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All Saints Anchorsholme – Report to APCM 2018

www.anchorsholme.org.uk

A Charity registered with the Charity Commission, number 1132756

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Contents

Page Section

3 Vicar’s Introduction // Vision 2026

4 Music Ministry // Tech and Lighting // Youth

5 Toddler’s Group // Alpha // Shipshapes // Adventurers // Visiting Team

6 Mission Planning Group // Property Group // Finance Report

7 PCC Information

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Vicar’s Introduction

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is

For brothers to dwell together in unity! 2 It is like the precious oil upon the head,

Coming down upon the beard,

Even Aaron’s beard,

Coming down upon the edge of his robes. 3 It is like the dew of Hermon

Coming down upon the mountains of Zion; For there the LORD commanded the blessing—life forever.

Psalm 133 A lot of the imagery in this Psalm is lost on us, but you get the idea. Being together has a slow and sure impact on those around, it is stability, hope and gives the opportunity for God to shout or whisper his message of forgiveness and eternal life to those who hear and listen. Thank you, church, for all you do, and how you do it. You are the resource of this church, to which others are welcome to come and get involved with. This building continues to be a centre of activity for many community groups, and events like the summer fete last year have enabled more people to appreciate and engage with their church. At the APCM last year we started a conversation that highlighted, even though we are very busy, we wanted to be more effective in engaging with and building community ‘out there.’ We, as a church, have decided to create a new post of Community Engagement Worker to lead us in that aspiration and intent, and are delighted that Shirley Wardle has started in this post. We have also acquired another very welcome staff member, Rev Sam Cheesman, along with Mairi and Lydia. Even within a short space of time, Sam has been instrumental in strengthening our fellowship, bringing fresh inspiration and opening up new avenues of service and witness. You will find many of the things I am celebrating mentioned in Grant’s report that follows. He’s not copying me – he got his copy in first – but it is a mark of the enthusiasm and commitment of both our wardens that this has been such a vibrant year.

There is a richer, broader base on which our patterns of worship are based, and, as we have done in previous years, we have adapted our Sunday services in response to the needs of both ourselves, and those who we wish to make welcome and at home.

We are here for the community, but we are also actively moving out. With the Adult Holiday Club before Easter, alongside our regular Kidzone events, our work with Cleveleys Churches Together, Scripture Union’s Beach Missions this summer, and with partner churches across the Lancashire in the forth-coming ‘Festival of Hope’ we continue to reach out with love, service and the message of God’s life-transforming good news.

Vision 2026 (Grant Davies)

2017 has been a great year in oh so many ways and it has all been down to what He has done and how we as an All Saints team have worked together. The main highlights for me have been threefold. Firstly the Summer Fete we held, a joint effort by many All Sainters bringing together many areas of our local community and in doing so ensuring a great day, the Gospel in action and raising monies for the local children’s hospice. Many bridges I believe were made during the Fete and ones which I trust we can build on. Secondly new signage above the entrance declaring ‘Jesus is Lord’ and then Jacqui Green’s new signage on the side and front on the Church which are just so clear and readable to our neighbours and those passing, if we are to impact on our local community it is so important for them to understand who we are and what we are doing which they can participate in. Thirdly Prayer 613. Prayer, as we can all agree with, plays a key role in the development and building of work at any church – All Saints being no different. Vision 2026 has seen ‘Weeks of Prayer’ and from these Prayer 613 has developed, a bi-weekly hour of prayer with a short time of teaching followed by prayer.

Finally 2018 is going to be an even more challenging year, but one which I find very exciting. 2018 will herald in the new post of Community Engagement Worker (CEW) which our own Shirley Wardle will take up. I believe that, as with all other areas of All Saints, Vision 2026 will work alongside the CEW and what God will do, we can only look forward to.

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Music Ministry Team (Amanda Wooldridge)

‘Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord.’ Ephesians 5:19

Many a ‘joyful noise’ has been made in church over the last year as our musical life continues to flourish. We have been truly blessed this year by the number of new musicians who have joined us. Although Alan Hope, Claire Browning and Peter Hawkins all left us for pastures new we’ve welcomed Suzanne Wong, Heather Briggs, Sue Osborne, Philip and Susan Watson, Tom McNab, Lydia McNab, Lindsay Holbach and you might even have spotted our lovely curate Sam making a guest appearance in the Worship Group at the Carol Service! We now have fifteen permanent members on our team (a 50% increase since last year!). It has been particularly encouraging seeing the young people participate in our sung worship and also welcoming Alan Hibbert who is playing the organ for us once a month. We face the ongoing challenge of making our worship accessible to people of all ages, backgrounds and experience and prayerfully seek to do this every time we play and sing. We are grateful for the encouragement we receive from the many members of the congregation, both young and old, and we’d encourage you to keep singing vigorously and from the heart as we all seek to bring glory to God.

Tech & Lighting (Alex Barlow)

This year in Tech we have consolidated and future-proofed our music provision. We have upgraded our infrastructure in order to make sure our audio visual service elements are as conducive to worship as possible. This year we are looking to work similarly with our spoken word provision. We will be making sure that our wireless microphones give clear and reliable amplification for our leaders, speakers and actors. We are in need of people who are able to use a computer mouse who would be willing to sit at the computer during the service to click through

the words of the songs and liturgy. As members of the congregation, I have no doubt you will be aware how important this simple role is to the smooth running of worship. We would be grateful to anybody who is willing to give some of the time during the service when they would be at church anyway to help out in this important aspect of worship. Youth Update (Steve Green)

Friday night Youth Group celebrated 15 years of running during the last year and demand is as great as ever. Numbers were up on the previous 12 months rising to an average of 51 each week compared to 44 in 2016. The average age of the group is now around 14 with familiar faces leaving in the summer as they reached adulthood.

Whilst this ministry provides us with a rich opportunity to engage with so many young people disconnected to God, it comes with many challenges. If we are serious about wanting to grow services aimed at reaching the youth, such as Ignite or Elevate then this is the place to seek them out.

The two versions of The Group with No Name (TGWNN) continued to meet on Sunday mornings and Thursday evenings. Much of the Sunday morning curriculum was chosen by the young people with a lot of time spent on Messianic Prophecy and End Times Prophecy. Thursday evenings focused on translating what we read in Scripture into day to day living.

Both versions of the group have seen slight reductions in regular attendance for a variety of reasons, such university, college, and work commitments. The natural feed up into the group from within the church has dried up for the time being, with only Grace joining in the last 12 months.

It’s good to report that in the summer of 2018 Jordan and Sadiq will take part in a mission trip to South Africa, and Michael is currently on a 2-year training course at a Christian based camp in Snowdonia. Bobby, Jaz and Liam continue to be part of the youth ministry team.

If you would like to know more about what is happening, please speak to our youth directly and also see the notice-board.

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Toddler Group (Sue Le Dieu)

We continue to be busy on Thursday afternoons, and recently have had a few more Dads coming too. Sam pops in to chat with them from time to time, which is really good. At the request of some of the Grans we had a “Breakfast with Santa” on a December Saturday morning - apparently all the local Breakfasts with Santa get booked up very early! We had a lovely time and Santa (Peter Brooks) stayed for the whole time which was much appreciated. We charged for this and raised £62 for Donna’s Dream House. We have a very loyal team of helpers and we all enjoy being able to serve our community in this way.

Alpha (John and Julie Rawlings)

The Alpha course continues to be available to all; including those who have questions about faith, those who want to learn more about the faith they hold and those who want to experience the course to equip them to invite others. We ran a course between September and November 2017 which was attended by 11 guests. Whilst most of those attending already had strong church links, it provided a valuable opportunity for participants to examine their relationship with God and as a result we saw a strengthening of this relationship. Our hope is that all our church family will use Alpha as a way of inviting people from outside the church to come along and see what being a Christian can mean to them.

Shipshapes (Irene Kendall)

Shipshapes is a lively group for all children aged 7-11 years. It’s the best club in the parish with the emphasis on having fun.

Lively games, plenty of competition between teams, a drink biscuit and 10 min God Slot, remains the winning formula for the 6-8 regulars, with goodies at Christmas and Easter, and a Youth Bible when leave at age 11.

Adventurers (Shirley Wardle)

‘Adventurers’ have seen a few subtle but positive changes over the last year.

We found that our regular attendance earlier in the year was dropping and the children were not engaging in the activities and discussion as fully as we

would like. As a team, we discussed ways to tackle this. Following informal discussion with the children, some parents and leaders, we decided to really push elements of ‘Kidzone’ fun into our Sunday gatherings, and invest time into getting to know our young people. This seems to have worked as children are attending more regularly and are growing as a group.

After leaving the church service, the children all gather as one group to sing, pray, and hear God’s word together. Sometimes this is read from the bible, presented as a story or drama, or quite often using an animated video. We then play an active game and have a snack before going to our separate groups for discussion. The three age groups are able to consider how the topic can be related to our everyday lives at a level appropriate to their age.

After this, there are crafts or games to choose from and the children are forming closer friendships with each other and a deeper relationship with God through this more informal and active approach. It has been a real blessing to see how much the children have remembered week by week, and how they answer each other’s questions about faith and support one another readily. Their enthusiasm is infectious!

On the whole, the children are more relaxed and willing to share what they have been learning about from the front now and they just love to go back into the hall after the service and show a real sense of belonging, having fun and being church!

Visiting Team (Christine Cook & Norma Elkington)

Another busy but encouraging year for the team. We prayed for others to join last year's much depleted team and we were blessed in being able to welcome three, and soon to be four new members. In addition to visits by our Clergy, and many other caring members of our congregation, we try to ensure that members of the church family who are unwell, in hospital or Care home are visited. Sometimes contact is maintained over a long period of time. One of our members faithfully posts cards, on behalf of All Saints, to those who are troubled, poorly or bereaved as well as marking some special occasions. The Diocese are planning to train Pastoral Visitors for the future. In the meantime we have offered a Training Day in-house which was recently well received by the current team.

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We are blessed to be church in an area like ours but pastoral needs are always present in any community. Please enquire if you feel led to serve others in this way.

Mission Planning Group (Susan Watson)

Tithe We give thanks and praise God for the continued sharing of the Tithe of All Saints Offerings to further Mission in Blackpool and beyond. Operation Mobilisation 30%; Paul and Sarah Tester with Church Missionary Society serving in Peru, 20%; Street Life 15%; Blackpool Schools Youth Work 15%.

Then 4 of the following charities receive 5% each and the 2 remaining each get 50% of the Harvest offering. Bible Society, Disabled Christian Fellowship, Mission Aviation Fellowship, Leprosy Mission, Turn on the Tap and Tearfund.

Mission Services. We have enjoyed having the run of 3 services emphasizing Mission to help our fellowship have information about these different groups .It has also been wonderful to have individuals writing prayers of praise and supplication for individuals around the world. Mission prayer remains a vital part of our 1st Sunday Evening service.

This coming year. Our curate Sam Cheesman with Jordan, Sadiq and other young people from the Diocese are going to South Africa. We express thanks for the support from church to cover half of Jordan and Sadiq’s expenses, the rest made up with the coffee morning they took part in.

Property Group (Brian Rowe)

“All Saints’ buildings are very busy and used by a wide variety of organisations. As a result the buildings come under heavy use and need regular care and attention. Unlike publicly-owned buildings we do not employ a caretaker or building manager but rely on the efforts of many volunteers.

It is thanks to the efforts of those volunteers that I can report again that our buildings are in good condition and remain weather- and water-proof. Our great thanks are due to those who give their time and effort to keep the premises clean, to move chairs about, to operate the heating system, to maintain attractive garden areas around the buildings, to carry out repairs

and maintenance and to do all the little things (and some bigger things) which enable all the uses of the buildings to take place safely, conveniently and efficiently. These might be routine, practical and even mundane areas of service but they are essential and valuable contributions to the work of building God’s kingdom her.

It is worth drawing attention to two or three issues.

First of all, we are due to have a Quinquennial Review of the church building (not the Parish Centre) this year. This is a legal requirement under Canon Law and the inspectors invariably suggest a considerable number of things for us to do to keep the building up to scratch. This will test our own view of the condition of the buildings and we look forward to having an “outside” view.

Secondly, it is worth reminding all of us that we are not the only users of the buildings and we need to take account of that fact in our own activities. This means leaving the premises in the state in which we would like to find them, keeping noise levels down when other activities at going on, and putting things away when we have finished using them. It also means, please, recognising that our storage facilities are limited and not trying to store in the building bulky items for which there is no place.

Finally, it is worth reminding ourselves that anyone who is last out of the building needs to check that all doors are properly and securely locked and all lights turned off (except for emergency exit lights and the spotlight on the ceramic in the Welcome Area). “

2017 Financial Activities (Mike LeDieu, Treasurer)

I am delighted to report that 2017 closed with us showing a surplus of £11,405. Below I list the main features which shaped that outcome.

Income

• A major boost to our income last year was the result of Ian Wilks negotiating new room hire deals (with Slimming World in particular). This resulted in an additional £6,000 coming in relative to 2016!

• Another important factor was Grace Money – we received £8,000 through legacies. Praise the Lord!

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• On the other hand, our collection takings were a little depressed (3.75%) at £3,000 less than 2016.

Expenditure

• Following changes to the way the Parish Share is paid, a proportion of it that previously did not pass through the church accounts now does so. This lead to an apparent inflation of the share by £10,000.

• We paid out more (£6,000) in staff costs (Ian Wilks having been taken on as Church Administrator in October 2016).

• We significantly reduced expenditure on new equipment, spending £6,400 less than in 2016.

In addition to all the above, there was a further £5,800 which was collected at church events (e.g. coffee mornings) on behalf of various charities and agencies. Since this is, technically, not the church’s money, it is not included in the accounts. However, it does count as treasure in Heaven!

Looking ahead, our Parish Share contribution for 2018 will amount to £74,529 (£6,200 per month) and, based on our 2017 total income, our Church Tithe donations for 2018 will amount to £13,116.

The prime focus for our 2018 finances will, undoubtedly, be the employment of our new Community Engagement Worker which will add around £24,000 to our annual expenditure. Our existing reserves will be able to sustain this extra expense through 2018 and into 2019, assuming all else remains equal. However, the CEW is a three-year appointment so we need to see extra income in order to cover the full term of this new venture of faith. It would be very easy to be overawed by the challenge ahead but I would encourage you to focus on Who it is we serve.

Our amazing God has been very gracious in the past - and He doesn’t change!

All Saints PCC aim

The Parochial Church Council (PCC) is the body which oversees the work of

the church, co-operating with the Vicar in promoting in the parish, the

whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical.

All Saints PCC organisation

The PCC meets regularly throughout the year and oversees the main

business of the parish. A range of tasks are delegated to sub committees:

Standing Committee – undertakes any urgent essential matters and sets the

PCC agenda. It comprises of the Vicar, the Churchwardens, the Treasurer

and the Secretary.

Finance Committee deals with tight controls of income and expenditure for

the smooth running of the church.

Mission Partnership Group undertakes the work involved in supporting the

work of our mission partners, and sharing that mission with church.

Property Group deals with the general maintenance and fabric of the

church. It is helped greatly by a group of men who give their time each

Tuesday morning to completing many jobs, which otherwise would have

cost the church for tradesmen to do the repairs.

Key Leaders Group maintains a strategic overview of church life, is

responsible for maintaining the vision of All Saints, and allowing all areas of

church life to liaise effectively with one another.

All Saints Electoral Roll

The number of members on the newly prepared Electoral Roll at the date of

preparation of this report was 162.

All Saints PCC structure

The PCC generally meets about every two months and has met 8 (including

1 extra-ordinary meeting) times during the past year, excluding the meeting

to elect its officers. The PCC is made up of the Vicar, 2 Churchwardens, the

curate, 1 lay reader, 1 member of the Diocesan Synod, 1 member of

Deanery Synod, and 12 elected members (of which 11 were filled this past

year).

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A list of the PCC members is printed below and the number in brackets next

to their name shows how often they have attended the meetings in the past

year. The current membership (April 2018) is as follows:

Elected:

Yvonne Davies (6); Ann Dnistrianskyj (7); Norma Elkington (8); Stephen

Green (6); Mike LeDieu (7); Sarah Munro (3); Christine Pawson (7); Jasmine

Peacock (4); Brian Rowe (8), Sarah Tarbuck (7).

Church Wardens:

Grant Davies (8); Jacqui Green (6).

Deanery Synod:

Philip Watson (8).

Diocesan Synod:

Richard Bibby (6).

Ex officio:

Rev Stef Dnistrianskyj (8); Jess Rowe (7); Rev Sam Cheesman (5).

Legal and Administrative Information:

The Parish of Anchorsholme, All Saints, Diocese of Blackburn.

Correspondence address: All Saints Church, North Drive, Thornton-

Cleveleys, FY5 3HT. 01253 823904.

The All Saints PCC is a charity registered with the Charity Commission. All

Saints PCC banks with Yorkshire Bank PLC, 12a Crescent East, Thornton-

Cleveleys, FY5 SLR. All Saints PCC accounts are audited by Mr Ian Bedford,

Chartered Accountant of 52 Luton Road, Thornton-Cleveleys.