands College for a student to work with Soul Juice as well as taking part in the worship of our church. The college assigned two first year students, Peter and Hannah, to help us. Both students have been a real blessing to Peter and Hannah us. They are doing great work with the Youth Club as well as taking a very active part in our Church life. Hannah has joined the choir, they have led the Intercessions, given an address and been to a number of social events. Priority To apply for 2 more students in 2017 Care for our older people Mudeford is a retirement area and so we have a duty to provide a range of services to meet their needs. One group known as CAMEO (Come and Meet Each Other), which caters for widows and their particular needs has grown steadily in number. Our Pastoral care team led by Anthea Bell has been very active in supporting many people who find themselves in need. During the year Tricia Hughes joined the team and is now very active in developing this important work. Our Life Together There is no doubt that the Parish of Mudeford is a socially active community and we aim to keep our doors open for everyone. The social committee led by Vera Gale CAMEO ladies enjoying tea in organises the weekly coffee the garden mornings each Wednesday as well as organising a number of social activities throughout the year raising over 10,000 in so doing. To celebrate the Queens 90 th birthday we held a flower festival in June which was very popular and raised over 5,600 again for Church funds. There are no Anglican faith schools in the Parish, but Mudeford Infant School has visited the Church as part of their curriculum and we have been able to make a start in building a relationship with the school. Our priority will be to develop this relationship in 2017 and we have been invited to introduce the Bible to the children at an assembly through Open the Book Christmas Lunch in the Vestry Hall Priority in 2017 To introduce Open the Book 6 Songs of Praise at the Lifeboat Station 7