A Pastoral Review of 2007

Report of the Parochial Church Council

April 2008

S Helen’s P.C.C. has the responsibility of co-operating with the incumbent of the parish, in promoting the ecclesiastical parish, and the whole mission of the Church – pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. It also has maintenance responsibilities for S Helen’s Parish Church and S Helen’s Parish Centre.

Membership
Members of the P.C.C. are either ex- officio members or are elected by the Annual Parochial Church Meeting in accordance with the Church Representation Rules. During the year, the following served as members of the P.C.C.

Incumbent: Canon Robert McTeer (Chairman)

Churchwardens: Mrs Valerie Bryden
Mr. John Bake

Lay Chairman: Mrs Valerie Bryden

Deanery Synod
Representatives: Mrs Valerie Bryden
Mrs Pat Bake
Mr Eric Younghusband

Elected Members: Mrs Kate Alsop
Miss Claire Bake
Mrs Audrey Bellis
Miss Marjorie Brodie
Mrs Jean Boyle
Mr Allan Brown
Miss Emma Collinson
Mrs Pat Elliott
Mrs Susan Gilby
Mrs Pat Hartley
Mrs Maureen Race
Mrs Edith Raine
Miss Alyson Smith

P.C.C. Treasurer: Mrs Pat Bake ACMA.,MAAT.
P.C.C. Secretary: Miss Alyson Smith

Constitution
The constitution is that of the Constitution of the Church of England, which can be found in “A Handbook for Churchwardens and Parochial Church Councillors” Mowbray ISBN 0-264-67411-1

Committees
The P.C.C. operates through a Standing Committee, which can meet between full meetings of the P.C.C. It is the only committee required by law. It has the power to transact the business of the P.C.C. between its meetings, subject to any direction given by the Church Council. A Centre Management Committee looks after the management of the Parish Centre in conjunction with the Warden. A Youth Centre Management Committee is appointed as Trustees of Milbank Youth Centre. The PCC appoints a Social Events Committee.

Electoral Roll
The Electoral Roll consists of 117 persons.

Review of the Work of the P.C.C. for the year 2007
The first meeting of the P.C.C. following the Annual General Meeting took place on Thursday, 31st May. Subsequent meetings took place on17th June (special meeting), 23rd July, 10th September, 15th October, 28th January 2008 and 31st March 2008. It has been a busy and productive year: discussions have taken place over a wide range of topics and numerous decisions have been made. However, it is fair to say that most of the P.C.C.'s energies have been devoted to 4 main areas:
1. The restoration of the organ, the subsequent work on the walls and floor around and under the organ, the redecoration of the building internally, the rewiring and up-grading of the internal lighting system and the floodlighting of the church externally. Much time has been spent procuring grants from a range of Charitable Trusts and the church was fortunate enough to obtain a grant of £20 000 from Wear Valley District Council to floodlight the church. This work should be completed during the Summer and early Autumn of 2008.
2. Upgrading the Parish Centre especially the roof, the shower and toilet areas and the main door. Again, a lot of time was spent trying to procure grants to enable the work to be completed. The Parish Centre was successful in obtaining Lottery Funding to the tune of £10 000.
3. Following a major increase in the Parish Share payable to the Diocese a major initiative was launched regarding Planned Giving. The subsequent increase in Planned Giving is proof of the success of the initiative.
4. Numerous thefts of lead from the church roof have led to the P.C.C. spending a great deal of time and effort trying to stop the thefts taking place. Following much discussion it was agreed to up-date the Burglar Alarm System and to install security lighting on the north side of the building. Smart Water Security Marking has also taken place. Time will tell how successful these initiatives have been.
Other than these main items, the following areas were dealt with:
• The stained glass window depicting the Incarnation which was installed just before Christmas 2007
• The running of the Lunch Club. This has now been taken over by Barbara Bevan and a small team of helpers. It continues to meet on the first Tuesday of the month.
• Services to celebrate occasions such as St. Helen's Day, Remembrance Day, Christmas, Lent and Easter and the opportunities afforded by them to extend mission within the Parish such as sending a Church Christmas card to every house in the Parish.
• The appointment of a Youth and Community Worker within the Parish and the ways in which possible funding might be made available.
The P.C.C. continues to work to a five-year plan for improvements to the buildings, development of worship in the parish and our Mission and Education programmes to all age groups.

The Report of the Fabric and Ornaments of the Church
Following the major restoration to the parish church undertaken during 2001 the church is now sound and in an excellent state of repair. The building is well looked after and minor repairs are undertaken as and when necessary.

The church was cleaned each week, brass, silver and linen are cleaned each week and a grounds man looks after the clearing of litter, sweeping paths and clearing drains. A spring working party meet to keep the maintenance of the building up to date. A small team of cleaners worked hard every week to keep the church in first class order.

Plans are now finalised for the rebuilding of the organ, repairs to the floor and walls of the organ chamber, the full rewiring of the church, along with a new lighting scheme internally and externally. Work will start during the summer of 2008

The main area of concern was repeated thefts of lead form the church roof: 17th April £1,448, May £4,157, 3rd June £1,448, 1st November £1,712. This was replaced by EIO insurance. We have upgraded our alarm system and introduced temporary floodlighting to the north roof. Our alarm company also carried out an experimental external security beam to the roof of the church this however was not successful.

Works to the Church during 2007
• organ tuned three times and minor repairs to keep the instrument in service
• soak-away drains cleared monthly, drain pipes and roof gullies checked in May and November
• fire extinguishers checked and serviced
• alarm system serviced
• heating system and boilers serviced
• minor roof repairs by Pulfords of Bishop Auckland
• lead replaced to the roof on four occasions after theft
• upgrade of our internal alarm system
• roof marked with smart-water
• all silver and brass marked with smart-water
• three temporary security lights fitted on north roof
• repair to oak door by Mr John Bake

Additions and donations to church fabric during 2007
• new green vestment
• introduction of stained glass window by Seph Waugh FMGP by Miss Sarah Snowdon. Inscription “Remember Elizabeth Phoebe and Sarah Snowdon”

Pastoral review
The worship and work of Almighty God, especially in the Eucharist, was once again at the centre of all that we do at S. Helen Auckland. A full liturgical year was observed. Christmas, Lent, Holy Week and Easter were all well attended and spiritually rewarding. The Venerable Nicholas Barker, Archdeacon of Auckland preached for S. Helen’s Day

The music at S. Helen’s continued to improve and develop last year. Mr Philip Hall started a full time university course in music at Newcastle University and Mrs Joan Johnson very kindly undertook choir training and practice on Wednesday and Sunday mornings and plays for occasional offices. Mr Hall has retained his position of organist with the help of Mrs Johnson over the period of his university study.

St. Helen’s School held a carol service in church and Copeland Road School held both a carol service and an Easter service in S. Helen’s. During the Christmas season, a very successful carol concert was held in church with Ferryhill Town Brass Band and a Christingle service attracted a congregation of over 200 of which 130 were children. A Parish Carol service was also held in 2007 with children from Copeland Road School and was a great success. The attendance over Christmas 2007 was excellent and broke all records.

Mrs Valerie Bryden worked as a voluntary pastoral assistant in the parish, sick visiting, bereavement visiting, helping with home communions and a wide variety of other work.

We had a full and active social life at S. Helen’s with a social or fundraising activity each month. This included parish Sunday lunches, brass on the grass, Christmas and summer fairs, evening meals on major festivals, wine tasting evenings, gourmet buffet, Irish evening, teddy bears picnic, Christmas meal in the centre and evenings out. A very successful Art Exhibition and Sale was held over the May Bank Holiday. Thanks to Mrs Pat Bake who is the driving force behind the parish catering. The choir, senior servers, cleaners and parish officials enjoyed an evening out as a thank you for their work.
The daily mass was maintained during the year, a weekly Rosary prayer group meeting with exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Stations of the Cross with S. Paulinus RC Church during Lent.

The main pastoral work of S. Helen’s included:
• daily mass and offices
• Copeland Road, Oakley Cross and S. Helen’s school were visited on a regular basis
• school services and visits of children for course work took place in the church
• the youth groups and Millbank Youth Club were all supported. The Scouts and Guides were invited to the Parade Mass for parade services
• the needy, sick, dying and bereaved were visited at home or hospital
by the vicar or pastoral assistant
• members of the parish received home visits and the housebound were given communion at home
• all three nursing homes were visited
• a full programme of social events was enjoyed during the year.
• parish pilgrimage to Walsingham at the end of August was attended by 30 pilgrims
• a small group of pilgrims visited Fatima
• a weekly lent lunch was held in aid of the church overseas
• the parish provided Rainbows, Brownie, Guide, Beaver, Cub and Scout Groups
• a weekly bingo met for the elderly
• a ladies group met once a month
• Fr McTeer and members of the church served the wider church by attending committees, Deanery Synod, Forward in Faith Chapter, Society of the Holy Cross, Forward in Faith National Assembly and various Patronal Festivals around the diocese
• members of the congregation were involved in many social and community activities within the parish, fostering of children, school governor, visiting the sick, providing transport for the elderly, providing meals for the lonely on Christmas Day, W.I. meetings, helping with Sunday School and youth work.
• the parish maintained its own website
• a monthly lunch club for the elderly

Parish statistics for 2007
• 51 baptisms
• 1 wedding
• 50 funerals conducted through the ministry of S. Helen’s
• 135 Easter Communions with a 172 Easter attendance
• 155 Christmas Communions with a 172 Christmas attendance
• average Sunday attendance 58 Adults and 10 Children making an average Parish Mass attendance of 68
• average weekly communions including weekday masses were 115

Publicity
A notice sheet was produced each week and the bi-monthly magazine has a circulation of 200. A card was delivered to every home in the parish at Christmas. Posters were displayed around the parish along with newspaper publicity for every festival and social event. The Parish has its own website and leaflets were distributed to local places of interest and hotels advertising the church opening times during the summer. A leaflet was delivered to every new home in the parish as they became occupied.

The Parish Centre Development
The following work took place in 2007
• complete refurbishment of the toilets at a cost of £26,000
• improvements to the entrance - £5,000
• repairs to the roof and guttering £4, 000

The centre is greatly improved, much warmer, more comfortable and easier to clean. Mrs Ethel Shoulder maintained the centre to a very high standard during the year.
The centre made a small operating profit during 2007. The accounts are included in this report.
The centre is a major asset to the parish and community and a major mission resource for the future.

Link Parish of S. Mark Kibi, Ghana
Canon McTeer visited S. Mark’s Kibi once again during 2007 and took £4,000 raised form the parish towards the new roof of the church. This was an occasion of great rejoicing in Kibi. Photographs of the parish and presentation evening can be found in the church porch. The final £1,000 will be presented by Canon McTeer at the Dedication Service of the new church in October 2008.
Fr Robert O. Ankrah, the parish priest and his people pray for S. Helen’s each day as we pray for S. Marks. It is hoped that this link will grow and benefit and encourage each congregation. The link has the grateful blessing of the Bishop of Korforidua and The Bishop of Beverley.

The Vicarage
The Quinquennial Inspection took place in June 2005 by Mr M Galley BSc (Hons) MCIOB. Diocesan Surveyor, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. It was reported, “The property is particularly well maintained and cared for and has no apparent structural defects”. No repairs or decoration was needed at the vicarage during the past year.

Conclusion
Last year was a challenging year in the parish. We lost some faithful parishioners due to relocation and sadly bereavement. A good number of our regular communicants became housebound with some suffering serious illness. The church always renews herself and it was good to welcome new members to the parish during the year.

We continue to welcome the new residents into the many new homes under construction in the parish. It is estimated that the population has risen by 2000.The PCC along with the incumbent are looking a ways of contacting and serving the new estates.

A new youth and community worker will be employed during 2008 to help outreach to the youngsters and the new families of the parish. The Diocesan Mission Fund, Durham County Council and the parish will fund this work.

The Organ Fund made steady progress over the last year. Our Quota was increased by £5,000 and a successful appeal was made to all member of the Electoral Roll to increase weekly giving to cover this increase. The response was excellent and shows great commitment from our members.

It will be a blessing to finish the final phase of our restoration work during 2008 to enable us to fully focus on our main priorities as a parish over the coming years. These are:
• worship and prayer
• teaching and nurture
• care and service

A thanksgiving service will be held in September to give thanks for the final phase of our ten year programme.

As a parish we will remain faithful to the catholic faith that comes to us from the apostles and of which the Church of England claims to be part, working and praying for the re-union of the Church of God, celebrating the Mass and offices each day, trying to order our lives to the teaching of our Lord in Holy Scripture, proclaiming the word of God, building up our faith, baptising our children, caring for the sick, providing for our young people, burying the dead, caring for the bereaved. Worshipping God, teaching and nurturing our people and serving our community in Christian love and joy with a passion for mission and conversion. Simply being the Church in West Auckland, St Helen Auckland and Tindale Crescent.

Canon. Robert McTeer

Vicar and PCC Chairman.
April 2008

 

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