The Church of St Philip- Westbrook
(Anglican Diocese of Liverpool & Methodist District of Liverpool)
Westbrook Centre, Westbrook Warrington WA5 8UE
Ministers’ AGM Report for 2008
Looking back on last year’s report it is really good to see how our aims for 2008 have been fulfilled.
We looked forward to the arrival of our new curate, David Eastwood, and his wife Monica and our confidence that their arrival would have a significant positive impact on the life of St Philip’s has been amply justified.
We committed ourselves to develop our reputation as a welcoming church and the establishment of a new Welcome Team and Cleaning Team has furthered that aim. The new song books generously donated by church members together with new shelving in the entrance area has also improved first impressions as people enter the church. In addition our new church information leaflet and the revised notice sheet format and greatly improved website have enhanced our communication and witness to those wanting to find out about us.
We wanted to provide more opportunities for new folk to become increasingly involved in our church’s life, witness, and growth in faith. Our renewed Tuesday morning bible study group, new Tuesday evening faith-building group, new Network 72 men’s group and new weekly Prayer Meeting have provided further good opportunities for this. The reworking of our children’s ministry, building on the good work established in the old Tweenies and aXis groups with the creation of JAM (Jesus and Me, our church for children running in parallel with many 10:30am services) is giving more opportunity for more people to help in this work.
Our special service in October, celebrating all the groups which make up the life of St Philip’s and giving everyone a chance to hear about them and join them at ‘stalls’ in the hall was a great success and something that we hope to repeat annually. Our 20th anniversary celebrations in January 2009 provide another opportunity to celebrate the life of our church.
Our final stated aim for 2008 was to engage more creatively with the neighbours around us and for the church to become more actively involved at the heart of community life. Through last year our Shared Ministry Team took the lead in developing the idea of a ‘Radius 100’ project helping us to build good relationships first with those businesses, organisations and individuals within 100 metres of St Philip’s; the idea being that once we had done that we would extend the area we concentrated on. Alongside this our Circuit Partnership Enablers were working up a successful bid for funding from the Circuit to employ a part-time Church Community Development Worker for 2 years. Fiona Jenkins was appointed in December 2008 and her enthusiastic, sterling work will I’m sure feature large in next year’s report on 2009!
Our partnership with local schools has developed over the year. Paul Caine, a Christian children’s worker from the Seedlings Trust, continues to take regular assemblies in Callands and St Philip’s schools and run a weekly Good News Club for children at St Philip’s while Martin and David are involved regularly in assemblies at both these schools and Old Hall school as well, in addition to confirmation classes at St Philip’s. The new community sound system that we use in church on a Sunday was bought with funds from the Community Fund which is administered by St Philip’s school governing body. This has had a great impact already, not least in larger Sunday services such as those in which St Philip’s school are involved. Children in years 5 and above continue to have the opportunity to be confirmed and to think through what this means in St Philip’s school RE lessons taught by our ministers.
2008 has been a year where we have begun to get more organised in many ways. It saw the production of our new Children and Vulnerable Adults Safeguarding policy and we continue to value the advice of Circuit and Diocesan officers concerning this. This will increasingly entail the writing of role descriptions for all involved in helping in any way at St Philips, which in turn will help people to feel better supported and better able to know what they are committed to and what they are not! The creation of a small Finance Group to support the Treasurer and Gift Aid Secretary in their work has led to much smoother running basic financial procedures and a necessary sharing of this important work. Our difficult financial situation as a church however provides us with a real challenge as we move into 2009.
So what of 2009? Our presbyter, Malcolm, will effectively retire in April and I’m sure that Martin is not alone in feeling that we will miss his wisdom, depth of spirituality, grace, hard work and sense of humour in many ways. We will no longer have a minister from the Methodist Circuit dedicated to St Philip’s which will inevitably mean that we will relate to the Circuit in a different way. However the Circuit appointment of Fiona Jenkins as a Church Community Development Worker will have a very positive effect on our life and witness over the next few years.
We will begin planning a ‘Giving in Grace’ campaign as we did in 2005 to lay out the financial needs of St Philip’s clearly to our faithful members in the hope that all will respond generously so that our church can continue to grow and flourish.
We also aim to have a better defined annual cycle of church life which provides a more consistent pattern of worship and teaching and opportunities for people to explore issues of faith and grow in their relationship with God. This will include running a ‘faith exploration’ group such as ‘Journeys’ and a more substantial faith development/discipleship course such as an ‘Alpha’ course on an annual basis in addition to Lent courses. In addition we aim to introduce a regular event for new members of St Philip’s to be able to meet each other and hear more about the life of St Philip’s in a relaxed, friendly way. We also plan to begin high quality social and evangelistic events called (Refresh) the first of these to be held on Saturday 13 June.
Finally we must thank everyone who makes up the life of St Philips church, particularly those whose work behind the scenes often seems to go unnoticed. Every member of St Philip’s is precious to God and has a part to play in the life of God’s church here in Westbrook. It is God who builds his Church, a Church which we are constantly reminded is made up of people not bricks and mortar. We are all privileged to be his children and fellow-workers in the task of building up his Church and serving the world and our community.
One in faith, prayer and love,
Martin, Malcolm & David
Rev. Malcolm Atherton, Presbyter
Rev. David Eastwood, Curate Rev. Martin Thorpe, Vicar
Annual General Meeting – Sunday 13th April 2008
The AGM was held within the Morning Worship which began with the Easter greeting “The Lord is risen – He is risen indeed, alleluia”.
The opening prayers were followed by:
1. Apologies: Grace Whiteway, Angela Turner, Mark Turner, Daphne Legg, John Walker, Kath Walker, Chris Ralston.
2. Acceptance of 2007 AGM Minutes and Annual Report
The minutes of the 2007 AGM and the 2008 annual report were accepted.
Proposer : Jon D’Arcy
Seconder : June Dunning
Unanimously accepted
The service continued with the intercessions with a special thank you to all people who have helped in the life of the church at St Philips.
The focus of the day was on the Parable of the shepherd (John 10:1-10).
After hearing God’s word and sharing The Peace we shared our news and visions for the coming months, along with reports and elections, as follows:
3. Looking Ahead
A new curate, David Eastwood will be starting in July. He will be ordained at Liverpool Cathedral on 29 June.
The church will be re-looking at our finances and will be introducing a new Giving in Grace Scheme later in the year.
The church has made a bid for a new community worker.
We have started a new Radius Project aimed at building good relationships with our neighbours.
Malcolm Atherton will be with St Philips for only one more year.
4. Items for future consideration
If anybody is interested in joining the choir or can play a musical instrument – please see Miranda Lomas.
Help is needed with counting the collection either straight after the Sunday service or during the week.
A suggestion was put forward for holding a Saturday morning activity for school starters - as a follow on to Little Fishes for pre school children.
5. Finance
The finance report formed part of the annual report which was accepted earlier.
It was proposed to accept Ian Leadbetter as our Auditor.
Proposer: John Legg
Seconder: Joanne Dickenson
Unanimously accepted
6. Electoral Roll
There are currently 92 people on the Electoral Roll. There are 61 people on the Methodist list of which 28 are also on the electoral roll.
7. Elections
CHURCH WARDENS:
Jon D’Arcy Proposer: John Legg Seconder: Tina Cross
Stuart Molyneux Proposer: Mark Turner Seconder: Tina Cross
Unanimously accepted
CHURCH STEWARD:
Christine Ralston was nominated last year for a 3 year term.
There is a vacancy for a second Church Steward.
DEANERY SYNOD REPRESENTATIVES:
Claire Stranack Proposer: Jon D’Arcy Seconder: Stuart Molyneux
Unanimously accepted
The second Deanery Synod position remains vacant.
CIRCUIT REPRESENTATIVES
George Oliver and Claire Stranack are the current representatives. They do not need to be elected.
PARTNERSHIP COUNCIL
The partnership Council comprises
1. Church Wardens: Jon D’Arcy and Stuart Molyneux
2. Church Stewards: Christine Ralston plus one vacancy
3. Deanery Synod representatives: Claire Stranack plus one vacancy
4. Elected Members: Mark Stringfellow, Mark Turner, Helen Bateman, Helen Noble, Lynn Wright, John Legg, Tina Cross, George Oliver, Karen Parry, Miranda Lomas, Richard Clarke, Nicky Lees.
Unanimously accepted
SIDESPERSONS/DOOR STEWARDS
Debbie Furness, Sylvia Bromley, Lynn Wright, Helen Bateman, Grace Whiteway, Carolyn Whiteway, John Legg, Angela Turner, Mark Turner, Margaret Gibson, Margaret Gaskell, Kath Walker.
Unanimously accepted
8. First Meeting of the new Partnership Council
Thursday 5th June 7:45 in church
The AGM closed with the hymn “All Heaven declares”
Attendance: ???
Time finished: 11:50
The Churchwardens’ Fabric Report
1. This report on the fabric, goods and ornaments of the parish church is made by the Churchwardens pursuant to s.5 of the Care of Churches and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1991.
2. A quinquennial report on the fabric of the parish church has not been received.
3. The building is part of the large complex that is St Philip Westbrook Church of England (Aided) Primary School. The building is relatively new, being approximately 20 years old, and has no significant defects.
4. The church interacts well with the school and there are no reported maintenance issues.
5. Additions to the goods of the church include a new sound system that was kindly provided by the community; and new hymn books that were kindly donated by the congregation.
6. The church fabric is purely an appendage to the school, with no tower, clock or bells; the landscaped exterior contains no churchyard, and no graves or memorials. The church is not a listed building, and is not in a conservation area, national park, area of outstanding natural beauty, or other area imposing responsibilities or restricting future developments. No serious health and safety concerns have been raised with regard to the structure or its fixtures and fittings, nor to any items of furniture or equipment.
7. The churchwardens wish to thank those members of the congregation, particularly John Legg and Richard Clarke, who have assisted with general maintenance work; we also thank Network 72 for the interest they have shown by proposing work to develop a Rainbow Garden in the church grounds.
Wardens’ and Stewards’ Report 2008(-9)
2008’s AGM saw no personnel change among Wardens and Stewards (for newcomers, Warden – in full Churchwarden – is the Church of England term, Steward is the Methodist term: rather than having 2 + 2 deputies, we have 2 of each), we did flag up again the problem of only having one Methodist Steward. The call was heard, and John Legg was appointed to join our number. John is a regular member of our 9 o’clock congregation, along with his wife Daphne.
Now we are at full strength we have been able to spread our workload (although John has a reduced duty rôle as Duty Steward at 10:30, because of his involvement with 9 o’clock). This is enabling us to make some changes in how we work (if you don’t notice, then we have done them well). John is already active on the Church’s new Finance Group, and helping us develop a system with better flows of management information.
Over the year, we have increased the scope of the church Master Rota – we have no intention of taking over anybody else’s rotas, but we hope this Rota, incorporating information from the plan, together with Wardens & Stewards rota, Welcome team rota, June’s readings and intercessions rota (although we only list the people, not the reading) and others will become more and more useful, as well as drawing attention to how much work goes into making Sunday Worship – particularly at 10:30 – happen. If you are not currently involved in helping – on Sunday mornings or at any other time – please speak to one of the clergy, one of the Wardens or Stewards, someone wearing a Welcome Team badge, or whoever serves you with coffee: if they cannot help you, they can point you to someone who can.
Stuart and Jon, as CofE Churchwardens, have a legal duty to present the Partnership Council with a report on the property and fabric of the Church. That report is enclosed above; and a copy of the relevant Partnership Council minute is available on request from Clergy, Wardens or Stewards – I know this all sounds boring, but it means we keep a check, so that things given to the Church are accounted for and taken care of.
With the arrival of David and Monica, and their experience elsewhere of being part of a Welcome Team, we – following an open meeting in church – have worked to develop the work of the Welcome Team: you will already have seen the name-badges to help with this. This Team is always open to new volunteers – willing not just to give out books, but also to help ensure church is ready for the 10:30 service, and above all to eagerly greet people, especially newcomers to the church.
Please, again, anyone with skills, talents – or just eagerness – please, if you want to help, speak to someone. The other reports in this document give you more idea of what is going on here.
Chris, Stuart, Jon and John
Treasurer’s Report
The Statements of Account that follow are draft, as the Accounts had not been examined at the time of going to press. A Finance Group has now been formed which is supporting me in finalising the reporting up to the end of 2008 and is taking over responsibility for Financial Management from January 2009.
These notes are to help when reviewing the figures on the following pages.
Receipts – Overall receipts reported in the accounts are up by £6,000 on 2007. There are two main factors that affect this:
1. At the end of 2007 there was £3,000 from collections not yet banked and therefore not reported in the accounts.
2. Giving by Standing Order has increased by £3,000 in 2008 over 2007. This is due to a combination of new donors, some increases in individuals’ giving and some switches from the envelope scheme.
Although the overall figure for Fundraising is slightly lower in 2008, the amount raised on the float in 2008 was the highest yet at £2,883.
Payments – Overall we are reporting an increase in payments of £6,600. There are two areas of increase:
1. Our Mission giving is £1,600 higher than in 2007. This is due mainly to the timing of funding requests from school.
2. Parish and Circuit share have both increased in 2008. The overall increase was 3%.
3. Overall Clergy costs have increased this year as David joined us as Curate in the summer. The Curate’s house costs include some costs for materials required to prepare the house, but represent 8 months’ rent and 6 months of utilities etc.
4. Service costs this year includes almost £700 for the song books that were funded by donations included within the “Fundraising” heading.
5. Church Development costs have actually reduced this year, but in 2007 we spent £2,500 on computer and projection equipment.
6. One of the largest areas of increased expenditure is in bank charges.
Receipts over payments – Our payments have exceeded our receipts each year since 2005, by varying amounts. In 2008 the gap was £7,400. We have just received a refund for backdated Gift Aid to 2006 and expect to receive the refunds for 2007 and 2008 this year.
The lay members of the Finance Group are: Claire Stranack (outgoing Treasurer), Keith Bretherton (Gift Aid Secretary), John Legg, Richard Clark.
In addition to this group, I would like to thank all those who have helped with the collection counting and banking in 2008.
Claire Stranack - Treasurer
Financial Report (i)
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JOINT CHURCH COUNCIL OF ST. PHILIP, WESTBROOK
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FINANCIAL STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2008
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Receipts
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2008
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2007
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£
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£
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£
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£
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Incoming Resources from Donors
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Tax Efficient Planned Giving
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20,779
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16,120
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Tax recovered
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-
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-
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Other Planned Giving
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8,031
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8,143
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Loose Plate Collections
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4,583
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3,860
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Other Donations
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452
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549
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Baptism Collections
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682
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442
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Restricted Donations
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1,057
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775
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35,584
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29,889
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Incoming Resources from Operating Activities
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Funeral and Wedding Fees
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316
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111
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Tea & Coffee etc
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231
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290
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Grant
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Heating
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260
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547
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661
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Activities for Generating Funds
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Fund Raising
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3,603
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3,728
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3,603
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3,728
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Income from Investments
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Bank Interest
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1,044
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960
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1,044
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960
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Exceptional Income
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388
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388
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-
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TOTAL RECEIPTS
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41,166
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35,238
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Financial Report (ii)
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JOINT CHURCH COUNCIL OF ST. PHILIP, WESTBROOK
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FINANCIAL STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2008
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Payments
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2008
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2007
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£
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£
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£
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£
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Cost of Generating Funds
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Fundraising event expenses
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85
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-
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85
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-
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Grants - Mission Giving
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"letterbox"
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898
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765
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Other Giving
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2,747
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1,111
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3,645
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1,876
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Activities Relating to the Work of the Church
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Cost of Parish Ministry
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Parish and Circuit Share
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29,101
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28,158
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Vicar's Expenses
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1,144
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1,279
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Curate's Expenses
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542
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748
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Vicarage Council Tax and Water
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1,513
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1,687
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Curate House Expenses
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6,301
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2,466
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Church Running Expenses
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Church Running Expenses
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864
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648
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Church Maintenance
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411
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200
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Service Costs
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1,300
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379
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Support and Training Costs
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Training and Development
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645
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631
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Church Development
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610
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2,731
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Axis / fresh expressions
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59
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92
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Youth
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382
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160
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42,872
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39,179
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Partnership Management and Administration
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Printing and Stationery, meetings
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780
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502
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Social Activities and Gifts
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174
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395
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Bank Charges
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1,072
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109
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2,026
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1,006
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Transfers
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timing difference
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TOTAL PAYMENTS
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48,628
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42,061
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EXCESS OF RECEIPTS OVER PAYMENTS
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(7,462)
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(6,823)
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Bank account balances - opening
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31,745
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38,568
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Bank account balances - closing
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24,283
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31,745
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(7,462)
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(6,823)
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Financial Report (iii)
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JOINT CHURCH COUNCIL OF ST. PHILIP, WESTBROOK
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FINANCIAL STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2008
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Statement of Assets and Liabilities as at 31 December 2008
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2008
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2007
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Monetary Assets
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Bank Current Accounts
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6,397
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13,770
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Bank Deposit Accounts
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17,886
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17,975
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24,283
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31,745
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Debtors
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Tax refund due - Claims submitted)
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12,185
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4,000
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12,185
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4,000
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TOTAL ASSETS
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36,468
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35,745
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Reserves Policy
The agreed policy of the Church is to retain adequate funds to cover the anticipated outgoings of the Church for at 12 weeks. The policy is to be reviewed at least annually.
Charity Donations
St Philip Westbrook has supported the following charities in 2008:
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· Crisis £1,142
· Children’s Society £87
· NCH £87
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· Seedlings Trust £124
· Christian Aid £725
· Others £60
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St Philip Westbrook also supports St Philip Westbrook C of E Aided Primary School. (£1,420)
Deanery Synod Report
Provision for young people in Year 8 and above at school has continued this year in the form of ESSO on Sundays and Fridays@Choices once a month.
For the majority of 2008, ESSO continued to link in with the AXIS service, and for 2009 this has meant we have run in conjunction with the new JAM format. We have now begun to cover the same themes as in JAM but in a discussion format at a level suitable for teenagers. This also allows some of our members to continue to help out with some of the younger members of our church. We feel that it’s important that our young people help to shape what they want out of their time in church, but also to give them the opportunity to use their strengths and gifts to make a valuable contribution to the running of the church.
Fridays@Choices has gone from strength to strength, and we now have a core group of around 23 members, made up of young people from church families and their friends. This monthly youth club allows members the time to chill out and relax with their friends after a visit to McDonalds, in the Choices venue next to Westbrook Library. The group enjoyed a visit to watch members perform in the Great Sankey High School show, ‘Oliver!’ and a ‘chips and chocolate’ night recently. In December, they helped to organise a Christmas craft coffee morning for the families of tweenie members practising the nativity play. We also had a New Year party evening on 2nd January to see in the New Year!
If you are interested in helping with either of these groups, please speak to Jayne, George or Tina and we can tell you more. Similarly, if you know someone who may like to join one of these groups, and then introduce them to us and we can give them more details.
Jayne Molyneux
St Philips crèche and Tweenies Report
Tweenies is often a child's first, and sometimes their only experience of church. Therefore we endeavour to provide, a warm, friendly but informative introduction to the loving world of God and Jesus.
Over the past year crèche and Tweenies has grown and developed. The children in Tweenies have enjoyed crafts, stories and songs around a number of themes, like the lost sheep, Jesus calming the storm and Noah and many others. Also new this year is JAM (Jesus and Me) which offers children a progress after their time in Tweenies.
We provide a crèche every Sunday and Tweenies 2/3/4th Sunday unless it a celebration type service.
Our theme this year for lent is prayer.
Ann, Tina, Jayne.
Baptism Team
The Baptism team has had another busy and enjoyable year helping families prepare for Baptism, being “friendly faces”, encouraging involvement and sharing faith.
The team has remained strong over the past 12 months, Debbie Furness settled very successfully into her new role as Baptism Co-ordinator at the beginning of the period and the rest of the team currently comprises our Home Visitors and Baptism Day Greeters - Lynn Wright, Mavis Clark, Gail Bretherton and myself.
Baptism provides our biggest opportunity for welcoming large numbers of visitors into our church whilst serving the families of our neighbourhood and encouraging those families to become part of our church community.
Each home visit and baptism day is unique and presents their own special opportunities to draw close to families during a potentially pivotal time in their family life. There is a real sense of privilege in being able to undertake this work.
The Baptism team is a wonderful example of shared ministry in action, enabling members of the family of St Philips to reach out into the community in a caring and useful way. If you think you may like to serve in the Baptism team you can find out more about it from any team member.
Mark Turner
Little Fishes Annual Report
Little Fishes provides a first taste of structured play for children from new-born to three years together with their careers. For those who attend it soon becomes one of those high-light hours in the week. In fact you need to attend to appreciate all the different elements that are brought together in one brief hour. There’s times of peace and stillness; times of listening and becoming part of God’s stories; times of reflecting, colouring and sticking; times of singing and playing instruments; times of praying and feasting; and times of discovering and sharing.
Our crafting, provided by Denise, introduces a range of ideas, materials, colours, and shapes as ways of expressing the themes for ourselves. Familiar tunes and rhymes from childhood, provided by Edith on the piano, help us to sing new songs. Our Feasting, provided by Karen, encourages healthy eating through an appetizing range of fresh fruit and brings each session to a close.
The development of Little Fishes has been based on “Godly Play”, an imaginative method for presenting scripture stories to children. (If you want to learn more just Google “Godly Play”) Over the past years a significant amount of material has been gathered together to help resource sessions throughout the year. All this material will now be stored at the Circuit Resource Centre (contact Debbie or Emma on 65228) and will become available for use not only by already established pre-school Little Fishes groups at St. Philip’s & Padgate, but for all age ranges in whatever setting. Although originally developed for work with children Godly Play has proved itself extremely versatile from Classroom to Care Homes, Hospitals to Prisons.
The last twelve months have been a very happy time of growth, with numbers of ‘tots’ and adults averaging around the twenty mark. It is always sad to see our older ones leave to enter their reception classes, but they make way for a steady stream of new arrivals ready to enter the learning adventure of being Little Fishes.
Sadly it is now also my time to leave Little Fishes, but it’s good to know I’ll be leaving things in the capable hands of Denise & Karen.
With many thanks and the best of wishes for the future
Yours, Malcolm
The Philipian & Web Site
Both the “Philipian” weekly news sheet and Web site are important to how we communicate to church members and new comers.
During the year the layout of the news sheet has been changed to improve the flow of information and hopefully making it easier to read. We have been successful in reporting events via The Warrington Guardian and on their Web Site, and during 2009 we will continue to build our relationship with the local reporter capturing more events.
As we grow within the church and community I would like to see the Philipian grow and produce pages for children to use during and after church services, including quizzes, colouring etc etc. It would be great if we could find a local business to produce the weekly document in colour free of charge.
The web site has been updated, and we will continue to make changes to provide more information, including photographs of events that have taken place, and again pages to provide information for children / youth groups.
The purpose of both the Web site and The Philipian is to promote the church, advertise events, provide service details, and to encourage new comers to read what St Philip’s church is doing and join us in our worship. We have many groups:- Ladybird’s, prayer groups, choir, youth, Little Fishes etc and with the support of our recently appointed Community worker Fiona Jenkins we have a fantastic opportunity to expand and fulfil our vision:-
To help people to get to know Jesus better
Please do take note of all the information provided, use the Web site, and take home your copy each week of The Philipian. If you organise any groups please continue to keep me informed of activities organised throughout 2009.
Richard Clark
Library: - Anyone wishing to remove books for reading at home is welcome to do so. Periodically the selection of books on display is changed to be appropriate to the current church “ season “ In addition Jon D`Arcy has many books he is prepared to lend. If you have any ideas on books that should be made available, / purchased then please contact George Oliver
Network 72 (Men’s Group)
In September 2008 6 guys met following encouragement from David Eastwood to discuss the idea of establishing a group for men to meet on a regular basis. We all agreed the following:-
Our Purpose Statement
A fellowship group for men belonging to St Philip’s church (and their male friends) which has three component parts:
Ø Social and sporting activities.
Ø Involvement in community based tasks, to be determined
Ø Christian teaching including Christian speakers and discipleship groups.
We held a further breakfast meeting at IKEA to organise activities, starting with a local walk on Saturday morning 25th Oct around Cheshire. We had a good turnout 16 and although the weather was not too good, and we got lost, we had a great time and the opportunity to chat about further events, etc. Finishing up with a great cup of coffee in Alvanley.
The next event took place on Tuesday 25th Nov for an evening meal (Indian) again a great turnout 17 guys with plenty to talk about.
On Monday January 26th 2009 20 guys met up to test their skills at go – carting, although some guys felt they needed to practice before the event , a good night was had by all and the overall winner Iain Watson received a trophy . An older Lewis Hamilton in the making.
We felt at the first meeting it would be good to hold a yearly social event, and organised an evening of music, food, quiz, raffles etc on Friday 20th February. A good night enjoyed by all
Following 3 social events we held our first Christian speaker event when George Russell joined us on Tuesday 24th March we all met for an evening of discussion and light refreshments.
Many other events have been arranged for 2009 and we invite all male members of St Philip’s church and male friends to come along. A brochure to support Network 72 is available in church highlighting all events. Please pick up a copy.
If you are interested please contact Richard r.clark903@btinternet.com
Richard Clark
32nd Warrington Scout Group (St Philip’s Westbrook) Report
As usual, 32nd Warrington Scout Group have had a fairly action packed year.
Over the course of the year we attended District Camp at Tatton Park, where the Cubs visited Tatton Old Hall to watch a 2nd World War re-enactment Our Group Camp was scheduled for Waddecar in September, but unfortunately the weather had been so bad and the ground was so waterlogged that this ended being a rather full activity day on the Sunday. All the same, and in spite of the weather, the Beavers, Cubs and Scouts who did attend had a great time. We have just had our Winter Camp, at Fylde District campsite, which included a trip to Blackpool Tower, and taking part in the dancing in the Tower Ballroom! In addition to this, Scouts attended the Back to Basics camp at Queen Charlotte’s Wood, Frodsham, and the cubs had a Fun Day at Forest Camp. One of our Scouts won a Patrol Camp through the Gang Show raffle, and this was taken last summer at Forest Camp.
We have had parade services for Remembrance Sunday and for Founders Day, with one more scheduled later in the year and will be attending the St George’s Day Parade in April. All sections will be going to Gang Show on 3 April.
Two of our Scouts gained the Chief Scout Silver Award (whilst in Cubs), and we have seven Cubs who gained the Bronze Award from Beavers. All will be attending a presentation evening in March. We also had three Scouts gain the Gold award, and were presented with their certificates at a County Presentation afternoon in November.
All sections have taken part in various district activities throughout the year, including swimming galas and craft competitions, and trips to Blackpool and Llandudno.
At the Friday night meetings activities have been various – and a number of badges have been completed. Scouts have recently been concentrating on the IT Staged awards, but have also done junk modelling, the Promise Challenge and meteorology. Cubs have been working on the Creative, Community and Promise Challenges and have done some emergency aid and an incident hike at Moore Nature Reserve. Beavers have had their usual splash night, have been learning about healthy eating and have been on a trip to Runcorn Ski Centre with the Cubs just before Christmas.
Finally I would like to thank all my leaders, helpers and executive committee for all the hard work they have put in over the past year. Our group has grown this year, and this is in no small part to their dedication to providing a programme of activities enjoyed by our youth members.
Chris Ralston
Deanery Synod Lay Representatives: Claire Stranack, Lynne Wright.
The Deanery is an important part of the structure of the Church of England whose role is to promote joint pastoral action and the best possible distribution of ministry, and to provide for the pastoral care of the priests serving in each area of the diocese.
Warrington Deanery covers St. Barnabas, St. Elphin and Holy Trinity in the Town Centre; St. Ann, St. Mark (Dallam), St. Andrew (Orford with Longford) and St. Margaret and All Hallows (Orford); The Church of the Ascension (Woolston), The Church of the Transfiguration (Birchwood), The Church of the Resurrection (Cinnamon Brow) and Christ Church (Padgate); St. James (Westbrook), St. Philip (Westbrook), St. Paul’s (Penketh) and St. Mary (Great Sankey).
The Synod is the decision making body of the Deanery. Each Church is represented by its clergy and two Lay representatives who are appointed for a 3-year term.
Deanery Synod meets three or four times per year and each meeting follows a similar format. The business meeting includes reports from Diocesan and General Synod and deals with matters affecting the Deanery. The second part of the meeting is given over to a guest speaker.
There were three meetings in 2008; February, June and October (which I was unable to attend).
In February we heard about Hope’08 and some of the initiatives and projects being run within the Diocese. We also talked about the Deanery Mission Plan.
In June we had an interesting presentation by the Strategic Director of Warrington Borough Council on the Regeneration plans for the town. There was some debate about whether this vision is going to meet the needs of the communities within Warrington and it was clear that in some areas of Warrington the Church is very involved in discussions with the council about development.
Focus of the October meeting was around the Deanery Mission Plan. There is a lot of work, thought and prayer that will have to go into this plan over the next few months as we plan to move forward while dealing with fewer clergy posts.
If you have any questions about what happens at Deanery Synod please feel free to speak to me or any of the other representatives.
Claire Stranack
Partnership Council Report 2009
Voting members for this year, elected at the AGM April 08 are:-
Church of England (PCC reps) Methodist (MCC reps) Additional JCC reps. Elected April 2008
Stuart Molyneux (W) Christine Ralston (Std) Nicky Lees Mark Stringfellow George Oliver (PE)
John D’Arcy (W) John Legg Mark Turner Karen Parry Helen Noble
Claire Stranack (DS) Helen Bateman Miranda Lomas
Vacant (DS) Tina Cross Richard Clark
Lynn Wright
The PC has met on 5 occasions since the AGM in April 2008, and summarised below is a brief list of matters that have been discussed :-
Ø Giving in Grace The PC has considered implementing Giving in Grace in October 2009, and a final decision will be made at the next SC meeting.
Ø Appointment Of Curate In June 2008 we welcomed David and Monica to St Philip’s and in such a short period of time both David and Monica have made a big impact, in most areas of the church.
Ø Circuit Review Following the announcement of Malcolm’s retirement in April 2009 a review has taken place within the Methodist circuit to reallocate his duties, along with many other changes planned. We will all miss Malcolm who has been a great friend, and wish him and his family a long and happy retirement.
Ø Radius 100 The project defined in 2007 has not been progressed, until now; it is the intention of Network 72 to complete a church garden project during the spring / summer.
Ø Hymn Books Following a successful stewardship Sunday service sufficient donations were received to replace the entire Mission Praise Song Books.
Ø Children and Young People New style worship for young people Jam (Jesus and Me) is being trialled. It includes themed stories, singing, craft, and reading.
Ø Community Worker The application to the Methodist circuit for a community worker in 2008
was successful with the appointment of Fiona Jenkins. Fiona has set out clear challenges with the main aim of using the worship centre during the week by as many groups as possible.
Ø Welcome Pack The idea of a welcome pack has been replaced with a simple folded card highlighting all the events within church, service details, groups etc. It has been well received by existing church folk and new comers.
Ø Welcome Team To improve how we welcome people to the services on a Sunday a rota has been established of volunteers who meet/ greet. In addition they assist in the preparation of the church before and tidying up after services.
Ø Finance Group To improve how the church finances are managed a separate group has been established meeting monthly.
Ø Sound System The sound system has been replaced within the worship centre, school hall, and community room. Funded from the Community fund.
Richard Clark Secretary
ESSO and Fridays@Choices