Knowsley St Mary Knowsley Village Parish Profile
THE VICAR WE WA T. St Mary s Church is seeking a person with a preaching and teaching ministry, someone who could nourish our faith, with a strong personal faith themselves. Someone committed to the growth of our Church both spiritually and numerically aided by the use of nurture and inquiry groups. A person who is effective in communication and in co-ordinating the Parish activities, enabling the parishioners to use their gifts and talents towards this end. God gives the whole Church the gifts that it needs, and we realise that the Priest who is appointed cannot be expected to have all of them. The Priest would need to be capable of encouraging others to use their gifts to develop teamwork for the advancement of Christ s Kingdom in the Parish. Work with our young people is very important to us at St. Mary s, we are very keen and have members with skills and enthusiasm who would love to become more involved in this important work. We would look to our new priest in charge for direction and leadership. There is a need to develop a Pastoral Care and Visitation Ministry. Some encouragement and further training would be required. Members of the Parish have gone some way with training and people are willing to share in this ministry. ST. MARY S MISSIO STATEME T To share with others through word, action and example the Good ews of Jesus Christ, praying that many will come to trust Him as Saviour and faithfully serve Him as Lord in the fellowship of His Church, the community and the world.
Our Strengths This section of our profile has been designed to outline a number of key areas. Strengths, Opportunities & Areas for Development. We believe our strengths at St. Mary s are as follows. A strong Village community Excellent commitment and support from all involved in the day-to-day running at St Mary s Support and assistance from our Patron The Earl of Derby Two popular schools Three thousand strong Parish. A well appointed and attractive Vicarage. Regular and well supported events. Strong links with our friends at St. John Fisher Catholic Church. A wide variety of charity work benefiting a spectrum of good causes. Regular and growing family attendance at Church. Opportunities. We always welcome opportunities at St. Mary s and are looking for a priest who will not only support our existing plans but create, support and develop the Parish as a whole. Use our heritage and links to the Earl of Derby to raise awareness of the Church, it s members and the worship that takes place in our beautiful Church. Gain a better understanding of the modern community and its needs. Reach out into the community and take the Church to the people who find it difficult to come through the doors of Church. Further enhance the work of our Women s Fellowship and Spiritual and Social groups. Try to build up the fellowship for men and look to ways to involve them.
Re-look at expanding our Harvest Festival linked with Back to Church Sunday and expand the impact of both these important Church activities. Provide a pleasant working environment for our new priest. Areas for Development. We are a forward thinking Parish and consistently look for areas that require development, below we have provided a list. Looking to develop and broaden our work with children, teenagers and families. Improving and introducing new prayer, study and nurture groups. Strengthen our links with the local schools. Especially Knowsley Village C P School. Promoting Back to Church Sunday to encourage improved attendance and commitment. Using our Harvest Festival to include and involve local retailers and the farming community in Knowsley Village. Strengthen our links with Brownies, Beavers, Cubs and Scouts. Encourage new ideas in our Worship, and review the use of our buildings. Draw on the experience of existing volunteers and further expand our volunteer base. Look into ways we can raise the profile of events such as the Christmas Tree Festival and both of our Shoe Box Appeals. Samaritans Purse & Help the Heroes. Looking Forward. At St. Mary s we constantly review practices. We keep abreast with training provided by the Diocese. We are committed to further enhance our strong beliefs. We would like to help our new priest to fulfill both Parish and personal goals by effective team work using our existing skills and experience. To spread the word of God to the wider community using good communication and our Christian knowledge and witness. To help members of our Church and Parish and the wider community to become involved in our mission to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.
How can we achieve this? By working with our new priest, our friends at St John Fisher Catholic Church our existing PCC and Parish to embrace new ideas and seize opportunities when presented. Embrace new ideas, challenges and opportunities, to allow a flow of thoughts and new directions to blossom and prosper. THE PARISH OF ST. MARY S K OWSLEY VILLAGE. The Parish of St. Mary s Knowsley Village is set in a semi rural location, very close to the city of Liverpool. It has excellent road links to the City and also to the Motorway network. Most of the Parish lies within Knowsley Park the seat of the Earl of Derby, who is the Patron of our Church. The Safari Park is also in our Parish. The surrounding parishes are very urban and on the north side of the East Lancashire Road is Knowsley Industrial Park. Knowsley Business Park is inside the Parish boundary. The village has two Primary Schools. St John Fisher Roman Catholic Primary School and Knowsley Village Community Primary School The Previous Vicar had started to forge contacts with the Village School and we would like those contacts to continue and be strengthened. The population of the Parish is about 3,000. The village consists mostly of privately owned housing, a small number of sheltered housing bungalows. The rest, about 20% of the total is social housing. There is at the moment a planning application lodged with the Council for a Retirement Village. It would be built in the Parish and would include a doctors surgery, a pharmacy, a restaurant and everything required for the residents from Retirement Living to Full Nursing Care. There is a Village Hall where lots of activities take place, from the Historical Society to a Dance School to Tia Chi etc. This is located opposite the Church. The Village enjoys a selection of strong amenities including several children s play areas, popular walks around the Parish, several independent retailers including a Post Office, eateries, local news agents, a florist and several public houses. The most famous of these is The Pipe and Gannex. This is named after Harold Wilson who was Prime Minister and MP for Knowsley.
MAP OF THE PARISH BOU DARY CA BE FOU D AT http://www.achurchnearyou.com/parish.php?p=220086/
WHAT WE DO AT ST. MARY S St Mary s is a very warm and welcoming Church. Many of our visitors comment on the welcome they receive. We hope that it may encourage more people to come and worship with us. The people who attend our two Sunday services have a time that is spent together between the services 9:30am & 11:00am Tea and Coffee is served at the back of Church and this is a good space for spending time with each other. We also serve Tea and Coffee at the end of the 11:00am service. There are two Women s groups attached to St. Mary s The Tuesday Fellowship which is a very long standing group, being in existence for some forty-seven years and is still a very active group both in the life of St. Mary s and in the Village community. The Tuesday Fellowship meet twice a month. At each meeting they have a speaker or activities that cover many different topics. The Fellowship have three special Communion Services a year and is very proactive in their support for Women s World Day of Prayer. The Women s Spiritual & Social group is a younger group of women. The S&S meet once a month. The group has taken on knitting jumpers for African children and head up the Samaritans Purse Shoeboxes. They also enjoy theatre trips and meals out. Mainly the group tries to broaden their Bible knowledge and pray together regularly. Two different groups both contributing to Gods work at St. Mary s
St. Mary s Church has for the last few years been very involved with Back to Church Sunday. Because we are a semi-rural parish Harvest Festival is also a very important date in our Church calendar. We have combined Back to Church Sunday and our Harvest Festival to make a celebration of Harvest in more than one way. We have a Brownie Pack that meets in the Church Hall on Thursday evenings. They attend Parade Services and are very involved in those services. They will do the Bible readings, prayers, help with collections and collecting and distributing books and service sheets. The Beavers, Cubs and Scouts have recently started to come along and take part in our Parade Services. They also take part in Bible readings, prayers, help with the collection and giving out and collecting hymn books and service sheets.
Messy Church At St. Mary s we have held two messy Church sessions. Messy Harvest and Messy Light. Both have been well attended, but obviously we would like to expand this part of our Church life. We have a team, which is willing to do more activities with Children. At the moment we will keep working with Messy Church. This is part of St. Mary s that does need more work. We are very willing and there are people with lots of enthusiasm and skills who are bringing their ideas along to expand the Children s and Young peoples work in St. Mary s. We have a very successful shoebox appeal. This is a combined effort between the two women s groups and the women from St. John Fisher Church. The Samaritans Purse provide boxes for children at Christmas time and we collect all year round for Help the Hero shoeboxes.
In the last two years we have held Christmas Tree Festivals. They have been a really good way to open our Church at that most special time of the year. We have raised substantial amounts of money, which is then given to various charities. The Salvation Army, Zoes Place Baby Hospice and Willowbrook Hospice, and a third of the money is given to St. Mary s Church. The good things to come out of The Christmas Tree Festivals are, opening our Church to the wider community. The two schools in the village have played a big part in the Festivals. Both the Catholic and the Village CP School have sent their choirs along to sing and to form guards of honour for the Earl and Countess of Derby at the opening ceremonies. Both schools have allowed all the children come down to visit Church to see the beautiful Christmas Trees. We have a good relationship with the Village CP School, which we would like to expand. The Head Teacher Julia Barlow has written in our profile, hoping to encourage stronger links between School and Church. We are continuing with the contacts we have there. Our Lay Reader is a school governor and some of our parents are on the governing body of the school. Each year we hold numerous social events. These take place in our Church Hall. Our friends from St. John Fisher Roman Catholic Church join us in some of these events which are very enjoyable and certainly bring both Churches together. We have musical concerts in Church, Brass Band Concerts, Choirs, Orchestras. These concerts are open to all the Village and again, it is opening the Church to the wider community. Once a month we have a Film Night. These are very enjoyable times (Ice cream in the Interval!)
St Mary s has a web site and you can find us at www.knowsleychurch.co.uk We have recordings of our Sunday services on the web and also lots of photographs of our parishioners. News of all the events taking place in our Parish can also be found on the web site. Each week we get about 150 hits. St Mary s is in Huyton Deanery, and is in an informal cluster of Churches. St. George s, St. Luke s and St. Mary s. Latterly St. Judes Stockbridge Village has joined in this informal cluster. The Clergy from the Parishes meet on a weekly basis to pray, share ideas and support one another. All four Churches join together three times a year for services on Ash Wednesday, Ascension Day and All Saints Day. At the moment in St. Mary s there are no specific groups for the men or the teenagers of the Parish SERVICES: Each Sunday we have two services. 9:30am is a BCP service. On the second & fourth Sunday it is a Communion service. 11:00am is a Common Worship service. 1 st Sunday Family Holy Communion 2 nd Sunday Parade Service 3 rd Sunday Family Holy Communion 4 th Sunday Family Morning Prayer When there is a fifth Sunday we have one Service at 10:30am Holy Communion CW. On the last Sunday of each month a 6:30pm evening service was held but during the interregnum those services have been suspended, by the previous vicar and the PCC. Surplus and stole is worn at the Communion service and Choir dress on other occasions. Last year we had 3Weddings, 9 Funerals & 11 Baptisms.
THE CHURCH A D ITS BUILDI GS St Mary s Church was built in 1844 in the early English style, with an elegant tower and spire. It has many interesting features and has strong links with the Stanley Family The Earls of Derby at Knowsley Hall. The Church has recently been upgraded to a Grade 2* by the English Heritage Trust. The Church is in a good state of repair internally and externally. We use a monthly visual check schedule to help spot any problems at an early stage. A recent upgrade is in the toilet area to comply with disability access it also has a family friendly baby changing facility and there is a newly refurbished kitchen. We are currently rearranging the West End area to replace obsolete furniture. A tidying up process is going on to create a much better child friendly area. New furniture has been purchased using money donated from parishioners. New furniture for the children s area has also been purchased and we are in the process of assembling it. The Church is under utilised being open only for Sunday worship and on Wednesday afternoons 2:00pm to 4:00pm for quiet times for individuals and some cleaning work. A parish prayer time has recently been tried from 2:30pm to 3:30pm with mixed success. There is scope to develop this important aspect timing could well be looked into. PCC meetings are held in Church in the winter months. Other opening times are for Weddings, Funerals and special events as and when required. The Church Hall is situated beyond the East End of Church across Tithebarn Road in its own curtilage. The Hall is a wooden structure originating from the USAF base at Burtonwood. It has been well maintained over its lifetime and is still in serviceable condition. It does need some upgrading to comply with current legislation for disability access and toilet facilities. The car parking area in front of the hall serves as a car park for people attending Church services. The hall is used for Church social events, Women s Fellowship, on alternate Tuesday evenings, Brownies on Thursday evenings, Messy Church and the community Police has access throughout the day. The hall could be more fully utilised for both Church and community purposes. There is a small field area to the rear of the hall. This is used for any outdoor activities. i.e. Church picnics, games afternoons etc. Surrounding Church are burial grounds with a Garden of Remembrance area, a relatively new graveyard is located across Knowsley Lane opposite the West End of Church.
The grounds are maintained a portion to the NorthWest corner by staff from Knowsley Hall Estate, the remainder of the West and North side, and the new graveyard, across Knowsley Lane is maintained by a contractor paid for from Church expenses. The area to the South and East side of the graveyard is currently being looked after by a small team of volunteers. The area of grass around the Church hall is also maintained by volunteers. The Vicarage This is a detached modern four bedroomed house, with generous accommodation over two floors. It has an open carport area and a garage. It is set in its own garden overlooking the small Church field and the Church hall. The house is approached via a driveway, which offers parking for several cars. The Vicarage is in a good state of repair and is clean and well decorated. At the front of the house is an office. This can be locked off from the main house. We need to access the office for printing and other administrative activities that are ongoing during the interregnum. The vicarage has an alarm system; CCTV covers the drive area and the frontage of the house.
PLA OF CHURCH, VICARAGE, HALL & GRAVEYARDS. CA BE FOU D O THE LI K BELOW http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&form=lmltcp&cp=sx8dhngrw2fw&style=b&lvl=1 &tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=- 1000&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&scene=29153713&where1=L34%200JQ&encType=1
COMME TS ABOUT ST. MARY S The Earl of Derby. Our Church Patron says. St Mary s Knowsley is a lovely Victorian Church with stunning mosaics and a family Chapel near the altar. It is a much loved building and you can see how the Church Community has cared for it. The Vicar and the whole Church Family are always welcoming to both their own flock and to any visitor to the area. Coffee and biscuits after services on Sunday are always popular with the congregation. Children have always been warmly welcomed and it has been good to see the numbers growing in recent years. With some temporary communion rails and raised floor along the Chapel, there is some scope to consider different ways of using the building for services. The beautiful graveyards are well maintained and the vicarage is just over the road. Beyond the Church itself there is an active programme of meetings, lunches and suppers around the Parish. The Vicar and her spouse have always been welcome to come and walk in the Park at Knowsley whenever they please. Julia Barlow. Head Teacher Knowsley Village C.P. School says.. I would like to thank the people from St. Mary s Church for all the support and partnership work that has taken place between the Church and School since I have taken over as Head teacher in September 2010. The children and parents have both commented on how wonderful it was to have the Nativity in the Church and to see the children s work displayed there too. The year three and four children have enjoyed their visits to Church. Those visits really brought to life our topic of The Bible and Special Places. I know the children have enjoyed joining in with Messy Church and look forward to the next Messy event. I am keen to continue to foster and develop these links further as I feel it is important for the community as well as for my school. John Wickham. Our Lay-Reader says. Although I am a recent arrival at St. Mary s (2007) I have been very happy to settle here, and have found St Mary s a very welcoming Church with enough work to keep me busy. Both in Church, and in the wider community. I started my life as a reader in 1974, when I worked as a teacher in Kirkby. After spending time in many and varied places I retired from teaching in 2006 and returned to Merseyside. My roll at St. Mary s includes Sunday services, Bible study groups and Confirmation training. I am a Parish Councillor and a Governor of the local village primary school.
FI A CIAL STATEME T During 2010 considerable work was undertaken to enhance the Churches facilities for the benefit of all Parishioners. A comprehensive overhaul was undertaken of the toilet and kitchen facilities at the rear of Church so as to comply with DDA (Disability Discrimination Act 1995). We do not envisage any further spending on that scale in the foreseeable future. There has been a reduction in fees to Church due to changing patterns, i.e. weddings and funerals. There has been a reduction in our interest rates on money invested. We are constantly reviewing our finances. The overall balance at the end of 2010 was 14,000. As a Church we support overseas mission by donating 10% of our donated income to Church Missionary Society now incorporating South American Mission, The Leprosy Mission and The Children s Society. A full copy of our finances is available on request. PEOPLE AT ST. MARY S We have an Associate Priest : Revd. Canon Alison Woodhouse. We have a Lay-Reader : John Wickham Two Church Wardens a Secretary a Treasurer a Verger and two Church Organists. PCC consists of 12 elected members plus three Deanery Synod Representatives and two Diocesan Synod Representatives. There are 20 Sides persons. We have 110 people on our Electoral Roll. Average Sunday attendance is 56 adults and 10 children