Agenda
Annual Vestry Meeting of Holy Trinity Church
Held on Sunday 23rd. April 2017 at 12.30pm.
(With bring and share lunch)
1/ To elect 2 Churchwardens
2/ Election of PCC Members for the coming year
Annual Parochial Church Meeting of Holy Trinity Church
Held on Sunday 23rd. April 2017 at 12.40pm.
1/ Opening Prayer
2/ Apologies
3/ Minutes of the APCM held on April 2016
4/ Election of 2 Deanery Synod Members
5/ Reports
a/ Clergy
b/ Churchwardens
c/ Fabric
d/ Secretary
e/ Finance
f/ Deanery Synod
g/ Hall Bookings
h/ Electoral Roll
i/ Children and families Work
j/ House Groups
k/ Flower Arranging Group
l/ Saturday Morning Tea/Coffee
m/ Wednesday Tea Parties
n/ Mother’s Union
o/ Church Mice
p/ Traidcraft
q/ Holy Trinity School
Minutes of the APCM held at Holy Trinity Church on 24 th April 2016
12.30
Annual Vestry Meeting
Laura and Ken were re-elected unanimously as Churchwardens. Revd. Gaenor thanked them for all their hard work over the last year.
PCC: Sara Jeffrey, Glen Hall, Maria MacDonald Thomson, Becky Garnell, Roger Gillingham, Esther Woodrow, Maggie Billing and Liz Rogers in addition to the Statutory Roles were elected unopposed.
Sidespeople: Mary Bramwell, Ann Robinson, Ann Rasmussen, Di Gorringe, Sandra Taylor, Paul and Liz Rogers, Frieda Cook and Roger Gillingham were unanimously accepted as Sidespeople.
APCM
The meeting was opened with a prayer from Revd. Gaenor Hockey.
Apologies: Mary Bramwell, Terry and Cynthia Gough, Gordon and Sylvia Holmes and Di Gorringe.
Present: There were 21 Members present.
Minutes: The minutes of the APCM held on 19th April 2015 were agreed.
Deanery Synod: Howard Gorringe & Sandra Taylor were formally approved for the coming year.
Reports
a) Revd. Gaenor gave a summary of the Clergy Report commenting that it was very helpful to have Rachel Evans as an administrator. She also formally thanked the Churchwardens and all volunteers for all their hard work. Mentioning the Christianity and Science lecture which is covered in her report, Revd. Gaenor said that she would like to host other similar lectures in the future. She formally thanked all those who have helped with children’s activities. Revd. Gaenor concluded her report stating that in the coming year she would like to focus on teaching, prayer and discipleship.
(b) (c) (d) Ken in the Churchwarden’s report expressed particular thanks to Mike Maynard. He also thanked Paul Taylor for his hard work as Treasurer and Liz Rogers for taking the minutes.
e) Paul Taylor mentioned Robin Thring’s generous legacy. He also stated that there has been an independent review of the accounts and informed those present of their findings. Paul will continue as Treasurer for the present year. His hard work was recognised by everyone present.
f) Howard commented that the Dioceses were developing new strategies, and that the Deanery Synod will be an important part of this. He also mentioned the Yeovil Show. The aim is to have a stand to show the presence of the Anglican Church in the area. Howard made a request for any ideas, thoughts and a willingness to take part.
g) Di commented that there are 46 people on the electoral role. The electoral role forms are in the Narthex.
h) Laura thanked everyone for their help with Children and Families work. In particular Maria and Becky. She also presented Glen, Esther and Roger with flowers and chocolates for their continued support and hard work. Revd. Gaenor re-iterated these thanks.
(i) (j) (K). Howard stated that the Saturday morning coffee/tea was doing well. A special thank you was given to all involved. Di sometimes has difficulty doing the rotas and extra volunteers would be welcome. Ken asked Howard to pass our thanks on to Di for all her hard work.
m) Maggie mentioned that the Mother’s Union was the only one in Yeovil. They meet on the 3 rd
Tuesday of every month at 2.30pm. Laura suggested that if the meetings started at 2.00pm more people would be able to attend, as this would fit in with school hours. Maggie replied that she was open to new ideas to try and increase membership.
n) Maggie reported that Church Mice was quiet before Easter, but in the last few weeks they have had some new Mums attending.
o) Maggie stated that funds were down from last year. Revd. Gaenor commented that Traidcraft was an important witness for other churches. She also gave her thanks to Maggie for her work with Mother’s Union, Church Mice and Traidcraft.
p) Revd. Gaenor mentioned the new innovation of Labyrinth to help with prayer. She is involved with worship and spirituality. Ken is also involved with the school. Revd. Gaenor asked that we pray for the school and staff. They received an outstanding inspection last year.
AOB
Laura asked that we recognise how well behaved the Church children are.
Howard gave a special thank you to Revd. Gaenor for all her hard work.
The meeting ended with the Grace at 1.10pm
a/ Clergy ReportClergy review of the year 2016 by Revd Gaenor Hockey, Vicar.
Given in alphabetical headings
Administrative support.Rachel Evans has now been employed for 1 1/2 years and is an essential part of the wider ministry team, as she liaises with all the user groups that come to our church and community centre and her friendly and efficient manner means that enquiries are dealt with smoothly! She helps with church administration including church publicity and even helping with moving chairs.My thanks to Rachel.My thanks also to Di and Mary Nichols respectively for collating the flower and Ballet coffee and readers’ rota over the year- very much appreciated.
BaptismThis year has been quieter than previous years: totalling 9.
BuildingMy thanks to the churchwardens, and especially Ken, for the attention given to the recommendations from the last Quinquennial report and to our volunteers, namely Dave and Ray, who have come weekly to keep the gardens and car park up to scratch. Thanks to George and Julian who had done sterling work on site but have stepped down for health reasons.After the security recommendations following the Church burglary in May 2015, we have finally installed a counter-lever barrier gate across the main entrance which all final centre users are asked to pull across at night as a deterrent to unnecessary parking and littering. There will soon be a combination lock on the gate too.
Community developmentThere has been no further information on the proposed Keyford development on the south of the parish. I remain on a watching brief about this.
The Agusta Westlands site has been re-named Leonardo.The monthly provision of a Communion service for the Christian Fellowship there continues with 6-10 people attending.
Church community outreach continues through Church Mice, the monthly Tea Party as well as through family activities like Messy Church. My thanks to all those involved with these activities.
In the coming months we will be celebrating Trinity Sunday together, with the uniformed groups and school, working with other churches at the Yeovil Show, celebrating the Benefice in September and celebrating with Holy Trinity Scouts their 100th birthday in 2018.
Fundraising for charitiesThere have been a number of smaller events over the year raising money for Traidcraft, Mothers’ Union and Macmillan. The donation box for The Lord’s Larder food bank continues to sit in the foyer and Mary Nichols kindly takes any food donations to Lords Larder where she volunteers.
FuneralsThis last year has seen the sad loss of a number of our older congregation members whom we miss and our prayers continue to go with their families. Howard and I have conducted a number of other funerals including 9 funerals at Church.
Holy Trinity Primary SchoolI continue to lead weekly Friday worship in Church for the school, now alternating different Key Stage groups with whole school worship a few times per term. I have also been involved with the head and staff, developing the school values within school worship and RE- this year focussing on lives of Christian saints who exemplify the 7 values.I remain ex-officio governor at the School and am part of the SALT group (pupil learning, teaching and welfare).
At the end of the summer term 2016 the Headteacher Mrs Wheeler left the school to become Director of Learning and Achievement at the Bath and Wells MAT and Deputy Head Adam Beauford became acting Head. In March Mr Beauford was successful in applying for the Headship and started immediately. We acknowledged this significant transition for him and at the School within the School Easter Service on 31 March.
After a long process The school joined the Bath and Wells Multi Academy Trust on 1st November 2016 which means that it is part of a ‘family’ of other primary and secondary schools across Somerset. See www.bathwellsmat.org
Home Communion and Nursing Home ministryI continue to visit and give home communion to housebound parishioners as well as taking Communion to Beechwood Nursing Home on a regular basis to a group of residents.Sally McConnell continues to visit Acacia Nursing Home (formerly Hendford) and provides individual Communion and hymn singing monthly.
MarriageWe have published a number of banns for couples getting married and held a Benefice Celebration of Marriage Service in February at St Mary Magdalene.
Lay Pastoral AssistantsThe five LPAs continue to provide pastoral care to individuals within the parish and we meet together once a term to ‘touch base’ for mutual support. A number of us attended the “Becoming a Dementia
Friendly Church” diocesan training day which was held at HTY in February 2017 which was very insightful and helpful. There is a more in depth training day on this issue in May.I would like to see the role of LPAs develop further into also providing home communion which will require training and support.
PCC developmentOur stated PCC priority for 2016 has been the worship life of the Church. To this end the Worship sub group (i.e. Howard, Mary Nichols and me) has met a number of times:1. We set up a prayer station in the main foyer for centre users to write prayer requests. This has had limited use so far.2. We have introduced use of powerpoint for Morning Worship (3rd Sunday/month) as well as for all age services3. We compiled a Worship Audit questionnaire in October 2016 for the congregation which gave us feedback on church worship. This was collated and reported back to March 2017 PCC. Thanks to Howard for collating the information.4. We have begun to explore the use of music in Church and have re-started our small choir’s weekly practices.
My thanks to all the PCC members who have served the church in different ways this year. We will have a few vacancies at our APCM this year including Churchwardens, PCC Treasurer, Deanery Representative which I hope will be filled immediately.
PublicityI continue to produce publicity for events and services throughout the year with assistance from Rachel.Howard continues to edit the website and Di and Howard together produce the Benefice weekly linksheet. My thanks to them both.I would very much like the Church to have a social media presence as this is what the majority of people take notice of these days.It would be good if someone else from our congregation could take on the wider publicity. So if anyone, who has a creative eye and a desire to communicate what we do and why we do it to our local area and beyond, I would love to hear from you!
SabbaticalAfter 20 years of being in ordained ministry, I took my first 3 month sabbatical leave from November 2016 to January 2017. It was a time of real refreshment- physically, mentally and spiritually- and I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to have more time with my family, for retreat and prayer as well as the longest Christmas holiday I have ever had! Although initially hesitant to take leave over Christmas I was fully confident in the rest of the Benefice ministry team and from what feedback I’ve since had it all went pretty well- even if a few comfort zones were challenged! My sincere thanks to Howard, Sally, Trevor
and our visiting preachers Ven. Kevin Roberts, Revd Chris Jones and Revd Ann Fulton for taking services and for Ken and Laura for keeping it all going!
TimeI continue to be full time within the Benefice, sharing my time with Barwick as Incumbent, approximately 60:40.I also give my time to attend monthly Deanery Clergy Chapter meetings, termly Deanery Synod and now also Diocesan Synod meetings. I am also still a member of the Diocesan Healing Advisory Group which meets 4 times/year and a Trustee of the Woburn Almshouses which meet 3 times/year.
WorshipSunday services remain basically in the same pattern. However, over the past few months the Weds. morning Communion service has been cancelled a number of times due to nil attendance. Rather than stop altogether and after discussion with Maggie who runs Church Mice, I have developed a shorter Communion service designed for young families to attend instead. Attendance has picked up slightly and we hope to see young families from Church Mice come after Easter.We have had a number of joint Benefice services including Celebration of Baptism, Celebration of Marriage, Advent and Lent reflections. I would like to see more interaction between the two congregations of the Benefice in the future.
Z- final comment!
My sincere thanks to every person who is involved with the life of our Church- whether in a public or more hidden way. Thank you for your faithfulness in the Gospel and for your willingness to serve God with your talents and gifts.
In the coming year I hope and pray that we will all grasp the opportunities for mission through our new Diocesan Strategy, for prayer like Thy Kingdom Come (May-June), for social action like Christian Aid Week (May), for witness like the Church Tent at Yeovil Show (July) and for ongoing opportunities for serving others- all in order that we may live up to our Church’s Mission statement: Sharing God’s Love through Jesus.
b/ Churchwarden’s ReportThe APCM has come around again and so I am putting my fingers to the keyboard to produce this report.I would like to begin by thanking Revd. Gaenor, our priest, Trevor Farmiloe, our retired priest, Howard and Sally our Lay Readers, the PCC, Maggie, our sacristan, the sidespeople and all those who have helped in any way with the running of the church.Thanks also to Maria for all the hard work she does on our behalf in keeping the church clean and tidy and to Rachel for her work as administrator, her efforts certainly frees up more time for Revd. Gaenor to devote to her pastoral duties. They also put the chairs back after the school worship services. Our thanks also to Paul Taylor who has continued as treasurer and also Howard and Sandra who have represented us at Deanery Synod over the last three years. Sandra will be stepping down this time and we therefor need to elect new representatives. Thanks also to Laura for her work with Messy Church and Movie Nights.This year we have had 8 Banns read, 9 Baptisms and 9 Funerals. The latter has included Sylvia Holmes, Bob White and Joan Helsby. In 2017 we have had in addition the funerals of Peggy Warren, Harold Taylor and Len Filleul, for so long a valued servant of Holy Trinity an of Christian Aid.Please remember Revd. Gaenor and her family, Rob, Anna and Rebekah, pray for them all as Revd. Gaenor continues to lead us on our spiritual journey, together with Trevor, Howard and Sally.Once again, as we finish our third year, my thanks to all those who have supported Laura and myself in our work as churchwardens, we could not have managed without your help.
Ken Nichols
c/ Fabric ReportAnother year is at an end and once more I have to report that, as winter begins, the central heating system developed faults. This time, a week before Christmas, a part failed in the boiler room and an automatic venting valve, situated in the loft above the vestry, broke down. This latter event caused water to drip down into a corner of the vestry. Chris Burrows came and shut the valve off but this meant that over Christmas and into the New Year the Church was quite cold. One service on the Sunday after Christmas was even held in the Priddle Room. Happening when it did it, it meant that it was the middle of January before the parts arrived and could be fitted.Also in December, during the Prayer Day organised by Paul and Sandra Taylor, water was seen to be dripping down the wall between the Church and St. Mary’s Hall. This seems to be due to broken tiles. Quotations were obtained and work will start in March. (Hopefully it will be finished by the time you read this.) Unfortunately the insurance company felt that this was not covered under our policy as no cause could be identified. It was not due to storm damage, most likely it appears to be the result of impact damage at some unknown time. I am, at the time of writing, still in dispute with the insurance company who have left the claim “open”.In the summer we had the car-park re-marked and new parking bays marked in the area in front of the Church in an attempt, in the interests of child safety, to improve parking discipline at pick up and dropping off times for the School and pre-School. The school contributed to this indirectly by paying for the trees behind the church and hall to be cut down because they were blocking the daylight from the Hall and knocking against the stained glass window at the same time as they were having tree
work carried out on their premises. Earlier they had had the hedge behind the Church reduced in height to the level of the fence at Revd. Gaenor’s request.Glen’s husband, Ray, will do the last outstanding job identified at our quinquennial inspection of securing the outer frames of the small stained glass windows. Many thanks Ray for all your help. Thanks also for all the maintenance work that George and Julian have done in the past. Sadly they had to give during the year.My grateful thanks also to Mike Maynard who has continued to do all our electrical work including the PAT testing at no cost to the church.
Thanks as well to Dave Richards for all his work on the garden and also to all those who keep the flower beds tidy and those who have helped on the “gardening days”.
Ken Nicholsd/ Secretary’s ReportI would like to begin this report by thanking Sara Jeffery who agreed to take on the role of secretary in September. My thanks also to Liz Rogers who has taken the minutes of the PCC meetings.This year we have held 7 PCC meetings, 4 Standing Committee meetings and held a PCC Away Day at The Monks Yard Horton Cross Ilminster. There the PCC looked back over our progress as a Church and at how we might move forward. Revd. Gaenor produced a draft “Worship Audit” for discussion. She finalised this, the outcome being the forms that we were asked to complete in October. In total there were 22 responses which gave Howard and Mary Nichols quite a lot of work in undertaking the task of collating them. The preliminary results were brought to the March PCC and will be presented to the congregation soon. It must be remembered, however, that this only represents the views of the worshipping congregation and not the views of those who attend very infrequently or not at all. The Worship sub Committee will be meeting to look at how our worship may be modified to encourage the growth of our congregation. Our grateful thanks to Howard and Mary for all their hard work.
Ken Nichols
e/ Finance Report2016 Report and Accounts for the Parochial Church Council ofHoly Trinity Church, Yeovil.Aims and PurposesHoly Trinity’s Parochial Church Council (PCC) has the responsibility of cooperating with the incumbent, the Reverend Gaenor Hockey, in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish, the whole mission of the church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. The PCC is also specifically responsible for the maintenance of the Church Centre complex of Holy Trinity, Lysander Road, Yeovil.
Objectives and activitiesThe PCC is committed to enabling as many people as possible to worship at our church and to become part of our parish community at Holy Trinity. The PCC tries to ensure that our services and worship put faith into practice through prayer and scripture, music and sacrament. The Church complex benefits from hall and kitchen facilities and links to a church school. A broad spectrum of the community and its interest groups make regular use of these facilities. This allows ordinary people to live out their faith and community spirit as part of the parish community through:• Worship and prayer; learning about the gospel; and developing their knowledge and trust in Jesus;• Provision of pastoral care for people living in the parish;• Missionary and outreach work;• Community activates; clubs; societies and eventsTo facilitate this work, it is important that we maintain the fabric and facilities of the church and community centre
Achievements and performanceThe PCC is keen to offer a range of services during the week and over the course of the year that our community find both beneficial and spiritually fulfilling. Each Sunday has two services; a café style less formal service is followed by a more structured worship service. Many members enjoy both. Services are available during weekdays, members also participate in house group study and worship. At present there are 44 Parishioners on the Church Electoral roll and this represents average weekly attendance, but this number increased at festivals and Christmas services. Baptisms are frequently included in services. The Church maintains very close links with Holy Trinity VA Primary School with services being regularly held at both the church and the school. The church hall is occupied most days and evenings during the week and often on Saturdays.
Deanery SynodTwo members of the PCC sit on the deanery synod. This provides the PCC with an important link between parish and the wider structures of the church.
The Church Centre ComplexThe complex hosts many activities, clubs and societies, from Mums and Toddlers to a Local History group, and ballet classes to WI. A monthly tea party is held to which 20/25 members of the parish regularly attend.
Pastoral CareSome members of our parish are unable to attend church due to sickness or age. Reverend Gaenor Hockey and Reader Howard Gorringe have visited church members who have requested it, to celebrate communion with them either at their homes or in hospital.
Mission and EvangelismDuring the year has worked local charitable organisations (Lords Larder, Oddments Theatre and School) and overseas agencies (Project Return).
Financial ReviewTotal receipts on unrestricted funds were £50,631 of which £22,088 was unrestricted voluntary donations including £4,935 was from gift aid. A further £1,260 was donated into the restricted maintenance fund.Income from letting the church hall and facilities to local organisations was £26,496£61,579 was spent from unrestricted funds to provide the Christian ministry from Holy Trinity church and community centre including the contribution to the diocesan parish share of £25,506.Expenditure on capital items, including a barrier to the car park, amounted to £4,355 and exceptional major repairs to the centre heating systems and re-lining the car park amounted to £5,578.The rest of the expenditure was largely for daily running cost of the centre.The result for the year was net expenditure of resources of £ 10,948 so that unrestricted funds as at 31 December 2016 has declined to £41.969. Restricted fund stands at £7,800
Reserves policyIt is the PCC policy to try to maintain a balance on unrestricted funds that equates to at least three month’s unrestricted payments; equivalent to £16,000. Due to the very welcome legacies unrestricted funds are well in excess of this amount. The PCC is currently engaged in a series of discussions on what will be done with the legacy funds to sustain the future of the church, community centre and mission.
Structure, governance and managementThe method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church Representation rules. At Holy Trinity the membership of the PCC consists of the incumbent (Our Vicar), churchwardens, the reader and members elected by those members of the congregation who are on the electoral role of the church.The PCC members are responsible for making decision on all matters of general concern and importance to the parish including deciding on how funds of the PCC are to be spent.The full PCC met seven times during the year with an average level of attendance of 74%.
Administrative InformationHoly Trinity Church is situated on Lysander Road, Yeovil. It is part of the Diocese of Bath and Wells within the Church of England. The correspondence address is The Vicarage, Turners Barn Lane, Yeovil.The PCC is a body corporate (PCC Powers Measure 1956, Church Representation Rules 2006) and a charity currently excepted from registration with the Charity Commission.
PCC members who have served at any time from 1 January 2016 until the date this report was approvedare:Ex Officio members:• Incumbent: The Reverend Gaenor Hockey• Reader: Howard Gorringe• Wardens: Laura Claridge and Ken Nichols• Synod Representative: Sandra TaylorElected members:• Maria McDonald-Thompson• Roger Gillingham• Paul Taylor• Maggie Billing• Glen Hall• Di Marsh (until April 2016)• Elizabeth Rodgers• Ester Woodrow (from April 2016)• Sara Jeffery (from April 2016)• Becky Garnett (from April 2016)
Approved by the PCC on 23rd. April 2016 and signed on their behalf by the Reverend Gaenor Hockey
f/ Deanery and Diocesan Synods ReportThe Deanery Synods have had a varied programme this year. In June our new Rural Dean, James Dudley-Smith was commissioned then he, Christina Baron and Edward Armitstead gave an account of the workings of the General Synod. A discussion of renewal and development that followed foreshadowed what would become a major theme of the Diocesan Synod meetings. It also formed a part of the October Synod, along with a report from David Keen, the Deanery Missioner (but about to take up the post of vicar of St James). The February meeting included a talk by Sue Rose, the Diocesan Vocations Team Leader giving a background to her work and encouraging everyone to think their own vocation and to encourage others to do the same. This was followed by a talk by Alison Handcock who is a Deacon at St James with a particular concern for outreach, especially to families, about her own experience of the call to her vocationThe DPMG (Deanery Pastoral and Mission Group) of which I am a member is responsible for producing a Deanery plan, covering things such as staffing of parishes, boundary changes (very rare) and organisational matters such as the re-ordering of Brympton parish. This latter has been an ongoing problem: but for its use for weddings it would have been closed long ago but some resolution now seems in sightDPMG is also tasked with producing a Deanery plan under the latest Diocesan Strategy plan 'Shaping our Future' This has been a central feature of recent Diocesan Synods and I have also been to three other big Diocesan meetings for updates and discussions of this programme. The latest of these was the Community Conversations gathering at St Johns. Bishops Peter and Ruth along with several Diocesan staff involved in the scheme gave talks and answered questions and there were discussions among the 80 or so people present.Also at Diocesan Synod we have had a lively presentation on legacies by the National legacy and Funding officer of the Church of England. Unlike most charities, where legacies may make up nearly half their income, less than 10% of the C of E's income is from this source. (We, of course, have been richly blessed in recent years by generous legacies, but we are unusual).Much of the stuff can be boring, with finance and budget reports, Bishop's Council Reports and so on, but it does give a feel for the way in which the Diocese is running.Deanery Synod members are elected for three years and our time is up. Sandra Taylor is not standing again and we are grateful to her for having represented us on the Synod. I would encourage you all to think about standing; it can be quite interesting and helps get a wider picture of the work of the Church. Even so, please remember that normally all Deanery Synod meetings are open to church members who are not elected to Synod.
Howard Gorringe
g/ Hall BookingsBookings have been very busy over the past year for the Hall, Church and Priddle Room. Groups have been able to contact me through email or by popping into/phoning the office on a Monday and Friday morning.Invoices with a high monetary value have been issued on a monthly basis and smaller groups who may only hire the rooms for a few hours a month are now invoiced quarterly, this enables me to keep a better track on payments and is less messy. Generally all invoices are paid promptly with there being only a couple of groups that I may have to occasionally chase, there are no unpaid invoices.We have had approximately 20 Children’s birthday parties booked in the last year and so far in 2017 the majority of the parties held have hired bouncy castles. The hirers are able to come into the office on a Friday morning to collect a key for access to the building and to make payment.This year for the first time groups were asked if they would like to make and provide us with a Harvest Wreath for our Harvest Services. We had about 15 groups who showed their creative talents and a wreath from each class at the school, everyone got on board and the idea proved very popular, the Church looked wonderful. The Church sent a very big thankyou to all those that took the time to provide a wreath.We have held three big fundraisers for St Margaret Hospice in the last year, Trinity Sunday Picnic, The Hospice Choir cream teas and WI Tea party. We have also held Yeovil Twinning Association’s fund raising concert for 2016.We have had several large bookings where the whole or majority of the building has been booked out, these include 2 Concerts held by Phoenix Voices, St Mary Magdalene Roof Appeal Fundraiser, Yeovil ADHD, Wessex Endurance GB Group and The Landlords Association meet.
Church groups continue, with Church Mice and Mini Music being run during term time for young children and their parents. Other Church groups include Holy Trinity Tea Party, Exploring Christianity and Mothers Union. Maggie also continues with organising and selling of Fair Trade products. Other groups for the children include Messy Church and Movie Nights, held every couple of months.
Regular Church services in the diary include Monday morning prayer, Wednesday morning Holy Communion, Westland Church Service on the first Wednesday of the month, Holy Trinity School Service, now on a Friday morning, Café Church and Sunday morning service,
The Church also held a Special Queens 90 th Birthday Celebration on 10th June, a lecture from David Stafford in September and a Dementia Day for the Diocese in February. In addition to this there has been Holy Trinity School Services for the new starters, for the school leavers and the school Christmas Service.
The Christmas Period proved very busy indeed at Holy Trinity and at times quite challenging. We started at the end of November with Holy Trinity School holding their Christmas Fayre at the Church. We had Christmas Concerts held by The WI, Yeovil Chamber Choir, Yeovil Concert Band, Rotary and Phoenix Voices, many of which also booked extra practice sessions before their events - luckily
all went without any hiccups. The Church also held special services for the lighting of the Christmas Trees, their first Christmas Carol Service supported by Phoenix Voices, the Christingle Service and Holy Trinity School Christmas Service. I would like to thank both Ken and Maria for their help over the very busy Christmas period and also thank you to Howard for once again dressing up as Father Christmas for the little ones at Preschool and Mini Music, much appreciated.
We saw an increase in hire charges from January 2017 which seemed to be received without too many moans from the groups. We have lost three regular bookings over the last year, Kieran Tomes Keep Fit, Knatty Knitters and the French Class, we have however gained three new regular bookings from a monthly Parkinsons Group, Eddy Stone Group and a Saturday night Whist Drive that meets the first, second, third and fifth week of the month.
Finally, last year we saw the installation of the barrier across the entrance of the Car Park, followed by the installation of a bollard to stop people driving into the barrier. From Monday 20 th March we have introduced the closing of the barrier at night, by the last group to leave the premises. The barrier is opened in the morning by Mr Wheeler from the school and at the beginning of each week I am contacting the relevant groups who will need to close the barrier, this will hopefully mean that they will not forget to close the barrier as it will be fresh in their mind. To date I have not had any complaints from any of the groups that have been contacted.
REGULAR NON CHURCH GROUPS AT HOLY TRINITY CHURCH AND COMMUNITY CENTRE
GROUP NAME FREQUENCY OF BOOKING
Apollo Swim Monthly
Archaeological and Local History Society Monthly
Child Contact Centre Fortnightly
Chronic Illness Monthly
Eddy Stone Group Monthly
Family History Monthly
Floral Society Monthly
Helen Laxton School of Dance Weekly (Term Time)
Keep Fit (June King and Mary Stafford) Weekly
The Maybees Fortnightly
Nigel Laycock Whist Drive Weekly
Osteo Keep Fit Weekly
Osteo Support Group Two Monthly
Parkinsons Group Monthly
Phoenix Voices Weekly
Steve Purcell Applied Wing Chun Weekly
St Marys Preschool Weekly (Term Time)
Rainbows Weekly (Term Time)
SOS Yeovil Monthly
Sugarcraft Monthly
Thursday Quilters Weekly
VMCL Quarterly
Weight Watchers Weekly
WI Monthly
WI Craft Monthly
I would like to express my sincere thanks to Rev’d Gaenor, Ken and Maria, all of whom have been very supportive in the running of the office and answering of any queries or problems that have cropped up in the last year, they have all helped in making my job that bit easier.
Rachel Evans – Church Administrator
h/ Electoral RollTo be submitted on the day.
i/ Children and Families ReportThis year we have had some lovely events at Holy Trinity Church which many people have helped with and seen many families enjoy these events.Movie NightsMovie nights have continued this year where families get together to have refreshments such as hot dogs, pizza, pasta, popcorn and sweets and enjoy a movie free of charge. These movie nights make between £30 and £70. The parents are very helpful at the end of these evenings and help pack away.I would like to thank everyone for helping with the movie nights especially Glenn and Esther it can take a lot of work but I know the parents are very appreciative of these evenings.Messy Church
We have done many Messy Churches this year which have been very well attended the most recent being in January which seen over 50 children/adults get together. These have been lots of fun for the adults as well as the children and have been so lovely for the families that can sit and enjoy doing crafts together. Thank you to everyone that helps at these, without your help they would not happen.Mini MusicMini Music is a group that runs on a Friday morning for parents and children under 5 to enjoy singing and a chat. This group is now run by the parents on a Friday morning and I believe is still running well.After School ClubIn September 2016, we took a new group of children from year one to join us at Growing club. We lowered the numbers to 12 which crept to 15 due to Gaenor’s Sabbatical. They are such a wonderful group who we play games with, tell stories from the bible and do a craft related to the story they have heard that day. They really enjoy the group and put on a fantastic performance when they did their own nativity to their parents in December.Unfortunately, due to not having enough volunteers the club has ended as of the 31st of march 2017 which is a great shame to all involved.
Since September I have been working full time at Holy Trinity School which is amazing but unfortunately has left me little time to be at church. I would like to say a huge Thank you to Ken who since September has really been pretty much an alone church warden and done such an amazing job as always. After completing 3 years of church warden which I have loved it is now time to step down and for someone else to take my place who has so much more time to give. Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me I am extremely grateful. I hope we can all work together to continue this great children’s work.Many thanks
Laura x
j/ House GroupsThis year Ken and Mary’s house group have studied the following “God in His fullness”, “Miracles”, “The Prodigal Son”, “Our Identity in Christ” and an Advent course among others. This has not only kept us busy but has been very rewarding, helping us to a deeper understanding of our faith.Unfortunately the group meeting at Maria’s house had to temporarily stop in September but it is hoped to restart in the coming months.
Maria and Kenk/ Flower ArrangingDuring the last year three more people have volunteered to arrange the flowers in church bringing the total number of flower arrangers to 10. This includes three people who go to other churches but enjoy flower arranging. Personally it is a joy to see the beauty and variety of the arrangements in the church and entrance hall, and we are grateful for the time given and expertise of the arrangers. Money is available from church funds to cover the cost of the flowers but little is claimed. I currently
arrange the rota and keep an eye on the arrangements during the week, but if anyone would like to take this job on, I would gladly relinquish it having done it for a number of years.
Di Gorringe
l/ Saturday Morning Tea and CoffeeHelen Laxton runs some of her ballet classes at Holy Trinity Church. On Saturday mornings a small group of five couples from Holy Trinity serve tea, coffee and biscuits from 9am to about 11.45am to the parents and grandparents of the dancers. The adults really appreciate having somewhere warm to sit and chat whilst waiting for their children. Each term is about 10 weeks so for each couple the duty comes round about twice over three months with a half-term break and long holidays between terms. We charge £1 for tea or coffee, 20p for juice. Having covered expenses, apart from the cost of the brewed coffee, £1,381 was paid into the church funds!
Di Gorringe
m/ Wednesday Tea PartyDuring the last year we’ve had interesting and enthusiastic speakers at the monthly Tea Parties which 25 to 35 people from our church and community attend each month. Iris Chapple, an experienced Puppy Walker for Guide Dogs for the Blind, brought along her two very well behaved dogs one of which she was ‘walking’ for a year, introducing him to everyday experiences such as loud traffic, noisy children, supermarkets and cinemas before his formal training began. It is certainly a demanding schedule. We heard about life in Mozambique and birds in Colombia, whilst our own member Maureen Shaw described her working visit to the UN in New York in 1950. Luke Simon’s ‘School in a Bag’, started in memory of his brother Piers, who was killed in the Thailand tsunami of December 2004, received a lot of support for a worthy local cause which now reaches out to many countries. After each talk there is afternoon tea made by a group of church ladies and served by 4 Holy Trinity School pupils, plus a raffle which helps to cover expenses. (Gifts for the raffle are welcome). Tea Parties are open to anyone so if you haven’t been before come along at 2.30pm on the third Wednesday in the month. Suggestions for good speakers and help on the Wednesday afternoons would be very welcome. It is most encouraging that in recent months our numbers have gone up, £135 went to speakers for their respective charities and £236 surplus into HTY church accounts.
Di Gorringe (Co-ordinator)
n/ Mother’s UnionThis has been an interesting year. We are trying to keep going but we need new members because numbers are falling due to people moving, going into nursing homes or moving away. We have a lady who has just started coming and she has said that she will continue. We do not meet in January, February and March because of the risk of bad weather and also the afternoons are dark, especially at leaving time.We have had a few speakers this year. Revd. Gaenor held a tea party at the vicarage to raise funds for the speakers costs. To date we have £84 which is good. Mother’s Union has celebrated 140 years.We have started group meetings at 2.00pm on the third Tuesday of the month.It would be nice if a few more people could come along. We will see what this year will bring.Unfortunately Dorothy Burnill has given up Mother’s union. We were unable to present her with her card and present at her last meeting as she she didn’t turn up, so I took it to her at home. We thanked her very much for all she has done.
Maggie Billingo/ Church MiceWe are a small group now as in September we said goodbye to some of the children who started Pre-School. We had a lovely Christmas Party where we had a visitor, Father Christmas who came and gave the children their presents. They were very excited.Sadly, at Christmas, Dorothy Burnill decided to give up Church Mice and Mother’s Union. It was a blow but it was her own decision. We now welcome Maria McDonald Thomson who will help Freda and me. The mums are also helping us more now. The children love the singing at the end of the morning. I have asked the mums if there is anything else we can do and they said that it was lovely and not a cliquey group as in some other playgroups. We are looking forward to 2017, wondering what it holds in store for us all.
Maggie Freda and Maria
p/ TraidcraftWe are now in our10th. year. It is lovely work to do, with God’s help. Joyce gives me a lift over to Barwick and Di Speakman brings me back
Holy Trinity Barwick.January £3.50 £35.70February £7.90 £32.85
£101.24 WI EveningMarch £37.83 £80.58
£14.50 Family HistoryApril £7.30 £49.80May £11.95 £48.55
£4.70 Family HistoryJune £7.55 £36.65July £4.40 £42.25August £1.90 £50.20September £4.15 family History £43.80October £27.15 Family History £34.50November £8.95 £66.20December £8.40 £52.75Sub Total £351.18 £573.83Easter/Christmas £103.93 £41.00Total £455.12 £614.83
Thank you all for buying Traidcraft goods, if you have not tried them do come and try something, it will help sell fair trade goods, support life changing development projects, and campaign for trade justice.
Maggie Billingq/ Holy Trinity SchoolTo be submitted on the day
