Crediton Parish Church

The Collegiate Church of the Holy Cross and the Mother of Him who Hung Thereon, Crediton – Annual Report for 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2010

BACKGROUND

Crediton PCC has the responsibility of co-operating with the incumbent in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish the whole mission of the Church – pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical.  Unusually, Crediton Church Corporation owns and is responsible for the church and curtilage.

MEMBERSHIP

Members of the PCC are elected by the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) in accordance with the Church Representation Rules.

Incumbent:

The Revd Nigel Guthrie

Curate:

The Revd Dominic Doble

Churchwardens:

Clare Shelley (until APCM 2010),  Ted Staite and  John Wakefield, Karen White (from APCM 2010)

Deanery Synod:

Anne Jerman,  Jack Shelley, Isolde Summers and Sharon Butler

Elected Members:

During the year, the following served as members of the PCC: Keith Barker, Sue Barker, Tracey Bolt (until APCM 2010), Margaret Borwell (until APCM 2010),  Angela Cargill, Naomi Huntley (from APCM 2010), Gill Lee, Penny Little (until APCM 2010), Christina Mabin, Anne Parsons (from APCM 2010), Geoff Sparling (from APCM 2010), Sandra Thresher (from APCM 2010)

Yeoford Representative: John Lacey

Co-opted 2010 Martin White, Treasurer; Sue Megson, Secretary (from July 2010)

COMMITTEES AND GROUPS

There are a number of groups and committees, who meet outside the PCC meetings, reporting back to the PCC as necessary.

Standing Committee: this is the only committee required by law, comprising the incumbent, the churchwardens, the PCC Treasurer and the PCC Secretary.  They plan the agenda of the PCC.

Finance Committee: At the moment, the function of the finance committee is being under taken by the standing committee.

Choir Committee Chairman’s Report:

I think this is the 3^rd year in a row that I am giving you the Choir Committee Chairman’s report. We can look back over a busy year, with some real highlights in it. It has to be our visit to Avranches which stands out. It was a very successful trip made all the better I think because we were able to eat together on the trip – on past trips it has been lovely to be hosted by families but the down side of that arrangement was that we didn’t get the opportunity to enjoy the company of the whole group. We had some exciting moments too – as when the church in Avranches flooded due to the suicidal tendencies of an English pigeon blocking a drainage spout, and when we had to start our practice in total darkness as the caretaker tried to find the right keys to access the light switches. I need to repeat our thanks to Phil Stallard for doing the organisation for the trip – he did a great job which was much appreciated.

Another trip we made was to Oxford – the journey was less than comfortable because of the awful coach we ended up with, but Oxford itself is a wonderful city to sing in – a real privilege. Many thanks to Steve for organising this for us, and for his musical direction generally – we do appreciate his dogged determination to get the message across, despite any evidence to the contrary. And thanks also to the rest of the music team – to Tim who joined us in this year, our music scholars who add so much and those who help with training the juniors.

It is also so good to be part of this worshiping community, and to be a part of the services throughout the church year. We are especially grateful for the support of Nigel and the clergy team, and to other non choir members who help us such a lot – Peter Brewer (ace driver and trip companion), Ted Staite (excellent support and all important licence holder), Bill Rimmer (our mulled wine expert).

As Chairman I am very pleased to have this opportunity to thank all those choir members and their families for their support given over the last year – for parents who made us tea, those who help with choir social, for my fellow committee members who have met regularly throughout the year. Id also like to mention some people who do particular things – Penny as our librarian, Allan as Junior Social co-ordinator, Phil Stallard as Newsletter correspondent, Giles as Treasurer, Sandra as choir secretary. This is a good moment also to thank Jane and Mike Clarke for all that they have done for the choir. As ill health means they have been passing their tasks over to others we can see just how hard they have worked – our grateful thanks and best wishes to them.  I would also like to thank Ed for taking on the Candles, Jeannette and Helen for sorting out the robes and Jacki for sending the words of the anthem to the Pew Sheet. We will need to sort out a helpers rota for Junior Social as Mike helped Allan with this.

We look forward to another year as part of this community. I look forward to working with you all. – provided by Lesley Smith

Fabric & Housekeeping Committee Report 2010

In September 2010 the Fabric Committee was combined with the Housekeeping Committee and the members of the combined committees were the Rector, John Wakefield (Chairman), Sheila Ralph (Secretary), Keith Barker,  Mike Clarke, Bill Jerman, Helen Lawes, Penny Little, Ian Sneddon, Howard Egglestone, Bill Parr and Ray Wicker.

The Committee met five times over the year and oversaw a number of projects which included:

• Ongoing repairs to the Church roof, and the internal flooring.
• New shelving in the museum for storage, to ease pressure on the Boniface Office, and the Vestry.
• Launch of the Lighting Appeal and the start of the work in January 2011.
• Improvements to the far end of the car park with road scalpings.
• Lopping of the overhanging and unsafe trees in the vicarage garden.
• Churchyard Working Parties to strip ivy off the gravestones, and prune and remove shrubs.
• Removal of redundant heaters in the Nave.
• Replacement of the ramp in the South Porch.
• Completion of the Church Log Book from April 2009, and the Church Terrier.

The Chairman would like to thank all the members of the Committee for their work and support throughout the year.  – provided by John Wakefield

Missions and Charities Committee 2011:

We currently support 4 charities which the PCC agreed to give £1000 to each of the chosen charities and £1000 to other charitable causes, a total of £5,000.

It was decided that new charities would be considered on a rolling programme of support and new charities are currently being proposed for support.

The four charities we currently support are:

The Church Mission Society: CMS is an evangelistic mission working to see a world transformed by the love of Jesus. CMS supports over 700 people in mission, works in over 50 countries and has offices in Cape Coast, Nairobi, Oxford and Seoul.

CMS works closely with new mission movements, especially in Africa and Asia, and has formed 240 international and local strategic alliances for collaborative work.

We were delighted to welcome David Sharland, our link mission partner, to Holy Cross when he was home on leave with Heather (Heather was unfortunately ill).

The Church Army: The Church Army is about sharing faith through words and action to transform lives by making Jesus famous. Their focus is on the 7 out of 10 people who have little or no meaningful contact with church. Sister Mandy Wright has retired so there is now no direct link with Holy Cross Church. Despite requests The Church Army was unable to send a speaker.

Connect: Connect Supports voluntary, cross denominational, Christian Youth based work in Crediton, Chumleigh and Okehampton.  Connect workers are volunteer youth workers trained by South West Youth Ministries. Connect began out of a need local churches felt to reach out to young people in school, meeting them where they are.

CHIPS – Christian International Peace Service : CHIPS works for peace and reconciliation in areas of conflict and tension around the world. Their emphasis is on grassroots approaches since they recognise that while political solutions are important, without the engagement of individuals and communities, real and lasting peace may be impossible to realise.

CHIPS is a relational organisation which tailors its approach to particular situations to inspire and motivate local people to build peace in their communities. CHIPS supports teams of Christians to undertake practical projects which foster positive interaction, increase trust and reduce enmity between opposing groups or individuals.

As a Christian Peace organisation, CHIPS is inspired by the person and teaching of Jesus who taught and embodied a way of peace and called followers to do likewise. CHIPS peacemakers try to follow in his footsteps and, rooted in a spirituality of love, serve to build peace and justice in our damaged, fractured and disconnected 21st century world.

The Director of CHIPS visited Holy Cross Church in May 2009 and gave a very stimulating talk on their current projects.

Thika Link: PCC has agreed to merge the Thika Link Group with the Missions and Charities Committee.  There are many groups who have maintained links within the church and with local schools.  A Thika evening for all the link groups and for the diocesan representatives is being arranged for the near future.

Lent lunches and cake stalls: The group hosts a Lent lunch each year and the money collected is added to that which we already give.  We have also hosted two cake stalls, one at the open day and one for Christian Aid. – provided by Christina Mabin

Pastoral Care Group:

The ministry of Pastoral Visiting and Care continues to develop. Visitors meet regularly with clergy on a confidential basis to ensure appropriate levels of involvement are being maintained.

There are currently ten trained Pastoral Visitors commissioned who visit members of the church who have an identified need. This invariably means they are unable to attend normal services. As a result of Bishop Bob licensing six members of the group to be able to administer Home Communion, a very special dimension has been added to the nature of visits undertaken.

Within the scheme a sub-group have been trained to deal with the special requirements of those recently bereaved.

Opportunities for training are continually reviewed and representatives of the group will be receiving Safeguarding training in respect of dealing with vulnerable adults. All group members have been subject to successful Criminal Record Bureau checks.

A new link has now been established with Age Concern within Crediton. Many of those supported by the charity are members of our church and group members regularly attend the Friday lunches at the Deep Lane headquarters.

Three of our visitors are also now enrolled on the Exploring Christianity course currently being run in the Diocese. – provided by Slim Savage

Communications Group:

The main news in the year was the launch of the new parish website which was designed by Damien Davies.  Money from the Friends and from the Search for Saxon Crediton project was used to fund the work.  The site has been appreciated and Gill Lee is now able to update the site regularly from the Parish Office which was one of the objectives of the new site.

The sound system in church continued to work well.

A French translation of the church guide boards joined the existing German and Dutch ones.

Anne and Bill Jerman continued work towards a legacy information leaflet.

The group monitored the notice boards which were kept up to date by Bill Jerman.

Bill Jerman continued his excellent work as editor of the magazine on a small stipend and also as ‘communications officer’ getting out publicity about a range of events.  Bill’s work also brings in a great deal of advertising revenue and by carefully managing the size of the magazine and print run costs are controlled.  In 2010 Bill achieved very effective publicity about the Lighting and Wiring Appeal which undoubtedly contributed to its success.

Thank you to the members of this small, hardworking group.  – provided by Rev’d Nigel Guthrie

Social Committee:

The previous social committee ‘retired’ at the end of 2009, however they all remain very willing to help when they can and this is very much appreciated.

By the time the new committee was up and running it was April 2010.  We have organised the regular events and are trying to come up with something different as well,  which has proven harder than one might imagine,  there always seems to be a reason why not to do something.  New ideas are very welcome but please do not be offended if they do not happen, no insult is intended.

So far we have arranged table top sales, coffee mornings,  cream teas,  BBQs , book fair,  to name but a few. We are very grateful for the support of the congregation, Benefice and town without which the events would not succeed.  We are also very grateful for those who meet our seemingly endless requests for raffle prizes and cakes, thank you.

The aim of the social committee has always been fellowship and fun and where possible, fundraising for PCC.

We look forward to another year of social events; skittles, a concert and an evening of ‘horse racing’ are planned; other events will be arranged in due course.

If you would like to join the committee, have some ideas or would like to help in any other way please speak to Karen White. –  provided by Karen White

Worship Committee:

During 2010 the committee continued to review services and plan for those ahead.

• The new congregational communion setting by Andrew Millington to mark the Festival Year of 2009 is still being composed.  A new setting by John Merrick was also considered for future use.
• The third Sunday Evening service began to alternate Taizé with Compline and this seemed to work well.
• It was decided to use four chalices regularly at the 9.30 Eucharist as this helped the speed and smoothness of the distribution.
• A Deanery Confirmation Service in May was taken by Bishop Bob.
• It was noted that the Green New English Hymnals were now wearing quite badly and the committee will keep these under review. – provided by Rev’d Nigel Guthrie

Ministry Committee:

The Bereavement visiting group continued its work contacting bereaved people and a number have taken up the offer of having loved ones recorded in the Book of Remembrance in the Friends Chapel.

Members of the Pastoral Care Visiting Group have continued to take Holy Communion to the sick and housebound.  Isolde Summers has co-ordinated an ecumenical group of Hospital visitors who now visit Crediton Hospital regularly.

Tracey Bolt and Slim Savage continued to act in the ‘Deacon’ role at the Parish Eucharist, but when our full time deacon arrived their role was reduced.  Ashley Leighton-Plom and Slim Savage have both continued to act as ‘subdeacon’ carrying the gospel book.

The ‘prayer for healing’ group has continued to meet under the leadership of Sue Martin and the members have expanded their ministry which is now offered at all the 9.30am services except on the first Sunday (which is usually in the Boniface Centre).  This ministry continues to be much appreciated by those who come forward for prayer.

Jack Shelley successfully completed his final year of training as Reader.  Isolde Summers continued in her role as Permission to Officiate Reader and we welcomed Paul Fillery as an Ordinand in training with the South West Ministerial Training Scheme who will hopefully be ordained in 2011 to serve in the Benefice.

A lay group from around the benefice churches, coordinated by Anne Jerman, in consultation with the benefice PCCs produced a Mission Action Plan which was accepted by the Diocese.  A date of January 2011 was set for the official launch of the ‘Crediton Benefice Community’.  A Benefice Community Council was set up and met before the end of the year with the aim of progressing matters in the Action Plan and helping the churches of the benefice to work more closely and constructively together. Our sincere thanks are due to Anne Jerman for her tireless work and to all those who have represented Holy Cross in the process of forming a Mission Community.  – provided by Rev’d Nigel Guthrie

Children and Young People Committee:

As the name suggests, the committee meets to review the overall provision for children and young people in the church.  Babes and Toddlers is run for pre-school children, Sunday Club meets during the morning service and Trinity Club is an ecumenical group for those in year 6 and above.   Junior Choir members are given spiritual as well as musical training and enjoy social activities and young people are encouraged to participate as servers and bell ringers.  Activities run by the church attract children from the wider community, especially the Easter Activity morning, Activity Week in the summer holidays and services aimed at families, such as the Christingle and Crib Service.  The clergy continue to take assemblies at the Benefice primary schools and all the schools in the town hold their carol services in church.  The PCC supports Connect who work with children at QECC and the Connect workers also regularly help with Trinity Club.

The committee decided that in view of proposed changes in legislation, all those who worked regularly with children and young people in church should apply for new Criminal Records Bureau clearance if they had not been checked within the last three years.   Records are maintained of all those within the various groups who have CRB clearance. - provided by Gill Lee

Babes and Toddler Group:

We continue to meet each Thursday pm in the Boniface Centre during school term time. Our numbers wax and wane but prove that the need for the group is still there. We’ve welcomed many newcomers but there are also those stalwarts who keep coming each week, and even those who’ve returned after many years with another child or grandchildren. Many thanks to the MU for their invaluable help, particularly to Enid and Anne, also to Nigel who takes such an interest and to Rohini, Pat and Al who hold the fort when I’m not there.  – provided by Angy Cargill

Sunday Club:

Sunday Club continues to use the ‘Roots’ teaching materials, which is usually based on one of the readings for the day.  The ‘Living Stones’ material by Susan Sayers has been a useful additional resource and the material for years A and B will also be purchased.  One Sunday during Lent Sunday Club gave away bookmarks with biblical verses on the back.  The Sunday Club display at the June Festival was based on the Elmer books and a large fabric covered elephant was central to the display, along with brightly coloured fantasy trees and plants.  Elmer is now on display in Crediton Library and will hopefully visit playgroups and nurseries in the town in the future.   Our Christmas tree was decorated with colourful presents. - provided by Gill Lee

Trinity Club:

Trinity Club has met regularly during 2010 once a fortnight during term time.  The format often includes a time for sharing news, some games and a closing prayer time.  There have been some excellent sessions and Connect workers have helped to lead on a number of occasions.   The group enjoyed an outing to Megabowl in Exeter and special sessions for badminton and cookery.  The group helped to lead a very good Christian Aid Service at the Methodist Church in May.  From September we welcomed the input of the Rev Ann Varker, the new Methodist Minister.

Membership has been steady during the year with about 12 young people on the books.

The Trinity Club leaders from Holy Cross are Nigel Guthrie, Allan and Sharon Butler, Gill and Simon Lee and Ashley Leighton-Plom.  Thank you to them all for their huge dedication and enthusiasm.  – provided by Rev’d Nigel Guthrie

Boniface Centre Management Committee:

The Boniface Centre is managed on behalf of the PCC by a small group of people who undertake to keep the building in good order and manage the day to day running of the Centre.  Over the past year we were very sorry to lose one of our original members, Margaret Borwell.  We were pleased to welcome Geoff Sparling on to the committee.

We are very much a DIY committee carrying out all repairs ourselves whenever possible, during the year we have repainted the Centre internally and additional lagging has been placed in the roof. Our biggest expenditure during the year was the replacement of the side gates to the building.

During the year much discussion has taken place with regard to the condition of the concourse roof, we hope to replace this during 2011.

During 2011 the building will be 20 years old and the 20^th July has been booked to celebrate this event, when we will be inviting representatives of organisations who use the Centre to join us for a celebration.

Our thanks must go to Bill Bond, our caretaker, who keeps the Centre in a clean condition and to Robin Lavery who puts in hours of work as our secretary and treasurer, this includes taking the bookings, invoicing and many other duties too numerous to list.- provided by Ted Staite

Magazine Committee:

During 2010 the Parish Magazine has remained a net contributor to parish funds with a full quota of advertising space taken throughout the year.  Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor both the May and June issues had full colour covers.  Two issues of the magazine were entered in a national parish magazine competition and came seventh out of an entry of 180. – provided by Bill Jerman

St.  Lawrence Chapel:

This Chapel is owned by the Church Governors but the PCC is responsible for running the services and paying the electricity bills.

Sadly Stephen and Katherine Dunhill who had looked after the chapel for many years moved away from the area in the autumn.  This put the future care of the chapel in question.  Fortunately generous offers were made to tend the garden and to pay for the cleaning of the chapel.  It was decided, because of the cost of heating, to close the chapel for regular services from All Saints Day 2010 until Ash Wednesday 2011.  However a very well attended and enjoyable Carol Service was held with the West Gallery Choir on 2 January 2011.

There is clearly real affection for the chapel but attendance at the regular services is poor.  I believe that the Governors and PCC need to have a long term review of the Chapel in view of its usefulness and costs.  – provided by Rev’d Nigel Guthrie

Talkback:

Talkback is a lay led ecumenical evening service held on the fourth Sunday of the month.  It moves around the churches in Crediton.  The invited speaker’s message is usually stimulating and sometimes provocative.  The evening includes a chance to “talk back” when reflections provoked by the talk can be shared by members of the congregation.  The discussion continues over light refreshments giving people the opportunity to meet Christians from other churches in Crediton.

In Talkback this year, under the title “Saints Alive”, we are asking each speaker to choose a saintly person who is significant to them, to tell us a bit about that person’s life and how it has affected and influenced the speaker’s own Christian journey.  So far we have heard about Desmond Tutu, Hilda of Whitby, the prophet Mohamed and one speaker’s former pastor.

Watch out for the publicity for the rest of the program to see what is yet to come.  If you have never come to Talkback, why not give it a try, you might be surprised! – provided by Clare Shelley

Mothers’ Union Report:

Our first meeting of the year, our AGM was cancelled due to adverse weather conditions & our speaker for February suffered a stroke & was unable to come.  Mo Turner very kindly stepped in & did some wonderful flower arrangements celebrating birth baptism marriage & mothering Sunday.

Enid hosted a hunger lunch as a one off fund raising for Operation Sunshine; this was to raise funds for the transportation of goods to Africa.

We had a variety of speakers whose topics included Easter in Malta with slides. Mercy ships. My pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Bible stories with a difference, the work of the Chaplain for deaf people, the work of FORCE a local cancer charity. And a wonderful talk at remembrance by Canon Ken Parry.

We took part in Cathedral prayers & the women’s world day of prayer. At Easter & Advent we had our usual home communion followed by seasonal refreshments, these are always very special intimate occasions much enjoyed by our members.

We have a number of our members who help out at the toddler group disabled fellowship & the children’s activity week, we always have a member attending baptisms & give a small card to the newly baptised, chaperoned at the junior choir sessions. We spent 2 very rewarding evenings making cross stitch cards at the junior social. A number of members are always to be found in the Boniface Centre in the catering & servery departments at festival times. We also gave help on the stall during the flower festival & Christmas tree festival & manned the ever popular cake stall at the St Nicholas fair.

Last year for the first time we had a mid summer meal at Downes golf club, this was hugely enjoyed by our members & invited guests from other branches in the Deanery.

As usual we had a Christmas party & enjoyed the lunch provided by Jim Cairney.

We had what has become an annual event in the form of a Lady Day service, where the banners from the Deanery branches were paraded, a communion service at harvest was followed by our harvest lunch. & in October we attended a service for St Luke’s day this was followed by a cream tea.

I was very honoured to present 2 long service certificates this year, Eileen Huxtable 50 years & Marjorie Wild 60 years; we give thanks for their continuing faithful service to Mothers’ Union.

Sadly we lost 3 very loyal enthusiastic members, Barbara Wood, Margaret Borwell & Joan Hayes; we miss their quiet faithful support.

We have been very active with our support for those less fortunate than ourselves, by collecting food items for St Petrocks, Christmas gifts for the women’s refuge squares for blankets for an African orphanage & organised the collection & transportation of goods for the Operation Sunshine appeal.

I have tried to raise the profile of Mothers’ Union & the wonderful work that they do both at home & abroad, often lobbying parliament on very important issues, such as flexible working hours & the recent very worthwhile “Bye Buy childhood” campaign.

We are always looking to recruit more members, especially the younger women. It would be sad to see Mothers’ Union disappear from this area. – provided by Carole Rimmer

Governors Report:

The Governors have met five times over the past year, with Finance Committee and Kelly Trust meetings in between.

The failure of the wiring system in the church to pass safety standards has been one of the major setbacks and most costly projects for many years.  Much time and effort is still being put into this by the Fund Raising and Appeal Committees of the Governors, and this will be reported on elsewhere.  We have been extremely fortunate to engage the services of prestigious lighting contractors, A.J.Smith (Gloucester) Ltd, and a first-class architect, Mr John Scott, to oversee the project.   We also appreciate the efforts of a small team of dedicated volunteers, led by John Wakefield, to co-ordinate the scheme on a day-to-day basis.

The Governors have undertaken ongoing maintenance of the churchyard and car park and negotiations are at present taking place with the Planning Authority to make further improvements to the car park, removing the earth bank, re-planting some of the greenery and improving the central island.  The surface of the further end of the car park has been given a top coat of ‘scalpings’ and potholes were filled, all this by way of much appreciated good will and voluntary labour, making it a cost-free exercise.

There have been no further developments on the dissatisfaction of the Diocesan Advisory Committee with the re-laid path in the churchyard and this has not been resolved, although the DAC is well aware that no funds will be available to carry out any further work until the re-wiring and lighting scheme is completed.

The Governors were very sorry to hear of the departure of Stephen and Catherine Dunhill in October, when they moved to Northumberland.  For many years Stephen and Cathy had faithfully carried out sterling work as caretakers and Sacristans at St Lawrence Chapel, and their leaving left the future of the chapel uncertain.  However, at present, services there are carrying on much as usual, thanks mainly to the efforts of Isolde Summers.

We have been saddened this year by the deaths of John Mortimer, a Governor for 40 years, and of Arthur King Robinson, who had for many years been an integral part of the Governors, first as Clerk and then as serving Governor.  We were sorry to receive the resignation of Jack Shelley, who wishes to devote more time to his work as Lay Reader and we thank him for his service.  We are pleased to welcome Simon Lee as a Governor.   We have also welcomed Mrs Sue Megson as our Clerk, following Vic Holloway’s move to Sussex.  We hope she will be with us for many years, now that she has begun to get to grips with our somewhat unusual and sometimes downright peculiar body. - provided by Helen Lawes

Fund Raising/Lightning Appeal Sub-Committee Report:

Fund Raising this year has largely been aimed at the Re-wiring and Lighting Appeal.  The Appeal, which was launched on the 6^th March 2010, has been a great success, with the total at the time of writing standing at £108,000.  This has not been achieved without exhaustive efforts by the Appeal Sub-Committee and by the Grant Applications Group, led by Glenda Hills, who was also chiefly responsible for putting together and submitting a first-class Faculty Application to the Diocese, receiving an award for its clarity and  comprehensive content.  The chief and most rewarding factor in the progress of the appeal has been the overwhelming and generous donations of so many friends, supporters and local businesses, which, together with our own fund raising events, have raised such a magnificent sum in such a short time.

Our June Festival last year was rated by many as one of our very best, thanks to the work of our talented group of exhibition organisers and flower arrangers, and it raised £8,886, which was dedicated to the Lighting Appeal.  However, because our funds for general maintenance have been considerably depleted, the £4,204 profits from our Christmas Tree Festival were necessarily left in the maintenance fund, which dropped to £19,000.  More works of repair and improvement are inevitable, and already we are committed to purchasing lead for urgent roof repairs at around £10,000, whilst potentially expensive repairs have also been identified to the East Window.  Consequently, other work will need to be dealt with strictly in order of priority until we are able to raise the total of our available funds.

Future dates for your diary:

Saturday 21^st May – Combined concert in church by Crediton Town Band and QE Jazz Band

Saturday 24^th September – Celebrate the switching on of the new lights with Ann Widdecombe, who will also give a talk, followed by a buffet in the Boniface Centre

Watch out for more details, and more events. Don’t forget the loose change boxes are still available in church, and keep buying the monthly quiz sheets. – provided by Helen Lawes

Electoral Roll:
There were 210 names on the Electoral Roll at the APCM in April. Following the annual revision there were 4 removals (either through death or because the person had moved away from the parish) and 2 additions. The Electoral Roll now stands at 208 names. – provided by Gill Lee

Crediton Benefice Community Council:

The formation of the CBC Council in November 2010 is an integral part of the Benefice’s continuing development as a Mission Community.  Mission Community is the name given by the Diocese to groups of parishes that will work together to embody and display the essential marks of the Church – worship, prayer, pastoral care, evangelisation, nurture, learning and teaching and connecting with the local community.  The parishes of Crediton, Shobrooke and Sandford with Upton Hellions had been commended as a Mission Community back in July 2007 and since that date, a small group of representatives from across the Benefice have been working together to produce firstly a Mission Statement and a Mission Action Plan (MAP).  Both of these can be found in all the eight churches of the Benefice.  The MAP was launched at a joint PCC meeting in October 2010 and sets out activities that will be considered and where appropriate, enacted over the coming years as we seek to meet the aims of our Vision Statement.  The acceptance of the MAP by the Diocese meant that the Crediton Benefice Community was celebrated at a special service with Bishop Bob on 30 January 2011.  The CBC Council has already met twice and will work away in the background, putting actions in place and identifying the people from amongst our congregations that can help make the vision a reality. – provided by Anne Jerman     

Treasurer’s Report:

How one views our financial situation in 2010 depends on whether one adopts a “glass half full” or a “glass half empty” perspective.

The good news has been that for the third consecutive year we have been able to pay the Share in full before the end of the financial year and the full payments to the five charities have been made. Also, we have been able to eliminate the substantial arrears that had arisen on the gas account.

However, this has been achieved only by substantially running down our cash reserves. The impact of this is that we start 2011 with a much lower “cushion” against unforeseen events. For a number of years we have had to draw down on the deposit account in the late summer to enable us to meet commitments before the tax refund on gift aided donations was received at the year end. In 2011, it is predicted that not only will we will have to do so much earlier in the year, it is possible that, without any new fundraising initiatives, we will not be able to restore the deposit account at the year end. It should also be remembered that we have not repaid the £4,000 which was transferred in 2008.

The “bottom line” position would appear even worse were it not for a large increase in the operating profit from the Boniface Centre (more than doubling to about £6,700),  which reflects much lower than usual repair costs.

It is important therefore, that we continue to monitor commitments and expenditure to ensure that we do not have to rely on our reserves for general day to day costs.

Finally, thanks are due to all those people who help in maintaining the financial wellbeing of the PCC, both in record keeping and administrative roles, and also in assisting in the many fund raising events held throughout the year, and in particular:

-       Glenda Hills and John Clifton for handling the weekly collections and paying the cash into the Bank,

-       Robin Cullingford for organising the repayment of income tax on gift aided donations,

-       Gill Lee for ensuring that all transactions are regularly and accurately entered into the computer (among many other tasks),

-       and Robin Lavery for looking after the financial affairs of the Boniface Centre  - provided by Martin White

On behalf of the PCC

Reverend Prebendary Nigel Guthrie

Chairman