2007 Church Annual Report
Members of the Parochial Church Council
Message from the Churchwardens
A message from the Reverend William Ridding
Like virtually all rural parishes, the average age of our
congregation continues to rise rather than fall and we would love to be able to
welcome younger families from the village to our regular worship. The service of Carols each Christmas Eve and,
to a lesser extent that at Harvest Thanksgiving, remind us what a joy it is to
see the church full. While we may not
have the level of support needed to be able to arrange services aimed more
specifically to appeal to children and young people, we should take heart from
the fact that, in terms of overall numbers, our congregation has risen in
recent years and it is a particular pleasure that included within are those
from our sister parishes in the Spire Hill Benefice who join us on a regular
basis.
For St Peter’s, the spirit of fellowship and
willing participation that abounds in Stourton Caundle is reflected in work
done by many people in this small community, much of which goes unacknowledged
but, without which, our church could not continue to function. Below you will find tributes paid to those
who carry out maintenance work on the church, the churchyard and cemetery, who
make improvements and modifications, those who clean the church and the brass
work, arrange the flowers and keep the clock going. Everyone involved has an important role to play. Without the hours that Gerry spends on the
accounts, Andrew on research on behalf of the fabric committee, Eric on
carrying out a whole variety of jobs, Nic as our PCC secretary and of course
our dedicated churchwardens, Jane and Gill and the host of duties they
undertake, we could not go on.
Changes, be they large or small, go on all
the time. We have a new lectern bible,
presented by Anita and Julian. Thanks
to Eric and Dee, the trough has been restored and planted, Julian and Eric have
also planted roses by the path to the church door and the altar cloth has been
beautifully refurbished by Father Knight. All of these activities, and many others, symbolize what keeps St
Peter's a living embodiment of our collective faith. And leading us all is William Ridding, whose commitment is
inspiring and to whom we owe, as ever, a great debt of thanks.
This has been another year of steady
progress. The electrical supply has
been upgraded to 3-phase which has enabled us to install more heaters. The porch gate has been modified to stop
birds getting into the church when the door is open. Part of the wall in the southeast corner of the cemetery, which was
damaged by tree roots, has been rebuilt, thanks to a grant from the Parish
Council.
We are fortunate to have amongst us people
who give generously of their time. Volunteers
continue to carry out general maintenance in the churchyard and cemetery, such
as stripping ivy from the walls and clearing out the drainage channels around
the church. They have provided a
curtain in the south chapel archway, made wheelchair ramps for the step at the
gate, built a metal cover to protect the clock mechanism, and security marked
all the accessible metalwork on the exterior of the church.
This year we hope to install a sound system
to help people with impaired hearing. We
shall be filling the gaps in the handrail along the church path. We are in the preliminary stages of planning
major work on the roof, replacing the felt under the stone tiles, which was
last done over 50 years ago and will require a major fundraising effort.
Incumbent: William Ridding
Wardens: Jane Colville and Gill Sanders (also Child
Protection Officer)
Deanery Synod Member: Richard Miles
Representatives of the laity: Olivia Bastable
(Electoral Roll Officer), Nic Block (Honorary Secretary), Eric Dummett, Gerry Holdstock (Honorary
Treasurer), Clive
Jones (Captain of the Tower), Andrew Oliver (Chairman Fabric Committee and Gift Aid Recorder),
Julian Shardlow, Terry Taylor (Vice Chairman)
The parochial church council (PCC) meets five
times a year, including the annual meeting in April, to discuss matters of
general concern and importance to the parish, whether they be local issues or
those raised by the diocese and the national church. PCC members try to represent the views of the wider community. The council is also responsible for the good
upkeep of the church and churchyard
The pattern of worship at the church of St.
Peter during the past year has continued with the twice monthly 11am services
that offer an 'all age worship' service on the second Sunday of the month and a
traditional matins service on the fourth Sunday. This pattern of worship has been established for about eighteen
months now and is well supported.
Last year the churchwardens mentioned the
Benefice re-organisation that was going to take place during 2007. We are pleased to say that as from the 1st
July last year we have been part of the new 'Spire Hill Benefice' consisting of
our parish, together with those of Stalbridge, Stock, and Purse Caundle. To mark this occasion a special service was
held last December at St. Mary's church in Stalbridge, Bishop Tim presided and
welcomed the new Benefice, and the congregation were 'entertained' by the
churchwardens' with a light-hearted presentation describing their respective
worship journeys.
The new Spire Hill Benefice is now part of
the Blackmore Vale Deanery and at a special service on 31st January
2008 the churchwardens welcomed the Reverend Shirley Smith as a new member of
the deanery's ministry team.
During the past year the Church of St. Peter
has held three funerals, two cremations, two weddings and three baptisms. Annual services have included our Harvest
thanksgiving, Remembrance services and our Christmas Eve carol service.
The churchwardens would like to say a special
thank you to William Ridding for his continued leadership and support. We would also like to thank the PCC, our
treasurer Gerry Holdstock, Janie and Sarah for cleaning and polishing the
brass, the flower arrangers, everyone on the cleaning rota, Chas Williams for
looking after the church clock and the 'Caundler1 team for providing
publicity during the year. Our Sunday
worship would not be the same without our organist Sue New, and a special
thanks must go to her for all her hard work.
We must thank all our congregation and
regular givers for rallying round in 2007. Their contribution increased to about £9750, and that, along with
a more successful year for fundraising, enabled us to claw back the loss made
in the previous year and put some money back into the pot. We continue to monitor our general fund
carefully although overheads such as energy costs are inevitably rising.
On the building side just over £5000 was
spent out on a number of projects including the installation of two new
heaters. We are very grateful for the
help we received from the Community Fund for that project. While the upkeep and preservation of an old
building will always be expensive and demanding, we have now addressed most of
the issues raised in the quinquennial survey.
There is a cloud on the horizon in that we
have been advised that within the next five years we will have to undertake
significant work on the felting of the church roof, which will be a very big
project. Please do continue to support
us in your charitable giving, and for the next three years thanks to Mr Darling
we can actually recover more tax than you are paying. Who could resist such a bargain! Simply complete one of the yellow Gift Aid
envelopes in the Church when you make your donation. If you would like your own supply of personal envelopes or would
like to make regular donations by bank standing order, please contact Andrew
Oliver at Golden Hill Cottage.
We started the year with concern that, with
one of our regular ringers having left for University in September, we might
have to stop practising on Monday nights due to lack of interest. I am glad to say that this worry has been put
to rest thanks to 3 new ringers, 2 from Stourton Caundle and 1 from Purse
Caundle and hopefully, with their help, we shall be able to ring aloud for
years to come! During the year we have
been able to accommodate several bands of visiting ringers and to ring out
congratulations for a wedding. If
anybody else would like to try ringing please call in at the church on Monday
evening at 7pm. You would be most
welcome.
In recent years I served as our parish
representative at the Sherborne Deanery Synod. However, following our five-year interregnum period and the
formation of the Benefice of Spire Hill we are now a full member of the
Blackmore Vale Deanery and so far I have attended one of their meetings. Deanery Synods are one of the vehicles by
which communication is maintained within the Church and it is a vital link
where messages can be both passed down from 'on high' or indeed passed up the
line so that the voice of parochial church councils can be heard. One of the important issues of today concerns
climate change and global warming and we are being challenged to come up with
ideas for "shrinking the Church's carbon footprint". Do let me know if you have any suggestions
for achieving this. Other issues
involve the decline in the involvement of younger folk, which seems to be a
common theme across many activities not just Church ones. Working together with similar parishes across
the vale should go some way to help.
At present there are 45 Parishioners listed
on the Electoral Roll. The list will be
posted on the Church door immediately following the Annual General Meeting on
17 April 2008. If you have been
overlooked and would like to be added to the list, please get in touch with Olivia
Bastable.
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 Stourton Caundle. 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, Stalbridge and
Stock (Kings Stag). This benefice has
growing links with the other four benefices of the pilgrims-in-the-vale
initiative. These 19 parishes have been
promoting the annual pilgrimage for members of PCCs, to encourage relevant
training and teaching courses to help us be better equipped to share and live
kingdom values in our communities. That
for the Spire Hill Benefice will held on Wednesday 4th June,
finishing with supper in Stourton Caundle Village Hall.
I look forward to welcoming you to the church
annual meeting on 17th April 2008 in St Peter's Church and hearing
your views and hopes for your parish church.