TOLWORTH TEAM MINISTRY
ANNUAL
PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING
will
be held at
on
Monday 11th April 2011 at 7:30pm
MEETING
OF PARISHIONERS
AGENDA
7:30 Worship
7:35 Minutes of the 2010 Meeting
ANNUAL
PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING 7:55pm
AGENDA
Minutes of 2010 Meeting*
Annual Report of the PCC*
Notification of matters
for Any Other Business
Deanery Synod Report
Parish Organisations’
Reports
(Only joint church group reports included)
Financial Reports,
Accounts and Budgets
Appointment of Auditor(s)
Presentation of Electoral
Roll
Any Other Business
Closing Prayer
Rev Simon Hones
Team Rector
TOLWORTH TEAM
MINISTRY
ANNUAL
PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING
MONDAY 19th
APRIL 2010
MEETING OF PARISHIONERS
Present: Rev
Apologies for absence: Apologies were received from Dave and Jackie
Farris, Sue Witcombe, Ada Franklin, Bettina Dover, P Frith, Betty Owen, S
Russell, R Nicklin,
Rev
Simon reminded that to comply with
regulations those entitled to vote in this meeting were the people on the
Electoral Role, people who live within the Parish of the Tolworth Team and
anyone in the Local Government Register of Electors.
The minutes of the 2009 Parishioner’s
Meeting were signed by Rev
Simon
reported that
Wardens and St Matthew’s had elected
Laxmi Atkins as their Warden and that there was a vacancy for the other post.
Simon thanked the wardens Jeffrey
Akerman, Laxmi Atkins, Tracey O’Shea and Lesley Bell for their services during
the past year, and his colleagues in ministry Rev Victor Cuthbert and Rev
The meeting
closed at 7.45 pm.
TOLWORTH
TEAM MINISTRY
ANNUAL
PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING
MONDAY 19th
APRIL 2010
Present:
Rev
17 from
Apologies for
absence:
Apologies were received from Dave and Jackie Farris, Sue Witcombe, Ada
Franklin, Bettina Dover, P Frith, Betty Owen, S Russell, R Nicklin,
1. Minutes
of the meeting held on 27th April 2009.
The minutes of the meeting were signed
by Rev
2. ANNUAL
REPORT OF THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL.
Subject to
one correction i.e. on page 13, Mrs Marina Abbot corrected to Mrs Marina
Abbott, the
report for the calendar year, 1st January 2009 to 31st
December 2009
as approved
by the PCC was received.
3. ANY
OTHER BUSINESS
No items were submitted for
discussion.
4. DEANERY
SYNOD REPORT
There was no Deanery Synod Report
submitted, but Simon reported that in future the Deanery synod would only be
meeting three times a year.
5. PARISH
ORGANISATIONS’ REPORTS
All the reports of the Parish
Organisations were received.
6. FINANCIAL
REPORTS, ACCOUNTS AND BUDGETS
The surplus of £17,729 in St Matthew’s
Financial Statements included dividends of £4,558 and interest received of
£2,454. The operating surplus relating specifically to Church activity was
approximately £10,700. This included a legacy of £12,000. It is a good result compared to budgetary
expectations where a deficit was forecasted.
If the gains on investments of £14,615 are included there is an overall
surplus of £32,344.
Rachel made a presentation of
The Financial Statements for St
Matthew’s,
Simon thanked Rachel and Marina for
their hard work.
Clive on behalf of
7. APPOINTMENT
OF THE INDEPENDENT EXAMINER.
The Parish Independent Examiner,
George Mitchell ACA is prepared to continue in that capacity and his
re-appointment was agreed unanimously.
Simon thanked him for his services.
8. PRESENTATION
OF THE ELECTORAL ROLL
Gordon Raybould presented the
Electoral Roll. Currently it stands at
199, with 117 at St Matthew’s and 82 at
Simon thanked everyone for attending
the meeting, thanked
The meeting closed with the Lord’s
Prayer.
THE TOLWORTH TEAM
MINISTRY
ANNUAL
REPORT
OF
THE
PAROCHIAL
CHURCH COUNCIL
For the year ended 31st
December 2010
Team Rector
Rev
St Matthew’s Vicarage
20,
Surbiton
Team Vicar
Rev
127,
Surbiton
Bank:
For St Matthew’s and
Barclays Bank
Surbiton Branch
KT1 1NY
BACKGROUND
The PCC of the Tolworth Team Ministry
has the responsibility of co-operating with the Team Rector, Rev
The PCC is a charity which has been
excepted from registration with the Charity Commission in the past, but this
situation is currently under review.
AIMS
AND OBJECTIVES
The aims and objectives of the PCC are
expressed in the Parish Vision Statement.
We, the
We will
strive, in our weakness, but in the power of the Holy Spirit,
i)
to make sure that all who
live in this Parish are aware of the message of the Gospel, and where there is
response, to welcome and nurture;
ii)
to make our forms of
worship relevant and accessible to all people in our Parish, keeping the best
of the traditional and the new;
iii)
to grow continually to
become more like Jesus;
iv)
as a church and as
individuals to play an involved Christian role in our local community in its
needs and aspirations; and
v)
to support the world-wide
mission of the Church.
-all
for the glory of Almighty God.
To that end, we have worked in close
co-operation with our partners in Churches Together in Surbiton in the ministry
of Christ’s body in this area, notably in the sponsorship of Kingston Churches’
Action on Homelessness, and the Oxygen Youth Ministries. We participated in the
Unity Service held in May at the Tolworth Recreation Centre. We also helped the Urban Saints and other
churches in the area with the organising and running of Re:Act, a family fun
day for the local community, which was held at Fishponds in August 2010. Members of both Churches attended the New
Wine festival in
House groups have flourished. There are five meeting weekly in the Parish
four fortnightly and two monthly.
As a Team Ministry we have continued
to grow in the service of the Lord.
MEMBERSHIP
Members of the PCC are either
ex-officio or elected by the Annual Parochial Church Meeting in accordance with
the Church representation rules.
During the year the following served
as members of the PCC.
Team Rector: Rev
Team Vicar: Rev
Honorary Curate: Rev
Wardens: Mrs Laxmi Atkins
Mrs
Tracey O’Shea
Mrs
(Plus
one vacancy)
Representatives on the Deanery Synod:
Until APCM 2011 Mrs Shirley Hayward
Until APCM 2011 Mrs Ann Geater
Until APCM 2011 Mr Christopher Gretton
Until APCM 2011 Ms Norma Yates
Elected representatives of the laity:
Until APCM 2011 Mr Bill Thornton
Mr
Mrs
Mrs
Mr
Jeffrey Akerman
Mrs
Until APCM 2012 Mr
Mr
Paul Morrison
Mr
Michael Kennett (resigned)
Mrs
Until APCM 2013
Mrs
Esther Spokes
Mrs
Carol Laker
TEAMS
The PCC operates through a number of
delegated teams and committees, which meet between full meetings of the
PCC.
Leadership Team:
The Leadership Team seeks God’s vision
and guidance for the Parish and supports the Team Rector and the Team Vicar in
their responsibilities for their churches.
Standing Committee:
This is the only committee required by
law. It has power to transact the
business of the PCC between its meetings, subject to any directions given by
the Council.
St Matthew’s District Church Council
(SMDCC):
SMDCC attends to matters that relate
solely to St Matthew’s Church.
SGDCC attends to matters that relate
solely to
Parish Finance Team:
The Parish Finance Team meets as and
when needed.
The Mission Team attends to matters
relating to the outreach ministry of the Parish such as evangelism.
Pastoral Team:
The Pastoral Team attends to matters
relating to the care and nurture of parishioners and church members, such as
CHURCH
MEMBERSHIP
There were 199 members on the
Electoral Roll. 117 at
St Matthew’s and 82 at St George’s at the APCM
2010.
In addition each church maintains a
list of attending adults.
REVIEW OF THE YEAR
The full PCC met on five occasions
during the calendar year 2010. The Teams
and committees met regularly throughout the year, mostly on a monthly or
bi-monthly basis.
The PCC received regular reports from
its appointed Trustees to the Corner House Trust. These Trustees have been
responsible for guiding and maintaining the Corner House through a successful
year with their colleagues and the PCC is grateful for their work. The Leadership team continues to work with
the Trust and the Diocese to finalise the legal aspects of the Trust’s
occupation of the building.
The PCC continued to foster and
strengthen the relationship between the Parish and the church school during the
year.
The Team Ministry continues to
consolidate the relationship between the two churches and looks to the future
with enthusiasm in understanding and fulfilling God’s will.
FINANCIAL
REVIEW
St Matthew’s
and
The
combined results of the two churches show that a surplus of £34,023 for the
year ended 31 December 2010 was created. If unrealised gains and losses on
investments are removed this leaves a surplus of £32,339.
St Matthew’s
Church
St Matthews’s Church had a surplus for
the year ended 31 December 2010 of £16,280. If unrealised gains and losses on
investments are removed this leaves a surplus of £16,370. Another good year for
St Matthews, allowing us to achieve the required improvements to the fabric of
the church and meet our missionary commitments. For further detailed analysis
please see the St Matthew’s Treasurer’s report.
.
Parish
The
Parish accounts for the year ended 31 December 2010 show a surplus of £1057
before gains from land investment funds of £1611, giving an overall surplus of
£2668.
Other
It is our policy to invest our surplus
funds with the CBF Church of England Deposit Fund.
Approved by
the
Minutes of
St. Matthew’s Church A.G.M
Monday 29th
March 2010
Apologies for Absence: Jo and Ian Bowler, Stuart
Russell, Sarath Weerasinghe, Joanne Morrison. Jessica Johnson, Susan Kang,
Victor Cuthbert.
There
were 27 Attendees.
Simon
Hones opened the meeting with a prayer.
He
explained that this is the first year that we have had separate A.G.Ms so we have no previous minutes. As he is Team
Rector, he explained that was his job to take this meeting.
He
then started by thanking Laxmi Atkins and Jeff Akerman for their continued hard
work in their roles as Churchwardens for the past year.
The voting in of the Church Wardens
for another year:
People
that are on the electoral roll, or are residents of the Parish, or are on the
Register of Electors are eligible to vote.
Simon
said that he has received only one nomination and that was Laxmi Atkins. She
was nominated by Henry Shapiro and seconded by Cheryl Kuit.
Simon
thanked Laxmi for standing again. He then asked for a show of hands for this
election. This was unanimous.
Simon
emphasised that operating with a single Churchwarden was not possible for the
church, as it put far too much strain on that Warden and the Vicar. He
expressed an urgent appeal for the congregation to discern whom was being
called by God to that ministry.
He
then went onto the reports and gave us a few minutes to read them as we had not
received them before.
He
then went on to explain that most of the reports were logical and that the
matters affecting the whole of the parish would be dealt at the A.P.C.M.
TEAM
RECTOR’S REVIEW
of
ST MATTHEW’S YEAR 2009/10
There is a famous story about a highly successful and popular
Pentecostal preacher from the Southern States, who was asked what was his formula
for a good sermon. He replied: “Waaall, first ah tell ‘em what Ahm gonna tell
‘em, then Ah tell ‘em, then Ah tell ‘em what Ah told ‘em.”
On the basis that that is an effective way of ensuring the message gets
through, I will say right at the beginning that the recurring theme of my
review of the year passed at St Matthew’s is:
LEADERS
People in the church who serve the Lord Jesus Christ by taking an active
role in the life of the church.
Who show enthusiasm for Jesus by the energy they exhibit in His service,
whether by shouldering responsibility, executing a particular ministry that
benefits people, or by initiating new ideas and ministries as fresh thinkers.
Such people are the life-blood of the Christian Church, whether it’s
globally or locally, and as such, a church cannot function without them.
God gives the skills, the inspiration and the guidance, but He needs
ordinary people to take those and use them.
At St Matthew’s we have some very good leaders, who give freely to God
and His church of their time, energy and talents. And it’s largely due to them
that we have a lot of good ministry to celebrate in this past year.
QUIET YEAR
In comparison to many of our past years, 2009 has been a relatively
quiet year since our last Annual Parochial Church Meeting. We have continued to
do the basic things, and generally do them well. That St Matthew’s has not
moved forward into lots of new areas is mostly down to the fact that our small
stock of good leaders are as active as they can be, and in some cases are too
busy. A church of this size normally has about 75% more people sharing the
opportunities for the service of God, and so is able to do more for Him.
We don’t have enough leaders of the Come Together service or our Junior
Church Groups -two of the things for which St Matthew’s is renowned.
We don’t have enough people whose focus in the church is either Mission
-reaching out to others outside the congregation- or pastoral -looking after
those already in the church.
In almost every area of our church life, we are short-handed, which is a
great surprise, given how fulfilling is the experience of serving God in His
work.
TEAM DEVELOPMENTS
Much more will be said at the APCM on 19th April about parish matters
that involve St George’s as well as St Matthew’s, but in case one or two of you
may not be able to come to the APCM, I’ll cover the main points briefly.
During the Autumn, we held a Special Parochial Church Meeting to give
final approval to the Diocesan Scheme by which the Tolworth Team Ministry had
come into effect.
We have held a number of shared services with all the congregations here
and at St George’s, to give expression to our Unity. Neither St Matthew’s, nor
St George’s exists in isolation: we are part of a larger body here in Tolworth,
and that ought to come into our thinking and our planning at nearly every
level.
At a slightly less obvious level, we are also part of the
interdenominational family of Churches Together in Surbiton, which highlights
for us that we are part of the worldwide Church of Jesus Christ, as does
our link with Chimwang’ombe Church in Malawi. -All part of the Kingdom of God.
On a purely Anglican perspective, our Tolworth Team is part of the
Deanery of Kingston. Our representatives on Deanery Synod and our clergy keep us
bonded to our local Anglican bretheren.
Beyond the local, we are part of the Diocese of Southwark, that covers
most of South London with its 377 Anglican churches.
In our own Tolworth Team, the Parochial Church Council has begun looking
afresh at its structure and modus
operandum. There are lots of suggestions which we are considering to
discern how the Holy Spirit wants SS George’s and Matthew’s to work together.
The PCC is the official government of the parish, whilst each of our
churches also has a District Church Council (DCC) which governs matters
relation to only their own church. This last year has seen a significant
increase in energy at SMDCC, with its eight members and two clergy
initialising, discussing and planning key matters for this church.
CONGREGATIONS
It is important for us to remember that St Matthew’s has three
congregations (compared to one at St George’s).
The 8 o’clock congregation is largely elderly, but has attracted a few
young members in recent years. Sadly, after remaining small-but-strong for a
long time, this congregation has started to diminish in numbers quite
significantly over recent months.
The 9.30 congregation has maintained a standard modern Church of England
style of worship such as one would find in most parishes of the nation, and
2009 has not seen any great developments. Our Choir continues to thrive under
Alan Durham’s talented leadership, and they are an important asset for this
kind of worship. But with the demographic changes in our parish over the last
quarter of a century, this style of worship is less popular locally, and the
9.30 congregation is very slowly declining.
However, we are not gloomy, because fashions in worship styles are
always changing, and the church overall continues to grow, with now 200 regular
adults and nearly 100 children. This is, of course, mostly due to the Come
Together congregation, where numbers steadily rise. It is interesting for me to
see as I serve on the Diocesan Evangelism Team that a Come Together-style of
service is now becoming common across the Diocese. When we began it in 1995, it
was almost unique.
As a church, we honour the faith of children, and join with them -not as
the church of tomorrow- but as part of the church of today. We richly benefit
from them when our Junior Church Groups lead worship on a Sunday.
I have already mentioned our need for more people to share in leading
Come Together, but our existing team is very talented, and improve constantly
as they learn “on the job” and bring in new members to work with them. None of
our current worship leaders began on their own, but joined more experienced
leaders until they felt ready to go solo.
This year we returned to using the Scripture Union syllabus and prepared
material for our Junior Church. It was a difficult decision, since SU no longer
provide material for leading worship on the same theme. However, the only
organisation that publishes both had proved uninspiring, and the SU material
for Junior Church is generally excellent. Furthermore, our worship leaders have
found that we now have adequate resources to enable them to match the SU theme.
We are very grateful to Landirani, who lend their data projector for use in Come Together, and a decision is
already in place for the church to have a custom-built data projection system
installed.
HOUSEGROUPS
Midweek home groups continue to be a strength, enabling members to grow
in faith whilst having fun and supporting each other. Many thanks to their
hosts and leaders. Last Autumn saw Brunch Bunch, Beta, Delta and Girls’ Night
In joined by a fifth Housegroup as those who were confirmed at St Mark’s in
September continued to meet. They are currently doing the Alpha course before
facing the difficult task of deciding on a name for themselves: will they
become Gamma, or Epsilon?
NEW WINE
Last Summer, as usual, a small group from within the congregation joined
in the huge New Wine Festival at Shepton Mallett in Somerset. Along with 13,000 other Christians from across the
Southeast, we endured rain and wind to enjoy fabulous worship and teaching,
children’s activities and fellowship.
PASTORAL
We have a growing need in our area for people to go into the numerous
Nursing Homes to lead simple acts of worship every so often. The Pastoral Team
is too small to take responsibility for that on their own, even though the task
is simple enough in itself. The problem is that St Matthew’s has at least nine
such homes, so what we need are numbers of volunteers with time available
during the daytime. We have consulted the Chaplain of Tolworth Hospital to find
out what is the most helpful format for such visits, and we are looking to
share the ministry with St Mary’s Long Ditton, who have a bigger staff, but no
Homes in their parish.
YOUTH WORKER
During the Autumn, the church was asked what new things you would like
to see at St Matthew’s -the Three Dreams initiative. Outstandingly the most
pressing need you identified was for a Youth Worker to develop our ministry
with teenagers, which was very encouraging. If you had been selfish, I might have
expected a congregation with so many small children to ask for a Children and
Families Worker, but we are already doing a good job on that front, and you had
the vision to focus on something new.
A small team is now drawing up the details of a job description and
person specification. When they have completed their work, the church will be
challenged to work for the realisation of our dream and commit the funds for
the first two-year appointment.
I foresee a time when St Matthew’s will need both a Youth Worker and a
Children and Families Worker, but one step at a time!
LINKS
We continue to work very closely with our church school, where many of
our children are now pupils. It does them good to have friends who they see at
school and at church. Six members of this church serve as Governors at the
School, and two more are Trustees. We are grateful to them for helping make St
Matthew’s Primary so very successful and correspondingly popular.
We are also linked with St Matthew’s PreSchool, who meet in the Sitzler
Room every morning and some afternoons. They secured funding to replace the two
surfaces that they enjoy -the floor of the Sitzler Room and the lawn of the
church garden. We are most grateful.
FUTURE
As we look forward to the coming 12 months, we can be confident that the
Lord Who loves us will continue to bless St Matthew’s as we remain faithful to
Him. Only He knows what challenges and blessings He has in store, but we will
seek to honour and glorify Him in everything we are and everything we do. I
will close by reminding you of our Vision Statement:
We, the Church of St Matthew's and St George's, celebrate the love of
God, which saves us by the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ.
We will strive, in our weakness, but in the power of the Holy Spirit:
i) to make sure that all who live in this parish
are aware of the message of the Gospel, and, where there is response, to
welcome and nurture;
ii) to make our
forms of worship relevant and accessible to all people in our parish, keeping
the best of the traditional and the new;
iii) to grow
continually to become more like Jesus;
iv) as a church
and as individuals to play an involved Christian role in our local community in
its needs and aspirations; and
v) to support the world-wide mission of the
Church;
-all for the glory of Almighty God.
Simon
then went on to ask if there were any questions on his report.
Norma
Yates asked about the Youth Worker. What activities will he/she get involved
with, and who is going to pay for this?
Simon
said that he estimates that this would cost about twenty thousand pounds pa. We
estimate that we might be able to get some of the cost paid from grant
applications but mostly from people committing donations specifically for that
purpose.
St.
Georges have decided not to participate at present, but they will have the
opportunity to opt in at a later stage.
The
age range that the Youth Worker will be responsible for will be from fourteen
upwards.
Pam
Southern asked would we be targeting local schools?
Simon
said not necessarily, as we would not want to overlap with the local Schools
Christian Workers or Oxygen.
The
younger age group would require a Family and Children’s worker, but we are
looking for such a worker at the moment.
Simon
said that we have not finalised the job description at present.
Gabriel
Caine said he was interested in assisting -but not leading- in the Services at
Nursing Homes.
Elections to the PCC:
Jeff
Akerman: nominated by Mary Trotter and seconded by John Goodridge.
Alan
Durham: nominated by Jessica Johnson and seconded by Paul Mackie.
We
still have one place on the PCC that will also be our second Deanery Synod
representative. Anne Geater is our sole lay representative on the Deanery Synod
at the moment.
Simon
said if you think that you are being called for either the Churchwarden job or
to be the Deanery Synod rep, please do come forward. If you think someone else
may be the right person, please talk with them, then nominate them to the PCC.
Jeff
Akerman said he would like to thank Simon for all the hard work that he has
done in the last year.
Simon
closed the meeting with the Lord’s Prayer.
ST MATTHEW’S CHURCH FABRIC MAINTENANCE
REPORT
During
the year the large green notice board was cleaned up and painted by one of our
pathfinders.
A
great deal of work has been carried out by voluntary labour from the
congregation in the south facing garden including the removal of general growth
that had accumulated over the years and the addition of flagstones leading
to the main noticeboard. All the gutters
at low level were cleared, particularly from Leaf debris.
Again
using volunteer labour from the congregation the church office Has been cleared
out, cleaned and repainted throughout.
Repair
has been undertaken to the upper and lower roof which was leaking, and allowing
water to ingress into both the main body of the church and the chapel. This repair was carried out by Surrey Roofers
and involved the replacement of the lead flashing between the tower and the
body of the church.
During
the year an application has been made to obtain a faculty for work to be
carried out in the South Porch area for a new disable toilet and new
cupboards. Quotes to carry out this work
are currently being obtained.
Recently
the lights in the chapel failed and this was eventually traced to a wire from a
spur in the chapel itself to the lighting switch which tracked under the
floor. The precise cause could not be
established but it was assumed to be either rodent damage or corrosion of the
copper sheathed cable.
Throughout
the year we have liaised with our agent on various maintenance issue associated
with the church property in Ellerton Road.
This property is not in good condition and has recently been vacated
(which unfortunately necessitated legal action) with a view to complete
refurbishment prior to re-letting.
Laxmi/Andy
St George’s
See
St George’s Warden’s Report under the
DEANERY SYNOD REPORT
The
Deanery Synod is made up of lay representatives elected by church members every
three years, together with the clergy within the Deanery. Kingston Deanery
Synod has met three times during 2010, which is the legal minimum for meetings.
The major topics covered have included the relationship of the Synod to the
churches and how to improve the opportunities to work together to spread the
mission of the church to the thousands of un-churched people with the Borough
and beyond. In addition the Synod spoke about the needs of the homeless and
nearly homeless within the Borough and expressed its support for the proposals
from Kingston Churches Action on Homelessness (KCAH) and St Peter’s Norbiton to
build a permanent hostel in the grounds of St. Peter’s. Currently the nearest
homeless hostels are in Guildford and
BEREAVEMENT SUPPORT
GROUP
This is a small friendly group of
people who meet twice a monthly, on the first and third Wednesday afternoons at
2 pm. We discuss all kinds if things and exchange views on just about
everything. We are good at listening to each other too. We find
this agenda works well for us as most of us are living on our own and now miss
the art of conversation. We also have refreshments of course, which help
to make it an enjoyable afternoon. We are always pleased to welcome new
members and if you want any further information about this group please contact
Eileen Turner on 020 8399 3456. Esther will be returning
from Australia at the beginning of May to resume the leadership of the
Bereavement Group.
Eileen Turner
CHILDREN’S SOCIETY SUPPORT
GROUP
Our group comprising representatives from St Mark’s, St Andrew’s
Christ Church, Emmanuel, St Mary’s Chessington, St Matthew’s and St George’s
are still in touch with one another and exchanging news. We are still engaged
in our collections in our churches and we and the Society are most grateful for
the generosity of our box holders. We are still endeavouring to raise any
money we can for the society which includes a street collection in Cotterill
Road, remake cards still valiantly being produced by Jean Broodbank and
generally keeping the aims of the Children’;s Society to help disadvantaged
children to the fore.
But I must also mention that Dave Farris is still Voluntary
President for the Children’s Society in the Diocese and doing a great job!
Pam Southern
ST MATTHEWS REPORTS
ST MATTHEW’s
PASTORAL TEAM
As
in past years the Pastoral Team carried out its role of providing pastoral
support and care to those considered to
be vulnerable.
In
addition to this work the Team works
with other congregation members to provide regular services at local
residential homes. These are usually informal Communion Services, and seem to be much appreciated by residents and staff.
These
visits lead to ongoing contact with the Homes, and opportunities are provided
for residents to attend social gatherings at the church – such as the
‘Afternoon Teas’.
Those
serving on the Pastoral Team consider it a privilege to be in a position to
share God’s love and compassion with others, both inside and outside the church
community.
whom
they serve.
Victor Cuthbert ( Co-ordinator)
St Matthew’s
C of
E Primary School
‘
Our 5 G’s are at the heart of all that we do. We say
and sign them before every act of collective worship and we make connections
with them whenever we discuss God’s work.
It has been another very busy year for us at St. Matthew’s
Primary. There have been some staff changes over the year and this has meant
time for the new staff to settle in and familiarize themselves with our ways of
working. They have all settled in tremendously well and we are delighted to welcome them to St Matthew’s and hope that they will
enjoy their new posts. Our school this year has an extra class in Year One and
is also increasing from 1.5 forms of entry to 2 forms of entry permanently in
order to respond to the increase in numbers in the area. Temporary classrooms
have been put onto the site and the building works to cater for the extra
children have begun. Firstly, the demolition of the Key Stage 2 buildings has
been completed and now the foundations are being dug for the new two storey
building and extra hall. These works are due to be completed by Christmas 2011.
So this is an exciting – though sometimes noisy- time for us in school. We are
of course keen to ensure that the children’s learning and attainment do not
suffer and that primary school is an exciting and enjoyable time in their
lives.
Last
Summer term, the pupils in Year 2 and Year 6 all completed their Standard
Assessment Tests with the pupils in Year 6 doing extremely well, securing 95%
in English and Maths and we are very proud of their hard work.
In
May our Year 6 pupils enjoyed a successful residential school trip to Hindleap
Warren. We are very grateful for the dedicated group of staff and friends of
the school who went with these pupils and made sure that they enjoyed a very
special time before going on to their Secondary phase of education.
In
June and July, various transition sessions took place in order to ease the
transfer of individuals from our Primary school to their relevant Secondary
schools. They all made the change smoothly and many have returned to visit us
and let us know how they are progressing.
Premises:
We
recently refurbished the Key Stage One toilets and this made a great difference
to the pupils, though on New Years’ Eve we suffered a leak which then damaged
this area. Unfortunately, we are still dealing with the insurance company to
sort the necessary repairs. Hopefully, this will happen soon.
The school has continued to make good
use of the church facilities. Activities included visits to the church to note
particular features. Revd Hones and his team make us extremely welcome and
assist the school’s work wherever possible. Simon has also made several visits
to Key Stage 1 to assist with their topic on ‘Toys.’
We welcomed many visitors to the
school. These included:
·
Revd
Simon Hones who leads our worship on a Wednesday morning.
·
Revd
Lesley Charlton from the
·
Heather
Stephens from Insight.
·
PCSO
Prior who takes Year 5 and 6 modules and also speaks in assemblies
·
Colin
Powell, SDBE Inspector
·
Carol
Buchanan, attached Inspector
·
Visiting
Headteachers from local Primary school
·
NSPCC
representative
·
The
Scottish Dancing club
·
The
Cat’s Grin Theatre Company
·
A
Pocket full of Nothing Theatre Company
·
Jeremy
Strong – Children’s author
·
Caroline
Baxter – from Enhanceable
·
C.
Wicking – Deputy Head at Southborough
·
Jane
Gwynne – Diabetic nurse at
·
Matthew
Hume – from the Planetarium
·
Claire
Barnett- Advanced Skills Teacher at Latchmere
·
·
Adam
While – Gugafit
·
Dr
Bike
We
are very grateful for the interest and support of both St. Matthew’s and
Report St
Matthew’s Pre-School
In September we had to increase the
sessions to 3 hours to comply with government nursery education. This resulted
in us employing a new member of staff Melissa Atkins she has now started her
level 2 qualifications in childcare. Sadly we lost a senior member of the team
in November life in
We finally have had a very overdue
OFSTED inspection, we are pleased to say our outcome was good and the
inspection went very well, the inspector was very nice.
We had an end of year treat for the
children called Crocodile Encounters he brings in various snakes and lizards
for the children to handle. It was very good fun. One of our parents paid for a
group called Rocking Robins to come in and do some singing with children. We
were happy to see some members of the church join us for our “nativity” again
in December it is nice that we get friends other than immediate family telling
us that they have enjoyed the occasion. We are happy to see members of the
church come into the group and talk with the children.
We were able to watch the reception
class perform their dress rehearsal for the nativity. It is lovely to see the
children who have moved up to big school and how they change in a short space
of time.
We look forward to the following year
with all the challenges that it brings us.
Pat Moss
The Corner House
1ST TOLWORTH (ST MATTHEW’S) SCOUT GROUP
It’s been another good year for the St Matthew’s Scout
Group with all the usual fun and excitement.
Badges have been gained, there have been camps and
expeditions for Cubs and Scouts and a Sleepover for the Beavers.
In September no less than seven of our oldest Scouts
gained the highest award available for the Scout age – the Chief Scout’s Gold
Award. This represents a lot of hard
work and dedication on their part and a lot of organising and cajoling on the
part of their Leaders.
Our air rifle shooting range is still popular and
several of our Scouts and Leaders have had notable successes at local and
national competitions with medals being won on many occasions. Now the District also has an archery club and
several of our members have signed up to that as well...
One of our Young Leaders, Megan Taylor, has been
selected to attend the World Scout Jamboree in
And now an Explorer Scout Unit is due to open, meeting
in our hall, and catering for the fourteen to eighteen year age range. This is a new venture for us as it will be
part of Royal Kingston District but in partnership with our Group.
Any boys and girls in that age range who are interested
in seeing what it is all about, even if they have never been Scouts before,
should get in touch on 020 8786 8408 to find out more about this new
development in the life of the 1st Tolworth (St Matthew’s) Scout
Group. (102 years old this year).
ST MATTHEWS
CHOIR REPORT
The
year has provided challenges. The first
heartache was the death of Chris Hall (Organist). A gentle giant of an
Organist in accompanying the choir. Second Alan leaving hurt the whole choir as
his keyboard skills and personality of ‘action not words’ ending with the words
‘I tender my resignation.’ At a leaving do for Alan our hearts went out for the
journey he has set his mind and soul to.
Benj. is a young man who
was happy to put in time to rehearse for the several services he played for,
and Hazel has enjoyed practicing for those services that she played for. I am personally very grateful to them both,
only being disappointed that Benj. wasn’t encouraged. Enthusiastic and a budding Organ Scholar, he got snapped up
permanently.
At this precise time I
developed a dangerous pressure sore and missed what might have been a furtive
couple of months.
The opportunity of David
Pimm taking a serious and well considered look at moving from Emmanuel to St
Matts, with Gill, his Wife was a dream move for St Matts and a prayerful
decision by David and Gill. We are
extremely blessed.
The choir are few in
number, but pretty big in ‘sound.’ NOT
volume but purity. Friday practice has
some delightful rewards with nearly all the choir even prepared to sing a
couple of the compositions I’ve written.
Lastly, ‘dragging ‘
ourselves out of bed for the earlier 0915am service is cruel. BUT WE SEEM TO DO
IT. ! It has meant dumping any warm up, but Robert Leach has been giving us
‘professional’ accompaniment that has kept us on our toes.
I shall not mention choir
members – they have made varying
contributions, and are all precious.
My thanks go to the church team for
supporting the tuning of the Organ. It is this instrument that, handled well,
has really helped St Matt’s Choir to lead the Worship.
Wes Johnson
BETA HOUSEGROUP
The Beta Housegroup meets on Wednesday
evenings to study the scriptures using a variety of source material. A
highlight of the year was following a study course by John Stott which looked
at aspects of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We are currently following the York
Lent Course. We have planned and led a
number of “Come Together” services. As a part of our sessions, we take the
opportunity to discuss personal issues and those that relate to the Parish.
Discussions are always lively and we
end every session with a time for prayer and find there is a great strength to
be had from praying together. One of the most valuable aspects of being part of
a housegroup is the sense of fellowship we are able to share and the
friendships that are formed. As well as the Wednesday sessions, we do find time
for social occasions during the year.
We would all strongly recommend
joining a group as a way to enhancing your spiritual life.
Judith Mackie
(For the Beta Housegroup)
DELTA HOUSEGROUP
Delta continues to meet on a Wednesday evening between
8.00 and 10.00pm, usually at 16 Douglas Road.
There are now eight members of the group. During the past year we have studied a course
called Education for Discipleship – Introducing the Old Testament. This course is divided into eight modules and
we are now on number six. So far we have
looked at the Patriarchs, the Exodus and Covenant, the Law and Land, Kings,
Prophets and Proverbs, Temple and Psalms and now we are studying Exile and
Return. We have found the course very
informative and have studied chapters that we have never read before which has
highlighted gaps in our knowledge.
The group disbands for Lent when we join the
Ecumenical Lent Groups but we will be restarting as a group again on May 4th.
The housegroup is a great source of support, a place
where we can pray for each other and share our problems and our joys. We enjoy the fellowship of the group and
would welcome anyone who would like to join us.
Brenda Tyrrell
BRUNCH BUNCH
Brunch Bunch meets on termtime Mondays
from 9.45 – 11.00 in St Matthew’s Chapel.
Sadly, we don’t have brunch, but we do have tea and coffee, and from
time to time we go out to lunch together.
During 2010 we completed a series of
studies on the epistle of James, instructing early Christians on their
behaviour, and found this very relevant to us in our Christian lives today. We
also followed a course of study on Spiritual Gifts, which took us into a number
of the epistles, and we looked in depth at the Sermon on the Mount, taking us
right to the heart of Jesus’ teaching.
We have also looked back in time with an eight part study of the life of
Elijah.
We are not meeting at present as we
hold one of the Lenten Ecumenical groups in the Chapel at this time, but Brunch
Bunch will restart after Easter (avoiding bank holidays as best we can). If you are free for an hour on Monday
mornings, we would be delighted to welcome you to our group
Judith Jones
Climber’s Report
Climbers caters for children from 5 –
7 years old (Key stage 1) we include
children under 5 that have started in Reception. We get a regular 6 – 10 in the group with a
list of 24 on the register from September 2010. We have continued to be in the
Sitzler room with Explorers.
Myself and Melissa Turner have
continued to run the group with Hannah Holbrook and Katherine Butler leading as
Junior leaders. There always has to be 2
other CRB adults in the room when they are leading. If there aren’t Judith Jones has said that she
can sit in, if not taking crèche. If we
can’t find anyone, I will sit in with the Junior leader. Since October I have
been going in to Scramblers once a month, to observe and take photos of the
children for a new ‘child friendly’ registration system.
We are enjoying the new Scripture
Union material and find this much more adaptable for the different age ranges,
and flexible in giving lots of ideas.
Problems are when I am away in Malawi
for any length of time, a total of 11 weeks over the past year, although this
is not ‘normal’. Need to find more
leaders to help.
Heather Palmer
SCRAMBLERS REPORT
This year the Scramblers group for 3
to 5 year olds has seen an increase in the number of children
attending. Some weeks numbers have reached to 18 children and
because extra room was needed we have recently changed our meeting room to the
Sitzler Room, where we have more space to move around.
The children join in activities like
sticking, glueing, colouring, making puppets and hearing stories of Jesus.
All children attending are now registered by their parents and we attach a
photo of that child to the registration form which is helpful if we have
children with the same name.
Julie Marie
EXPLORER REPORT
Hello, and welcome to an insight into the Explorer group. Explorers are made up of the 7 to 11 year
olds in St Matthew’s Church who meet in the Sitzler room during the Come
Together Service for approximately 20 minutes every week. The group is led by Pauline Keane, Lesley
Kennett, and Jo Boaler.
We have about 8 fairly regular members and spend our time doing
activities linked to the theme of the service.
These may include playing games, making things, drama and discussion as
well as discovering the relevance of the Bible to us today.
Over the year, Explorers have enjoyed leading the Come Together service
and a trip to the CornerHouse last January to see The Wizard of Od was a great success.
If you ever feel like popping in to see us, please do – you will be made
welcome and you may even find you enjoy it enough to stay and become one of the
team!
Pauline, Jo and Lesley
The
The
latest news from the Hospital was received in December 2010.
Here
are a few excerpts from the News Letter:
“Our hospital continues to care for
those most vulnerable and in need in
”Our children’s ward is one of the
oldest departments of the Hospital having been in the same location for the
last 50 years and with only minor upgrades of the facilities over the years.”
“Letters of appreciation from children
and their parents are regularly received –much more than in any other
department. One such letter was written as a poem, by a 12 year old boy,
thanking each staff member in turn, describing their good work and kindness of
spirit – made all the more poignant by the boy’s blindness.”
We
haven’t been able to send a donation since the last report but if anyone would
like to make a donation we will happily send it on.
Thank
you.
Jeff
and Jennie Akerman
St. Matthew’s FUNdraisers Report
As usual
the fundraisers have been working hard to raise money for the
church. Our Jumble sale and Christmas fair continue bring in people who do not
come to church . We continue to seek new ideas to raise money, so if you have
any ideas why don’t you come and talk to us
Our belief is that, while we raising funds, we should have a fun and
experience fellowship. Let me take this opportunity to thank every one for
there support.
Laxmi &
Mala
SOUP LUNCH
REPORT 2010-11
Just a Soupcon of what goes on.
If you should
enter the main entrance of the St Matthews Church at around 12.30pm on the
first Friday of any month (except August and September) or any Friday during
Lent your senses will be regaled by the aroma of a variety of delectable warm
homemade soups, the clatter of cutlery on china and the buzz of friendly
conversation, emanating from the Sitzler Room.
These are the
Soup Lunches, one of our churches most enduring and popular events for over 40
years, originally a Lenten repast in commemoration of Christ’s fasting in the
wilderness, and later extended to other months in the year. The lunches are
open to anyone who cares to join us and
they will be assured of a very warm welcome.
Remarkably,
again this year we had an average of 24 “slurpers” attending the 14 lunches.
Sadly, the
January lunch had to be cancelled because of the snow and we also missed the
much anticipated annual visit by St Matthew’s School choir, who normally lead
us in a medley of Christmas songs and carols, because of the bad weather. We
celebrated our 15th birthday in May and this was followed with a wonderful
report and photograph done by John Fleetwood.in the June edition of The Bridge
(Southwark newspaper). So we were in the ''News!'' Joan is the organising maestro who arranges,
from a team of a dozen or so stalwarts,
for four varieties of soups to be made for each lunch ( over 20 different soups
served during the year and no two menus the same!), followed by a selection of
fruit and tea or coffee. We also enjoy seasonal treats of wonderful apple pies
(made by Doris) at harvest time and mince pies at Christmas. This loyal team
also acts as waiters, washer- uppers and clearer- uppers. Sadly, one of our
reliable helpers, Derrick Haydon from St George’s, suffered a stroke at
Christmas time, he is greatly missed and we wish him a full and speedy
recovery.
It is not all
just about fun, food and fellowship though. The Lunches have remained faithful
to the original Lenten disciplines of self denial and giving, by each of us
agreeing to forego a main meal on that day and donating a similar sum of money
to those in need. Speakers are regularly
invited to come along to give a short talk or presentation about their charity
or cause
and they
receive the money donated.
In this year we
have supported Christian Aid (£120), Hazel Crossley- Madagascar ( £60),
Hazel Crossley-
Kenya (£40), Landirani (£104), Matt Hatton gave a talk on KCAH (£60) and Church
Flowers (£46), £600 plus Gift Aid was raised for The Bishop’s Lent Appeal
(2010)
and in “Prayer
for Unity Week” we hosted 44 guests from Churches Together in Surbiton
and raised another £120 for KCAH.
In all £1150
was raised. Well done everyone.
Friendship
Teas
I am always surprised when I am asked
for my annual report on Friendship Teas as it only seems that it was yesterday
that I had done one. I am pleased to
report that we continue to be well supported. We also continue to have our
regular friends from Milverton Nursing Home and the residents of Rossclaire
Residential Home now join us each month.
I am very fortunate in having a great
team of helpers who make delicious cakes and sandwiches which are thoroughly
enjoyed by all who come.
In 2010 I gave a talk on Uganda which
I had visited earlier in the year. I continue to support an orphaned family
through school and University. A
donation of £62 was given towards this. Heather Palmer gave a talk on the
progress Landirani were making in Malawi.
Heather spoke about the difficulty people had in transporting the sick
to Hospital They are now working on constructing Bicycle Ambulances to help
solve this problem. At the end of the
talk, it was with great pleasure that I was able to give Heather a donation of
£150 which would buy one of these bicycles.
In June I sent a cheque for £100 to
Help the Heroes who do a wonderful job.
This donation will go towards the provision of services and facilities
that will help the wounded launch back into the next phase of their lives.
John Brassell from the British Legion
came and gave us a talk on the work done at the Poppy Factory. We were able to send a donation of £50.
Some months we just have a social
afternoon, mixing and talking with each other and getting to know new members.
We continue to have the ever popular Quiz
and Bingo.
Our Christmas Party was a success with
32 people attending and everyone enjoyed a sing-a-long to Christmas music.
We always like to see new faces, so
please tell your friends.
Pat Norrish
St MatThew’s Treasurer’s Report for year ending 31st
December 2009.
See accounts section.
ST GEORGES REPORTS
ST GEORGE’S MINISTER’S REPORT
See
separate document.
ST GEORGE’S CHURCHWARDEN’S REPORT
The fabric of the church building has
once again been improved in many ways over the past year. In order to do a
thorough job with the redecoration of the Sanctuary, it has been recognised by
Council that this involves a number of distinct tasks which need to be
approached in a co-ordinated way. To this end, discussions are taking place to
appoint a project manager who will oversee the completion of this work. During
the course of the year, a survey of the heating in the Sanctuary was
undertaken, which revealed that the area is significantly under heated. Various options were considered to rectify
this, but found to be impractical or prohibitively expensive. As we experience
extreme cold weather for such a few Sundays per year, we propose to continue
supplementing the heating with free standing heaters on those occasions as at
present. We shall also look at reducing heat loss by ensuring the Sanctuary
doors nearest to the main entrance are kept closed on those occasions,
encouraging people to enter via the hall. Council have also investigated
options for improving acoustics in the hall and (have instructed a company) to
commence work on this. In line with our last Quinquennial report, the exterior
woodwork, fasciae, soffits and downpipes have been repainted, and the paintwork
to the hall has also been refreshed. Plans for the redecoration of the Jubilee
Room are in hand, and new chairs have been purchased for the lounge.
At the time of writing, work to extend
and redevelop 127 Hamilton Avenue is nearing completion, and it is anticipated
that Clive, Carol and the family will soon be moving back in. We pray that the
new house will be a blessing both to them as a family, and to us as a church.
Our worship pattern has once again
been kept under constant review, and we are encouraged by the trial of a second
service on the first Sunday of each month.
As always, our aim is to provide opportunities for both traditional and
more contemporary, informal worship whilst valuing unity and facilitating our
growth as Christians, both as individuals and as a community.
Once again, we should like to take
this opportunity to acknowledge the joy and the privilege of working alongside
Clive and the Council, and of serving our church family in this way.
Lesley
Bell and Tracey O’Shea.
ST GEORGE’S
BIBLE STUDY GROUP
We
continued our studies on St. Luke’s Gospel until Christmas on every other
Thursday morning and every other Monday afternoon. Numbers have gradually
increased and there has been much discussion. In all these studies we have
tried to look at the Geography, Socio-economic, political and religious
conditions present at the time of Jesus, to understand better what the Bible
has to say to each one of us. We started a new series of studies on David in
the New Year and started a new group meeting every other Wednesday evening.
Chris and
Mary Gretton
Silver Threads
Our Silver Treads group
will be 3 years old on 8th April.
We are a very happy group and would love to see some new faces who are
60 and over. We have had interesting
talks on various topics, Age Concern, Oxygen in the Kingston Borough by Chris
Gretton, Joan Collins talked about her two talented and famous brothers
(Singers and Actors) Teddy and Brian Johnson, Dave Farris, the President for
the Southwark Diocese, talked about the Children’s Society and Jo O’Shea talked
about the St John’s Ambulance. We viewed
various DVDs and Videos on the history of the Hogsmill River, the Wey and the
Arun Canal, the Canadian Rockies, a cruise on the River Thames from Reading to
Hampton Court and one on Australia.
Our highlight for the year
was our ‘Christmas Lunch’ with, as Betty
Owen put it, ‘oodles of food’. We have
drunk copious amount of tea, coffee, soft drinks and wine and eaten loads of
home made cakes and have we talked!!
We celebrated Anne and
John Elworthy’s 60th Wedding Anniversary and had to say goodbye to
our oldest member Jessy Taylor who was 96 in March. Jessie has had to go into a home as she has
hearing and sight problems. My thanks go
out to every member for their help and kindness but special thanks go out to
Belly Owen, Audrey Daniels and John Elworthy.
Thanks to Rev Clive Laker for allowing us to use the lounge and on
special occasions the hall. God’s
blessings to all.
Ada Franklin.
Stuffers
This year we reviewed our
programme and aims. We decided to
concentrate on supporting the work of the Children’s Society as David Farris is
the Southwark Diocesan President. In the
Spring the Stuffers hosted a coffee and cakes morning to thank the box holders
for their generosity. Individual letters
were sent to supporters and 56 people attended and enjoyed a lovely summer day
in the garden. No money was raised
deliberately but we all learned a lot about the Charity. Currently we are making a collection of
family sayings and we hope to produce a booklet for sale to raise funds for the
society.
Pat Ward.
ST
GEORGE’S TREASURER’S REPORT -
year ended 31 December 2010
We had a
surplus for the year ended 31 December 2009 of £15,076. If our
investment income and the gain on the revaluation of the Lloyds TSB shares are
removed (as these are capital investment items rather than our day to day items),
we had a surplus for the year of £14,747. This is the amount shown at the
bottom of the actual 2010 column on the page headed Comparisons.
Please note that the surplus included a legacy of £ 8,464 from the
Henry John Cross Estate, so that the surplus
without this surprise legacy was £6,283 which is still a fantastic
result. The surplus will allow the
church to undertake the renovation of the Sanctuary. Thank you to everyone who
gave or prayed for the church finances this year.
The highlights of the financial result for 2010 are as follows:
Overall total
income was £7,796 lower than in 2009. In 2009 we had a special fund to
celebrate our 75th anniversary.
Promised giving and donations
Promised giving has continued to increase, up this year by £3,484.
It is really amazing how the promised income has grown over the last 7 years
(£25,000 higher than 2004, a growth from then of 2.7 times). It reflects how
far we have come as a church in our commitment to God – each giving what they
are able. As a result we have now started to cover our day to day operating
costs which mean that we can properly plan our finances.
|
Year |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
2010 |
Budget 2011 |
|
Promised giving |
14,729 |
16,634 |
20,977 |
26,545 |
29,915 |
36,481 |
39,965 |
41,000 |
|
Donations |
12,411 |
12,411 |
9,406 |
11,514 |
12,348 |
13,743 |
385 |
|
|
Total promised giving & donations |
27,140 |
29,045 |
30,383 |
38,059 |
42,263 |
50,224 |
40,350 |
|
Donations are lower but this would be expected as last year there
was the 75th anniversary fund. We were blessed to have received an
unexpected legacy from the Henry John Cross Estate of £8,464. We are in a good
position to complete the renovation to the church building.
Hall letting
Hall letting income continues to
decline, falling by £1,769 from £6,962 in 2009 to £5,193 in 2010. The Budget
for 2011 is £3,200.
Expenditure
Expenditure
excluding repairs was broadly the same as in 2009; this was enabled by the
saving of £980 in 2010 as there was no church administrator. The cleaning of the hall has continued to be
carried out on a voluntary basis reducing caretaker and cleaning costs by the
salary previously paid of £3,120.
As
a Parish, the Church Councils of St George’s and St Matthew’s have continued to
support Simon Simoyi by covering the rent for a room and a small living
allowance. The total rent and living
allowance paid by St George’s was £5,270. Simon achieved UK residence status
during 2010 and so the church will no longer need to provide support from the
end of April 2011.
During
the year budgeted expenditure of £11,000 for the renovation of the Sanctuary
was not incurred. This project is planned to go ahead during 2011.
For 2011, for the first
time in years, I am budgeting an operating surplus. As long as the promised
giving continues at the expected levels,
our income from promised should cover our normal day to day running costs
such as the Diocesan assessment, heat and light etc.
The
budgeted maintenance costs of £11,000 can be covered from the 2010 surplus and
our savings.
I would like to thank Mary Gretton for
keeping the books and for all those who count the money.
Rachel
Whitelaw
11
March 2011