Thanks to those wonderful folks at Google we are now able to give much more detail about events at St Paul's listed in the Diary. Visit the Diary and click on an event to see additional information.
2011/12/07 PCC Meeting - November 2011
The PCC meet on Wednesday 16th. November, and will not meet again until early in the New Year.
AV System
With the Faculty for the PA (Public Address) and AV (Audio Visual) now given the decision was made to go ahead with the PA work. Unfortunately, monetary restrictions mean that the AV work will have to be delayed (the Faculty allows us to carry out the work within a 12 month period). The You Choose grant application was unsuccessful, but an application has just been submitted for a grant from Allchurches Trust Limited for the money to pay for the AV facilities.
PCC Away Day
A PCC away day has been planned for Saturday 21st. January 2012. We will be using the St. Matthew’s Centre in the centre of Stalybridge. The main purpose of the away day will be to consider the GAP (Growth Action Plan) priorities for coming year. Of course the, GAP initiative is a whole church issue, so I extend the invitation to all congregation members who may feel they have something to say – ‘where would you like to see this church develop in the future?’
Evening Services
Sadly, and with regret, the Sunday evening Holy Communion with Healing Service will not take place on a monthly basis in the future. The numbers attending have dropped to an average of less than 10 (and that includes the Vicar, the Wardens and several church members who also attend in the morning). The heating costs over the winter months do not justify this service. However, evening services will not stop; occasional evening services will take place throughout the year, an Evensong will be considered.
Insurance etc.
Ecclesiastical Insurance came in to discuss the churches insurance with the Vicar and the Wardens and it was intimated that we could save money in a number of areas – PAT testing of electrical equipment, lightning conductor testing and fire extinguisher testing. Reduced levels of testing were approved by the PCC (yet still conforming to the legal requirements for such). Gutter cleaning and a register of key holders were also discussed, but no decisions taken. Work on the south porch has started with Bullens, the main contractors for the recent restoration work.
Carols at the Vicarageetc
Carols from the Vicarage will take place on Monday 19th. December and Thursday 22nd. December with donations for our children’s Advent Charity. St. Paul’s Primary School will have their Carol Concert in the church on Thursday 22nd. December at 9.30 a.m. This will mean the 10.00 a.m. Holy Communion will have to be cancelled.
2011/10/23 PCC Meeting - September 2011
A number of important issues were discussed at the last PCC meeting on 21st. September.
New PA and AV systems
A Faculty for the new Public Address and Audio Visual Systems has been granted, and we await the display of Public Notices, so people can make comments (or not), over a 28 day consultation period in October. It was decided to implement the PA work as soon as possible, but the AV work will have to go on hold due to financial constraints. The Faculty is only valid for one year and we intend to complete the AV within this period.
Money
Financial concerns do, however, remain on the agenda, as we are still £200 per week short of the money needed to pay the Diocesan Parish Share. Yet again the PCC appeals to all church members, if you can think of a way to bring in income through events (or whatever!) please share your ideas with a PCC (or Social Committee) member.
Whit Walks
We have been informed that the police will no longer provide support to marshal the Whit Walk of Witness in Stalybridge. Tim says that there will still be a Joint Service but other things are not so clear, but, we still intend to march with a band, even if other churches don't!
Bread of Life
An update was given on the ‘Bread of Life’ charity. There was an excellent response by church members to the request to sign up to provide items for the food parcels. We await further developments.
Church Magazine
It was decided to go forward with a plan to have our church magazine professionally produced, hopefully with the view to increase the circulation into the community. If you know of anyone who would like to advertise in the magazine to help pay for the increased costs let us know? In the new format it will be possible to include photographs – so if you have a good eye for taking photographs we are looking for photographers to form a team who will cover church events.
Sunday and Day Schools charity giving
Our Sunday School, together with pupils from St. Paul’s School, will consider giving to and Advent Charity, Save the Children, and then decide themselves how to spend the money collected in purchasing items for those less fortunate than ourselves in the developing world. As a church we are all asked to support this charity.
Let there be (improved) light
By the time you read this article, work will have started to improve the lighting in the upper lounge’ approval was given by the PCC.
PCC Away Day
And finally, the PCC was asked to go away and think about our Growth Action Plan for 2012, with the view to discuss such during a PCC Away Day in January. Of course, this should be a whole church issue; so if you have any views on this issue please share them with a PCC member, so they can be considered at the Away Day. As the writer of Proverbs tells us – ‘Without a vision the people perish.’
2011/10/23 Alpha Course 2012
Our next Alpha Course begins on Wednesday 25 January at 7pm and will be held in the church lounge. Alpha is a ten week course introducing Christianity. Contact Colin Ashworth for more information
2011/09/29 Church Restoration - Celebration Service October 16 2011
To mark the completion of the church restoration project, there will be a Service of Celebration and a concert on Sunday 16 October at 2 pm.
2011/09/29 Harvest Lunch - 2 October 2011
This year's Harvest Lunch will support WATERAID's "Seeds of Hope" appeal which aims to to bring clean water and sanitation to drought stricken areas of Ethiopia. Tickets for the (frugal) lunch will cost £3.50 and there will also be opportunities to contribute to the appeal if you are unable to attend the lunch.
2011/08/01 PCC Meeting - July 2011
The PCC meeting discussed several big issues, some of which were resolved, others still being on hold.
Perhaps the most significant decision taken was to appoint Steven Robinson as our new Choirmaster and Organist. Hopefully he will start in mid-August (date to be finalised). Disappointingly, the recent survey asking the congregation to consider giving into a special music fund (envelopes for such will be available soon) has yet to come up with sufficient funds to pay for Steven. Please give this prayerful consideration – I think you will all agree that having a repeat of the situation a few weeks ago, when we had no organist for the Sunday worship, is highly undesirable, especially considering how much money we have invested in maintenance of the organ.
We are extremely grateful to Chris Anderson for all his work over the last two years, and we wish him well in the future. He was very popular with the choir – it is a pity he was not generally available for Sunday services. It was agreed that the PCC will make a gift to Chris on your behalf.
Unfortunately, one issue not resolved was the PA (public address) System improvements and AV (audio visual) System. We hoped to have this in place as part of our GAP (Growth Action Plan) that was submitted to the Bishop of Stockport. The PCC agreed to go ahead with the Faculty, asking for permission from the Diocese to implement these facilities, but it looks like the AV part of the scheme will have to be put on hold. The PA improvements, which the PCC all agreed are urgently needed, will hopefully be initiated later in the year.
We are still awaiting our Quinquennial Report (5 year report on the physical state of the church); the inspection has been made, the report not yet received. This may determine how much money we will have for the PA and AV Systems.
It was also decided at the PCC meeting to ask Baptism families for a £40 donation towards the cost of their child’s baptisms. This has been taken with some reservation. We are supposed by law to charge £12 (although this fee goes to the Diocese), but have until now waived this fee at our discretion. Unfortunately, because of our difficult financial situation we have had to make this decision.
Another concern discussed at the PCC was over the Whit Walks. There was some discussion at the recent ecumenical clergy meeting about how effective this witness has become. The PCC, however, was unanimous that we still value the walk in its present format, although perhaps the traditional service in the town centre needs looking at.
Plans were discussed for the Three Churches Charity, and I suggested that we should consider Advent and Lent charity appeals as part of our mission giving, with an international charity to benefit from our first Advent appeal later in the year.
2011/06/19 Rose Queen
The crowning of the new Rose Queen will take place at St Paul's on Sunday 3 July at 3pm. Rose Queen Katie will be supported during her year of office by her retinue which will comprise: Eleanor Dolan, Jessica Morris, Aimee Morris, Grace Kennedy and Olivia Kennedy.
As Queen Katie begins her reign, of course, Queen Rebecca will retire and we want to thank her, her retinue and their families for all their hard work in the past year and especially the excellent way they have represented St Paul's in the parish and beyond.
2011/06/01 PCC Meeting - May 2011
This was the first meeting of the new PCC; we welcomed new PCC members – Alison Monks, Keith
Dawson and Jacintha Manchester, returning to PCC duties after a break, and Paul and Alison Smith
and David Bate, first time PCC members.
PCC officers were all re-elected – Gareth Cross (Treasurer), Steve Parkin (Development Fund
Treasurer), Linda Hernon (Secretary), Hilary Haigh and Helen Hobday (Deputy Wardens), Eileen Frith
(Electoral Role Officer), Heidi Booth (Gift Aid Officer). In addition, Gareth Cross, Helen Hobday and
Jacintha Manchester agreed to be our Synod representatives.
Money issues, unfortunately – we don’t seem to be able to get away from them, were important.
Gareth emphasised that the church needs £1,700 per week to just keep ticking over; at present we
are £200 per week short of this amount. As there are now 207 on the electoral role, if everyone
increased their giving by £1 per week the shortfall would be solved! As the restoration is nearing
completion (in fact, by the time you read this article, it should be completed, with the organ back
in action) we return the Restoration Fund to its original title, the Development Fund, and hope that
people will continue to support our ongoing efforts to improve the state and facilities of the church.
All Restoration Envelope contributors will receive a note in their envelopes that the fund will be
reverting to its original title.
Outreach and spiritual growth issues focussed around baptisms and confirmations. On Tuesday 7th.
June (7. 30 p.m.) the Bishop of Chester will be presiding over our annual confirmation service, this
year held in St. Paul’s Church. We have 14 candidates for confirmation and hope as many of you will
be able to attend and support them in this service, which is for the entire church family (not just the
candidates and their families).
In our March and April baptism services we had 7 and 8 candidates respectively. We have therefore
decided to have two services per month (2 x 4 in May). It is exciting that so many want to be
initiated into the church family through either baptism or confirmation, we now have a responsibility
to try and nurture them in their faith.
Worship focussed on our Sunday evening services, where numbers attending remain low. We will try
to address this issue, initially looking at different types of service, for which there may be a demand,
and review our present service schedule in the autumn.
Charity work focussed on the meeting at the Vicarage on 24th. May to discuss a joint local charity
venture with St. James’, Millbrook, and All Saints, Micklehurst. An application for the vacant choir
master/ organist post will be considered, with a meeting with the candidate arranged for 16th. May.
By the time you read this article we will have more details on both these issues.
And finally, a plug for the Summer Fair, which has been re-arranged for Saturday 18th. June (coffee
morning on the 11th. June therefore cancelled).
The next PCC meeting will be on Wednesday 13th. July.
2011/05/29 Director of Music
Music is a vital part of the life of St. Paul's. For it to continue to flourish, we need to appoint a new Director of Music. Since Brenda left, Chris Anderson has held the fort admirably, but is not available to direct the music for Sunday services. In addition, Stuart Steels has retired from playing the organ, again presenting us with the need to move as quickly as possible in finding a replacement to play the organ as well as direct the choir. We are extremely grateful to both Chris and Stuart, who have offered their services without charging fees.
This situation cannot continue in the future, we will have to appoint a professional Music Director/ Organist. We will still have the services of Roger and Sheila, again we are grateful for this, but they will not be able to cover all our services.
We are therefore hoping to appoint someone who can direct the choir at rehearsals and be available for a large share of the Sunday services.
This is a time of great pressure on church funds. Therefore we need to know how much members of the church are prepared to pledge to ensure we can afford a Director of Music.
Please think and pray about this situation. If you feel you can help financially, please download and fill in this appeal form and return it to me or one of the Church Wardens as soon as possible.
I have now witnessed the full Christian year at St Paul's, and have always said that after such I would then feel I had fully settled in Stalybridge.
In my contribution to the Annual General Church Meeting Report, I focussed on the churches Growth Action Plan priorities for the coming year, but of course, these are not the only priorities in this Church. Other areas of the church should not be neglected, although we must be patient. Indeed, other areas may develop into GAP priorities in coming years.
Mission giving is one such area which I feel we could become more involved in as a church. God has been kind to us; we now have the chance to be kind to others. And this isn’t simply giving of money, but also giving of time. I am currently discussing with the clergy (and others) from St, James, Millbrook and All Saints, Micklehurst about the setting up of facilities to offer food parcels to those in the local community who have been hit hardest by the recession and are struggling to ‘make ends meet.’ With this in mind there is a meeting at 7.00 p.m. on Tuesday 24th. May for anyone from the three parishes who is interesting in helping to set up such facilities. Any small contribution would be appreciated.
Another area which I feel God has placed on my heart is to do with leadership in the church. Many churches have trained pastoral workers. Our pastoral care can be very good, but it is patchy. I feel we would benefit from someone who has been trained by the diocese as a Pastoral Worker. Also, looking ahead, I feel we need a woman’s presence on the leadership team, as a Pastoral Worker, or possibly as a Lay Reader.
I preached on giving a few weeks ago, and the open invitation to discuss with me your personal giving in terms of time and talents remains open. There may, of course, be others areas of service that you had in mind?
2011/04/01 PCC Meeting - March 2011
At our March meeting we looked at our GAP (Growth Action Plan) which is now in its second year. Needless to say, what we hope to do in the church will be largely controlled by our financial situation. Although our general fund, for the everyday running of the church, is struggling to hold up at present – it costs £1700 per week just to keep things ‘ticking over,’ i.e. bills, insurance, parish share - we have been very fortunate in that our restoration fund has about £10,000 in excess of the monies needed to complete the recent South Transept and Organ restoration. With this excess we intend to re-carpet the downstairs lounge (and carry out a bit of decorating); the main financial outlay, however, will be to replace our PA (Public Address) system and introduce AV (Audio Visual) facilities into both the main church and the downstairs lounge. This will take a while as we will need to apply for a Faculty from the Diocese (to allow us to make changes). General maintenance will continue with any remaining excess money, and as a ‘rolling’ programme.
Advertisements have been placed regarding finding a replacement organist upon Stuart’s retirement (one should appear in the next Diocese News, which appears as an insert in our Magazine). Stuart has served us faithfully, assigning his fees back to the church. We may need to accept that in future fees will have to be paid.
Coffee mornings continue on a Saturday. We are grateful for your support of the last one, where we raised over £250, despite the fact that we have lost the Ballet Classes, which met at this time, and supported us well. We have advertised our facilities in the Staly Mag. The Social Committee is planning a concert next year given by The Three Crows, who are very popular in the Stalybridge area.
The Mission Committee has now been formed and will look into aspects of our church giving in the coming months.
2011/03/21 Chester Anglican CURSILLO - 19 - 22 May
This is a short course on being a Christian. See Tim if interested and you will find more information here
2011/03/21 Confirmation - 7 June 2011
There will be a Confirmation Service at St Paul's on Tuesday 7 June at 7:30 pm. The Bishop of Chester will preside at this service and young adults age 13 and over as well as more mature adults are invited to see Tim if they would like to confirmed.
2011/03/21 Restoration
The Restoration Project draws near its completion with the organ shortly to be re-installed and the south transept windows refurbished. Many thanks to all who have contributed to this important work.
2011/03/15 Parachute Jump in aid of Wigan and Leigh Hospice
Jan Stone and her brother Jason Littler
will make a parachute jump in aid of
Wigan and Leigh Hospice
on Saturday 16 April 2011
To raise funds for the Hospice for the wonderful way they cared for the family of Jason’s wife
Victoria Littler
who died aged 40 in November 2010after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
The wonderful way the Hospice cared for Vicky was extended to all the family
and they are still a great support to us all, and in particular to Jason's children, Jack (5) and Katie (12)
We cannot replace their mummy but we can try to ensure that other children in their position canto receive the outstanding care they were given.
We aim to raise at least £1000 to raise a significant sum for the Hospice and cover the cost of the jump.
Please dig deep!
Personal donations can be Gift Aided. Click here for a Gift Aid form
which should be returned to Jan Stone with either cash or a cheque (made payable to J Stone)
or post to J Stone, 26 Carrbrook Close, Carrbrook, Stalybridge, Cheshire, SK15 3LT
This five week course starts on 15 March and is based on two films: The Shawshank Redemption and Babette's Feast. The course will be held at St James' Church, Millbrook. The study book for the course should be ordered in advance from the Vicar.
In preparation for the course, there is an opportunity to see a DVD of Babette's Feast at the Vicarage on Wednesday 2 March at 7:30 pm. (It is assumed that most people will be able to get hold of a copy of The Shawshank Redemption).
We are setting up a committee to look at our mission giving. If you have an interest in mission and would like to join this committee, see the Vicar for more details.
2011/02/06 E100 Challenge
This is a challenge to read the Bible in one year, forcusing on the essential 100 passages of the Bible including the Old and New Testaments. Some of our services will be based on this challenge.The study books cost £5 and are available from the Vicar, and there is information about this challenge here
2011/02/06 GAP - Growth Action Plan
This is an issue for the whole church which will be led by the PCC. If anyone has strong views on how the church can grow and move forward, please let Tim Robinson or members of the PCC know so that these views can be presented at PCC meetings.
We will be asked to state of Growth Action Plan priorities for 2011 in the new year. A PCC Away Day in October discussed issues in two areas: "Welcome and integration" and "Accessibility of Worship" but there may be other things which members of the church feel strongly about. These should be passed to members of the PCC so that they can inform the PCC's discussions.
