2007 Church Annual Report
Church Membership and Attendance
Reflections from the Reverend William Ridding
The
parish of St Mary, Stalbridge together with the parishes of St Peter, Purse
Caundle, St Barnabas, Stock (including Kings Stag) and St Peter, Stourton
Caundle were joined to form the Benefice of Spire Hill on 1st July
2007. The Bishop of Sherborne presided
at a Benefice Holy Communion on Sunday 9th December 2007 to
inaugurate officially the new benefice.
We are working together as a team and have a Benefice service when there
is a 5th Sunday in the month, taking it in turns to be the ‘host
parish’. A joint meeting of the four
parochial church councils took place on 22nd November to hear about
the work of lay pastoral assistants and we look forward to working together in
the future.
The
benefice of Spire Hill is one of five benefices that make up the Pilgrim
Benefices. The other benefices being: Hazelbury
Bryan and the Hillside Parishes
(Belchalwell, Fifehead Neville, Hazelbury Bryan with Stoke Wake, Ibberton,
Mappowder, and Woolland); Marnhull; Sturminster Newton, Hinton
St Mary and Lydlinch; and The Okeford Benefice (Child Okeford, Manston, Hammoon, Okeford
Fitzpaine, and Shillingstone). The
Pilgrim Benefices have sought over the last nine years to work, study and
worship together where this is to the benefit of all concerned as the benefices
seek to build the mission of the church in this area.
The
Parochial Church Council is a corporate body established by the Church of
England. The PCC operates under the
Parochial Church Council Powers Measure.
The PCC is excepted by order from registering with the Charity
Commission.
The
PCC has the responsibility of co-operating with the Rector in promoting in the
ecclesiastical parish the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic,
social and ecumenical and also has maintenance responsibilities for the church,
its contents and the churchyard.
PCC
members are either ex-officio or are elected by the Annual Parochial Church
Meeting (APCM) in accordance with the Church Representation Rules.
During the year the following served on the PCC:
Incumbent: The Reverend William Ridding
Wardens: Mr Derek Bollen and Mr John Foster-Pegg
Deanery
Synod Members: Mr John Lambert, Mrs
Gretta Paul,
and Mr Nigel Pope
Representatives
of the laity: Mrs Joan Bryan, Mrs Jan
Carson,
Mr John Harris, Mr Clive Moore, Mr Peter Moore,
Mr James Vear and Mrs Judy Waite.
The
PCC has met six times during the year since the last APCM. Between the meetings, the PCC operates
through its Standing Committee which has powers to transact business subject to
direction given by the PCC itself.
In 2007 the standing committee was not called upon to meet.
There
are 70 members on the Church Electoral Roll.
The median Sunday attendance as measured in May 2007 was 103.
There were 15 Baptisms, 7 Marriages and 22 Funerals, including cremations,
during the year.
The regular Sunday services are:
8am Holy Communion (Common
Worship, Order Two)
9.30am Holy Communion (Common
Worship, Order One)
6.30pm Evening Prayer (Book of
Common Prayer,
but on a 4th Sunday it
is Holy Communion – Methodist rite).
On a 5th Sunday: Benefice Holy
Communion, each church in turn. Special
services have included Candlemas, Crib and Christingle Services and Harvest
Festival. A Harvest Supper was held,
after the Harvest Thanksgiving, in the parish room.
Seven
members of the congregation were confirmed during the year at services in
Salisbury Cathedral in January, April and November.
Sunday
School closed at the end of the year due to a lack of leaders and young members
of the congregation. The way forward
will be discussed at the next PCC meeting.
The
Reverend William Ridding has continued to hold 11 pastoral days: four in
Stalbridge, three in the other parishes of the Benefice, and four in the
Benefice of Hazelbury Bryan and the Hillside Parishes. He conducts collective worship at Stalbridge
Church of England Primary School and three other primary schools in the area.
The
choir sings regularly each Sunday morning in church and rehearses on alternate
Wednesday evenings. We occasionally
have the opportunity to sing in one of our neighbouring churches at Purse
Caundle, Stock, or Stourton Caundle.
As
usual during Advent the choir visited local retirement homes to sing
carols. We also sang carols at the
‘Late Night Shopping’ evening in Stalbridge and on Christmas Eve outside Dikes
Supermarket. During this period we
received donations amounting to £120.08 which was given to Stalbridge Primary
School for their library.
We
would welcome any new members to the choir.
Why not come along to a practice to see how you get on? Contact Maggie Chubb for more details on
01963 363213.
Once
a month a small group of musicians get together to provide the music for the
second Sunday morning service in church. We rehearse on the Saturday
before the service, at 5pm. If you play an instrument and would be
interested in joining us, we would be delighted to see you. Please
contact William Ridding or Maggie Chubb, if you would like to know more.
The
youth group met twice each month during the school terms. Games evenings were held in the parish room
and the garden of the Rectory, alternating with trips to Yeovil’s Bowlplex,
Skittles at The Trooper Inn, Stourton Caundle, a Night Walk in January,
Splashdown at Tower Park, Orienteering, Rounders and a Treasure Hunt. In the summer and Christmas holidays, weekly
walks were arranged and these attracted up to 18 walkers a time.
The
youth group accounts showed a credit balance for the year of £164.36. When this is added on to the balance at the
start of the year [£646.33], the youth group has a closing balance of £810.69
on 31st December 2007.
Mr
John Harris, Chair of the Friends of St Mary’s, reports that they have had a
useful year in that they were able to present a cheque for £5,460 to pay for
the replacement of the lead in the roof over the St Joseph Chapel. The Quinquennial Inspection (9th
January 2008) has shown that there is more work to be done on the fabric of the
building, particularly to the roof and the south window. The Friends’ Annual General Meeting will be
on Tuesday 13th May 2008 at 7.30pm at Grove House, Stalbridge when
supporters will be more than welcome.
Three
fund raising events were held during the year raising a total of £1,399.45
On
21st April, on a glorious day, a very successful coffee morning was
held at the home of Mr & Mrs David Brice and a total of £826.15 was
raised. On 19th May at the
home of Mr & Mrs Bob Service we had another successful event, a book sale
and afternoon tea. The weather was not
so favourable, but £298 was raised. The
late night opening stall in the home of Mr & Mrs Chris Francis was another
good effort raising a total of £275.30.
Our
thanks are due to those who hosted the events, and those who produced cakes,
paintings, crafts and plants etc.
Repairs
have been carried out on the roof over St Joseph’s Chapel. Plans are well underway to install new
double doors from the porch into the church.
The new inner doors will be of glass with a engraving and dedication to
a former member of the congregation by kind generosity of the family, and new
oak doors will replace the existing ‘outer’ doors.
SHARE
OF £35,397.00 FOR 2007 HAD ALL BEEN PAID BY 31st DECEMBER, leaving
us a balance £623.49 in the bank current account. Salisbury Diocesan Board of Finance gave us a refund of £2,015.41
in July—had it not been for this payment, share could not all have been paid.
Once again many thanks to all who have contributed faithfully and regularly during
2007. A special thanks to those who
have increased their giving during the year, and to those who have given
additional payments, or supported our fund raising projects.
The
total cost for running our church and supporting the ministry in 2007 was
£50,441.58 which is £970.03 per week or £9.41 (before tax) for each of our 103
worshippers.
The total income for the year was £49,433.21
expenditure totalled £50,411.58
leaving a decrease in funds of £978.37
Giving
through both envelopes systems
and Bank Direct Debits totalled £20,074.55
Covenant Tax Refunds were £5,026.11
Donations and Bequests were £693.12
Fund Raising events totalled £1,494.53
Loose Collection total was £6,739.74
These main sources of income decreased by 7.38%
on last year.
Should
you not have reviewed your giving recently, can you please give consideration
to the fact that the cost of running the church has increased by 44.4% during
the last 5 years, while the income from main sources (donations and fees
excluded) during the same period, has only increased by 32.9 %. ‘Every little helps’.
The
number of people using the planned giving envelopes (blue) has decreased
slightly while the number, who used Bank Standing Orders, remains the
same. At the present time, we have
approximately 75 planned givers leaving approximately 18 of our regular
worshipers who are not using any form of planned giving. Perhaps you could consider using the weekly
envelope giving system, or better still, why not consider paying monthly by
Bank Standing Order. By using either of
these methods the church can plan its budget.
Should
you pay income tax in any form, please could you sign a gift aid declaration,
if you have not already done so?
Richard Kinniburgh will be pleased to provide information. Please contact with this
link.
ALL CONTRIBUTIONS ARE VERY MUCH APPRECIATED.
Thank
you to all those who have shared in the life of the church and supported the
Christian witness in Stalbridge: servers, sidesmen and women, readers, lay
deacons, those who clean the church and the brass, arrange the flowers, tidy
the churchyard, organise the coffee after the mid morning service, sort out the
rosters, complete legal and other paper work… and many others.
I
congratulate everyone who has been involved in the life of your parish church
over the past 12 months. This report
outlines some of the different aspects of our life in Stalbridge. I hope you have been encouraged in reading
it.
As
this parish is now part of the Benefice of Spire Hill, there is much to look
forward to as we seek to continue to build good contacts with our neighbouring
parishes of Purse Caundle, Stock (Kings Stag) and Stourton Caundle. This benefice has growing links with the
other four benefices of the pilgrims-in-the-vale initiative. These 19 parishes
will be promoting the annual pilgrimage [4th June 2008 in Stourton
Caundle] and encouraging relevant training and teaching courses to help us be
better equipped to share and live kingdom values in our communities.
I
look forward to welcoming you to the church annual meeting on 24th
April 2008 in the parish room of St Mary’s Church, Stalbridge and hearing your
views and hopes for your parish church.
Approved
by the Parochial Church Council and signed on its behalf by:
Rector
of Spire Hill