Annual Report for calendar year 2018

INTRODUCTION BY THE RECTOR Our church buildings are places of meeting. Congregations meeting with God and each other in Sunday worship that equips for the week ahead. Couples, friends and family meeting with God and celebrating marriage in ways that equip for the years ahead. Individuals and their supporters meeting with God in the joys of Holy Baptism and life eternal. Others at funerals, meeting with God while contemplating mortality. And some simply meeting with God in quiet holiness when no one else is present. All meeting with the God who comes to meet and offer his saving hand, whatever our problems. Our church buildings are places of meeting. My thanks go to all whose dedication and generosity have kept them so this year and facilitated the Growing in God of so many.

My thanks go also to those who have helped others meet with God outside of these buildings: distributing Holy Communion to the sick and housebound; persevering with the work of Messy Church, Open The Book, summer evening reflections at Carlton, the Harvest Supper and the village carols; those who have shared the love of God in encounters with friends, neighbours, homegroups and strangers. These and other works are all parts of the Growing in God which is about:

• Growing in Depth – responding to the call of Christ in every part of our lives

• Growing in Number – drawing contacts we have into the life of God’s kingdom

• Growing in Influence – reaching beyond ourselves in our impact on the wider world

• Growing Younger – building churches whose age range reflects our communities

Growing in God. We’ll get there. Let’s keep meeting with God as we do so.

Andy Wolton

A REPORT ON THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH

COUNCIL AND THE ACTIVITIES OF THE PARISH GENERALLY FEBRUARY A change in Canon Law allows freedom for Clergy and PCCs to agree less formal robing policies. It was agreed that Clergy would routinely robe for Eucharistic Services, and for non- Eucharistic Services they would robe at their discretion or in discussion with families for weddings and funerals.

MARCH The APCM was held on 4th March. The Standing Committee met on 25th March to discuss the purchase of window guards for four windows in St Peter’s, Carlton, for which there were sufficient funds, thanks to a generous donation.

APRIL There was an introduction from Julia Kinsey, Benefice Safeguarding Officer, saying that the whole church is responsible and has a role to play in promoting a safe place for all. Everyone needs to do the web-based training, at least to the basic level. Richard Crane is appointed Parish Safeguarding Liaison Officer.

Proposed changes to Service patterns will avoid having two Holy Communion Services in the United Parish on one Sunday, and will come into effect from January 2019.

JUNE Nic Stuchfield’s Priesting took place at the Cathedral – a very special Service. This was followed by him presiding at his first Holy Communion the following Sunday.

AUGUST CAP (Christians Against Poverty) Rural Debt Centre opened in Saxmundham, to support families struggling financially.

Growing In God: to prayerfully evaluate how we may grow. Information requests to Parishes to be completed at September 2018 PCC Meeting. A very good record was made and the Rector suggested a joint meeting with St John’s.

SEPTEMBER Nic Stuchfield advised the PCC of a possibility of receiving funding for the Church Maintenance Fund.

Churchyard Burials Policy: Andy Wolton is investigating with the DAC regarding the re-use of existing grave spaces, if current grave space has been in the churchyard for 100 years.

The PCC gave its approval for Elizabeth Masterton-Smith and Jacqui Studd to be commissioned as Lay Elders for three years in the United Parish.

NOVEMBER On Remembrance Sunday we remembered the Centenary of the signing of the Armistice, with a gathering in Fromus Square at 10.30am when the church bells were rung, followed by prayers and the laying of wreaths. Afterwards at St John’s, knitted poppies decorated the steps, children lit candles and the names in the Benefice of the dead from both World Wars were read out.

Pastoral Care, led by Nic Stuchfield and Di Nicholls, includes distribution of Holy Communion to the sick and housebound, home and hospital visiting, bereavement ministry and CAP befriending.

DECEMBER Elizabeth Masterton-Smith led the Village Carol Evening in Kelsale Village Hall this year, in aid of the local Air Ambulance. This is always a special evening and everyone was welcomed to the village by a twinkling and sparkling Christmas tree.

The Primary School Carol Service on the 14th brought all the children and some of their parents into Kelsale Church for carols and readings.

The Carol Service by Candlelight was held in St Peter’s on 16th December. On Christmas Day there was a Family Service of Holy Communion in St Mary & St Peter’s. The Parish has purchased 46 ESV(UK) pew bibles for use in both churches.

ST MARY & ST PETER’S FUND-RAISING COMMITTEE The Fund-Raising Committee (known as KFC) has continued to organise various events during the year, with varying degrees of success. Unfortunately because Mary Ager moved away she had resigned from the committee, but the remainder continued working hard. We were given a lovely hand-made quilt to raffle by someone from the village, and held the raffle throughout the year at all our events; this alone raised about £150.00.

The first event of the year was the annual 3-day Flower Festival held during the Spring Bank Holiday weekend – this is looked forward to by many visitors, and particularly the cream teas which were served each after-noon of the weekend. The theme this year was Nursery Rhymes, and the arrangements were very imaginative and colourful. Most of the flowers were again supplied by a local florist, the cost of which was paid for by donations from the flower arrangers. Once again St John’s Craft Group had a sales table. The Primary School had a competition of miniature sand gardens below the font and these were judged by visitors. Total raised over the weekend was £1068.00.

Kelsale Primary School invited us to have a sales table at their school fete – we sold cakes and also had some crafts on sale. We raised about £100.00 from that.

Our next event was a lovely evening in early August arranged by Gillian Knight, ex-opera singer who lives in the Village. She arranged for some of her and her daughter’s pupils to put on a concert of songs and music. This was a lovely evening, very much enjoyed by all who came along. We had the usual raffle, and drinks and nibbles at the end. We raised about £540.00 from this event.

In September we had a second concert by the Mansfield Ensemble who had proved very popular the previous year. A wonderful evening of string quartets by Mozart and Brahms was performed, followed by our raffle and refreshments. Total raised was about £480.00. On the same day the SHCT Ride and Stride event was held, and we raised £150.00 from that towards our Fabric Fund.

We held our annual Harvest Supper later in September and, although numbers were down on previous years, we netted about £620.00 for the evening. Entertainment was provided by Peter and Sally again, who are very popular with those who attended.

Unfortunately we had to cancel our November event – Fish & Chip Supper with Auction of Promises – as we didn’t have enough support to make this viable. It is proposed to try and put this on during the summer months (lighter evenings) in 2019, as we still have the promises to auction.

The 2019 calendar was on sale from early in September and had some wonderful views of Kelsale church taken by Jenny Bridson’s son, John. We had 100 copies printed, but unfortunately this has not sold as well as our previous one. We will have to look at

whether or not to do another one. We have just about covered our costs this time.

There were a couple of coffee evenings with sales tables and games held in St John’s Church Hall. These were organised by two home groups, Barnabas and Emmaus, with all funds raised coming in to Kelsale church. In addition there have been various small gifts, including from Home Groups, St John’s Craft group and individuals, all of which is helping to raise the profile showing our aims.

Figures for St Peter’s, Carlton are not included in the above.

A REPORT ON THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE DEANERY SYNOD The Synod provided an opportunity for parishes to meet, to discuss common issues, share experiences and be kept up to date with developments within the wider Church of England. The Deanery Synod met three times in the year at a variety of locations and with a wide variety of outside speakers.

In addition to being kept up to date with issues, vacancies and appointments within the Deanery, we were notified of issues and initiatives facing the wider Church, both within the Diocese and nationally.

Safeguarding was an issue that was touched on several times during the year. In depth by Dave Butcher of the Diocesan safeguarding team in February, who gave a very useful and, in some places disturbing, presentation of the issues and the importance to the whole Church of bringing this issue into the open. This issue has been in our minds at all other meetings.

In June, Anna Hughes, Diocesan Secretary addressed the meeting and spoke on her work and reorganisation of the Diocesan Secretariat. She assured us that the changes made in the Diocesan office 18 months ago are starting to show results and is confident for the future.

A supper with a talk from Bishop Mike was planned for October but cancelled when he was temporarily unwell.

REPORT ON THE FABRIC, GOODS AND ORNAMENTS OF THE CHURCH FOR ST MARY & ST PETER, KELSALE

CHURCHYARD – We continue to have maintenance of the churchyard paid for by donations. The churchyard is looking in much better health now, and Phil, who does the work for us, is doing an excellent job. The DAC and local authorities are to be contacted about the possible removal of some of the trees in order to open up the churchyard and the view of the church.

GRAVES – The list of graves has almost neared completion, and includes more detail taken from the 1981 survey. Once completed, a file with detailed lists will be available in church for

anyone looking for information on their ancestors. In addition, plot numbers have been allocated to newer graves, and this will be done as each new burial takes place. The churchyard map is being updated so that anyone looking for a particular

grave will be able to locate it more easily. Many thanks to Pat Harvey, who has done some excellent work on this.

TOILET AND KITCHENETTE – Due to a lack of funds, no further work has been carried out on preparing for these proposed works. However, we are now looking into having water and mains drainage installed as a first stage of the plan. We have changed our architect to someone who is more local and who is now looking at what is required for this.

DAMAGED ‘GROTESQUE’ – Unfortunately the stonemason, from whom we had obtained a very detailed quotation has died, and so we have to find another one and obtain yet another quotation.

BI-MONTHLY NEWSLETTER – The bi-monthly newsletter has been distributed around the village all year, and many people (non-church goers) have expressed their appreciation. In addition copies are left in all churches in the Benefice, the Church Shop, and the Kelsale Village Hall Committee Room. Kelsale Parish Council also post a copy on their website.

ELECTRIC CABLE ON FOOTPATH – Following problems and investigation with the lights on the main footpath from the church to the lychgate, a local resident electrician replaced the underground cable which was found to have a fault. He did not charge for his services.

CONSERVATION AREA – The centre of Kelsale village has been designated a conservation area determined by Suffolk Coastal District Council, and this of course includes St Mary & St Peter’s church and churchyard. This designation should enable us to be in a better position to obtain funding/grants from Historic England.

POSSIBLE FILM LOCATION – We have been approached by Screen Suffolk concerning the possible use of the church and churchyard for film locations. Screen Suffolk is the ‘go to’ organisation for any film production company who want to film in Suffolk, to provide locations, technicians, cast, etc. Following consultation with the Diocesan solicitor, it was agreed we would enter into a Gold level service agreement with Screen Suffolk. The Diocese are happy that we do this directly with Screen Suffolk, but they are interested in being kept informed of how this works in order that they can advise other churches who may be approached in the same way.

FLOWERS – The regular team of three arrangers have done a wonderful job in keeping the flowers looking fresh and appropriate for the liturgical seasons. We are lucky to have others who help at major festivals, but we would always welcome more to join the team.

CHURCH CLEANING – The cleaning team of volunteers (including church-goers and non-church-goers alike) continue to meet monthly on a Friday to do a full clean of the church. Surface cleaning is done in between if necessary, particularly in the summer when the bats are active. We are extremely grateful to the team, and would always welcome anyone who would like to help.

A REPORT ON THE FABRIC, GOODS AND ORNAMENTS OF THE CHURCH FOR ST PETER, CARLTON

St Peter‘s Church, Carlton, has held Holy Communion services, times for personal prayer and meditation, a Carol Service, and concerts between 1st April and 16th December 2018.

There have been seven celebrations of Holy Communion; 11 Sunday hours of personal prayer and meditation (two led by Anam Cora); three concerts to raise money for the Fabric Fund; a Songs of Praise service; a visit by a U3A group to hear about the history and architecture of St Peter’s; participation in the SHCT Ride and Stride open churches event; involvement of children from Kelsale VC Primary School in preparing and planting flowers in the graveyard (very many thanks to Lizi Hartley for organising this); and a Carol Service. The cumulative total attendance was 441, with a cumulative total of 107 receipts of Holy Communion.

Some minor repairs need to be carried out: reaffixing some loose roof tiles; replacing like-for-like cast-iron guttering (approx 6ft) on the south side of the nave; removing a rook's nesting material from the south end chancel gable; and repairing the lime mortar plaster on the inner north side tower wall. A quotation is being pursued and approval sought from the Archdeacon.

A Quinquennial report on St Peter’s Church will be sought very soon.

MESSY CHURCH

Even though numbers fluctuate greatly from a couple of children to ten or more, the team continues to inspire each other, and the children always enjoy themselves. We have been lucky enough to add two or three new members to our team, which has

helped ease the pressure on the small team we had. Unfortunately we lost Mary Ager from our team when she moved away.

In January we focused on journeys based on the story of the wise men and Epiphany – not knowing where you are going or when you will arrive. We had to cancel March because of the ‘Beast from the East’ so our next session was in May on John the Baptist when we looked at how he survived on honey and locusts – we talked about bees and made a bee hotel which will be put up in the churchyard. Then in July we centred on Holy Communion and made an altar frontal – this was used on the Sunday following at Saxmundham Primary School when Nic Stuchfield presided at his first Holy Communion service. In September we looked at Samuel’s call and talked about ‘listening to God’, and November we focused on ‘All the Saints’ in celebration of All Saints Day. Prof P Brane helped at some of these sessions and continues to get the children involved in helping her.

Because of the fall in numbers, we are looking at different ways of running the Messy Church sessions. We are in talks with the Headteacher at Kelsale Primary School to see whether it is possible to hold the sessions there. We have been lucky enough to have been given some storage space in the Village Hall which has meant that we are able to prepare the crafts in more warm and sociable surroundings.

THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31 DECEMBER 2018

A REPORT FROM THE SAFEGUARDING LIAISON AWARENESS OFFICER

There have been no awareness incidents on which to report during 2018 within the two churches in the Parish of Kelsale cum Carlton.

2018 Flower Festival in St Mary & St Peter’s, Kelsale (Lavender Blue, dilly dilly)