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2021-12-31-accounts

CHURCH OF SAINT LAWRENCE HATFIELD ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING

to be held in St Lawrence Church on Wednesday 11[th] May 2022 at 7:30pm

St. Lawrence Hatfield PCC

Registered Charity Number 1127942

“The Diocese of Sheffield is called to grow a sustainable network of Christ like, lively and diverse Christian communities in every place which are effective in making disciples and transforming our society and God’s world”

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Introduction

The PCC is pleased to provide this booklet containing the annual reports in advance of the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) on Wednesday 11[th] May 2022 at 7.30pm at St. Lawrence Church, Hatfield. The reports have been written by representatives of the groups and committees and are once again a credit to all their hard work and dedication. We would like to say thank you for everything they have done again this year.

Please take some time to enjoy reading them before the meeting to learn about our achievements in 2021/22. This will also save us a great deal of time and allow for a more meaningful discussion to take place on issues which warrant more of our attention at the meeting. If you have any queries or comments to make, there will be ample opportunity during the course of the evening.

We hope that once you have finished reading this report you will be very impressed by all that is taking place and we hope it will provide you with some real food for thought!

It might prompt questions such as “is there anything I could be doing for my Church?” or “how can I support the church’s mission?” If it does, please speak to Revd Liz.

We trust that you will continue to pray for each other as we serve Christ in all that we do!

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ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING
Wednesday 11thMay 2022
AGENDA
ANNUAL MEETING OF PARISHIONERS
1. Welcome and Prayers
2. Election of Churchwardens
ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING
1. Apologies
2. Minutes of the Previous Meeting: Wednesday 21stJuly 2021 page 4
3. Matters Arising
4. Annual Reports 2021
a) Electoral Roll report since the last Annual Meeting ER Officer page 9
b) Annual Report on the proceedings of the PCC PCC secretary page 11
c) Safeguarding Report_Safeguarding Officer_ page 12
d) Financial Statements of the PCC for the year ending December 2021 page 13
PCC Treasurer + Independent Examiner
e) Annual Fabric Report_Fabric Officer + Wardens_ page 19
f) Deanery Synod Representatives page 40
g) Churchwardens’ Report Churchwardens page 41
h) Training Log PCC secretary page 42
i) Ministry, Worship, Discipleship, Pastoral Care Priest-in-Charge page 43
j) Activities of the Parish Priest-in-Charge page 44
k) Centenary Project Worker report
Youth and Children’s worker		 page 46
l) Project Manager report
 Project Worker page 49
m) Communications and Admin – magazine, parish office,
& online presence
 Priest in Charge
 page 53
5. Elections and Appointments 2021/2022
-
Parochial Church Council representatives
- Appointment of Independent Examiner
6. Address: Revd Canon Liz Turner-Loisel
7. Any Further Questions or Comments
8. Dates to Note
-
Date of the 1stmeeting of the PCC:
Monday June 6th2022
-
Date of the Archdeacon’s Visitation:
t.b.a
-
Date of the next Annual Meeting: t.b.a.
9. Closing Prayer
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APCM 2021 Minutes

Minutes of the Annual Parochial Church Meeting held at 7.30pm on Wednesday 21[st] July 2021 in Hatfield Church

ANNUAL MEETING OF PARISHIONERS 19.30

Present

Rev’d Canon Liz Turner-Loisel, Rev’d Joyce Barker, Vera Owen, Viv Stubbs, Beryl Adamson, Dianne Fox, Chrissy Grindle, Julia Halls, Ann Kitching, Glenys Mashford, Rosh Milner, Terry Raper, Anne Render, Rachel Ridler, Tim Sweed, Philippe Turner-Loisel, Stuart Watson.

Welcome and Prayers at 19.25

Rev'd Liz spoke about the story of the Living Water, which Rachel read from John 4, and the fear of Covid. We all have a need for the Living Water that lasts, and if we have that Water the fear disappears.

1. Election of Churchwardens

There were two nominations:

Vera Owen proposed by Viv Stubbs and seconded by Rev'd Joyce Viv Stubbs proposed by Terry Raper and seconded by Philippe Turner-Loisel.

As there was no vote necessary Rev’d Liz had pleasure in announcing that Vera and Viv would serve their sixth term of office.

This concluded the business of the Annual Meeting of the Parishioners.

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ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING

1. Apologies

There were apologies from Rev’d Gill Salter, Janet and John Alick, Gill Atkinson, Anne Dewsnap, Colin Grimsey, Mel and Anita Jepson, Jill McGarvie, Carol Rashid, Peter Render, Stephen Rivers, Susan Spencer and Cath Watson.

2. Minutes of the Previous Meeting – Wednesday 28[th] October, 2020

Rev'd Liz explained that the rules had changed to allow APCMs to be held until the end of May. She had asked for an extension as in 2020 our APCM was not until October.

This didn’t allow for the wardens to be admitted at the Archdeacon’s Visitation, so Rev'd Liz will ask the archdeacon when he is available to come to St Lawrence.

The minutes were agreed to be a true record by all who had been present .

3. Matters Arising

Point 4y) Thanks were given to Emily Grimsey who in “typical Grimsey” fashion had worked so well with others, and so hard, during her work placement year. Colin is now attending St Paul’s Wheatley since his move a few years ago and is on the PCC there.

Point 7 bullet point 7 - Mailchimp was given up as it was too complicated.

Point 7 last bullet point In this deanery, the Deanery Mission Areas are the same as Mission Partnerships in which church is where; we are still in the Flowing Waters area with Thorne, Stainforth and the Fishlake benefice.

Date of next APCM is Wednesday 11[th] May 2022.

4. Annual Reports 2020 - 2021

a) Electoral Roll report since the last Annual Meeting.

On October 28[th] 2020 there were 143 on the Electoral Roll. Freda Fielding has moved away so is no longer on the roll, four more have come on so it stands at 146. It has been on display for the last 14 days. We haven’t removed people for non-attendance this year due to circumstances.

b) Annual Report on the proceedings of the PCC.

PCC meetings changed to Mondays and have been held on Zoom, which is preferred by everyone.

To 1[st] February 2021 report part 2, point 2, please add that the handover to the local council is going ahead. A local man had cut the grass in the Barn field when it had got very long and has done it ever since.

c) Safeguarding Report

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No additional items.

d) Financial Statements of the PCC for the year ending Dec.2020

The official signed version from Faith Star is “in the post” but had been fully discussed. In answer to a frequent question Rev'd Joyce would like to point out that personal giftaiding is a “No” if something has been given in exchange: it is therefore not a gift. A whole-church giving campaign is on its way.

The Endowment Trust was formed – by Stuart Watson- when many small bequests given over the years were put together, where it could have been termed that they were left for the Mission and Ministry of the church. The Trust makes grants to the PCC for the running of the church with this in mind, but does not make those decisions for itself.

e) Annual Fabric Report

Thanks were given to Terry for his thorough and detailed report. The importance of having detailed reports was stressed, and for the PCC reports too.

There was an appeal for cleaners as the church opens up again, and for the Parish Office and the Barn. Rosh has a document of responsibilities.

f) Deanery Synod

There have been Diocesan Synod elections. Carol has finished her term of office on Diocesan Synod, so she is no longer on Deanery Synod.

g) Activities of the Parish

The Strawberry Tea and other events have brought in nearly as much money as our previous big events, so we must consider how we want to hold fund-raising events for next year.

h) Training log

We must take credit for the training we have done in the past months.

i) Churchwardens’ Report

Many thanks indeed to our churchwardens, particularly during this difficult time .

j) Ministry, Worship, Discipleship, Pastoral Care

We will return to this in a later part of the meeting.

k) Centenary Project Worker report

Rachel was licensed the last week before lockdown in March 2020, and she has adapted to circumstances wonderfully, the Science summer club being her latest venture! A huge thank you to her, especially since the younger children have been isolated, it’s wonderful to see them together. Rachel thanked everyone who has encircled her by prayer, on Zoom, and in so many other ways.

l) Project Manager report

Many thanks to Rosh for all she in doing, which includes being an excellent line-manager to Rachel.

m) Communications and Admin

Many thanks to the magazine team, and to deliverers particularly.

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The Parish Office is now used extensively. The porch was dangerous so was taken down. New cupboards are being filled with papers that need secure storage.

St Edwin’s safe will no longer be transferred to St Lawrence, however we are already using some of their silver, notably one ciborium. St Lawrence online presence has been extended in all sorts of ways, the website is used extensively, mainly due to Rachel.

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5. Elections and Appointments 2021/2022
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a) Parochial Church Council representatives
There are seven vacancies, with three nominations.
Of the remaining vacancies one is for three years, three are for two years.
Nominations are:
Rosh Milner proposed by Viv Stubbs seconded by Terry Raper
Terry Raper proposed by Viv Stubbs seconded by Rosh Milner
Karen Blair proposed by Rosh Milner seconded by Viv Stubbs
These posts are for three years.
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Even though there are now less ex-officio members, the PCC

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b) Independent Examiner
We have used Faith Star for two years now, and Rev'd Joyce is very pleased with their
support.
It is proposed that we continue with Faith Star as our independent examiner.
Proposed Anne Render seconded Vera Owen.
6. Address: Revd. Canon Liz Turner-Loisel
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Rev'd Liz asked us all to now read:

Pg 43, section j) Ministry, Worship, Discipleship, Pastoral Care

The Ministry Team is the whole church, including children. There has been lots of ministry going on through the time of Covid, both looking after and on the receiving end. In the wider world ministry is continuing too, in many ways, so many people are doing the work they have been called to. Whether they realise it or not the call is from God.

We are looking to re-open church with Covid still with us into the future, a really big challenge. There is a range of options about all decisions, taken politically or locally. Sheffield Diocese are continuing with their “Lights for Christ” as we emerge from the pandemic, we’re all still struggling in various ways. We must err on the side of caution. We had more attendees in November/December than we do now.

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7. Any further Questions or Comments

. Viv thanked Rev'd Liz for all her hard work.

8. Dates to note

b) Date of the Archdeacon’s Visitation: to be confirmed ( Since the APCM this visitation has been fixed for 22[nd] September )

9. Closing Prayer

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The Parish Church of Saint Lawrence, Hatfield: Registered Charity No. 1127942

ANNUAL REPORT 2021/2022

Introduction

In July 1997, the General Synod accepted Church Accounting Regulations which included the requirement that an Annual Report should be presented to the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM). This document was to inform parishioners of the proceedings of the Parochial Church Council (PCC) and the activities of the Parish generally, and was to be quite separate from the Statement or Address the Incumbent may wish to make to the meeting. The PCC must adopt the report before it is presented to the APCM and the Independent Examiner must see a copy before he can sign the Accounts.

Electoral Roll

4 names have been added and 6 have been removed

The roll was completed between Wednesday 13[th] April and Sunday 24[th] April and there are now 144 names on the new electoral roll.

The new roll will be on view at the back of church (next to the door) for 14 days prior to the Annual Parochial Church meeting on Wednesday 11[th] May 2022

Glenys Mashford, Electoral Roll Officer

Secretary’s Report

Legal matters:

The Church of Saint Lawrence is situated in the town of HATFIELD in the Ecclesiastical Parish of HATFIELD in SOUTH YORKSHIRE and is in the Deanery of Snaith and Hatfield. The situation of the Church is on Cuckoo Lane, Hatfield, Doncaster, DN7 6RX. The correspondence address is The Parish Office, 3 Vicarage Close, Hatfield, Doncaster, DN7 6HN.

The following people were members of the PCC during the month May 2021 – April 2022 and, as such, were therefore Trustees of the PCC:

Rev Liz Turner-Loisel ex-officio Priest-in-Charge, Deanery Secretary
Rev Gill Salter ex-officio Curate
Mrs Viv Stubbs ex-officio Church Warden, Reader, Safeguarding Officer
Mrs Vera Owen ex-officio Church Warden, Safeguarding Officer, Lay Chair
Mrs Beryl Adamson ex-officio Reader
Mrs Chrissy Grindle ex-officio PCC Minuting Secretary, Deanery Synod
Minuting Secretary (2020 - 2023),
Mrs Carol Rashid ex-officio Reader, Diocesan Synod (2019 – 2022)
Mrs Glenys Mashford ex-officio PCC Secretary Feb 2022, Deanery Synod Treasurer

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Elected lay representatives

Term of office ends 2022 Mrs Julia Halls Secretary + Electoral Roll Officer, deceased Dec 2021 Mrs Anne Render Assistant Treasurer Mrs Dianne Fox Mrs Anita Jepson Term of office ends 2023 Term of Office ends 2024 Mrs Susan Spencer Mr Terry Raper Buildings Officer + 3 vacancies Mrs Rosh Milner Project Manager Mrs Karen Blair Treasurer and Giving Secretary + 1 vacancy

The PCC (Powers) Measure 1956 states that the PCC “… is to co-operate with the Minister in promoting, in the parish, the whole mission of the Church – pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical.” The PCC seeks to do this to the best of its ability.

This is achieved through various sub - committees, ministry teams and fundraising groups:

Standing Committee: Priest-in-Charge, Curate, Churchwardens, PCC Secretary,
PCC Treasurer, Assistant Treasurer and Assistant
Churchwardens, Buildings Officer and Vice Chairman
Barn Regeneration Steering Group: Brian Adamson, Terry Raper, Tim Sweed, Revd Liz Turner-
Loisel with fundraiser, Vera Owen
Service Leaders Team: Priest-in-Charge, Curate, PTO Minister, Readers, Worship
Leaders and Churchwardens
Children’s Ministry: Rachel Ridler
Messy Church
Schools
Safeguarding Officer when appropriate
Pastoral Team: Priest-in-Charge, Curate, PTO Minister, Readers, Pastoral
Workers, Pastoral Visitors, (with ability to co-opt where
necessary)
Strawberry Tea: Vera Owen and other co-opted members
Garden Party: Maureen Scott, Hilary Dinsdale, Terry Raper and other
co-opted members
Harvest Supper: Vera Owen and other co-opted members

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Review of the Months July 2021- March 2022

The PCC met has 6 times and the Standing Committee has met once during this period and, owing to Covid restrictions, all these meetings were via Zoom. Minutes are kept at all meetings and our thanks for these go to Chrissy Grindle, our minuting secretary. The minutes are available to view in the Parish Office, once they have been approved by the PCC at the subsequent meeting,

The agenda is varied at each meeting and the following is a brief overview of what has been covered over the past few months. Much of the discussion is based around Parish Updates, under the subheadings of

a) Project Manager : in her role as Project Manager, Rosh has informed the PCC through verbal and written reports. These have included

b) Centenary Project Worker: Rachel has produced monthly updates and attended some of the meetings to ensure the PCC is well informed of her proposed activities and her achievements.

The youth group, Hatfield Heroes, sought PCC permission to use the Old Barn as a base and Rachel has been pro-active in ensuring that the actions re the proposed improvements are kept at the forefront of our meetings.

c) Fabric: Terry, with his invaluable store of knowledge about the fabric of the building, has worked with Rosh to keep the PCC informed on such issues as the glazing and building.

d) Old and New Barn: Obviously Covid has impacted on fundraising for the New Barn. Also, at present, the funds for both the Old and New Barns are kept in one account, (although itemised separately) However, in preparation for the next stage, the PCC has voted to set up a separate account for the Barn Regen, and the existing restricted funds will be moved into that.

e) Eco- church: The PCC has responded favourably to the implementation of ‘wilding’ in an area of the churchyard and to bird feeders. Recycling has been reorganised in the church porch (our thanks to the Hatfield Heroes for that.)

f) Deanery and Diocese: The PCC has received information on the Diocesan Synod, where delegates were informed that

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Revd Liz also fed back on a twinned Deanery meeting with Adwick in November where churches were asked to share any positives from the restrictions to church life and any concerns for the future.

g) Finances: Revd Joyce Barker ‘retired’ from the post of treasurer after the July APCM and the PCC gratefully accepted the offer by Karen Blair to take up the position. With Rosh’s support, there are now card readers in church with the aim to use them as much as possible.

h) Church services

The monthly service patterns have been established and agreed at each meeting, in line with the current Covid restrictions and Government/Diocesan guidelines at the time. Up to the present time (March 2022) the majority of the congregation to the regular services continue to use masks, hand sanitisers and social distancing; however the PCC did agree to the Chalice being reintroduced , on a voluntary basis, from Easter Sunday.

Events and Fundraising

Unfortunately, yet again, many of the major summer fundraising events could not take place There have been some very imaginative and successful fundraising ideas:-

These events do not happen by themselves and, on behalf of the PCC, I would like to thank everyone who works as part of the team that keeps Hatfield Church going.

I cannot end this report without paying tribute to our extremely hardworking and amazing PCC secretary, Julia Halls. It is hard to grasp that less than four weeks before she died, Julia was on a PCC Zoom meeting in her role as secretary. We thank God for Julia’s life.

Glenys Mashford PCC Secretary

Safeguarding

Most of the safeguarding training has continued online this year.

The major change for us is that DBS certificates have reverted to only lasting for three years. This will apply to new certificates.

New volunteers are most welcome after their safeguarding check has been completed.

The safeguarding policies from last year were up-dated and approved for this year’s use at the PCC meeting held on Monday 7[th] February.

Vera Owen Safeguarding Officer

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Finance

Treasurer's Report 2021 Accounts

Bank balances as at 31st December 2021

St Lawrence Hatfield PCC Account £23,559.61 St Lawrence Barn Account £55,083.28 St Lawrence Hatfield PCC Organ Fund Account £ 1,969.09

St Lawrence Hatfield PCC Account - 31267655

Reconciled Bank balance as at 31[st] December 2021 £23,559.61 Cheques not presented £ 635.87 Designated/Restricted - see table below £ 6,905.21 Available for PCC use £16,018.53

January 2021, unfortunately, saw the UK in lockdown again. This has impacted on the accounts for the year, with 2021 and 2020 not following the ‘norm’. Income from collections at services, weddings, baptisms and funerals were minimal for the first half of the year but have increased for the second half of 2021 as services began to resume.

Grants from the Endowment Trust towards the Centenary Project Worker salary (CPW) and the Parish Office Rent were gratefully received. The Endowment Trust has also agreed to issue a grant to the PCC towards cost of the Project Manager for 2021. The total cost for the PM for 2021 is £6,990.00. The ET has already issued a grant for £1,102.50 for January and February 2021 and has asked that we discuss at the PCC meeting the figure we would like to apply for from the remaining amount of £5,887.50.

We are also grateful to Hatfield Church Building Trust for the reimbursement of £1,070.00 for the cost of the Stained Glass Window Condition Report. A £500 grant from SDBF towards the Streaming Installation and a £1,000 DMBC grant towards a new PA system were also gratefully received.

CPW

I am pleased to say that monthly salary contributions and one-off contributions have increased during the second half of the year, raising enough to cover the CPW salary from July to December 2021 – the contributions have exceeded her salary costs by £191.36 which means we will not need to apply for a further grant from the Endowment Trust for 2021, the Endowment Trust have asked the PCC to consider refunding the ‘surplus’ to them. As previously reported a grant from the Endowment Trust of £911.54 was received in July to cover the shortfall for the first six months of the year. Hopefully, the contributions and one-off donations will continue at a similar rate although the cost for the CPW worker is set to go up in 2022.

Children + Family

Messy Church, Little Lions, Summer Club resources have seen an in-year surplus of £310.17. Adding the previous carry forward from 31[st] December 2020 of £3116.35 to this amount, gives a total of £3,426.52 to carry forward for Children and Family use.

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Designated/Restricted Funds

For Retreat £1,000
Heaters in Barn £ 300.00
Memorial Candle Stand £ 558.50
Blanshard Memorial £ 632.21
Chaplain Alter Cloth £ 500.00
Social Committee £ 457.87
Children + Family £3426.52 (£3116.35 C/f 2020
+ £310.17 2021)
Action Aid £30.11 (£20.11 c/f 2020 +
£10.00 2021)
Total Designated/Restricted £6,905.21

St Lawrence Barn Account - 41545140

Reconciled Bank balance as at 31stDecember 2021 £55,083.28
Cheques not yet presented £ 32.85
Available funds £55,050.43

This splits out to Barn Management £24,619.53, Barn Regeneration £30,463.75(restricted). The latter will be transferred to a separate new account.

In addition to the £10,000 DMBC grant received in 2020, two further grants were received in April 2021 from DMBC. The amounts received were £9,431.00 and £8,000. The opening Bank Balance as at 1st January 2021 was £39,829.25 (£9,945.50 Barn Management/£29,883.75 Barn Regen).

The closing bank balance as at 31[st] December 2021 was £55,083.28 (£24,619.53 Barn Management/£30,463.75 Barn Regen).

If you put the grants totalling £17,431.00 aside, it shows the Barn Management account is running at a loss. Hopefully, once the improvement work to the Barn is completed, it can be opened for bookings to generate income.

Bank charges

Unfortunately, the bank gave notice that they would begin charging for cheque and cash payments plus a £5.00 monthly fee from 1[st] November 2021.

We are thankful that everyone has been very positive and pro-active towards online banking as an alternative to cheque payments.

Even with this change to online banking the summary of bank charges for November 2021 of £21.34 will have an impact. Each cheque paid in or out of the account costs 40p and each £100 cash, paid in or out, is charged at 40p. Please could I ask members to bear this in mind, as most invoices can be paid by bank transfer rather than cheque, and it is a relatively easy process for Rosh and myself. Thank you.

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2021 2020 Notes
£ £
190507 190507
INCOME
Collections
Baptism £653.96
Funeral(PCC) £1,761.32 £1,036.00
Funeral(Charity) £2,461.24 £827.00 2020 for Funeral & Wedding
Services £4,551.25 £2,240.00
Wedding £134.91
Total Collections £9,562.68 £4,103.00
Donations
Cash Envelopes £5,567.00 £8,684.00
Bankers Orders £24,634.03 £21,032.00
Refreshments £111.20
Other £4,495.00 £4,645.00
Total Donations £34,807.23 £34,361.00
Fees (PCC)
Funeral £2,110.00
Wedding £1,321.00
Total Fees £3,431.00 £2,598.00
Fees For Passing On
to the Diocese
Funeral £8,351.00
Wedding £1,348.00
Total Fees £9,699.00 £6,300.00
CPW & PM
CPW Salary £2,679.00
CPW Resources £4,877.25 £5,185.00 2020 for Children & FamilyMinistry
PM Costs £0.00
Total Donations £7,556.25 £5,185.00

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2021 2020
Grants
HC BuildingTrust £1,070.00 £8,537.00
Endowment Trust £1,911.54 £10,938.00
Dunscroft Church £479.77 Remainder of bank balance on closure of church
SDBF £500.00
Robert Forster £200.00
Other £1,000.00 £571.00 2020 Hatfield Town Council (£200), Organ Fund (£296),
Barn Contribution to PAT(£75)
Total Grants £5,161.31 £20,046.00
Fundraising
Yard Trail £1,669.20
Plant Sale £1,121.87 £1,073.00
Garden Party £0.00 £350.00
Cake Sale /
Refreshments		 £342.35 £346.00
Uniform Sale £382.16
Band Concert £866.90
StrawberryTea £516.17
Autumn Fayre £2,091.78
Other £75.58 £9,952.00 2020 Diaries/Cards (£8), Flood Appeal for charity (£8,609),
General fundraisingfor charities(£1,335)
Total Fees £7,066.01 £11,721.00
Other Income
Magazine £889.20 £1,393.00
Altar Cloth £500.00 2020 Designated
Gift Aid £7,526.27 £6,610.00
Total Other
Income		 £8,415.47 £8,503.00
TOTAL INCOME £85,698.95 £92,817.00

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EXPENDITURE 2021 £ 2020 £
Common Fund
SDBF £40,008.00 £43,824.00
Total Common Fund £40,008.00 £43,824.00
Church Premises
Parish Office Rent £850.00 £850.00
Insurance £6,748.42 £6,741.00
Electric £977.86 £2,718.00
Gas £2,116.28 2020 Utilities combined
Water £42.60
Scheduled
Maintenance/Services		 £2,261.83 £2,508.00 2020 Security& Heating
Ad-Hoc Repairs £1,335.97 £1,192.00 2020 Building,Church Yard,Organ & Materials
Total Church Premises £14,332.96 £14,009.00
Vicarage Premises
Water Rates £522.83 £504.00
Total Vicarage
Premises		 £522.83 £504.00
Fees
SDBF £3,100.00 £6,946.00 2020 SDBF & Workers combined
Workers £5,515.29
Received on behalf of
other Churches		 £90.00
Total Fees £8,705.29 £6,946.00
CPW & PM
CPW Salary £2,604.86
Expenses(Direct) £430.95 £766.00
Expenses (Messy
Church)		 £1,433.32
Expenses(Children) £2,702.81 £4,422.00 2020 Children & Family
PM costs £6,741.30
Total CPW and PM £13,913.24 £5,188.00
Other Costs
Admin £2,318.42 £1,214.00 2020 Examiner Fees (£350), Online Set Up (£421),
Materials (£60), Misc Expenditure (£330), Gift Aid to
Barn
Reverend/Curate
Expenses
Magazine
Ministry
Mission
Licences
Paid to Charities
Total Other Costs
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
NET INCOME
Opening Bank Balance
Closing Bank Balance		 £631.55 £92.00
£1,392.20 £1,588.00
£921.42 £427.00 2020 Ministry & Mission combined
£247.46
£716.71 £655.00
£1,523.07 £16,610.00 2020 Flood Appeal (£11,334), Weddings/Funerals
(£1,608),Fundraising (£3,668)
£7,750.83 £20,586.00
£85,233.15 £91,057.00
£465.80 £1,760.00
£23,093.81 £21,333.81
£23,559.61 £23,093.81

Church Fabric Report 2021

Routine Maintenance & Cleaning.

Routine maintenance has been carried out on the clock (January 22), fire extinguishers (Sept). The church intruder alarm was serviced in October, and the roof alarm in April. The organ received its service in December, but the piano has not been tuned since 2019 (it is rarely used and has probably not been used since then). The heating system was serviced in November. The lightening conductor testing was carried out in March 2021, and as I write is due to be retested 26[th] March. All portable items of electrical equipment were ‘portable appliance’ tested in January 2020. The re-test is slightly overdue; but will hopefully be carried out shortly. The quinquennial fixed electrical inspection was carried out in April 2018 for both the Church and the Barn, and therefore is not due until April 2023. In lieu of an annual maintenance contract, church members have carried out some work themselves, inspecting and cleaning roofs, gutters, and drainage pipes, also emptying silt traps and cleaning underground drains and gullies during November, work that was previously carried out by contractors before 2018.

We had a visit from our insurers (Ecclesiastical Insurance) in January last year, re-assessing our insurance level. The agent was met by Vera, who answered all his questions. We received the report in February, nothing was noted as needing attention or review. The new insurance value has however risen to £16,375,000.00, which takes effect immediately. For your information, this value, is not the cost to fully rebuild our church should it burn / fall down. The assumption is, that this figure would provide enough to replace the roofs, the windows (glass), the interior fittings and doors, and to re-build the top 2 ft of the walls, at eaves level, should we be unfortunate enough to be destroyed by fire. It is assumed that most of the stone structure will survive and require only minor repair. To fund this valuation, E.I gave us an “indication” that our revised premium will rise to £6899.64; though this would not take effect until 2022, as we had only just renewed our policy for 2021. This “indication” suggests a rise of £150.00 above our previous renewal figure, which was around £6750.00 for 2021. This means that our building & contents insurance policy alone, currently costs us £575.00 per month!

Unfortunately, our regular, fortnightly interior cleaning still has not taken place again this year, as a result, our church has started to suffer. Some cleaning has taken place, on a semi-regular / ad-hoc basis, and this has been borne largely by our Churchwardens working alone. Our grateful thanks need to go to them for trying to keep on top of things.

As our public services have returned, albeit not yet back to pre-covid levels, the cleaning rota ought to be revived. Previous teams were made up of 2, 3 & 4 members, each team expecting to clean the whole church 6 times per year. Unfortunately, we have lost some of those previously loyal members through death over the last couple of years; and those who remain are obviously still desperate for more help as we all get older. I would therefore like to appeal yet again for new members to join the group and expand the now extremely small but hardworking and dedicated team. If anyone feels they could raise an additional team, this would be greatly appreciated, and would make the task less frequent and thus easier on all the existing teams, – please contact either of your Churchwardens. Whenever you are in church, please help us by helping to clean up any spillages / food as soon as possible, also important towards discouraging mice from entering and staying in our church.

Vandalism, General Repairs & Minor works.

Fortunately, we have had NO known, serious incidents of vandalism to the church or the churchyard again this year. The Barn, its garages, and the Parish Office have also escaped any malicious acts of theft and damage this year too. The only thing I could report, was a possible theft attempt on one of the lightening conductor down tapes, which Philippe discovered had been pulled away from the wall a little. This took

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place, at the end of February 2021. The damage wasn’t thought to be serious, the conductor was pushed back into position, and the recent test result didn’t suggest a problem. Items receiving general / minor repairs, that I know of in 2021, included the following: -

In February, Philippe re-fixed the electric socket to the wall which was loose (nearest to the South Door), and swapped the double socket (North Aisle, adjacent to the Transept), after one of those sockets had stopped working. The toilet door handle was replaced in June after it came off in someone’s hand. The tower fire extinguisher has been replaced following the latest inspection visit in February – (it was very old). Other minor repairs may have taken place this year, completed by some of our members, and these may not have been recorded anywhere in this report if I have not been made aware of them. Never-the-less we are grateful for all help in these matters. These would include general lighting / lamp replacements, woodworm monitoring, vacuum cleaner repairs etc.

Quinquennial Inspection (Q.I.).

I have previously reported that in 2019, we had appointed a new architect, Mr. Andrew Boyce, of Ferry & Mennim, Architects of York; and I also reported that our quinquennial inspection had been completed on 21[st] August 2019, and a full Q.I. report received on 18[th] November 2019. I have also given a detailed summary of how this report was written and organised, listing some of the major statistics, the recommendations, suggested repairs, and their respective priorities. If anyone would like to see a copy of this comprehensive document, please ask.

I also explained last year, how the next step of having a meeting with our new architect to discuss the report, had been delayed through Covid restrictions, and hadn’t happened until a zoom meeting was held with the architect ahead of the November 2020 PCC meeting. Following this meeting then, we had drawn up a project plan to list some of the actions and priority tasks we had decided upon. Some tasks were relatively easy to close out, such as seeking confirmation & dates of the asbestos survey, tree surveys, fixed electrical inspections etc, and an update to our list of church contractors. These have been completed, however will continuously need to be revised, whenever details change.

That meeting had also decided that we needed to commission a full glazing survey for the church, to determine the condition and priority of each of our windows, so that we could push that forward as an acceptable project. Further down on the plan (not necessarily in importance; but in achievability at that time), there were some inspections and potential repairs to some roofs, re-seating of the flagpole, modifications to the flagpole fixings, and repairs to the Belfry window guards.

As I write in March 2022, our progress has been on the glazing survey, and those other items have not moved forwards. I have however twice made temporary repairs to the Belfry window guards following storm damage, and thus the renewal of these really needs to happen this coming year. In addition to the glazing survey work, we have also organised the removal of a potentially dangerous wall monument and held some discussions around re-ordering.

The Glazing Survey & Report.

I reported last year that we had begun to organise the glazing survey. We had sought and been advised by our architect of three accredited contractors who could carry out our survey. Over Christmas 2020, I had created a draft plan of the church windows in line with industry standard notation as sent to us by Andrew our architect. In March, Rosh sent the draft plan off to 3 glaziers to request a quotation, and responses were received in April. In fairness, only one of the companies responded positively, and had discussions with Rosh, prior to sending their quotation. This company were Jonathan & Ruth Cooke Ltd of Ilkley, who proposed to do the initial survey and report for £850.00 +Vat. The PCC endorsed a recommendation to use this company for the survey in April 2021.

As the glaziers were busy with another project, a zoom meeting was arranged in August to discuss further details about our survey. This meeting included Rosh, Andrew the architect, Jonathan & Ruth Cooke, and

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myself. The initial plan was to come over a 3-day period, (Friday 1[st] , Monday 4[th] & Tuesday 5th October), to view each of the windows from ground level or step ladder where accessible, and to view upper windows using binoculars. Notes could be made on the template I had provided, and a standard report issued from that. It was also planned that myself and Rosh would meet with the Cookes on the first day, and Andrew would come through for the second / third day. Unfortunately, the visit on Friday did not happen due to the fuel crisis in September, although the Cookes were able to find fuel to come on the Monday & Tuesday.

In preparation for the survey, I had revised and completed the draft plan of our windows, to now include the upper-level individual record sheets.

The full plan is made up of a ground floor plan of the church, plus side and end elevation views, on which each individual window is shown, numbered and has a small line drawing showing the shape and make-up of the window. At the same time as doing the plan, I had also created an individual record card for each window. This again showed the location and gave the appointed number of that window. It showed a line drawing and a Photograph of that window, and gave space to write notes about the condition of the glass, leadwork, stonework, and window guards etc, and had space to record inscriptions / dedications, and any other known information, such as artist & installation date etc.

The survey itself then went very well. All the windows were viewed, and notes taken. Jonathan and Ruth proved to be very knowledgeable on all things-stained glass, and we were very impressed with their expertise and their enthusiasm. For their part Jonathan and Ruth were also very impressed with our church in general, and with some of the windows. For those that read it, Ruth wrote a very nice feedback note which I believe made it into the January 2022 church magazine. They were also kind enough to send us details of a couple of funding organisations where we might be able to get funding towards our window repairs. The full report from Jonathan & Ruth Cooke was received on the 12[th ] of October, and comprised a written summary of findings, 41 electronic folders, (one for each of the identified windows), each of which contained a varying number of photographs of that specific window; and the detailed notes about each window entered onto the spreadsheet template which I had provided.

From the summary report then, the major points are as follows: -

The North Vestry, Clerestory and Tower clear windows, are all from the 1872 restoration re-glazing. Their condition is generally poor, and the upper-level glazing is “of concern”, this is because the lead has aged and cracked. The condition on the North Aisle is marginally better than that on the South due to the relative exposure. The clear glazing to the South Chapel, and the West wall of the South Transept is from a 1960’s / 1970’s re-glazing; and is sound. The stained-glass windows are in relatively good condition glazing wise, the South Aisle West window (sXII) is in the worst condition and our Chancel East window should be monitored. The South Aisle window (sVIII) and North Aisle (nX) are in reasonable condition glazing wise; but are likely to need removal to effect urgent masonry repairs. A small internal window within the tower stairwell, was noted as being in very poor condition and could present a risk of loss or injury. This has been recommended for urgent removal.

A copy of the report has been passed onto the architect, for him to add his own notes about the stonework. When these come back, hopefully we will be able to establish the urgency and respective priorities of each window and to draw up a programme of repairs. Obviously, we would like to be able to get on with the repairs as soon as is practically possible. This coming year then, we will need to re-double our efforts in getting the appropriate specifications, quotations, and faculty approvals

to achieve this. We will also seek to gain further funding towards our repairs, from those organisations advised by Jonathan & Ruth, in conjunction with the H.C.B.T. and the Friends.

The Hatfield Church Building Trust have been requested to pay for the window survey, and the trustees have promptly agreed to this; – Cost £850 + vat which I believe has already been re-paid.

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Church Re-ordering – Removal of Unfixed Pews.

Since the quinquennial inspection, throughout the covid period, and moving into the period when the church was starting to open up again, we had been thinking about how the church could be better used for our children’s work, which had continued to do well whilst most other activities had stalled. We had already been thinking a little about a long-term re-ordering plan, which would need serious thought, planning, design, approvals and of course funding. It occurred to us, however, that the back, and side aisles of our church could be made far more user friendly if we were to dispose of some of the free-standing pews. This would be reasonably easy, require no funding and no design as such, would still require permissions (faculty), but the result could have a dramatic impact on the practical use of the building. Many of these pews are also quite wobbly and rickety.

When the idea was first hatched in April, Rosh spoke to the then interim DAC Secretary; who was very helpful, and said that they could be disposed of, but we would need to apply for a faculty; with a full statement of significance (highlighting the historical impact), and a full statement of need (highlighting the current needs of the church and the impact the change would have on our mission). To do this properly we would need to know how old these pews were, and when and where they came from.

Some of our oldest members were asked what they knew, and various differing possibilities were proffered. Some thought they may be original to our church, prior to the 1872 restoration. Some thought maybe they had come from our South Chapel (which now has individual chairs). Some thought they were transferred from another local chapel. There are a few options here. The old Wesleyan Chapel across the High Street was sold and eventually turned into a house in the 1980’s (I remember the PCC having discussions to take it on as a church hall. This didn’t happen – we couldn’t afford it, but I am sure no pews were transferred from there. They could have come from the Primitive Methodist Chapel, now the “Scout Hut”, not sure when that closed. There was also the Ebenezer Chapel, and the Old Wesleyan Chapel in Hatfield Woodhouse, both of which were demolished in 1967 / 68 to be replaced by the new Methodist Church. Unfortunately, our members most likely to know the truth are no longer with us. Rosh and Liz sent out emails far and wide trying to ascertain where the pews had come from, even writing to Katie Greathead, whose father was the Vicar in the 1960’s. Katie was confident that those pews were definitely in Hatfield Church when they arrived in 1961 and was of the opinion that they had been there for many years before that.

DAC Inspection – 10[th] August.

In July, Rosh and Viv attempted to fill in a faculty application for the removal of some of the free- standing pews from the South Aisle and the West End, using the new on-line template. This application led to a visit / meeting with Mrs Sylvia Johnson (DAC Vice Chair) & Mr Paul Beckett (Surveyor) from the DAC on 10[th] August. They met with Liz, Gill, Viv, Vera, Rosh & Rachel. The meeting was primarily to discuss the application to remove the free-standing pews, and to have a general look around. They stayed for a few hours! The delegation from the DAC were shown the various pews in question, and it was explained that many were unstable, and in a poor state of repair. They enquired of our plans going forwards, how the freed-up space would be used, what sort of things was the church being used for at present, and how would it benefit from the extra space created. They were also updated on our attempts to find out where these pews had originated. They then spent a period trying to determine whether the pews could have originated from somewhere within our church, pre-dating the fixed pews currently installed. This they did by measuring them and trying the various measurements in other locations around the church. They tried the North & South Aisles and Transepts, the Chancel, and Nave, and the South Chapel. The pews didn’t appear to fit anywhere well; other than possibly the South Chapel, where possibly 6 could have fitted. This possibility would also have been dependent upon the location of the Altar at that time, which may not have been where it is now.

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At the end of the meeting, we were advised that we might still be able to dispose of some of the pews (but not the one with a carved end); although we would need to put in a full faculty application, with a strong statement of significance, and a strong statement of need, highlighting the benefits. We would need to consult with Historic England, the Victorian Society, and the Georgian Group about the disposal, and we should search through DAC files, The Registry, and Doncaster Archives for any information or photos which might show these pews in location, or otherwise prove where they came from. We should also seek further advice from our architect. Liz was also told that she would need to do a liturgical statement to say how the church is currently used and explain the benefit of clearing the space.

The meeting also discussed various items which had come from the now closed, St Edwin’s Church Dunscroft, and which we were seeking to apply for a faculty to keep at St. Lawrence Hatfield. These items included 17 pink upholstered chairs, (now housed in the South Chapel), a safe, a legilium, the war memorial & some silver communion ware. We were advised to put in one faculty for the transfer of the items from Dunscroft, and a separate faculty for the pew removal.

Following this, the DAC members returned to write all this up into a report, which would go before the full DAC at their next meeting on 14[th] September. After that meeting, Rosh attempted to update an earlier draft statement of significance, and statement of need; with a view to putting them in alongside a revised faculty application. The desire was for them to be in front of the DAC for their October meeting. Towards the end of September however, a copy of the DAC’s report was received, and it was decided to delay the whole application process while more information could be gathered.

Architect’s Visit – 5[th] October.

As previously stated, Andrew, our architect came during the window survey, primarily to look at the stonework of the windows. Whilst he was here however, we took the opportunity to talk to him about our plans to remove some of the pews, and to talk more generally about re-ordering.

Regarding the pews then, after much discussion we reached a conclusion that they might have been assembled by cobbling together earlier seating and panelling, with the pew ends being added. There was a possibility that they may have originated from the galleries or furniture removed in the 1872 alterations, or the 1882 restoration, and that technically it did not matter where or when they came into the church; we needed a faculty to dispose of them. Andrew also repeated the DAC advice that we should not dispose of those pews where the ends displayed a date or carving. The suggestion was that we should build up a good mission plan, to do a more comprehensive re-ordering scheme, and to remove the pews as part of the wider faculty. He also said that there should be no need to consult the Victorian Society as they are not Victorian! Additionally, the suggestion was made, that we might be able to incorporate some of the redundant pews into the additional storage, which we were seeking, and hoping to site along the South and North walls. Andrew spoke briefly to Vera about some storage units he was working on for another church, and about the incorporation of ‘History Cabinets / displays’ too. Additional items discussed included: - Rood Screen restoration: Andrew suggested a conservation clean would be the best term to use and would be sufficient.

Monitor / display screens on pillars: Andrew suggested contacting the Vicar at Hook who could help us look at what we wanted. We also mentioned the possible replacement / upgrade of the whole P.A. system to include video & streaming capabilities etc. Potential removal of the front Choir Stalls: Andrew suggested if we just moved the foot / book stands that would make the seating more comfortable. Kitchen and Vestry areas - making them fit for purpose by updating and adding storage: A general discussion on the subject took place. Loads of ideas, many are possible, but we need to list and prioritise our requirements.

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Safe from Dunscroft. Our initial plan was to take in the safe from Dunscroft, and to place it with the others. Andrew asked what it was for? is it to replace the ones there or in addition? subtly he was asking were we having it because we can, or because we really need it. Andrew said that he thought the floor wouldn’t stand the weight of all the safes. We know it will be difficult to remove from Dunscroft, to transport to Hatfield, lift up the steps, and finally re-arrange it so that the largest was on the bottom. It has subsequently been decided not to use it; and the additional Dunscroft silverware is now in a safe place at Church House.

Candle Stands – We were intending to purchase a couple of memorial candle stands which the PCC would like to install. Andrew said that these would be a “List B” item and said that he would advise as to whether the DAC are likely to accept our chosen model. Rosh agreed to send a picture of the chosen candle stands for him to advise.

The Floor around the Font: This concerned us as the flag stones there are shaling quite significantly. Andrew however was not too concerned, he said that it was probably to do with the damp from the Font (which just soaks away under the floor). He suggested that we shouldn’t do anything specifically (i.e., don’t replace it). This would just look worse, and the problem would probably repeat. He advised trying to give the area a wide berth when moving chair trolleys.

The Hatfield Family Wall Monument.

Whilst visiting our church during the glazing survey (5[th] October), Andrew our architect was also there to answer additional questions from us, and to give advice about the future re-ordering of our church; and to do that he had another general look around. During this look round, he noticed and was particularly concerned about one of the wall monuments housed in the Vestry. His concern was that the fixings were heavily corroded and split. Some of the side fixings had caused the stone to crack in a few places, and in his opinion; it was in a perilous state, and in danger of falling. He advised its removal as soon as possible.

The monument in question is to the Hatfield family, mounted on the North wall of the North Chapel (the Choir Vestry to us). This is one of the more significant monuments within our church, and is described in our “Graded Buildings – Listing Description” thus: -

“North Chapel: standing monument to John Hatfield (d1698) also wall monument to the Hatfield family, John (d1767), Susannah (d1765, et al, in the tori of an aedicule with broken pediment beneath flat obelisk with cartouche”.

In fairness, this monument has been in a poor state for many years. The Flat obelisk and much of the scroll work and columns that made up the Pediment, these had all been removed 20+ years ago, and were stored close by within the choir robe store, leaving mainly the main inscribed tablet and some of the pediment base remaining.

Following the visit, Rosh chased Andrew for recommendations and a quote. Andrew obtained a quote for the monument’s removal which came to us on 29/11/21. He had contacted Matthias Garn, a master mason from York, who subsequently gave us the quotation. The initial quote was for £550.00 + vat to remove the monument from the wall, return it to their workshop and to carry out minor repairs in preparation for it to be re-fixed. £500.00 + vat was quoted for the re-fixing of the monument (like for like) using stainless steel pins, and an additional “arising work” rate of £250.00 + vat per day for any additional repairs as required. Consideration was given as to whether the monument could be removed, repaired and re-fixed before the new year, but this was decided to be un-realistic. The important thing was to remove it, and conserve it as soon as possible. This could be done in advance of a faculty, with special permission from the Archdeacon. This was the course of action recommended by the architect.

In response to Andrew’s advice, the PCC were immediately notified of the situation and of the quote received; and the vote to take down and remove the monument was passed 29/11/21, by e-mail vote.

The Archdeacon was also contacted to give his approval, which was to follow within a couple of weeks.

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We were given an initial date for the removal as 21[st] December, but this was later postponed through being too close to Christmas. In January, Rosh sought some suitable dates in early February for its removal, trying to work round services & funerals, and the 8[th ] of February was chosen as the preferred date. Due to its location; size and weight, it was obvious that the monument couldn’t be removed safely without first clearing the Vestry in preparation. We were also worried that the removal might create a lot of dust, which might affect the organ, so we decided to try to protect it with polythene sheets again (as we had done when the Chancel roof was replaced following the lead theft in 2011). The Churchwardens and a team of various individuals steadily cleared the Vestry. The Choir robes were moved out of their store, (many went home to be washed). The box of previously removed parts and the Obelisk for the Hatfield monument were taken from the Choir robe store and moved to somewhere safer to await the rest of the monument. The filing cabinets, hymn book cupboard, chairs and pew were temporarily re-located out of the way. The Vestry side of the organ was then draped in the polythene sheet. Finally, the old Altar-frontal cupboard was dismantled. It couldn’t be moved, as it was securely fixed to the wall – directly under the monument to be removed. The monument was finally removed on 8[th] February, by Matthias Garn, and is now back at their workshop undergoing some minor repairs.

Many thanks to all those who helped to make this happen, the monument is now removed and is safe.

Currently then, there are no plans to rush into putting the monument back up. In the first place, a full faculty application is likely to be needed. We have a quote to simply repair the tablet / pediment as recently removed. We will need a revised quote for the full repair including all the repair / replacement of the additional parts removed may years ago. We may be able to apply for grant funding towards the cost of the repair and re-instatement. There has also been some talk of potentially re-siting the monument into a more prominent position. Whatever the position, there may well be a requirement to repair the receiving wall first. We will have to consider all these options and decide how to proceed; and then make our applications on that basis.

Drone Photographic Survey of Church.

Towards the end of November, Stuart Watson was reminded of a conversation he had had with Gill Atkinson, whose grandson owned a drone. He had apparently offered to take some aerial photographs of our church at some point if we wished. This was generally received as being a good opportunity, so Stuart organised it. The survey then was done on 27[th] December by Martin Atkinson, with Stuart, Philippe, and Rosh in attendance. The resulting photographs were then sent to us as a drop box file on 31[st] December. A total of 110 pictures were taken, 68 externally and 42 internally. The external pictures generally are overviews of the various roofs, and shots of the upper tower, Belfry windows and clock. The internal photos are generally of the stonework inside of the tower, including the large Lantern Windows. The quality of the individual photographs is generally very good, and good detail can be seen when viewing them full size, not with-standing that they were quite generic and no “Specific targets” were set. This certainly proves the idea, and should we need additional “specific shots”, these could I am sure be obtained.

There were no shots of the internal roof beams, and this is presumably because the camera was not pointing upwards at the time. It would be interesting to know whether this would be possible, and whether the lighting level would be sufficient to see the beams properly. Maybe next time. Thanks again to Martin, and to Stuart for organising.

Major Parish Church Designation.

On December 13[th] , Rosh met with Eliot Hyliger the Diocesan Digital Mission Enabler and with Viv Cooling via Zoom. Viv is our Diocesan Buildings Officer. This meeting was primarily to talk about Internet & IT related plans. Following that meeting, Viv had offered help in all things building related, and Liz and Rosh had a further on-site meeting with Viv in the Church and Parish Office on January 18th. They were able to

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share something of our plans and vision for the future mission and ministry of our church, and some of the frustrations and barriers we are experiencing. Viv agreed to help us with the DAC to get internet /broadband into the church, and on a larger scale to help develop our plans for more major works and reordering. As part of these discussions, Viv suggested that Hatfield St. Lawrence should be put forward as “A Major Parish Church”, because she thought that we met all the criteria, and it would be helpful for us.

As part of the Church Building’s Council work to support keeping churches open and sustainable it has been looking at defining the different roles of its buildings.

Major Parish Churches (MPCs) comprise over 300 of the largest and most significant churches in England.

An MPC has all or most of the following characteristics: -

MPCs are recognised as historically significant parish church buildings with a different scale of opportunities and challenges faced, compared to the vast majority of other CofE buildings.

Major Churches are likely to require a higher level of attention for the Diocese and the Council due to their special functions, significance, and potential.

The above information was explained to the February PCC meeting, at which Viv was a special guest for part of that meeting on zoom. She recommended that the PCC apply to become a Major Parish Church, which the PCC agreed at the same meeting.

On our behalf, Viv has spoken to the new Diocesan Advisory Committee Secretary, Simon – who has asked her to prepare a paper to support our application.

Secondly and following on from the above: - MPCs are of such size and significance that having a Conservation Management Plan (CMP) for the building is highly recommended.

A CMP allows everyone to agree on the values and significance of the church; and should be used to inform all decisions that affect the building. It can help in the success of grant applications, faculty applications, listed building consent and scheduled monument consent.

At this point we have had no decision yet, and I am not even sure that the formal application has gone in yet, however should consent be granted, then this can only be good for us, for all the reasons listed above.

The Hatfield Church Building Trust & The Friends of the Hatfield Church Building Trust.

This year, Hatfield Church Building Trust have kindly agreed to pay for the glazing survey, at £850.00 +Vat, and for the Clock service, at £180.00 (for which they apply for an annual grant from the Town Council).

The Hatfield Church Building Trust kindly informed us in 2019, that approximately £30,000 was “available” for us to spend on projects that year, presumably this is still available to use, when those projects are finalised! I again need to mention the work of the Hatfield Church Building Trust, and of the Friends of the Hatfield Church Building Trust, who work so tirelessly to raise money to fund most of our major project expenses. I should again like to pay tribute to so many members of our church, and those from the General Public, who continually support their fundraising efforts throughout the years. Without their help, it is unlikely that we would be able to achieve half of what we do to improve and maintain our magnificent building.

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Bridgett Conservation Church Maintenance Programme.

Some of you may remember that in between 2014 and 2017, we employed Bridgett Conservation (Building Restoration) Ltd from Tickhill, to carry out an annual inspection of our roofs, eaves and parapets, roofing gutters, fall pipes, gullies, and underground drainage pipes, and to clean / clear them of any leaves & other debris. The programme did cost around £300.00 + vat per year. You may also remember that we did not reemploy them since 2018, because of the problems we had faced in 2016/2017, with some of the repairs, and the availability of Bridgett’s who had seemed extremely busy during those years, and we had found them difficult to contact.

Since 2018 then, we have carried out some of this work ourselves and have cleaned and examined some of the roofs and gutters of the church, and the surface gulley’s & underground drainage pipes. Unfortunately, the clearing of roof gutters & down pipes has not occurred during 2021, having last been done in Dec 2020. Philippe has previously taken the opportunity to clear some of the gutters & inspect the roofs, whilst the roof alarm contractor was servicing our roof alarm, however this has been missed this year. We still need to check and clear the roofs, gutters & fall pipes, which will require a small team. We are hoping to be able to repeat & complete this task again in the coming year. The silt traps and underground drainage pipes and gullies have however been cleaned out again in November 2021, thanks to Philippe & Stuart. The Architect Liaison Group had intended to discuss at length with our new architect, whether to try to renew the maintenance contract with Bridgetts, or to go with an alternative, however this too hasn’t yet been discussed.

Microphones, Sound System, Hearing Loop & Digital Broadcast.

The P.A. system has seen more use this year, than in 2020. Earlier in the year we were plagued again by the dreaded buzzing/humming of a difficult to track down earth fault. Philippe spent many hours trying to track it down, cleaning many connections, re-soldering some cable joints, and swapping some of the cables. He has eventually been successful, and the system is quieter again, although we are currently running without one of the amplifiers which seemed to be causing the hum.

In December Philippe replaced the sound mixing desk after the old one gave up (after more than 30 years of reliable service). Recent, additional maintenance to the P.A. system, has included Philippe cleaning the heads of both CD players, and replacing the Pulpit and Lectern microphones with new ones.

I told you last year, that lockdown had pushed us, rather than led us into more recorded and on-line services. We saw the potential, the successes, and the problems / pitfalls that we had with these types of service, largely recorded on mobile phones. In the future, we want to go bigger and better in that direction, recording and livestreaming our services, building upon, as well as maintaining, the variety of live services that we do. I reported last year that the Diocese had backed us with a grant of £500.00 to fund digital recording and transmission equipment. This first £500.00 received in April, was largely spent on a laptop and the appropriate software, however as it was match funding; we also spent on a variety of stands and a motorised pan & tilt, and insurance etc. We have also been looking to get a mobile for the church, to link with a wireless modem so that we don’t need to install a physical internet connection to the church. We had intended to be able to livestream the Memorial Service in November this year, but in the end decided to postpone, as we didn’t want to rush in the purchasing of this new equipment. In December we were advised by the Diocesan Digital Enabler to get a “Reliable and affordable internet connection” for our church. We were also told that Rachel had received a £1000.00 grant to upgrade the technology within the church. This was extremely fortunate, as it was immediately used the replace the sound mixing desk for the P.A., which had suddenly failed. Plans are afoot to spend the remainder of this grant on a new projector, a remote controlled, electric projector screen, and new swan-necked microphones, as well as the required Internet connection.

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One of the biggest things we do still need is a team (or willing individual!), to operate this technical equipment properly for us. If you or someone you know would like to volunteer to help to record and broadcast our services for us, then please contact Liz or the Churchwardens.

The Church Clock

Our church clock is annually maintained, and generally runs trouble free. It has just been re-serviced on 10/01/2022, and indeed has not caused much trouble this last year, other than the usual; needing to be corrected following power cuts.

I told you last year, how our clock has been maintained for a long time by a company called Smith of Derby, since they took over the company William Potts of Guildford, who installed it in 1956. I also said that we had been contacted by another company Time Assured, from Mansfield, who offered to maintain our clock a little cheaper than the current contractor. The quote (February last year) was however, a little confusing, as it seemed to describe a clock with two faces, and more complicated workings than ours. Whilst we were in no hurry to change from our current contractor, they had always been very reliable; we did attempt to get a proper quote from Time Assured and tried to seek a reduction from Smith of Derby. Whilst clock maintenance is a specialised task, the annual maintenance of our clock usually consists of an examination, a light clean & oil, and little else.

Unfortunately, Smith of Derby said that they couldn’t offer any reduction, and we didn’t receive any sort of reply from Time Assured. Consequently, we decided to stick with our trusted, regular contractor, who returned to service our clock in January this year, despite the delay caused by the investigation. (The clock service had been due end of September).

The Church Organ.

Our church organ is supposed to be bi-annually maintained by Malcolm Spink of Leeds.

Under normal circumstances the two services are planned to occur in June / July and again in December. Neither of these services occurred in 2020, and similarly the summer 2021 service was also cancelled. Like our P.A. system, our church organ had seen no use at all during the periods of lockdown, and little use during the periods of restricted services in 2020. All through 2020 and into early 2021, despite a long-term hope, the prospect of re-opening the church to bigger and more public services never really got any closer to reality. Because of this, and the fact that our organ is susceptible to temperature & damp; it didn’t seem sensible to spend money to maintain & tune the organ, if the church would then be left unused and unheated during the colder months. Any tuning would be lost within a couple of weeks. It was therefore decided to postpone any organ tuning until we had a more definite idea of when we could return to larger services and congregational singing etc.

Thankfully 2021, has seen a steady increase in use, and our organ has performed well throughout, with no problems. In preparation for our Christmas services, the organ was given a routine service & re tune in December 2021, during which no real maintenance work was needed.

The only work which has been necessary, is the changing of the light fitting above the pedals. The tube had failed and was an obsolete type, so the whole fitting was replaced by Philippe in January 2022. Vernon reports that the new fitting is much brighter than the old one and therefore much better!

Heating.

I told you last year, that towards the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020 our heating system had been struggling with start-up problems, also with reaching temperature. Various improvements had been tried, including programming changes and a replacement data cable; and the system was under observation. Our engineer was finding it difficult to determine what was happening, and why the system would sometimes fail to start, or would prematurely switch to low output. In February 2020 he suggested fitting a temporary

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modem into our system, so that live data could be fed to him, the system checked, and fault data read remotely. Unfortunately, fitment did not happen at that time; it was then that Covid struck, we went into lockdown, and the church heating was not used again until around October 2020.

Plans were re-made to install the modem and re-service the heating system in October, but this was then delayed again and eventually happened on 25/11/2020. The modem was installed, and another cable was run from the main control panel in the Ringing Room down to the user control panel at the bottom of the stairs. Notably, the digital sensor within the church (North wall) was found to be about 6 degrees out of calibration and so was adjusted to correct this. This could have been the source of some of our running problems. The engineer also stated that problems with starting might be largely due to damp electrodes, which might go away after a few start-up attempts, when the electrodes will have warmed up; or it could be remedied by warming them with a hair dryer! (This of course would be rather a nuisance, but hopefully not a regular occurrence).

The heating was used a few times just before Christmas, but not many. When in use it did seem to perform reasonably, but we would have preferred more opportunity to gather more data. Never-the less straight after Christmas we went into lock-down again and the heating saw little / no use during that period. The heating system was eventually re-serviced early in January 2021, and towards the end of January, the engineer asked Philippe if he could remove the modem and its interconnecting cable, for him to collect and use elsewhere. This Philippe did on 22/01/2021.

During this monitoring period however, the engineer did make a couple of changes to the program. One of these was to the “System Run Time” - the total number of hours that the system has been running, which had been calculating and showing an incorrect value. More importantly he changed the program, such that the system should automatically reset itself twice, following a burner fault where the main burner had failed to start, and would then attempt another re-start. This would prevent us having to re-set it. We would still have to re-set it manually after a third failure to start.

Further discussions followed about options to improve the reliability of the start-up, these included: -

  1. The use of the hair dryer method after the third failed start & before the manual re-set.

  2. Putting the heating on to run for a period every night, to try to raise the temperature slightly and to dry out the igniter probes. (This may have the added advantage of reducing the effect of temperature extremes on the stonework, but obviously an extra running cost).

  3. Lastly, we could install some equipment to automatically heat the ignition probes before start-up.

No decisions have been made however, as we were waiting for more data on how reliable the system is at present, and of course we had not used it too much until Autumn 2021!

During this latest heating period then, our heating system does seem to have behaved quite well. The system was re-serviced in November 2021, and I have not been made aware of any issues of failing to start, and we have not really had any complaints about the temperature being too cold since then, so all looks good for now.

Our current heating system, for those who don’t know, is gas fired. We are all acutely aware of the soaring prices for gas (and other types of fuel too), and this trend is unlikely to ever reverse as fuel sources are reduced, and as we strive towards a greener, energy saving planet. Inevitably then, this must lead us to consider installing an alternative heating system. There are many options to consider: - Types of heating such as electric radiant heaters, underfloor electric, under floor warm air, a piped hot water & radiator system. Each will have different benefits and failings, the running costs of each may vary significantly now, and in the future. Some systems will be easier to install than others, in terms of permissions. Which type of fuel should we opt for, to be cheapest in the long term? We could consider installing solar panels to offset our energy costs, but these are never likely to be able to supply our own needs fully. The relative success of each against the other is not easy to work out. The one thing that all systems will have in common, is that they are likely to be very expensive to install.

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Unfortunately, our church is an enormous single space to heat. As a Grade 1 Listed Building, it is unlikely that we will ever be able to insulate our walls or fit double glazed windows to improve our efficiency and lower our bills that way. We might choose to section off parts of our church to make individual sections easier to heat, but this has implications into how we use our building going forwards, so this would also need to be very carefully considered at the same time. The PCC / Fabric committee have discussed this whole topic in the past, but not in depth recently. I think that in recognition of the current pricing trend, this topic will be on the agenda again very soon and will certainly need to be considered in conjunction with our long-term re-ordering plans for the church.

As we continue to face high covid infection rates, and in recognition of some of our congregation’s nervousness to return, I leave the following note about our heating system.

During the period between lockdowns, when we were doing restricted small services in church, and as we approached the period when heating was required, concern was expressed as to whether we could use a heating system that moved air around when Covid 19 was obviously an airborne risk. We were however reassured that it was as safe as any other system, as none of the air is recycled. All the air is “Fresh” as it is drawn in through the Belfry, it is then warmed before being blown down to us. Any risk of infection comes from being too close to others and breathing their air in, thus social distancing and masks are the key to keeping us safe.

The Christmas Lights, The Flagpole & Tolling Bell.

The Christmas Lights worked well on the top of our tower again this year. Many thanks to James Scott for helping me with the installation and again with the removal. I am pleased to say that there were no problems with the lights yet again, 7 years after purchase, and still not a single lamp lost yet; (we used to replace about 80 of the old lamps per year, which at that time would cost us about £50.00 per year). These lights are much loved and often mentioned by many of our locals and visitors alike. They serve as a welcome home beacon for many local travellers at Christmas, making our church visible from miles around in all directions! As a matter of fact, we have been contacted by a church at Belton, who were looking to install a similar display, however the planned meeting didn’t take place due to illness.

One problem that we did have, was that we had to re-rope the flagpole first. The rope had been ok (but obviously dodgy) when we had used it for the death of Prince Phillip. It had obviously broken since then. Re-roping the flagpole is very tricky – like threading a needle 25 foot above your head. Philippe and I eventually managed it after about 2 hrs struggling with a draw wire through plastic piping, which still swayed far too much in the wind, and was difficult to control.

You may also remember that we tolled our bell (100 times in 1 hr), in unison with many other churches to mark the funeral of Prince Phillip. To do this, I had to temporarily re-connect the old tolling rope to our No. 2 bell. It is not generally connected, as it interferes with our chiming system.

For interest, we were also asked to ring the bells this year to signify the start of the COP 26 Climate change conference in October.

The Church Armour

Some of you may remember that our church used to have some pieces of Church Armour on display. For many years now, this armour has been in the care of the Royal Armouries at Leeds. It is currently on display there, and in the past has been on display in the Tower of London. I reported last year that they had asked us to re-sign a new agreement in March 2020, to enable us to leave the items there. Although that agreement was signed, apparently it was lost, or didn’t get there during the first Covid lockdown. Consequently, in April 2021, we were asked again to sign a new agreement.

Whilst in the care of the Royal Armouries, most of the items are covered by their blanket insurance policy. If we chose to bring them back here, we would need to arrange our own insurance and place of

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safekeeping. Also, whilst there, they had some conservation work done to them in 2014, and they are continually kept in a “controlled & friendly” environment. The PCC obviously agreed to re-sign the loan agreement again, and the items were kept on display at Leeds. Whilst responding, we took the opportunity to ask about the possibility of getting some replicas made and receiving some literature, which we could keep in our church. This had been hinted at when we made the original loan agreement. A reply from the Armouries said that they are looking into the possibility of replicas, and that they would send some information / leaflets through. Nothing has been received yet, so we will follow this up. As I write, we have also just been asked, and have agreed, to give permission for photographs of some of our artifacts to be published within a book titled: Armour of the English Knight: Continental Armour in England 1435 – 1500. For anyone interested, I would recommend you visit the Armouries and look out for our armour, it is apparently quite rare and significant to historians of this period.

The Barn

Unfortunately, the Barn has still not been used a great deal this year because of restrictions on social distancing and mixing indoors. Coffee mornings and regular church meetings have not resumed, because of the limited space, and poor ventilation. Rachel has now begun to use the Barn for our children’s work and toddler groups and is looking forward to seeing some of the refurbishment work completed to make it more suitable for this, (more about this below).

Some general maintenance has continued at the Barn, though this has also been at a reduced level because of the restrictions and lack of use. Most of this has been carried out by Philippe and / or Gordon Troope. Thank you to them for their dedication in this matter. Thanks also to the team of gardeners and helpers who have cut and cleared the grass on the Barn Field, battled with the moles, and to those who keep the weeds and nettles down around the outside. In February of last year, Philippe struggled to open the Barn door which was sticking badly. It had not been opened for a while. He sanded it down to get it to close again; and will re-assess what further work may be required as necessary. In June, Philippe fixed the leaking stop-tap, he also disconnected the water supply and sealed the pipework and the waste pipe, having removed the toilet from the storage room.

The quinquennial (5 yearly) fixed electrical inspection was carried out by Fowlers electricians in April 2018, and therefore is not due until April 2023. The portable appliance (PAT) testing was carried out on 15[th] January 2020, along with the Church and Parish Office. The re-test is slightly overdue; but will hopefully be completed shortly. The fire extinguishers and burglar alarm were serviced in September & October respectively. Last year, Philippe reported that the alarm keypad was difficult to operate, possibly affected by damp as the building had not been used or heated for a year. Recent use has seen this difficulty persist into this year, and Vera intends to call the engineer out again to get it cleaned internally or replaced.

In April 2021, Tim Sweed wrote to us to inform us that he had again applied for a “Covid Re-start Grant” for the Barn. Last year we had been awarded £10,000.00 towards re-opening the Barn. This year Tim had applied for a follow-on Re-start grant of £8,000.00. In addition to that, a Support Grant of £9,431.00 had been offered towards paying the running & maintenance costs of Community Buildings – still not able to fully open. These grants – now totalling £27,000.00 can only be spent on re-opening the existing Barn, and on making it more suitable for use in the current Covid-prevalent period, where social distancing restrictions make re-opening more difficult. Grateful thanks then to Tim on his sterling work, applying for this funding on our behalf.

The Standing Committee of the PCC met in May to discuss the grants received; and to plan the way forward for re-opening the Barn. Various suggestions were put forwards, and, from this, Rosh drew up a list of potential improvements and a plan showing the status of each item on the list. At least 2 quotations have been sought by various people including Rachel, Philippe, and Vera for each item on the list. The quotations for each element were then compared and decided upon either by the PCC or by the Standing Committee before their installation. The following items have been installed and reached their completion.

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The first item was a replacement for the Barn Field Gate. The existing Barn gate which could only close off half of the opening has been removed. This has been replaced by a pair of wooden “field type” gates, one of which is ¾ width to allow vehicular access and is lockable in the closed position. The other gate is similar, but ¼ width for access by foot. The new gates were needed to increase security when Rachel is using the Barn & field for children’s events, and also to discourage parents from parking on the field when collecting children from school. We now have a parking permit system for those who park in the Barn carpark regularly for church services or events.

The next items installed were new electrically operated garage doors. The existing up & over steel doors were heavy and difficult to open, often dis-locating themselves from their tracks if not opened carefully. We considered and sought quotes for manual operation and electric operation, but eventually opted for the electrical operation. Firstly then, we needed to run an electrical supply from the Barn into each of the garages to feed the new doors. This was installed by Fowlers in September. They installed a single metalclad socket to power each of the doors, A 5’ LED batten light fitting and metal-clad light switch to each garage, and a twin metal-clad socket for general purpose use, in the Left-hand garage. These were fed from a new 4-way metal consumer unit fitted within the L/H garage; and protected by a 30ma RCD in addition to the individual MCB devices. The new consumer unit is itself fed from the existing consumer unit in the Barn. At the same time, the opportunity was taken to upgrade the original kitchen radial circuit into a 32A ring main, to alleviate the random tripping which had occurred in the past. The new doors then were installed by Zapp doors in October. Generally, they are to be fob operated, and each has full electrical operation, up and down. They have built in obstacle detection, such that they will re-open if they sense that any obstacle is preventing closure; and can be stopped mid operation by pressing the same button a second time. There is also an emergency system fitted, so that we can still open the doors should the power have failed.

More recently, we have had most of the Barn windows replaced with UPVC double glazed units. You may remember that the original windows had small top openers, which were too high for most to reach, even when standing on a chair. This was the main reason for replacing them. They needed to be easy to open to provide the necessary ventilation required if we are to re-open the Barn. Each window within the main room has now been fitted with a vertical opening window such that they can be used as an escape route in case of fire, but also are much easier to reach and open regularly. The new window in the porch has no openings, however the porch is very small and served by two doors one of which is an emergency exit. The toilet window has a small top opener and is obviously obscure rather than plain glass. The kitchen window was replaced a few years ago and has not been renewed. We have also had a UPVC door fitted in the

Kitchen. It is not our intention to give out any keys for this door, as it is not a regular point of entry, and is only to be opened from within as an emergency exit from the kitchen. Neither of the porch doors have been replaced. The main entrance door was replaced in 2020 by Philippe, and the emergency exit remains original.

Other items which are under consideration, but which have yet to be completed and are subject to the remaining funding are as follows: -

We have had a quote to install an injection type of dampcourse to the Barn, to try to eliminate the rising damp which has always been an issue. The first quotation is more than £10,000, but this includes removing and replacing plaster work to various levels on the different walls, and the stud walls to the toilet/ storage area, and removal & re-fitting of the toilet & plumbing to install the damp course. As I write, we are awaiting a second quotation for a similar damp course treatment. If we choose to go ahead, we will also need to factor in for the removal of our kitchen & toilet floor tiling, which contains asbestos, and which therefore needs to be carried out by a specialist company. This remains in our remit; and will need to be removed prior to the damp course treatment, and then will obviously need to be replaced when the treatment is finished. This also might prove quite expensive.

We have had a couple of quotations for replacement kitchen units including a new cooker; with no decisions made yet. We are also considering just changing doors and worktops and cooker. Currently our

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cooker hob is gas, and all other gas appliances have been dis-connected. We have been thinking about replacing the hob with an electric one so that we can do away with the standing charge for the gas supply.

You may remember that I told you last year, that the committee had already been considering alternative forms of heating within the Barn, because the current heaters can be noisy at meetings, and the temperature falls quickly if they are turned off. We were favouring installing some Quartz Infra-Red wall heaters which could be used in place of the existing heaters, and these would be silent to run. This type of heater is designed to heat bodies rather than the air and are thus far more efficient. The PCC granted permission to go ahead with the purchase and fitment in 2020. Unfortunately, this work has not yet been carried out, mainly because it fell off our radar amongst other priorities, and the Barn had not been in use for most of that, and this year. The problem remains, and our views may now have changed, so we should re-consider the options and try to get a scheme completed as soon as possible. We have therefore had more quotes for differing electrical heating systems within the main room, and for a gas fired central heating system to replace the current electrical fan heaters. All need to be reviewed against each other for pros, cons & running costs. At this extremely volatile period where all fuel costs are rising it may not be easy to predict what will happen long term. At this point, no final decision has been made yet.

Possibly linked to the above, you may remember that I told you last year that early in 2019 an electric instantaneous water heater was fitted into the barn to provide water for handwashing and dishwashing. I said that we had a couple of problems with leaks coming from the water meter, also that during this early part of the year, there were a few complaints that the heater as fitted, was not big enough to provide sufficient hot water for dish washing. In June 2020, we discussed this, and gave Philippe permission to remove this heater and re-fit it into the Parish Office, where it would be adequate for low levels of washing up after meetings etc. A new 6 litre, 1.5KW storage type heater was to be purchased to be installed into the Barn in its place. To date then, this has not been fitted, while the Barn has been out of action, and there is currently no hot water supply in the Barn. Clearly this also needs to be completed prior to us reopening fully.

When the above items have been completed, the intention is to re-furbish the interior of the Barn, and the scope of this will depend largely on what has happened from the above. This might range from a simple lick of paint to more extensive re-skimming of plaster followed by full re-paint. Similarly with the floor coverings and skirting boards which may need replacing if removed for the damp course treatment. The amount of funding remaining will undoubtably also affect this. Never-the-less some decoration will be done, and I am sure volunteers will be found if needed. Rachel has already discussed this with the youth group who have several ideas and are keen to get started with the transformation.

Finally, we have also had quotations to replace the square tables within the barn with folding tables of a similar size, and to replace some of the old type gazebos within the garage with easier to erect pop-up style ones, such that all are easier to move and use for events without necessarily requiring ‘muscle’, which is not always present, particularly at children / youth events.

The Parish Office.

The Parish Office - fixed electrical inspection was last carried out in January 2017 and therefore was due for a re-test in January 2022. This task will be re-booked shortly. Similarly, the Parish Office PAT testing was last carried out on 15[th] January 2020 along with the Church & Barn, and a re-test of that was due in October 2021. This has not been carried out yet, is therefore overdue, and again will be booked shortly.

I told you last year, that the Parish Office had undergone quite a refurbishment during 2020, this being largely the result of the flooding from the flat above in 2019. Thankfully much of the cost was borne by the insurance claim, however other items were updated / refreshed at the same time, and these were funded by a grant from the Endowment Trust. 2021 saw the tail end of some of this work. In January, Philippe changed two of the outside floodlights to the West & North sides of the office, to be PIR controlled L.E.D. Floodlights. The old one on the West had been permanently on for some time! He similarly changed the

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light above the Vicarage back door. He also changed a 6 ft fluorescent tube and some starters within the office and replaced the entrance light. Externally, Philippe made and fitted a polystyrene box and some pipe insulation to protect the outside water tap; and fitted a letter box to the new UPVC Office door, which is now suitable for taking A3 sized mail.

Discussions were held in March about renewing the floor coverings for the Parish Office. A quotation was sought and received from Stainforth Carpets, to renew the toilet, entrance hall and kitchen, using vinyl floor covering, and to replace the existing office tiles with new carpet tiles. The quote came with fitting as an option, and a total of around £1250 + vat. We were also looking to do this ourselves using vinyl off-cuts for the smaller rooms, and doing the fitting ourselves, hoping to bring the project in at around £800.00. Unfortunately, this project didn’t progress much further than the discussions about colours and types of vinyl, but this was largely down to the lack of time for the fitment at that time, so this project is now back on the cards for 2022.

Around May, the users of the Parish Office began to have problems with the electric tripping off unexpectedly, with no obvious cause. This would also occur overnight when nobody was using the office. The problem was suspected to be the safety circuit breaker (an RCBO – Residual Current Circuit Breaker). An RCBO checks the electrical supply for an in-balance between incoming and return current. Any missing current is assumed to be a leakage to earth, which is dangerous, and the breaker thus trips. Though very reliable, these things can become in-accurate over time, which is what happened here. A new RCBO was sourced, with identical tripping characteristics, I fitted it on 27[th] June, and thankfully we have had no further problems with the Parish Office electrics.

Fire Risk / Health & Safety Policy/ General Risk Assessments etc.

As mentioned last year, the Fire Risk Assessment, General Risk Assessment and the Health and Safety Policy were all updated for 2019 following the Ecclesiastical Insurance templates. These procedures as such have not been reviewed since. You will appreciate however, that during this last couple of years, different rules, regulations & guidance have come out which have amended what we were able to do, and how we have done things. These have been repeatedly reviewed and risk assessed, from the Bishop down, but locally by Revd Liz, our Churchwardens, Ministry Team & PCC. Compliance has been difficult, but essential to protecting ourselves and each other from the virus. As I write, and despite the outstanding success of our vaccination programme, we are still unsure as to when we will be able to leave these restrictions totally behind us and go back to the “old rules”. We continue to follow a cautious path, trying to maintain the safety and confidence of our most vulnerable, whilst slowly relaxing our restrictions. We hope that we are at least heading in the right direction now, though some restrictions may be with us for some time yet.

Our Churchwardens have carried out a successful fire escape trial in January 2022.

The Church Intruder Alarm / Roof Alarm.

The Church intruder alarm was serviced on 4[th] October 2021, with the Barn done on the same visit. The engineer checked the system, changed batteries and one of the PIR’s in the Vestry, and declared it healthy again. The proximity detector contact on the South Door (the one we all use), which I reported was sticking last year, had seemed to rectify itself and thus was not changed. Unfortunately, on the 10[th ] of October it did stick again, and caught Chrissy & Glynis out when they came into church. I am not aware of any repeats of this incident since then, however as I write, we are about to call them out to re-look at the keypad in the Barn, which is sticking, and will also ask him to look again at this door contact.

The roof alarm system was last serviced on 20/04/2021. Part of the regular service is to change the batteries in each of the roof PIR’s annually, to ensure their correct operation, although they should last for 2 – 3 years comfortably. We have had no real problems with the roof alarm within 2021, possibly due to

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the enhanced service that we had in 2020 where the back-up batteries and control panel were changed, and which I reported on last year. Other than a single activation in December 2020 which could have been a large bird, I am not aware of any other activations since. I reported last year that in October 2020 we were asked to join an extended 3-year warranty plan, which we considered and then declined. We also opted out of the “Night Guard” cover, whereby a guard comes to investigate any activations during the hours of darkness, after the guard took almost an hour to respond to the activation in December.

Churchyard

The churchyard maintenance team have continued to work at keeping our churchyard clean and tidy. Their numbers have reduced, and their ages increased, however they continue to do us proud. There have been no summer events to prepare for, and thus no larger maintenance team efforts required.

A big thank you then is due to all those volunteers who continue to work so hard keeping the grass cut, and the paths and graves clean. Also, to those (including members of the public) who tidy up the cans and bottles and chocolate wrappers etc, which regularly appear.

Once again, anyone able to offer any help in this task going forward, please contact either Churchwarden, or speak to those dedicated few gardeners.

I told you last year that Rosh had taken on the baton in the discussions with the Town Council about them taking over the maintenance of our churchyard. Our churchyard is designated as a “Closed Churchyard”, (meaning it is closed for new burials), and it has been since 1888! Maintenance of closed churchyards is legally the responsibility of the Town Council; however, they must formally accept this responsibility, and this has never happened at Hatfield. There have been more discussions in 2021 on this subject between Rosh, the Town Council, and the secretary to the DAC, and a formal letter was sent from the PCC to the recently elected Town Council in June, asking them to take on our Churchyard. Rosh met again with the Town Council in September, describing the meeting as very helpful and positive, and a revised letter was sent in October. This letter requested that the council take over the maintenance of our churchyard, effective from Jan 6[th] , 2022. It now appears that after consideration, the Town Council have decided to pass on the responsibility to the DMBC; so, Rosh has recently discussed with the DMBC representative (Feb 2022), who also sounded positive and sympathetic to our request. He seemed happy to integrate their team’s attendances with our own team’s attendances. Our intention is to continue with occasional grass cutting ourselves during the summer months, to keep it looking tidy for weddings etc. This integration will obviously need to be worked out during the year. The DMBC man also stated that “it didn’t matter what state the memorials and ledger stones, pathways or walls were in”, it seems that wouldn’t affect when or if they took the churchyard on at all.

Finally, this long-awaited transfer seems to be entering the final phase, and although we have yet to see a council team within the churchyard, we look forward to seeing it soon.

The annual churchyard survey to check the stability of the gravestones within the churchyard has not been completed since October 2019, and as such is overdue. We have received no notification however, from our maintenance teams that there are any gravestones which they consider to be more unstable or in need of any specific maintenance. There is still the South path pointing and the path between the South Porch and the car-park which were noted within this survey for the last couple of years, also appearing in our QI report. There has been no significant change in their condition since then.

You may remember that I reported for the last couple of years, that following a couple of fallen tree branches, we had instigated a full churchyard (and a Barn) tree survey to be conducted in line with BS 5837 to assess the current health and condition of each of our trees. Having received the report in June 2019, it was important that the PCC should act on its recommendations, which we did. Those trees which we were advised to fell within the year, were felled in 2019, some additional branch removals were carried out at the same time, as directed by the survey. Further removals of some self-set small trees were handled by our own maintenance team.

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As 2020 & 2021 has now passed, there is probably more work to do and some of the trees which were advised to have work done within 3 years will now be becoming due. We shall have to re-look through both of our surveys and decide on a new programme of works for this coming year. A couple of trees on the North Side, whose branches were partially lopped in 2019 for getting close to the wall, are beginning to get close again. Additionally, we have been discussing tree types and possible locations for the planting of two new trees within our churchyard. These new trees are required to replace those felled by necessity in previous years; and we have also received a couple of individual offers to provide those trees as a memorial for some of those recently lost.

You may remember I told you about a couple of on-going projects within the churchyard. One of these being the damage caused to the iron gates at the end of Church Walk (which are grade II listed), following the laying of the new tarmac on Church Walk (done in August 2018). The other item being the levelling of the path between the car park and the South Porch. So far there has been no progress on either of these. Initially both were on hold pending the appointment of our new architect. Since then, we have been delayed by a lack of meetings and visitations, due to Covid restrictions. As we move from 2021 into 2022 the committee would like to be able to re-start these projects as soon as possible. The South Path in particular, as the raised edges of the current gravestones again seem more pronounced this year; and thus, more of a trip hazard. It is also significant that this item appears as a priority 1, (urgent) job within our Q.I. report. As we prepare to hand over our churchyard to the care of DMBC, it remains to be seen whether this will help or hinder us in our quest to lower and re-lay the South Path.

I reported last year that Philippe and Pete had repaired and modified the church notice board to accept additional notices underneath the main body, and on the back of the notice board too. Unfortunately, I must report that the wooden frame for our notice board collapsed in the storms of early December. It has been rotten for a few years, hence the regular running repairs. The main aluminium panel should be good to be re-used, it is only slightly bent on one corner, though we may also choose to re-design & re-word it to bring it up to date. We are considering replacing it with 2 or three alternatively sited notice boards, but still need to decide what information we are looking to display, in what format, and in which locations. We will then be needing comprehensive designs and specifications, and the appropriate faculty permissions. Finally, of course, we will need the money to purchase these notice boards; however, I am led to understand that we have already received donations towards this endeavour.

Additional minor works that have taken place in the churchyard include the following: -

The door to the gas meter enclosure had become difficult to open to read the meter, the hinges were rusty and sticking. These were exchanged and the door made easier to open in February. In March, Yorkshire Water installed a water meter to cover our church. Up - until that point, we had been paying water rates at an extremely low rate; and we might find ourselves dis-advantaged by going onto a meter, even if paying the lowest tariff. We shall have to wait and see whether, and how much our bill changes, but certainly this was not a change that we requested. The padlock on the Crypt entrance door had to be replaced in December, when we tried to get in to retrieve the Christmas trees. Confusingly it seemed to have already been replaced with a new lock. None of us had a key to open it, and no-one had any knowledge of its replacement, though the padlock was definitely new! Having asked everyone we could think of, we had no choice but to cut it off and replace it! There is nothing of any value in there, (a load of old chairs), and there was no sign of any disturbance when we did get in.

ECO Church

You may have noticed within the church magazine and the weekly newsletter, that our church has been increasingly involved in an initiative called Eco-Church. Obviously, climate change, sustainability, recycling, etc are all incredibly important issues, and very much in public focus at the moment. I have already told you that we rang our church bells for the start of the COP 26 Climate Change Conference.

Chrissy Grindle & Glenys Mashford are our voluntary champions in this and signed themselves up to attend

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a conference entitled “Eco Church Festival with “Churches Count on Nature 2021”.

They watched various videos and presentations on many different ways that our church could become more Eco-friendly, and came back with many resources, and quite enthused about it all.

Many of the things suggested could be done as individuals, such as saving energy, re-cycling more and wasting less etc, but many could be applied to the church too.

One of the important things that they took from the conference was that Churchyards are extremely important places for our plants, animals & insect diversity, that they are well “managed” by volunteers, and that if all churchyards could be put together, they would cover an area the size of Exmoor.

Making all our churchyards more diverse, could have an enormous impact on our environment. You may have seen that we now have three bird feeders set up in the churchyard. Plans are afoot to build bird boxes, hedgehog boxes and composting stations too. Similar stations are to be set up in the Barn field corners too. The youth are extremely keen to be involved and run this.

We have subsequently signed up for a Diocesan “Bronze Eco-Church Award” and are steadily working towards this. This has led to a couple of other recent evolving projects: -

A repeat drive to consume only Fairtrade and /or ethically sourced products within the church. (We did agree to this about 30 years ago, but have since lapsed a little, so re-agreement is good).

We have also gone through a toilet twinning process, – which is essentially a sponsorship deal to have a toilet built in a third world country. Our church toilet has been twinned, and more recently we have also twinned the Parish Office toilet, and even the toilet within our Millennium Window, all with toilets in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Our plan to replace all our low energy fluorescent stick lighting with even lower energy LED’s is still ongoing, we are now at approx. 60%. The changeout is steady because the impact is not so large. The immediate change of the remaining 80 bulbs would save only 250 watts per hr. Our current trend is to changeout 16 (2 pendants worth) every few months, as the fluorescent sticks fail.

The Committee

I have told you for the last couple of years, that going forwards, we had decided to re-organise the Fabric Committee after we got our new architect. We had planned to have an “Architect Liaison Committee”, who would contact the architect, and agree specs and priorities, and co-ordinate with external contractors etc. As stated within the Q.I. section of this report, we had intended to ask additional members to join and give us the benefit of their experience / opinions. This wider committee still needs to be officially initiated, which has been delayed throughout 2020 and 2021 by the restrictions on meetings, by our priorities, and an overview which suggested little progress was likely during the period. As previously stated, the smaller, existing, Architect Liaison Steering Group has been keeping things ticking over, and has achieved the progress, and carried out all tasks as described above. We would still like to widen the membership as originally planned, as soon as practically possible, and would probably include interested parties from the PCC, the Hatfield Church Building Trust, and the Friends of the Hatfield Church Building Trust. This does not however preclude any other technically minded or even interested parties from asking to join the group. If you feel at all interested, please do ask – we could do with your help!

I also told you last year, that we had appointed Rosh Milner to be our Project Manager, working on a part time basis. Rosh has a wealth of experience managing specific projects, coupled with general management, and running of various charity organisations. The other thing which she brings of course, is a local and personal interest in the outcomes. She told us that following the receipt of the QI report, she has walked around the church, reading the report aloud, and recording it on her phone as an audio file; whilst looking out for each issue noted, to understand it. She has also reviewed each issue in conjunction with the Churchwardens; to establish which items are on which of the Diocesan faculty lists, & therefore which will

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need faculties. Moving forwards, Liz and Rosh have set aside a couple of dates, to prepare a revised ‘Statement of Needs’, and ‘Statement of Significance’ both of which will need to be submitted with each faculty application we submit.

I predicted last year that Rosh would make a big difference to our committee and its outcomes. I am sure that you will agree from my earlier reporting, that she has done that. I believe that we have seen good progress in the last year, largely through the efforts that Rosh has put in. Through her leadership and doggedness, she has pushed and prodded, to maintain the momentum on our priority projects. She has done this whilst also mentoring Rachel, our Centenary Project Worker, and leading on our selection of a new church administration / business suite software package.

We also said a couple of years ago, that we would like to create a maintenance group of “do-ers – not talkers” for regular maintenance chores. This group have already been unofficially keeping an eye on the regular, and minor maintenance tasks, and have just undertaken them as individuals or in small groups as they came up. The group exists then, though it has no official leader, no official members, and has had no formal meetings. The informal approach of a collection of volunteers is in many instances fine, and currently any tasks have been on the instruction of the PCC / Churchwardens and /or members of the old fabric committee. There will, however, be times when a co-ordinated approach will be needed, and specific instructions will need to be communicated to any volunteers and then followed. To this end, we could do with a volunteer willing to stand as a team leader / co-ordinator, through whom tasks can be planned and added to a list, jobs allocated to appropriately competent individuals / groups, and progress monitored. Someone able to ask appropriate questions and seek the answers, and report back any problems. If anybody would like to offer themselves for this co-ordinating role or would just like to help with some of the maintenance tasks, please see myself, the Churchwardens or Liz, or anyone you know already involved in this type of work. We would love to bring you on board.

Many thanks to all our members and helpers for their support, and for all the work they do to keep the church running, in the practical roles they each fulfil. Thanks especially to Philippe, Viv and Vera, the Parish Office staff, and all the others who contact, and meet the various contractors. Thanks also to all the willing volunteers who have helped us to accomplish some of the minor maintenance tasks throughout the year.

We on the fabric committee, and the PCC are aware that the Hatfield Church Building Trust, and indeed “The Friends” are keen to see a new project started such that they can donate some of their funds towards it, and thus maintain the enthusiasm of their members who support them. Unfortunately, they have seen no significant work completed in recent years. In 2019, we were pleased to have taken a couple of large steps forwards, in our appointment of a new architect; and in having received the new Q.I. report. Unfortunately, we were then delayed through 2020 and into 2021, in completing any of our bigger plans, this time by the pandemic and its restrictions. I ask you all to bear with us then, as we continue to move steadily forwards on those tasks we have selected to concentrate on.

I must also repeat that none are more frustrated by the apparent lack of, or slow progress than those of us who are involved with fabric issues. The workload, especially in an ancient and listed building such as ours is extremely large; each item is complicated and needs careful consideration and discussion.

Also significant in causing delay, is the fact that we are asked to try to consider doing many things at once, in a grand scheme; as the DAC (and prospective funding bodies themselves) would apparently have us do; instead of doing smaller repairs individually. It sometimes seems to me to be overly complicated, a little unfair, and to be much harder to do anything, however we can’t just do what we want even when we know what we would like to do. Certainly, for any larger schemes where we hope to obtain outside funding, then we must comply with the wishes of the funding bodies as well as the DAC, and we always must operate within the current faculty rules etc. Looking on the bright side, the Diocese and the Church of England have taken more steps this year to simplify the faculty process to relieve us of some of the difficulties and restrictions these rules impose upon us. The new Faculty Jurisdiction Rules came into effect on 1[st] April 2020. These have revised the listings of items which require faculty approval, and the Diocese have now also enabled us to apply for faculties on-line.

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As part of its new strategy and transformation, the Diocese has appointed some new Diocesan Buildings Officers to help the parishes in this work, and I have already mentioned the help that Viv Cooling our new officer has given us. They have re-organised the “Church Care” website and there is now a full menu of “handy links” to the faculty jurisdiction rules applicable to almost any given subject. This again, is designed to help Churchwardens and all those involved with care towards church buildings, to comply with all the complicated rules and obtain relevant permissions. Hopefully all these systemic improvements will help us move forward more easily. It is becoming increasingly important that our churches can modernise and become useful spaces, otherwise they might eventually become unusable, dis-used, and eventually fall down!

In Summary

As you can see, 2021 saw the committee and several individuals again busy and involved with many minor repairs and general maintenance activities. The current team are like minded and work well together. There was some real progress towards future projects, our concentration being on obtaining the window survey, to supplement our Q.I. inspection report. We hope that 2022 will see some window repairs borne out of the survey results. We still have several outstanding jobs which were started a few years ago and remain uncompleted, but we carry forward into 2022 a renewed desire to progress some of these to completion, especially as they are now priority repairs detailed within our Q.I. report. Following on from here then, we shall probably try to do a plan of all our wall mounted monuments, so that we can commission a survey of those, and thus prioritise the work needed there.

We would also like to get some actual repairs done, like the Belfry window guards, and the cleaning & inspecting of the roofs. All of these we may be able to begin during the summer months, but previously, they have been largely hampered by social distancing restrictions, and they are not safe tasks for an individual, but more suited to a small team.

Changes within the Diocese and its systems seem to have been positive so-far, and our thoughts and plans for a larger re-ordering of our church have begun. We again hope to rejuvenate the new committee and to re-enthuse the Hatfield Church Building Trust and the Friends for the future benefit of our church building and our community.

Terry Raper – Buildings Officer.

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Deanery and Diocese Report

Hatfield St Lawrence is well represented at Deanery and Diocesan level.

Deanery Reps: Revd Liz Turner-Loisel, Secretary and Diocesan Synod Rep Chrissy Grindle minute taker

Glenys Mashford, treasurer

Two of the Deanery and all of the Standing Committee meetings between July 2021 – March 2022 have taken place on Zoom and this has worked well in that

The June synod was an Open Zoom meeting which began with a presentation by Luke Bunting , the Giving and Generosity Officer for the Diocese. This is obviously a very relevant topic for all churches with the severe restrictions imposed on church finances over the past two years. Luke suggested ‘Generous June’, but the PCC has decided that a Giving campaign would be more appropriate in August when there are less church fundraising activities

We also welcomed and thanked God for the Revd Jacqui Jones, the new oversight Minister for Stainforth and the Fishlake Group of Parishes.

Summer 2021 saw the election of representatives for the Diocesan Synod and Carol Rashid stepped down as our rep after many years. She was thanked for all her faithful work. It is important to point out how the Deanery can and should challenge and impact on any decisions made at Diocesan and General Synod. A question from our deanery re the work of the Diocesan Building Officers was presented in the July Diocesan Synod and the response reported back at our October Synod.

This synod was an ‘in person’ meeting and members were also able to hear from Dr Cathy Rhodes, the Diocesan Officer for the Environment, talking on the Diocesan Climate Justice Policy.

In December, there was a twinned Deanery meeting with Adwick, held in Goole and hosted by the Senior staff of the Diocese. This was an opportunity to air views and Bishop Pete asked attendees to think of

On our behalf, Revd Liz and Revd Gill presented the advantages experienced at St Lawrence of

BUT Revd Liz went on to point out that the latter was presenting a daunting issue for them, as the success of Messy Church and the huge backlog of baptisms meant that more manpower was needed to allow them to address the needs of the parents and work with them on their spiritual journey.

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The February Deanery Synod was on Zoom and, once again, followed the format of Open meeting and then business. Sally Myers, the Director of Focal Ministry, spoke of the latest guidelines and the process involved in creating Focal Ministers.

Our thanks to Revd Justine Smith, our Area Dean, for her hard work and leadership over this difficult time.

Glenys Mashford ,Treasurer Snaith and Hatfield Deanery

Churchwardens

Well, another strange year, having mix and match services to accommodate the needs of the patiently waiting baptism families and sadly a considerable number of funerals, including some from our own congregation. We are so blessed to have such a strong funeral ministry team who have not only looked after our congregation but other bereaved families in need, their ministry is wonderful.

You will have noticed that we are still not using the main communion rail, this was introduced to avoid the risk of passing too close to each other at the height of the pandemic; however, the decision has proved a boon to the less mobile members of our congregation.

Viv and I are very grateful for the help given by members of the congregation in helping us keep our Church clean. We will be restarting rotas again in the near future, also the readers and side person rotas. If you feel ready to restart this service to your Church, please let us know.

One piece of good news is that we had a successful ‘Archdeacon’s visitation’ (an inspection of our essential paperwork) on Tuesday 22[nd] February. This was carried out by the Area Dean , Revd Justine Smith, on the Archdeacon’s behalf.

We continue to monitor the Covid situation and are slowly making changes. We are grateful for your patience, having come so far, we do not want to lose the game now.

Our prayer is that the next wardens’ report will be full of joyful news.

Vera Owen and Viv Stubbs

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Training Log July 2021-March 2022

The following training has been undertaken during 2021/22: (the majority on Zoom)

-Luke/ Matthew for Preachers

-Whole Life Preaching

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Ministry, Worship, Discipleship and Pastoral Care

Ministry is a word which is often used too narrowly, implying that only the “Ministry Team” can do it and are responsible for it! The Ministry Team here at Hatfield is brilliant but we can’t do it all by ourselves. As baptised Christians we all have a part to play in the Ministry of the Church and the Mission of God. At St Lawrence so many people are doing so without even knowing it and I would like to say a huge thank you to all who ‘minister’ to their families, neighbours and friends and the church by showing them the love of God in action and deed.

The working out of the command to love God and our neighbour has been so much more necessary during the uncertain times we have been through, and are still doing so. It has been hard when we couldn’t see people in person, but we have found other means. I and others have spent hours talking to strangers on the phone who have rung up with questions about faith and where God is in all this mess we are in. People have needed reassurance that there is more to this life which awaits us. The hugely increased numbers of baptism and funerals we have been asked to take reflect this search for faith in something bigger than ourselves. New people have joined us in worship and fellowship. The take-up of Rachel’s children’s and youth work reflects a sense of wanting to do the best for the next generation.

Worship is still provided by a reduced service pattern as we struggle to get through all the baptisms and weddings still outstanding from the lockdowns, as well as new ones which are constantly coming in. Only this week I have taken 8 more families onto the very long waiting list for baptisms. Thank you for your patience and support while we work through all this. We are saddened that about a third of our congregations still don’t feel able to come back to church, not only owing to the current still high covid levels, but also because they are older and perhaps physically not able to attend anymore. Others can’t always get as they now need lifts, having given up their cars or being less mobile.

Could you perhaps help on a rota to pick people up?

Pastoral Care has largely been done over the phone, email, Facebook messenger……, or by cards or notes through the door; but increasingly we are trying to visit people as well. We are more than willing to take Home Communions to those who need and would like them.

Discipleship has been encouraged by emailing out sermons, reflections, study notes….and by courses on Zoom. We did manage a good attendance at two Lent Course sessions at Doncaster Minster as we heard Bishop Pete talking about creation and its stewardship. Rachel has now launched a Start Course on Zoom and we are hoping to do an in person course called ‘Living in Love and Faith’ in the summer. Lastly, we have four candidates for Confirmation this year and we thank God for them!

Janet and Julia - sadly we lost these two very active members of the ministry team during the year and we miss them both very much. Janet was a great encourager and ideas person and Julia’s lovely voice and guitar playing have left a huge gap in our worship.

To conclude – did you know that, thanks to live streaming, we have had people joining us from across the world – Australia, Kazakhstan, and Dubai? A daughter was able to watch her mum get married, and family members or friends have been able to be godparents and make their promises with others. Well used, technology is wonderful so we are working on getting WiFi in church in the next few months to make it work even better for us!

Revd Canon Liz Turner-Loisel

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Activities of the Parish

Sadly many of our usual activities and groups have still not been able to start up again or meet in person for most of this PCC year. This includes our choir but watch this space!

However, things are beginning to change with the Games Café and Bridge Club being back on at the library and the church participating at the monthly coffee mornings now hosted at the library as well. The Bible Study and Fellowship group is also back in business.

Fundraising fairs have been held and have been very successful. Our thanks go to the stalwarts who organise them, to the stall holders and to all who buy from them and support their church in so doing.

Children and youth activities haven’t been as badly hit this year as last and it is wonderful to have the children and schools back in the building!

Coffee mornings are back on the agenda as are the times when the church is open for people to just ‘drop in’. As soon as we felt it safe to do so, we put on ‘Open Church’ after our Wednesday morning services and this is proving very popular, both for those who attend the service and for those who drop in during the morning. This is open to everyone so do call in for a cuppa and biscuits!

Lastly, our stalwart volunteers at the DN7 Foodbank have continued their support throughout the pandemic and we are so proud of them for the hours they have put in, always going the extra mile to help others. Well done!!

Revd Canon Liz Turner-Loisel

Bible Study and Fellowship Group

After the lifting of 'lockdown' restrictions in September 2021 our Fellowship Group were once again able to meet to begin our weekly meetings. We did have a number of missed weeks, due to hospital appointments, optician appointment and ill health and our group became more of a pastoral support group for each other.

We did a few studies from 1 Peter, Chapter 1-4, with a view of looking at the book of Jude later in the new year, as these are the lesser read books of the bible.

In October our group of 6 became a group of 5 as our dear friend Beryl Leary left the Hatfield area, to go and live nearer to her son.

In January we began to look at Matthew 5 verses 1-12 ' The Sermon on the Mount'. The aim of this book is simple, to help us to apply the message of this sermon, particularly the Beatitudes, to our lives. The question asked was what kind of people did Jesus call blessed and how should we live our lives

As things get easier (Covid) wise, and the weather is getting better, we can start thinking about going out for afternoon tea again, always a treat.

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If anyone would like to join our group, please contact Susan Spencer or Rev Liz for details. We meet on a Friday morning between 10am to 12 noon. You don't have to have a great knowledge and you might surprise yourself with what you know and what you are able to contribute to the discussions.

Susan Spencer Ladies Fellowship Group

Hatfield Community Library Games Activities

Once the library was able to open its doors to the public again, the "games" activities restarted.

Bridge on Monday 1pm until 3pm …..all levels catered for.

Tuesday 10am until 12noon, a variety of games on offer including mah-jong and a welcome tea or coffee and biscuit all for £1.00 .

Why not join us, even if you are not a great games enthusiast, it is a lovely sociable space and a reason to come out.

Vera

Parish Magazine

The magazine flows on month by month, and the contributors continue to send interesting and informative detail, and sometimes very humorous too. My great thanks to them, I know it’s yet something else they do which unites people; look at their names and you’ll understand, they are all people who include others.

Of course, the paper magazine continues to have an extremely important part to play in the communication of our church, particularly for those without internet links. In fact, because it was also passed on to someone else, there was a financial contribution to Rachel’s salary! So re-use, re-use, re-use, then recycle!

We were sad to say goodbye to ‘The Sign’, the magazine insert which we have bought in from ‘Hymns Ancient and Modern’ for many years. They kindly put it online FREE during the pandemic, but this has resulted in far fewer churches buying it and it has become financially a drain, so has stopped being published. Thank you for the years, A+M.

My personal thanks go to all the magazine contributors, but also to the small army of collators and distributors, please give them an extra big smile as it comes through your door or into your inbox. And, of course, all contributions are gratefully received on paper or by e-mail maghatfieldchurch@gmail.com

Chrissy Grindle, Editor

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Children’s Work Report

What a different year March 2021-March 2022 has been. After a year of lockdown ministry, 2021 finally saw the opening of in person activities. The most significant has been the launch of Little Lions Baby and Toddler Group and Hatfield Heroes Youth Group, ensuring that our ministry covers a broad range of ages from birth up to adulthood.

In person ministry has taken online acquaintances into real relationships and it's been a joy to be part of this process. New volunteers have joined the team whilst others have stepped back, and we have felt the deep loss of two of the foundation members of the children’s work team with the passing of both Janet Alick and Julia Halls this year. Their contributions will not be forgotten and we will attempt to let their legacy live on through us.

Thank you once again to everyone in the congregation, PCC and leadership team who have supported me this year, especially when difficult decisions have had to be made and calculated risks taken to further the children’s ministry during the ongoing background of the pandemic. Whilst it has been a challenging year it has been a very fruitful one, and here is summary of the main activities and outcomes of the past year:

Messy Church – we returned to meeting in person in September 2021, starting on a theme of “Celebration!” to make up for all the celebrations we missed last year. We have seen a very regular congregation of families come back to this in person and some new faces too. There are 223 on our Messy Church register, with 76 of those being active regulars.

Hatfield Heroes Youth – After Easter, when groups were allowed to reopen, we launched a monthly youth session on the Barn Field. In the summer they chose their name “Hatfield Heroes Youth” and requested the group go fortnightly. We have 18 young people that have connected with the group, with 14 of them coming regularly, and referrals of new young people from those who are enjoying attending. We secured a £400 grant in October to purchase bibles and games for the group, and we have started studying the book of Mark together from January 2022. In October we also attended the Doncaster Youth Hub Go Bounce Event with 8 of our young people. Thanks to Philippa, Carol and Jake for their help in leading this group.

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Summer Holiday Club – 48 children signed up to take part in our hybrid summer club this year, with activities taking place both online, at home and in person. The Family Thursday sessions on the Barn Field proved particularly popular with even more families coming down to take part ad hoc. We explored themes of science and faith, helping the children see that the two can work together. Activities included slime making, litmus testing, making diffraction goggles and parachutes for our teddy bears.

Schools – I was able to go into more schools in person this year and finished off the academic year by providing “It’s Your Move” Prayer workshops for Travis St Lawrence and Hatfield Woodhouse Primary Schools. We then started the 2021/22 school year with a bang by doing a Backpack Blessing Roadshow – Rev Gill accompanied me as we prayed over all the children in our 5 primary schools (over 1,000 children). I was then invited in to deliver RE lessons to all classes at Sheep Dip Lane Primary during the Autumn Term, and Crookesbroom pupils visited the church building in the Spring Term. It’s been a busy year for schools work, but one where relationships have grown and the children have really warmed to our input in lessons and assemblies.

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Special Occasions – Christmas was very special this year with the return of in person activities for our children. We ran a free crafts in church session, a Noisy Children’s Choir Workshop Day, the posada returned to travel around local families and the usual Christingle and Christmas Eve services returned. We altered things to accommodate COVID restrictions (Christingle bags to each family, online booking for events and restricted numbers) but many families were able to join us to celebrate. Christmas Eve was an ad hoc event with many children dropping out last minute as a result of COVID, others stepping in and our Youth narrating the service well.

Little Lions Baby and Toddler Group – After Easter 2021 we were able to launch Little Lions in person on the Barn Field as a “wild” toddler group. With other groups not having started back, we were fully booked most weeks with 15 adults and 15 children attending, plus a separate session for mums with babies. We grew our own runner bean tepee in the Barn field and had fun digging in the mole hills! Huge thanks to Susan, Helen and Jake for helping to get this off the ground. In September we decided to move the group inside the church for the winter time, and the children have enjoyed running around the building and exploring the space. We have only had one accident on the stone floor so far (a head bump) which was our major risk of moving inside. We were chosen as the local Co-op Store’s local cause from October 2021-September 2022 and they have been providing us with healthy snacks each week. Lots of great relationships have been formed with mums, dads and grandparents through this group and we pray it continues.

Pre-Loved Uniform Bank – With a permanent base for the uniform bank at Travis House (opposite Travis St Lawrence Lower School Site) we have been able to host fortnightly open sessions for families to come and purchase low cost pre-loved uniform. The 50p cost per items seems to be working well as those who wish to contribute more can, but the cost remains low for those who

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can’t afford it. We have rehomed over 1000 items of uniform and raised £507.41 from our fortnightly sales. Requests come in regularly and Donna has been an amazing support in keeping this running with me. In December we ran a “fill a bag for a fiver” campaign where families could get as much uniform as they wanted for £5.

I am sure I have missed out many things from this report, but the one thing that prevails is God’s hand in all of these activities. I look forward to carrying on serving the community of Hatfield and the church here in my third year as Youth, Children’s and Families Worker.

Rachel.ridler@centenaryproject.org.uk

07851 991286

Befriend me on Facebook for regular updates on my work - “Rachel Youthworker”

Project Manager’s Report

Hatfield St Lawrence Church Report from Rosh Milner

Introduction

I have continued in engagement on behalf of the PCC on project managing various pieces of work. This has been rewarding, interesting and at times challenging, but at all times the sense of

openness, partnership and common vision has been present as we seek to further the Lord’s work here at St Lawrence.

In last year’s report I outlined 3 priorities for work moving forward

I am delighted to present my report for the intervening year!

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Centenary Project

In the course of my line management of the CPW, the work has included processing expenses, fundraising, networking emails and phone calls and supervision. Rachel and her support group all enjoyed the Network day in March and, following that, we met to agree an action plan for the year.

During the second half of 2021 we were successful in securing sufficient income through donations to cover our contribution for Rachel’s salary. Securing ongoing funding for the year ahead is a key priority for Rachel and myself , especially as the percentage contribution to salary payable by the Church moves towards 100%. We have spent time looking at funding opportunities and working together to produce our ongoing funding plan.

We are so thankful for the sacrificial giving of families and friends and the successful grants we have secured for the post. Further Applications are in the pipeline to various grant funders as well.

We have been working together in the Parish Office for a few hours most Tuesdays.

Finance

Work continues under PCC guidance , and in close cooperation with our new(ish) Treasurer:-

Churchyard

It is pleasing to report completion of the handover of our closed churchyard for

maintenance. After lengthy negotiation with the Town Council and DMBC , the latter agreed in early 2022 to take it into their portfolio of Closed Churchyards, maintained by Street Scene Grounds Dept under a service level agreement with DMBC. We are thankful for the incredible and dedicated work of so many who have undertaken the churchyard maintenance for so many years , and we are looking forward to their continued involvement in the little extras that make our environment such a lovely place. We will be working in close partnership with DMBC going forward.

Quinquennial Inspection and Architect

I continue to lead in liaising with our Architect as we focus on Priority 1 items from our QI report.

Jonathan and Ruth Cooke of Stained Glass Conservation spent 2 days at the church in early

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October 2021 carrying out the Glass survey. Our Architect also visited on 1 of those days and also on Wednesday 6[th] October. We have received the element of the glass survey relating to the glazing and lead and await the completed survey, which is with the Architect for stone and masonry comments.

We are grateful to Hatfield Church Building Trust for providing a grant to cover the cost of this survey. Jonathan and Ruth Cooke were extremely impressed and moved by the quality of our Church building and have offered to assist in any way they can to raise awareness locally and also when we apply for grants in the future. Watch this space!

On the advice of our Architect The Hatfield Memorial slab in the vestry was removed for safety and transported for safekeeping by and to the workshop of Matthias Garn, Master Mason, in early February.

Over the Christmas holiday, we were blessed to have an offer of drone footage of the exterior of the church and tower interior. We liaised with the architect … and received some fabulous footage, especially of the upper storeys and roofs.

Diocesan Partnership

During the year we have built positive relationships with staff at the Diocese. As well as having an already close working relationship with those involved with the Centenary Project, we have met and continue to be supported by the Diocesan Digital Mission Enabler, the Giving and Generosity Officer and our Diocesan Buildings Officer. The latter is working closely with us, and the PCC, to establish St Lawrence as a Major Parish Church. She has also agreed to help us with our contacts with the DAC, with getting internet /broadband into the church and, on a grander scale, developing our plans for more major works and remodelling.

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What denotes a Major Parish Church?

Part of the work of the Church Buildings Council is to support churches in keeping open and sustainable and , with this in view, it has been looking at defining the different roles of buildings. Major Parish Churches (MPCs) comprise over 300 of the largest and most significant churches in England. A MPC has all or most of the following characteristics:

They are recognised as historically significant parish church buildings, facing a different scale of opportunities and challenges compared to the vast majority of other CofE buildings. As a result of their special functions, significance and potential, Major Churches are likely to require a higher level of attention from the Diocese and the Church Buildings Council,

Secondly and following on from the above:- MPCs are of such size and significance that having a Conservation Management Plan (CMP) for the building is strongly recommended. A CMP allows everyone to agree on the values and significance of the church and should be used to inform all decisions that affect the building, It can help in the success of grant applications, faculty applications, listed building consent and scheduled monument consent.

Work is currently underway on both avenues of development. Exciting times lie ahead!

I Know Church

We are now subscribed to an online Church Administration , database and Mission Suite.

This will allow all areas of our Church Community to work better together and more effectively. WE are slowly but surely getting to grips with it as a PCC and will in due course ‘ roll it out’ to the wider church family and community.

The online ticketing section and check in worked really well for those ticketed Christmas events!

Conclusion

I continue to enjoy the challenges raised and remain encouraged by the support and optimism for positive change that I have encountered from all quarters! Thank you to everyone who has been part of my work during the year in whatever guise!

Rosh Milner Project Manager

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Communications and Administration

Our thanks go once again to Jill McGarvie for the smooth running of the Parish Office and to the Endowment Trust which continues to fund it.

Chrissy has continued to provide us with an excellent magazine every month, with some wonderful contributions from church members. The collators and distributors also do a fantastic job behind the scenes and we couldn’t manage without you!

The Parish Office is now very well used by our Centenary Project Worker and Project Manager and we have started to hold small meetings again in the office, as well as marriage and baptism bookings, especially in the colder months when church is freezing.

Our digital presence continues to aid our paper communications with the magazine and weekly newsletters reaching a wider audience by email. Our Facebook page and Website are well used, with many baptism enquiries being made that way, and reminders are sent out about events and services which serve to jog memories about what is on and when.

Our service pattern is still a reduced one and, while a few people have said they don’t know when the services are, we do try our best to let people know in a wide variety of ways. Services and events are regularly advertised in the magazine and the newsletter, on posters around the church, sent out by email and are on Facebook and the Website. Sadly our noticeboard blew down in the wind but a funding plea to replace it was hugely successful and we will get a new and better one up as soon as we have the necessary permissions.

Lastly, in spite of our appeal in the last APCM booklet, we still don’t have a cleaner for the parish office. It would only take a couple of hours a week at the most. Any offers gratefully received – thank you in anticipation!! P.S: There is often a tub of biscuits and sweets to dip into while you work!! Revd Canon Liz Turner-Loisel

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CHURCH OF SAINT LAWRENCE HATFIELD ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING

to be held in St Lawrence Church on Wednesday 11[th] May 2022 at 7:30pm

St. Lawrence Hatfield PCC

Registered Charity Number 1127942

“The Diocese of Sheffield is called to grow a sustainable network of Christ like, lively and diverse Christian communities in every place which are effective in making disciples and transforming our society and God’s world”

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Introduction

The PCC is pleased to provide this booklet containing the annual reports in advance of the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) on Wednesday 11[th] May 2022 at 7.30pm at St. Lawrence Church, Hatfield. The reports have been written by representatives of the groups and committees and are once again a credit to all their hard work and dedication. We would like to say thank you for everything they have done again this year.

Please take some time to enjoy reading them before the meeting to learn about our achievements in 2021/22. This will also save us a great deal of time and allow for a more meaningful discussion to take place on issues which warrant more of our attention at the meeting. If you have any queries or comments to make, there will be ample opportunity during the course of the evening.

We hope that once you have finished reading this report you will be very impressed by all that is taking place and we hope it will provide you with some real food for thought!

It might prompt questions such as “is there anything I could be doing for my Church?” or “how can I support the church’s mission?” If it does, please speak to Revd Liz.

We trust that you will continue to pray for each other as we serve Christ in all that we do!

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ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING
Wednesday 11thMay 2022
AGENDA
ANNUAL MEETING OF PARISHIONERS
1. Welcome and Prayers
2. Election of Churchwardens
ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING
1. Apologies
2. Minutes of the Previous Meeting: Wednesday 21stJuly 2021 page 4
3. Matters Arising
4. Annual Reports 2021
a) Electoral Roll report since the last Annual Meeting ER Officer page 9
b) Annual Report on the proceedings of the PCC PCC secretary page 11
c) Safeguarding Report_Safeguarding Officer_ page 12
d) Financial Statements of the PCC for the year ending December 2021 page 13
PCC Treasurer + Independent Examiner
e) Annual Fabric Report_Fabric Officer + Wardens_ page 19
f) Deanery Synod Representatives page 40
g) Churchwardens’ Report Churchwardens page 41
h) Training Log PCC secretary page 42
i) Ministry, Worship, Discipleship, Pastoral Care Priest-in-Charge page 43
j) Activities of the Parish Priest-in-Charge page 44
k) Centenary Project Worker report
Youth and Children’s worker		 page 46
l) Project Manager report
 Project Worker page 49
m) Communications and Admin – magazine, parish office,
& online presence
 Priest in Charge
 page 53
5. Elections and Appointments 2021/2022
-
Parochial Church Council representatives
- Appointment of Independent Examiner
6. Address: Revd Canon Liz Turner-Loisel
7. Any Further Questions or Comments
8. Dates to Note
-
Date of the 1stmeeting of the PCC:
Monday June 6th2022
-
Date of the Archdeacon’s Visitation:
t.b.a
-
Date of the next Annual Meeting: t.b.a.
9. Closing Prayer
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APCM 2021 Minutes

Minutes of the Annual Parochial Church Meeting held at 7.30pm on Wednesday 21[st] July 2021 in Hatfield Church

ANNUAL MEETING OF PARISHIONERS 19.30

Present

Rev’d Canon Liz Turner-Loisel, Rev’d Joyce Barker, Vera Owen, Viv Stubbs, Beryl Adamson, Dianne Fox, Chrissy Grindle, Julia Halls, Ann Kitching, Glenys Mashford, Rosh Milner, Terry Raper, Anne Render, Rachel Ridler, Tim Sweed, Philippe Turner-Loisel, Stuart Watson.

Welcome and Prayers at 19.25

Rev'd Liz spoke about the story of the Living Water, which Rachel read from John 4, and the fear of Covid. We all have a need for the Living Water that lasts, and if we have that Water the fear disappears.

1. Election of Churchwardens

There were two nominations:

Vera Owen proposed by Viv Stubbs and seconded by Rev'd Joyce Viv Stubbs proposed by Terry Raper and seconded by Philippe Turner-Loisel.

As there was no vote necessary Rev’d Liz had pleasure in announcing that Vera and Viv would serve their sixth term of office.

This concluded the business of the Annual Meeting of the Parishioners.

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ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING

1. Apologies

There were apologies from Rev’d Gill Salter, Janet and John Alick, Gill Atkinson, Anne Dewsnap, Colin Grimsey, Mel and Anita Jepson, Jill McGarvie, Carol Rashid, Peter Render, Stephen Rivers, Susan Spencer and Cath Watson.

2. Minutes of the Previous Meeting – Wednesday 28[th] October, 2020

Rev'd Liz explained that the rules had changed to allow APCMs to be held until the end of May. She had asked for an extension as in 2020 our APCM was not until October.

This didn’t allow for the wardens to be admitted at the Archdeacon’s Visitation, so Rev'd Liz will ask the archdeacon when he is available to come to St Lawrence.

The minutes were agreed to be a true record by all who had been present .

3. Matters Arising

Point 4y) Thanks were given to Emily Grimsey who in “typical Grimsey” fashion had worked so well with others, and so hard, during her work placement year. Colin is now attending St Paul’s Wheatley since his move a few years ago and is on the PCC there.

Point 7 bullet point 7 - Mailchimp was given up as it was too complicated.

Point 7 last bullet point In this deanery, the Deanery Mission Areas are the same as Mission Partnerships in which church is where; we are still in the Flowing Waters area with Thorne, Stainforth and the Fishlake benefice.

Date of next APCM is Wednesday 11[th] May 2022.

4. Annual Reports 2020 - 2021

a) Electoral Roll report since the last Annual Meeting.

On October 28[th] 2020 there were 143 on the Electoral Roll. Freda Fielding has moved away so is no longer on the roll, four more have come on so it stands at 146. It has been on display for the last 14 days. We haven’t removed people for non-attendance this year due to circumstances.

b) Annual Report on the proceedings of the PCC.

PCC meetings changed to Mondays and have been held on Zoom, which is preferred by everyone.

To 1[st] February 2021 report part 2, point 2, please add that the handover to the local council is going ahead. A local man had cut the grass in the Barn field when it had got very long and has done it ever since.

c) Safeguarding Report

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No additional items.

d) Financial Statements of the PCC for the year ending Dec.2020

The official signed version from Faith Star is “in the post” but had been fully discussed. In answer to a frequent question Rev'd Joyce would like to point out that personal giftaiding is a “No” if something has been given in exchange: it is therefore not a gift. A whole-church giving campaign is on its way.

The Endowment Trust was formed – by Stuart Watson- when many small bequests given over the years were put together, where it could have been termed that they were left for the Mission and Ministry of the church. The Trust makes grants to the PCC for the running of the church with this in mind, but does not make those decisions for itself.

e) Annual Fabric Report

Thanks were given to Terry for his thorough and detailed report. The importance of having detailed reports was stressed, and for the PCC reports too.

There was an appeal for cleaners as the church opens up again, and for the Parish Office and the Barn. Rosh has a document of responsibilities.

f) Deanery Synod

There have been Diocesan Synod elections. Carol has finished her term of office on Diocesan Synod, so she is no longer on Deanery Synod.

g) Activities of the Parish

The Strawberry Tea and other events have brought in nearly as much money as our previous big events, so we must consider how we want to hold fund-raising events for next year.

h) Training log

We must take credit for the training we have done in the past months.

i) Churchwardens’ Report

Many thanks indeed to our churchwardens, particularly during this difficult time .

j) Ministry, Worship, Discipleship, Pastoral Care

We will return to this in a later part of the meeting.

k) Centenary Project Worker report

Rachel was licensed the last week before lockdown in March 2020, and she has adapted to circumstances wonderfully, the Science summer club being her latest venture! A huge thank you to her, especially since the younger children have been isolated, it’s wonderful to see them together. Rachel thanked everyone who has encircled her by prayer, on Zoom, and in so many other ways.

l) Project Manager report

Many thanks to Rosh for all she in doing, which includes being an excellent line-manager to Rachel.

m) Communications and Admin

Many thanks to the magazine team, and to deliverers particularly.

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The Parish Office is now used extensively. The porch was dangerous so was taken down. New cupboards are being filled with papers that need secure storage.

St Edwin’s safe will no longer be transferred to St Lawrence, however we are already using some of their silver, notably one ciborium. St Lawrence online presence has been extended in all sorts of ways, the website is used extensively, mainly due to Rachel.

----- Start of picture text -----
5. Elections and Appointments 2021/2022
----- End of picture text -----

----- Start of picture text -----
a) Parochial Church Council representatives
There are seven vacancies, with three nominations.
Of the remaining vacancies one is for three years, three are for two years.
Nominations are:
Rosh Milner proposed by Viv Stubbs seconded by Terry Raper
Terry Raper proposed by Viv Stubbs seconded by Rosh Milner
Karen Blair proposed by Rosh Milner seconded by Viv Stubbs
These posts are for three years.
----- End of picture text -----

Even though there are now less ex-officio members, the PCC

----- Start of picture text -----
b) Independent Examiner
We have used Faith Star for two years now, and Rev'd Joyce is very pleased with their
support.
It is proposed that we continue with Faith Star as our independent examiner.
Proposed Anne Render seconded Vera Owen.
6. Address: Revd. Canon Liz Turner-Loisel
----- End of picture text -----

Rev'd Liz asked us all to now read:

Pg 43, section j) Ministry, Worship, Discipleship, Pastoral Care

The Ministry Team is the whole church, including children. There has been lots of ministry going on through the time of Covid, both looking after and on the receiving end. In the wider world ministry is continuing too, in many ways, so many people are doing the work they have been called to. Whether they realise it or not the call is from God.

We are looking to re-open church with Covid still with us into the future, a really big challenge. There is a range of options about all decisions, taken politically or locally. Sheffield Diocese are continuing with their “Lights for Christ” as we emerge from the pandemic, we’re all still struggling in various ways. We must err on the side of caution. We had more attendees in November/December than we do now.

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7. Any further Questions or Comments

. Viv thanked Rev'd Liz for all her hard work.

8. Dates to note

b) Date of the Archdeacon’s Visitation: to be confirmed ( Since the APCM this visitation has been fixed for 22[nd] September )

9. Closing Prayer

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The Parish Church of Saint Lawrence, Hatfield: Registered Charity No. 1127942

ANNUAL REPORT 2021/2022

Introduction

In July 1997, the General Synod accepted Church Accounting Regulations which included the requirement that an Annual Report should be presented to the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM). This document was to inform parishioners of the proceedings of the Parochial Church Council (PCC) and the activities of the Parish generally, and was to be quite separate from the Statement or Address the Incumbent may wish to make to the meeting. The PCC must adopt the report before it is presented to the APCM and the Independent Examiner must see a copy before he can sign the Accounts.

Electoral Roll

4 names have been added and 6 have been removed

The roll was completed between Wednesday 13[th] April and Sunday 24[th] April and there are now 144 names on the new electoral roll.

The new roll will be on view at the back of church (next to the door) for 14 days prior to the Annual Parochial Church meeting on Wednesday 11[th] May 2022

Glenys Mashford, Electoral Roll Officer

Secretary’s Report

Legal matters:

The Church of Saint Lawrence is situated in the town of HATFIELD in the Ecclesiastical Parish of HATFIELD in SOUTH YORKSHIRE and is in the Deanery of Snaith and Hatfield. The situation of the Church is on Cuckoo Lane, Hatfield, Doncaster, DN7 6RX. The correspondence address is The Parish Office, 3 Vicarage Close, Hatfield, Doncaster, DN7 6HN.

The following people were members of the PCC during the month May 2021 – April 2022 and, as such, were therefore Trustees of the PCC:

Rev Liz Turner-Loisel ex-officio Priest-in-Charge, Deanery Secretary
Rev Gill Salter ex-officio Curate
Mrs Viv Stubbs ex-officio Church Warden, Reader, Safeguarding Officer
Mrs Vera Owen ex-officio Church Warden, Safeguarding Officer, Lay Chair
Mrs Beryl Adamson ex-officio Reader
Mrs Chrissy Grindle ex-officio PCC Minuting Secretary, Deanery Synod
Minuting Secretary (2020 - 2023),
Mrs Carol Rashid ex-officio Reader, Diocesan Synod (2019 – 2022)
Mrs Glenys Mashford ex-officio PCC Secretary Feb 2022, Deanery Synod Treasurer

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Elected lay representatives

Term of office ends 2022 Mrs Julia Halls Secretary + Electoral Roll Officer, deceased Dec 2021 Mrs Anne Render Assistant Treasurer Mrs Dianne Fox Mrs Anita Jepson Term of office ends 2023 Term of Office ends 2024 Mrs Susan Spencer Mr Terry Raper Buildings Officer + 3 vacancies Mrs Rosh Milner Project Manager Mrs Karen Blair Treasurer and Giving Secretary + 1 vacancy

The PCC (Powers) Measure 1956 states that the PCC “… is to co-operate with the Minister in promoting, in the parish, the whole mission of the Church – pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical.” The PCC seeks to do this to the best of its ability.

This is achieved through various sub - committees, ministry teams and fundraising groups:

Standing Committee: Priest-in-Charge, Curate, Churchwardens, PCC Secretary,
PCC Treasurer, Assistant Treasurer and Assistant
Churchwardens, Buildings Officer and Vice Chairman
Barn Regeneration Steering Group: Brian Adamson, Terry Raper, Tim Sweed, Revd Liz Turner-
Loisel with fundraiser, Vera Owen
Service Leaders Team: Priest-in-Charge, Curate, PTO Minister, Readers, Worship
Leaders and Churchwardens
Children’s Ministry: Rachel Ridler
Messy Church
Schools
Safeguarding Officer when appropriate
Pastoral Team: Priest-in-Charge, Curate, PTO Minister, Readers, Pastoral
Workers, Pastoral Visitors, (with ability to co-opt where
necessary)
Strawberry Tea: Vera Owen and other co-opted members
Garden Party: Maureen Scott, Hilary Dinsdale, Terry Raper and other
co-opted members
Harvest Supper: Vera Owen and other co-opted members

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Review of the Months July 2021- March 2022

The PCC met has 6 times and the Standing Committee has met once during this period and, owing to Covid restrictions, all these meetings were via Zoom. Minutes are kept at all meetings and our thanks for these go to Chrissy Grindle, our minuting secretary. The minutes are available to view in the Parish Office, once they have been approved by the PCC at the subsequent meeting,

The agenda is varied at each meeting and the following is a brief overview of what has been covered over the past few months. Much of the discussion is based around Parish Updates, under the subheadings of

a) Project Manager : in her role as Project Manager, Rosh has informed the PCC through verbal and written reports. These have included

b) Centenary Project Worker: Rachel has produced monthly updates and attended some of the meetings to ensure the PCC is well informed of her proposed activities and her achievements.

The youth group, Hatfield Heroes, sought PCC permission to use the Old Barn as a base and Rachel has been pro-active in ensuring that the actions re the proposed improvements are kept at the forefront of our meetings.

c) Fabric: Terry, with his invaluable store of knowledge about the fabric of the building, has worked with Rosh to keep the PCC informed on such issues as the glazing and building.

d) Old and New Barn: Obviously Covid has impacted on fundraising for the New Barn. Also, at present, the funds for both the Old and New Barns are kept in one account, (although itemised separately) However, in preparation for the next stage, the PCC has voted to set up a separate account for the Barn Regen, and the existing restricted funds will be moved into that.

e) Eco- church: The PCC has responded favourably to the implementation of ‘wilding’ in an area of the churchyard and to bird feeders. Recycling has been reorganised in the church porch (our thanks to the Hatfield Heroes for that.)

f) Deanery and Diocese: The PCC has received information on the Diocesan Synod, where delegates were informed that

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Revd Liz also fed back on a twinned Deanery meeting with Adwick in November where churches were asked to share any positives from the restrictions to church life and any concerns for the future.

g) Finances: Revd Joyce Barker ‘retired’ from the post of treasurer after the July APCM and the PCC gratefully accepted the offer by Karen Blair to take up the position. With Rosh’s support, there are now card readers in church with the aim to use them as much as possible.

h) Church services

The monthly service patterns have been established and agreed at each meeting, in line with the current Covid restrictions and Government/Diocesan guidelines at the time. Up to the present time (March 2022) the majority of the congregation to the regular services continue to use masks, hand sanitisers and social distancing; however the PCC did agree to the Chalice being reintroduced , on a voluntary basis, from Easter Sunday.

Events and Fundraising

Unfortunately, yet again, many of the major summer fundraising events could not take place There have been some very imaginative and successful fundraising ideas:-

These events do not happen by themselves and, on behalf of the PCC, I would like to thank everyone who works as part of the team that keeps Hatfield Church going.

I cannot end this report without paying tribute to our extremely hardworking and amazing PCC secretary, Julia Halls. It is hard to grasp that less than four weeks before she died, Julia was on a PCC Zoom meeting in her role as secretary. We thank God for Julia’s life.

Glenys Mashford PCC Secretary

Safeguarding

Most of the safeguarding training has continued online this year.

The major change for us is that DBS certificates have reverted to only lasting for three years. This will apply to new certificates.

New volunteers are most welcome after their safeguarding check has been completed.

The safeguarding policies from last year were up-dated and approved for this year’s use at the PCC meeting held on Monday 7[th] February.

Vera Owen Safeguarding Officer

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Finance

Treasurer's Report 2021 Accounts

Bank balances as at 31st December 2021

St Lawrence Hatfield PCC Account £23,559.61 St Lawrence Barn Account £55,083.28 St Lawrence Hatfield PCC Organ Fund Account £ 1,969.09

St Lawrence Hatfield PCC Account - 31267655

Reconciled Bank balance as at 31[st] December 2021 £23,559.61 Cheques not presented £ 635.87 Designated/Restricted - see table below £ 6,905.21 Available for PCC use £16,018.53

January 2021, unfortunately, saw the UK in lockdown again. This has impacted on the accounts for the year, with 2021 and 2020 not following the ‘norm’. Income from collections at services, weddings, baptisms and funerals were minimal for the first half of the year but have increased for the second half of 2021 as services began to resume.

Grants from the Endowment Trust towards the Centenary Project Worker salary (CPW) and the Parish Office Rent were gratefully received. The Endowment Trust has also agreed to issue a grant to the PCC towards cost of the Project Manager for 2021. The total cost for the PM for 2021 is £6,990.00. The ET has already issued a grant for £1,102.50 for January and February 2021 and has asked that we discuss at the PCC meeting the figure we would like to apply for from the remaining amount of £5,887.50.

We are also grateful to Hatfield Church Building Trust for the reimbursement of £1,070.00 for the cost of the Stained Glass Window Condition Report. A £500 grant from SDBF towards the Streaming Installation and a £1,000 DMBC grant towards a new PA system were also gratefully received.

CPW

I am pleased to say that monthly salary contributions and one-off contributions have increased during the second half of the year, raising enough to cover the CPW salary from July to December 2021 – the contributions have exceeded her salary costs by £191.36 which means we will not need to apply for a further grant from the Endowment Trust for 2021, the Endowment Trust have asked the PCC to consider refunding the ‘surplus’ to them. As previously reported a grant from the Endowment Trust of £911.54 was received in July to cover the shortfall for the first six months of the year. Hopefully, the contributions and one-off donations will continue at a similar rate although the cost for the CPW worker is set to go up in 2022.

Children + Family

Messy Church, Little Lions, Summer Club resources have seen an in-year surplus of £310.17. Adding the previous carry forward from 31[st] December 2020 of £3116.35 to this amount, gives a total of £3,426.52 to carry forward for Children and Family use.

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Designated/Restricted Funds

For Retreat £1,000
Heaters in Barn £ 300.00
Memorial Candle Stand £ 558.50
Blanshard Memorial £ 632.21
Chaplain Alter Cloth £ 500.00
Social Committee £ 457.87
Children + Family £3426.52 (£3116.35 C/f 2020
+ £310.17 2021)
Action Aid £30.11 (£20.11 c/f 2020 +
£10.00 2021)
Total Designated/Restricted £6,905.21

St Lawrence Barn Account - 41545140

Reconciled Bank balance as at 31stDecember 2021 £55,083.28
Cheques not yet presented £ 32.85
Available funds £55,050.43

This splits out to Barn Management £24,619.53, Barn Regeneration £30,463.75(restricted). The latter will be transferred to a separate new account.

In addition to the £10,000 DMBC grant received in 2020, two further grants were received in April 2021 from DMBC. The amounts received were £9,431.00 and £8,000. The opening Bank Balance as at 1st January 2021 was £39,829.25 (£9,945.50 Barn Management/£29,883.75 Barn Regen).

The closing bank balance as at 31[st] December 2021 was £55,083.28 (£24,619.53 Barn Management/£30,463.75 Barn Regen).

If you put the grants totalling £17,431.00 aside, it shows the Barn Management account is running at a loss. Hopefully, once the improvement work to the Barn is completed, it can be opened for bookings to generate income.

Bank charges

Unfortunately, the bank gave notice that they would begin charging for cheque and cash payments plus a £5.00 monthly fee from 1[st] November 2021.

We are thankful that everyone has been very positive and pro-active towards online banking as an alternative to cheque payments.

Even with this change to online banking the summary of bank charges for November 2021 of £21.34 will have an impact. Each cheque paid in or out of the account costs 40p and each £100 cash, paid in or out, is charged at 40p. Please could I ask members to bear this in mind, as most invoices can be paid by bank transfer rather than cheque, and it is a relatively easy process for Rosh and myself. Thank you.

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2021 2020 Notes
£ £
190507 190507
INCOME
Collections
Baptism £653.96
Funeral(PCC) £1,761.32 £1,036.00
Funeral(Charity) £2,461.24 £827.00 2020 for Funeral & Wedding
Services £4,551.25 £2,240.00
Wedding £134.91
Total Collections £9,562.68 £4,103.00
Donations
Cash Envelopes £5,567.00 £8,684.00
Bankers Orders £24,634.03 £21,032.00
Refreshments £111.20
Other £4,495.00 £4,645.00
Total Donations £34,807.23 £34,361.00
Fees (PCC)
Funeral £2,110.00
Wedding £1,321.00
Total Fees £3,431.00 £2,598.00
Fees For Passing On
to the Diocese
Funeral £8,351.00
Wedding £1,348.00
Total Fees £9,699.00 £6,300.00
CPW & PM
CPW Salary £2,679.00
CPW Resources £4,877.25 £5,185.00 2020 for Children & FamilyMinistry
PM Costs £0.00
Total Donations £7,556.25 £5,185.00

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2021 2020
Grants
HC BuildingTrust £1,070.00 £8,537.00
Endowment Trust £1,911.54 £10,938.00
Dunscroft Church £479.77 Remainder of bank balance on closure of church
SDBF £500.00
Robert Forster £200.00
Other £1,000.00 £571.00 2020 Hatfield Town Council (£200), Organ Fund (£296),
Barn Contribution to PAT(£75)
Total Grants £5,161.31 £20,046.00
Fundraising
Yard Trail £1,669.20
Plant Sale £1,121.87 £1,073.00
Garden Party £0.00 £350.00
Cake Sale /
Refreshments		 £342.35 £346.00
Uniform Sale £382.16
Band Concert £866.90
StrawberryTea £516.17
Autumn Fayre £2,091.78
Other £75.58 £9,952.00 2020 Diaries/Cards (£8), Flood Appeal for charity (£8,609),
General fundraisingfor charities(£1,335)
Total Fees £7,066.01 £11,721.00
Other Income
Magazine £889.20 £1,393.00
Altar Cloth £500.00 2020 Designated
Gift Aid £7,526.27 £6,610.00
Total Other
Income		 £8,415.47 £8,503.00
TOTAL INCOME £85,698.95 £92,817.00

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EXPENDITURE 2021 £ 2020 £
Common Fund
SDBF £40,008.00 £43,824.00
Total Common Fund £40,008.00 £43,824.00
Church Premises
Parish Office Rent £850.00 £850.00
Insurance £6,748.42 £6,741.00
Electric £977.86 £2,718.00
Gas £2,116.28 2020 Utilities combined
Water £42.60
Scheduled
Maintenance/Services		 £2,261.83 £2,508.00 2020 Security& Heating
Ad-Hoc Repairs £1,335.97 £1,192.00 2020 Building,Church Yard,Organ & Materials
Total Church Premises £14,332.96 £14,009.00
Vicarage Premises
Water Rates £522.83 £504.00
Total Vicarage
Premises		 £522.83 £504.00
Fees
SDBF £3,100.00 £6,946.00 2020 SDBF & Workers combined
Workers £5,515.29
Received on behalf of
other Churches		 £90.00
Total Fees £8,705.29 £6,946.00
CPW & PM
CPW Salary £2,604.86
Expenses(Direct) £430.95 £766.00
Expenses (Messy
Church)		 £1,433.32
Expenses(Children) £2,702.81 £4,422.00 2020 Children & Family
PM costs £6,741.30
Total CPW and PM £13,913.24 £5,188.00
Other Costs
Admin £2,318.42 £1,214.00 2020 Examiner Fees (£350), Online Set Up (£421),
Materials (£60), Misc Expenditure (£330), Gift Aid to
Barn
Reverend/Curate
Expenses
Magazine
Ministry
Mission
Licences
Paid to Charities
Total Other Costs
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
NET INCOME
Opening Bank Balance
Closing Bank Balance		 £631.55 £92.00
£1,392.20 £1,588.00
£921.42 £427.00 2020 Ministry & Mission combined
£247.46
£716.71 £655.00
£1,523.07 £16,610.00 2020 Flood Appeal (£11,334), Weddings/Funerals
(£1,608),Fundraising (£3,668)
£7,750.83 £20,586.00
£85,233.15 £91,057.00
£465.80 £1,760.00
£23,093.81 £21,333.81
£23,559.61 £23,093.81

Church Fabric Report 2021

Routine Maintenance & Cleaning.

Routine maintenance has been carried out on the clock (January 22), fire extinguishers (Sept). The church intruder alarm was serviced in October, and the roof alarm in April. The organ received its service in December, but the piano has not been tuned since 2019 (it is rarely used and has probably not been used since then). The heating system was serviced in November. The lightening conductor testing was carried out in March 2021, and as I write is due to be retested 26[th] March. All portable items of electrical equipment were ‘portable appliance’ tested in January 2020. The re-test is slightly overdue; but will hopefully be carried out shortly. The quinquennial fixed electrical inspection was carried out in April 2018 for both the Church and the Barn, and therefore is not due until April 2023. In lieu of an annual maintenance contract, church members have carried out some work themselves, inspecting and cleaning roofs, gutters, and drainage pipes, also emptying silt traps and cleaning underground drains and gullies during November, work that was previously carried out by contractors before 2018.

We had a visit from our insurers (Ecclesiastical Insurance) in January last year, re-assessing our insurance level. The agent was met by Vera, who answered all his questions. We received the report in February, nothing was noted as needing attention or review. The new insurance value has however risen to £16,375,000.00, which takes effect immediately. For your information, this value, is not the cost to fully rebuild our church should it burn / fall down. The assumption is, that this figure would provide enough to replace the roofs, the windows (glass), the interior fittings and doors, and to re-build the top 2 ft of the walls, at eaves level, should we be unfortunate enough to be destroyed by fire. It is assumed that most of the stone structure will survive and require only minor repair. To fund this valuation, E.I gave us an “indication” that our revised premium will rise to £6899.64; though this would not take effect until 2022, as we had only just renewed our policy for 2021. This “indication” suggests a rise of £150.00 above our previous renewal figure, which was around £6750.00 for 2021. This means that our building & contents insurance policy alone, currently costs us £575.00 per month!

Unfortunately, our regular, fortnightly interior cleaning still has not taken place again this year, as a result, our church has started to suffer. Some cleaning has taken place, on a semi-regular / ad-hoc basis, and this has been borne largely by our Churchwardens working alone. Our grateful thanks need to go to them for trying to keep on top of things.

As our public services have returned, albeit not yet back to pre-covid levels, the cleaning rota ought to be revived. Previous teams were made up of 2, 3 & 4 members, each team expecting to clean the whole church 6 times per year. Unfortunately, we have lost some of those previously loyal members through death over the last couple of years; and those who remain are obviously still desperate for more help as we all get older. I would therefore like to appeal yet again for new members to join the group and expand the now extremely small but hardworking and dedicated team. If anyone feels they could raise an additional team, this would be greatly appreciated, and would make the task less frequent and thus easier on all the existing teams, – please contact either of your Churchwardens. Whenever you are in church, please help us by helping to clean up any spillages / food as soon as possible, also important towards discouraging mice from entering and staying in our church.

Vandalism, General Repairs & Minor works.

Fortunately, we have had NO known, serious incidents of vandalism to the church or the churchyard again this year. The Barn, its garages, and the Parish Office have also escaped any malicious acts of theft and damage this year too. The only thing I could report, was a possible theft attempt on one of the lightening conductor down tapes, which Philippe discovered had been pulled away from the wall a little. This took

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place, at the end of February 2021. The damage wasn’t thought to be serious, the conductor was pushed back into position, and the recent test result didn’t suggest a problem. Items receiving general / minor repairs, that I know of in 2021, included the following: -

In February, Philippe re-fixed the electric socket to the wall which was loose (nearest to the South Door), and swapped the double socket (North Aisle, adjacent to the Transept), after one of those sockets had stopped working. The toilet door handle was replaced in June after it came off in someone’s hand. The tower fire extinguisher has been replaced following the latest inspection visit in February – (it was very old). Other minor repairs may have taken place this year, completed by some of our members, and these may not have been recorded anywhere in this report if I have not been made aware of them. Never-the-less we are grateful for all help in these matters. These would include general lighting / lamp replacements, woodworm monitoring, vacuum cleaner repairs etc.

Quinquennial Inspection (Q.I.).

I have previously reported that in 2019, we had appointed a new architect, Mr. Andrew Boyce, of Ferry & Mennim, Architects of York; and I also reported that our quinquennial inspection had been completed on 21[st] August 2019, and a full Q.I. report received on 18[th] November 2019. I have also given a detailed summary of how this report was written and organised, listing some of the major statistics, the recommendations, suggested repairs, and their respective priorities. If anyone would like to see a copy of this comprehensive document, please ask.

I also explained last year, how the next step of having a meeting with our new architect to discuss the report, had been delayed through Covid restrictions, and hadn’t happened until a zoom meeting was held with the architect ahead of the November 2020 PCC meeting. Following this meeting then, we had drawn up a project plan to list some of the actions and priority tasks we had decided upon. Some tasks were relatively easy to close out, such as seeking confirmation & dates of the asbestos survey, tree surveys, fixed electrical inspections etc, and an update to our list of church contractors. These have been completed, however will continuously need to be revised, whenever details change.

That meeting had also decided that we needed to commission a full glazing survey for the church, to determine the condition and priority of each of our windows, so that we could push that forward as an acceptable project. Further down on the plan (not necessarily in importance; but in achievability at that time), there were some inspections and potential repairs to some roofs, re-seating of the flagpole, modifications to the flagpole fixings, and repairs to the Belfry window guards.

As I write in March 2022, our progress has been on the glazing survey, and those other items have not moved forwards. I have however twice made temporary repairs to the Belfry window guards following storm damage, and thus the renewal of these really needs to happen this coming year. In addition to the glazing survey work, we have also organised the removal of a potentially dangerous wall monument and held some discussions around re-ordering.

The Glazing Survey & Report.

I reported last year that we had begun to organise the glazing survey. We had sought and been advised by our architect of three accredited contractors who could carry out our survey. Over Christmas 2020, I had created a draft plan of the church windows in line with industry standard notation as sent to us by Andrew our architect. In March, Rosh sent the draft plan off to 3 glaziers to request a quotation, and responses were received in April. In fairness, only one of the companies responded positively, and had discussions with Rosh, prior to sending their quotation. This company were Jonathan & Ruth Cooke Ltd of Ilkley, who proposed to do the initial survey and report for £850.00 +Vat. The PCC endorsed a recommendation to use this company for the survey in April 2021.

As the glaziers were busy with another project, a zoom meeting was arranged in August to discuss further details about our survey. This meeting included Rosh, Andrew the architect, Jonathan & Ruth Cooke, and

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myself. The initial plan was to come over a 3-day period, (Friday 1[st] , Monday 4[th] & Tuesday 5th October), to view each of the windows from ground level or step ladder where accessible, and to view upper windows using binoculars. Notes could be made on the template I had provided, and a standard report issued from that. It was also planned that myself and Rosh would meet with the Cookes on the first day, and Andrew would come through for the second / third day. Unfortunately, the visit on Friday did not happen due to the fuel crisis in September, although the Cookes were able to find fuel to come on the Monday & Tuesday.

In preparation for the survey, I had revised and completed the draft plan of our windows, to now include the upper-level individual record sheets.

The full plan is made up of a ground floor plan of the church, plus side and end elevation views, on which each individual window is shown, numbered and has a small line drawing showing the shape and make-up of the window. At the same time as doing the plan, I had also created an individual record card for each window. This again showed the location and gave the appointed number of that window. It showed a line drawing and a Photograph of that window, and gave space to write notes about the condition of the glass, leadwork, stonework, and window guards etc, and had space to record inscriptions / dedications, and any other known information, such as artist & installation date etc.

The survey itself then went very well. All the windows were viewed, and notes taken. Jonathan and Ruth proved to be very knowledgeable on all things-stained glass, and we were very impressed with their expertise and their enthusiasm. For their part Jonathan and Ruth were also very impressed with our church in general, and with some of the windows. For those that read it, Ruth wrote a very nice feedback note which I believe made it into the January 2022 church magazine. They were also kind enough to send us details of a couple of funding organisations where we might be able to get funding towards our window repairs. The full report from Jonathan & Ruth Cooke was received on the 12[th ] of October, and comprised a written summary of findings, 41 electronic folders, (one for each of the identified windows), each of which contained a varying number of photographs of that specific window; and the detailed notes about each window entered onto the spreadsheet template which I had provided.

From the summary report then, the major points are as follows: -

The North Vestry, Clerestory and Tower clear windows, are all from the 1872 restoration re-glazing. Their condition is generally poor, and the upper-level glazing is “of concern”, this is because the lead has aged and cracked. The condition on the North Aisle is marginally better than that on the South due to the relative exposure. The clear glazing to the South Chapel, and the West wall of the South Transept is from a 1960’s / 1970’s re-glazing; and is sound. The stained-glass windows are in relatively good condition glazing wise, the South Aisle West window (sXII) is in the worst condition and our Chancel East window should be monitored. The South Aisle window (sVIII) and North Aisle (nX) are in reasonable condition glazing wise; but are likely to need removal to effect urgent masonry repairs. A small internal window within the tower stairwell, was noted as being in very poor condition and could present a risk of loss or injury. This has been recommended for urgent removal.

A copy of the report has been passed onto the architect, for him to add his own notes about the stonework. When these come back, hopefully we will be able to establish the urgency and respective priorities of each window and to draw up a programme of repairs. Obviously, we would like to be able to get on with the repairs as soon as is practically possible. This coming year then, we will need to re-double our efforts in getting the appropriate specifications, quotations, and faculty approvals

to achieve this. We will also seek to gain further funding towards our repairs, from those organisations advised by Jonathan & Ruth, in conjunction with the H.C.B.T. and the Friends.

The Hatfield Church Building Trust have been requested to pay for the window survey, and the trustees have promptly agreed to this; – Cost £850 + vat which I believe has already been re-paid.

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Church Re-ordering – Removal of Unfixed Pews.

Since the quinquennial inspection, throughout the covid period, and moving into the period when the church was starting to open up again, we had been thinking about how the church could be better used for our children’s work, which had continued to do well whilst most other activities had stalled. We had already been thinking a little about a long-term re-ordering plan, which would need serious thought, planning, design, approvals and of course funding. It occurred to us, however, that the back, and side aisles of our church could be made far more user friendly if we were to dispose of some of the free-standing pews. This would be reasonably easy, require no funding and no design as such, would still require permissions (faculty), but the result could have a dramatic impact on the practical use of the building. Many of these pews are also quite wobbly and rickety.

When the idea was first hatched in April, Rosh spoke to the then interim DAC Secretary; who was very helpful, and said that they could be disposed of, but we would need to apply for a faculty; with a full statement of significance (highlighting the historical impact), and a full statement of need (highlighting the current needs of the church and the impact the change would have on our mission). To do this properly we would need to know how old these pews were, and when and where they came from.

Some of our oldest members were asked what they knew, and various differing possibilities were proffered. Some thought they may be original to our church, prior to the 1872 restoration. Some thought maybe they had come from our South Chapel (which now has individual chairs). Some thought they were transferred from another local chapel. There are a few options here. The old Wesleyan Chapel across the High Street was sold and eventually turned into a house in the 1980’s (I remember the PCC having discussions to take it on as a church hall. This didn’t happen – we couldn’t afford it, but I am sure no pews were transferred from there. They could have come from the Primitive Methodist Chapel, now the “Scout Hut”, not sure when that closed. There was also the Ebenezer Chapel, and the Old Wesleyan Chapel in Hatfield Woodhouse, both of which were demolished in 1967 / 68 to be replaced by the new Methodist Church. Unfortunately, our members most likely to know the truth are no longer with us. Rosh and Liz sent out emails far and wide trying to ascertain where the pews had come from, even writing to Katie Greathead, whose father was the Vicar in the 1960’s. Katie was confident that those pews were definitely in Hatfield Church when they arrived in 1961 and was of the opinion that they had been there for many years before that.

DAC Inspection – 10[th] August.

In July, Rosh and Viv attempted to fill in a faculty application for the removal of some of the free- standing pews from the South Aisle and the West End, using the new on-line template. This application led to a visit / meeting with Mrs Sylvia Johnson (DAC Vice Chair) & Mr Paul Beckett (Surveyor) from the DAC on 10[th] August. They met with Liz, Gill, Viv, Vera, Rosh & Rachel. The meeting was primarily to discuss the application to remove the free-standing pews, and to have a general look around. They stayed for a few hours! The delegation from the DAC were shown the various pews in question, and it was explained that many were unstable, and in a poor state of repair. They enquired of our plans going forwards, how the freed-up space would be used, what sort of things was the church being used for at present, and how would it benefit from the extra space created. They were also updated on our attempts to find out where these pews had originated. They then spent a period trying to determine whether the pews could have originated from somewhere within our church, pre-dating the fixed pews currently installed. This they did by measuring them and trying the various measurements in other locations around the church. They tried the North & South Aisles and Transepts, the Chancel, and Nave, and the South Chapel. The pews didn’t appear to fit anywhere well; other than possibly the South Chapel, where possibly 6 could have fitted. This possibility would also have been dependent upon the location of the Altar at that time, which may not have been where it is now.

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At the end of the meeting, we were advised that we might still be able to dispose of some of the pews (but not the one with a carved end); although we would need to put in a full faculty application, with a strong statement of significance, and a strong statement of need, highlighting the benefits. We would need to consult with Historic England, the Victorian Society, and the Georgian Group about the disposal, and we should search through DAC files, The Registry, and Doncaster Archives for any information or photos which might show these pews in location, or otherwise prove where they came from. We should also seek further advice from our architect. Liz was also told that she would need to do a liturgical statement to say how the church is currently used and explain the benefit of clearing the space.

The meeting also discussed various items which had come from the now closed, St Edwin’s Church Dunscroft, and which we were seeking to apply for a faculty to keep at St. Lawrence Hatfield. These items included 17 pink upholstered chairs, (now housed in the South Chapel), a safe, a legilium, the war memorial & some silver communion ware. We were advised to put in one faculty for the transfer of the items from Dunscroft, and a separate faculty for the pew removal.

Following this, the DAC members returned to write all this up into a report, which would go before the full DAC at their next meeting on 14[th] September. After that meeting, Rosh attempted to update an earlier draft statement of significance, and statement of need; with a view to putting them in alongside a revised faculty application. The desire was for them to be in front of the DAC for their October meeting. Towards the end of September however, a copy of the DAC’s report was received, and it was decided to delay the whole application process while more information could be gathered.

Architect’s Visit – 5[th] October.

As previously stated, Andrew, our architect came during the window survey, primarily to look at the stonework of the windows. Whilst he was here however, we took the opportunity to talk to him about our plans to remove some of the pews, and to talk more generally about re-ordering.

Regarding the pews then, after much discussion we reached a conclusion that they might have been assembled by cobbling together earlier seating and panelling, with the pew ends being added. There was a possibility that they may have originated from the galleries or furniture removed in the 1872 alterations, or the 1882 restoration, and that technically it did not matter where or when they came into the church; we needed a faculty to dispose of them. Andrew also repeated the DAC advice that we should not dispose of those pews where the ends displayed a date or carving. The suggestion was that we should build up a good mission plan, to do a more comprehensive re-ordering scheme, and to remove the pews as part of the wider faculty. He also said that there should be no need to consult the Victorian Society as they are not Victorian! Additionally, the suggestion was made, that we might be able to incorporate some of the redundant pews into the additional storage, which we were seeking, and hoping to site along the South and North walls. Andrew spoke briefly to Vera about some storage units he was working on for another church, and about the incorporation of ‘History Cabinets / displays’ too. Additional items discussed included: - Rood Screen restoration: Andrew suggested a conservation clean would be the best term to use and would be sufficient.

Monitor / display screens on pillars: Andrew suggested contacting the Vicar at Hook who could help us look at what we wanted. We also mentioned the possible replacement / upgrade of the whole P.A. system to include video & streaming capabilities etc. Potential removal of the front Choir Stalls: Andrew suggested if we just moved the foot / book stands that would make the seating more comfortable. Kitchen and Vestry areas - making them fit for purpose by updating and adding storage: A general discussion on the subject took place. Loads of ideas, many are possible, but we need to list and prioritise our requirements.

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Safe from Dunscroft. Our initial plan was to take in the safe from Dunscroft, and to place it with the others. Andrew asked what it was for? is it to replace the ones there or in addition? subtly he was asking were we having it because we can, or because we really need it. Andrew said that he thought the floor wouldn’t stand the weight of all the safes. We know it will be difficult to remove from Dunscroft, to transport to Hatfield, lift up the steps, and finally re-arrange it so that the largest was on the bottom. It has subsequently been decided not to use it; and the additional Dunscroft silverware is now in a safe place at Church House.

Candle Stands – We were intending to purchase a couple of memorial candle stands which the PCC would like to install. Andrew said that these would be a “List B” item and said that he would advise as to whether the DAC are likely to accept our chosen model. Rosh agreed to send a picture of the chosen candle stands for him to advise.

The Floor around the Font: This concerned us as the flag stones there are shaling quite significantly. Andrew however was not too concerned, he said that it was probably to do with the damp from the Font (which just soaks away under the floor). He suggested that we shouldn’t do anything specifically (i.e., don’t replace it). This would just look worse, and the problem would probably repeat. He advised trying to give the area a wide berth when moving chair trolleys.

The Hatfield Family Wall Monument.

Whilst visiting our church during the glazing survey (5[th] October), Andrew our architect was also there to answer additional questions from us, and to give advice about the future re-ordering of our church; and to do that he had another general look around. During this look round, he noticed and was particularly concerned about one of the wall monuments housed in the Vestry. His concern was that the fixings were heavily corroded and split. Some of the side fixings had caused the stone to crack in a few places, and in his opinion; it was in a perilous state, and in danger of falling. He advised its removal as soon as possible.

The monument in question is to the Hatfield family, mounted on the North wall of the North Chapel (the Choir Vestry to us). This is one of the more significant monuments within our church, and is described in our “Graded Buildings – Listing Description” thus: -

“North Chapel: standing monument to John Hatfield (d1698) also wall monument to the Hatfield family, John (d1767), Susannah (d1765, et al, in the tori of an aedicule with broken pediment beneath flat obelisk with cartouche”.

In fairness, this monument has been in a poor state for many years. The Flat obelisk and much of the scroll work and columns that made up the Pediment, these had all been removed 20+ years ago, and were stored close by within the choir robe store, leaving mainly the main inscribed tablet and some of the pediment base remaining.

Following the visit, Rosh chased Andrew for recommendations and a quote. Andrew obtained a quote for the monument’s removal which came to us on 29/11/21. He had contacted Matthias Garn, a master mason from York, who subsequently gave us the quotation. The initial quote was for £550.00 + vat to remove the monument from the wall, return it to their workshop and to carry out minor repairs in preparation for it to be re-fixed. £500.00 + vat was quoted for the re-fixing of the monument (like for like) using stainless steel pins, and an additional “arising work” rate of £250.00 + vat per day for any additional repairs as required. Consideration was given as to whether the monument could be removed, repaired and re-fixed before the new year, but this was decided to be un-realistic. The important thing was to remove it, and conserve it as soon as possible. This could be done in advance of a faculty, with special permission from the Archdeacon. This was the course of action recommended by the architect.

In response to Andrew’s advice, the PCC were immediately notified of the situation and of the quote received; and the vote to take down and remove the monument was passed 29/11/21, by e-mail vote.

The Archdeacon was also contacted to give his approval, which was to follow within a couple of weeks.

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We were given an initial date for the removal as 21[st] December, but this was later postponed through being too close to Christmas. In January, Rosh sought some suitable dates in early February for its removal, trying to work round services & funerals, and the 8[th ] of February was chosen as the preferred date. Due to its location; size and weight, it was obvious that the monument couldn’t be removed safely without first clearing the Vestry in preparation. We were also worried that the removal might create a lot of dust, which might affect the organ, so we decided to try to protect it with polythene sheets again (as we had done when the Chancel roof was replaced following the lead theft in 2011). The Churchwardens and a team of various individuals steadily cleared the Vestry. The Choir robes were moved out of their store, (many went home to be washed). The box of previously removed parts and the Obelisk for the Hatfield monument were taken from the Choir robe store and moved to somewhere safer to await the rest of the monument. The filing cabinets, hymn book cupboard, chairs and pew were temporarily re-located out of the way. The Vestry side of the organ was then draped in the polythene sheet. Finally, the old Altar-frontal cupboard was dismantled. It couldn’t be moved, as it was securely fixed to the wall – directly under the monument to be removed. The monument was finally removed on 8[th] February, by Matthias Garn, and is now back at their workshop undergoing some minor repairs.

Many thanks to all those who helped to make this happen, the monument is now removed and is safe.

Currently then, there are no plans to rush into putting the monument back up. In the first place, a full faculty application is likely to be needed. We have a quote to simply repair the tablet / pediment as recently removed. We will need a revised quote for the full repair including all the repair / replacement of the additional parts removed may years ago. We may be able to apply for grant funding towards the cost of the repair and re-instatement. There has also been some talk of potentially re-siting the monument into a more prominent position. Whatever the position, there may well be a requirement to repair the receiving wall first. We will have to consider all these options and decide how to proceed; and then make our applications on that basis.

Drone Photographic Survey of Church.

Towards the end of November, Stuart Watson was reminded of a conversation he had had with Gill Atkinson, whose grandson owned a drone. He had apparently offered to take some aerial photographs of our church at some point if we wished. This was generally received as being a good opportunity, so Stuart organised it. The survey then was done on 27[th] December by Martin Atkinson, with Stuart, Philippe, and Rosh in attendance. The resulting photographs were then sent to us as a drop box file on 31[st] December. A total of 110 pictures were taken, 68 externally and 42 internally. The external pictures generally are overviews of the various roofs, and shots of the upper tower, Belfry windows and clock. The internal photos are generally of the stonework inside of the tower, including the large Lantern Windows. The quality of the individual photographs is generally very good, and good detail can be seen when viewing them full size, not with-standing that they were quite generic and no “Specific targets” were set. This certainly proves the idea, and should we need additional “specific shots”, these could I am sure be obtained.

There were no shots of the internal roof beams, and this is presumably because the camera was not pointing upwards at the time. It would be interesting to know whether this would be possible, and whether the lighting level would be sufficient to see the beams properly. Maybe next time. Thanks again to Martin, and to Stuart for organising.

Major Parish Church Designation.

On December 13[th] , Rosh met with Eliot Hyliger the Diocesan Digital Mission Enabler and with Viv Cooling via Zoom. Viv is our Diocesan Buildings Officer. This meeting was primarily to talk about Internet & IT related plans. Following that meeting, Viv had offered help in all things building related, and Liz and Rosh had a further on-site meeting with Viv in the Church and Parish Office on January 18th. They were able to

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share something of our plans and vision for the future mission and ministry of our church, and some of the frustrations and barriers we are experiencing. Viv agreed to help us with the DAC to get internet /broadband into the church, and on a larger scale to help develop our plans for more major works and reordering. As part of these discussions, Viv suggested that Hatfield St. Lawrence should be put forward as “A Major Parish Church”, because she thought that we met all the criteria, and it would be helpful for us.

As part of the Church Building’s Council work to support keeping churches open and sustainable it has been looking at defining the different roles of its buildings.

Major Parish Churches (MPCs) comprise over 300 of the largest and most significant churches in England.

An MPC has all or most of the following characteristics: -

MPCs are recognised as historically significant parish church buildings with a different scale of opportunities and challenges faced, compared to the vast majority of other CofE buildings.

Major Churches are likely to require a higher level of attention for the Diocese and the Council due to their special functions, significance, and potential.

The above information was explained to the February PCC meeting, at which Viv was a special guest for part of that meeting on zoom. She recommended that the PCC apply to become a Major Parish Church, which the PCC agreed at the same meeting.

On our behalf, Viv has spoken to the new Diocesan Advisory Committee Secretary, Simon – who has asked her to prepare a paper to support our application.

Secondly and following on from the above: - MPCs are of such size and significance that having a Conservation Management Plan (CMP) for the building is highly recommended.

A CMP allows everyone to agree on the values and significance of the church; and should be used to inform all decisions that affect the building. It can help in the success of grant applications, faculty applications, listed building consent and scheduled monument consent.

At this point we have had no decision yet, and I am not even sure that the formal application has gone in yet, however should consent be granted, then this can only be good for us, for all the reasons listed above.

The Hatfield Church Building Trust & The Friends of the Hatfield Church Building Trust.

This year, Hatfield Church Building Trust have kindly agreed to pay for the glazing survey, at £850.00 +Vat, and for the Clock service, at £180.00 (for which they apply for an annual grant from the Town Council).

The Hatfield Church Building Trust kindly informed us in 2019, that approximately £30,000 was “available” for us to spend on projects that year, presumably this is still available to use, when those projects are finalised! I again need to mention the work of the Hatfield Church Building Trust, and of the Friends of the Hatfield Church Building Trust, who work so tirelessly to raise money to fund most of our major project expenses. I should again like to pay tribute to so many members of our church, and those from the General Public, who continually support their fundraising efforts throughout the years. Without their help, it is unlikely that we would be able to achieve half of what we do to improve and maintain our magnificent building.

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Bridgett Conservation Church Maintenance Programme.

Some of you may remember that in between 2014 and 2017, we employed Bridgett Conservation (Building Restoration) Ltd from Tickhill, to carry out an annual inspection of our roofs, eaves and parapets, roofing gutters, fall pipes, gullies, and underground drainage pipes, and to clean / clear them of any leaves & other debris. The programme did cost around £300.00 + vat per year. You may also remember that we did not reemploy them since 2018, because of the problems we had faced in 2016/2017, with some of the repairs, and the availability of Bridgett’s who had seemed extremely busy during those years, and we had found them difficult to contact.

Since 2018 then, we have carried out some of this work ourselves and have cleaned and examined some of the roofs and gutters of the church, and the surface gulley’s & underground drainage pipes. Unfortunately, the clearing of roof gutters & down pipes has not occurred during 2021, having last been done in Dec 2020. Philippe has previously taken the opportunity to clear some of the gutters & inspect the roofs, whilst the roof alarm contractor was servicing our roof alarm, however this has been missed this year. We still need to check and clear the roofs, gutters & fall pipes, which will require a small team. We are hoping to be able to repeat & complete this task again in the coming year. The silt traps and underground drainage pipes and gullies have however been cleaned out again in November 2021, thanks to Philippe & Stuart. The Architect Liaison Group had intended to discuss at length with our new architect, whether to try to renew the maintenance contract with Bridgetts, or to go with an alternative, however this too hasn’t yet been discussed.

Microphones, Sound System, Hearing Loop & Digital Broadcast.

The P.A. system has seen more use this year, than in 2020. Earlier in the year we were plagued again by the dreaded buzzing/humming of a difficult to track down earth fault. Philippe spent many hours trying to track it down, cleaning many connections, re-soldering some cable joints, and swapping some of the cables. He has eventually been successful, and the system is quieter again, although we are currently running without one of the amplifiers which seemed to be causing the hum.

In December Philippe replaced the sound mixing desk after the old one gave up (after more than 30 years of reliable service). Recent, additional maintenance to the P.A. system, has included Philippe cleaning the heads of both CD players, and replacing the Pulpit and Lectern microphones with new ones.

I told you last year, that lockdown had pushed us, rather than led us into more recorded and on-line services. We saw the potential, the successes, and the problems / pitfalls that we had with these types of service, largely recorded on mobile phones. In the future, we want to go bigger and better in that direction, recording and livestreaming our services, building upon, as well as maintaining, the variety of live services that we do. I reported last year that the Diocese had backed us with a grant of £500.00 to fund digital recording and transmission equipment. This first £500.00 received in April, was largely spent on a laptop and the appropriate software, however as it was match funding; we also spent on a variety of stands and a motorised pan & tilt, and insurance etc. We have also been looking to get a mobile for the church, to link with a wireless modem so that we don’t need to install a physical internet connection to the church. We had intended to be able to livestream the Memorial Service in November this year, but in the end decided to postpone, as we didn’t want to rush in the purchasing of this new equipment. In December we were advised by the Diocesan Digital Enabler to get a “Reliable and affordable internet connection” for our church. We were also told that Rachel had received a £1000.00 grant to upgrade the technology within the church. This was extremely fortunate, as it was immediately used the replace the sound mixing desk for the P.A., which had suddenly failed. Plans are afoot to spend the remainder of this grant on a new projector, a remote controlled, electric projector screen, and new swan-necked microphones, as well as the required Internet connection.

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One of the biggest things we do still need is a team (or willing individual!), to operate this technical equipment properly for us. If you or someone you know would like to volunteer to help to record and broadcast our services for us, then please contact Liz or the Churchwardens.

The Church Clock

Our church clock is annually maintained, and generally runs trouble free. It has just been re-serviced on 10/01/2022, and indeed has not caused much trouble this last year, other than the usual; needing to be corrected following power cuts.

I told you last year, how our clock has been maintained for a long time by a company called Smith of Derby, since they took over the company William Potts of Guildford, who installed it in 1956. I also said that we had been contacted by another company Time Assured, from Mansfield, who offered to maintain our clock a little cheaper than the current contractor. The quote (February last year) was however, a little confusing, as it seemed to describe a clock with two faces, and more complicated workings than ours. Whilst we were in no hurry to change from our current contractor, they had always been very reliable; we did attempt to get a proper quote from Time Assured and tried to seek a reduction from Smith of Derby. Whilst clock maintenance is a specialised task, the annual maintenance of our clock usually consists of an examination, a light clean & oil, and little else.

Unfortunately, Smith of Derby said that they couldn’t offer any reduction, and we didn’t receive any sort of reply from Time Assured. Consequently, we decided to stick with our trusted, regular contractor, who returned to service our clock in January this year, despite the delay caused by the investigation. (The clock service had been due end of September).

The Church Organ.

Our church organ is supposed to be bi-annually maintained by Malcolm Spink of Leeds.

Under normal circumstances the two services are planned to occur in June / July and again in December. Neither of these services occurred in 2020, and similarly the summer 2021 service was also cancelled. Like our P.A. system, our church organ had seen no use at all during the periods of lockdown, and little use during the periods of restricted services in 2020. All through 2020 and into early 2021, despite a long-term hope, the prospect of re-opening the church to bigger and more public services never really got any closer to reality. Because of this, and the fact that our organ is susceptible to temperature & damp; it didn’t seem sensible to spend money to maintain & tune the organ, if the church would then be left unused and unheated during the colder months. Any tuning would be lost within a couple of weeks. It was therefore decided to postpone any organ tuning until we had a more definite idea of when we could return to larger services and congregational singing etc.

Thankfully 2021, has seen a steady increase in use, and our organ has performed well throughout, with no problems. In preparation for our Christmas services, the organ was given a routine service & re tune in December 2021, during which no real maintenance work was needed.

The only work which has been necessary, is the changing of the light fitting above the pedals. The tube had failed and was an obsolete type, so the whole fitting was replaced by Philippe in January 2022. Vernon reports that the new fitting is much brighter than the old one and therefore much better!

Heating.

I told you last year, that towards the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020 our heating system had been struggling with start-up problems, also with reaching temperature. Various improvements had been tried, including programming changes and a replacement data cable; and the system was under observation. Our engineer was finding it difficult to determine what was happening, and why the system would sometimes fail to start, or would prematurely switch to low output. In February 2020 he suggested fitting a temporary

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modem into our system, so that live data could be fed to him, the system checked, and fault data read remotely. Unfortunately, fitment did not happen at that time; it was then that Covid struck, we went into lockdown, and the church heating was not used again until around October 2020.

Plans were re-made to install the modem and re-service the heating system in October, but this was then delayed again and eventually happened on 25/11/2020. The modem was installed, and another cable was run from the main control panel in the Ringing Room down to the user control panel at the bottom of the stairs. Notably, the digital sensor within the church (North wall) was found to be about 6 degrees out of calibration and so was adjusted to correct this. This could have been the source of some of our running problems. The engineer also stated that problems with starting might be largely due to damp electrodes, which might go away after a few start-up attempts, when the electrodes will have warmed up; or it could be remedied by warming them with a hair dryer! (This of course would be rather a nuisance, but hopefully not a regular occurrence).

The heating was used a few times just before Christmas, but not many. When in use it did seem to perform reasonably, but we would have preferred more opportunity to gather more data. Never-the less straight after Christmas we went into lock-down again and the heating saw little / no use during that period. The heating system was eventually re-serviced early in January 2021, and towards the end of January, the engineer asked Philippe if he could remove the modem and its interconnecting cable, for him to collect and use elsewhere. This Philippe did on 22/01/2021.

During this monitoring period however, the engineer did make a couple of changes to the program. One of these was to the “System Run Time” - the total number of hours that the system has been running, which had been calculating and showing an incorrect value. More importantly he changed the program, such that the system should automatically reset itself twice, following a burner fault where the main burner had failed to start, and would then attempt another re-start. This would prevent us having to re-set it. We would still have to re-set it manually after a third failure to start.

Further discussions followed about options to improve the reliability of the start-up, these included: -

  1. The use of the hair dryer method after the third failed start & before the manual re-set.

  2. Putting the heating on to run for a period every night, to try to raise the temperature slightly and to dry out the igniter probes. (This may have the added advantage of reducing the effect of temperature extremes on the stonework, but obviously an extra running cost).

  3. Lastly, we could install some equipment to automatically heat the ignition probes before start-up.

No decisions have been made however, as we were waiting for more data on how reliable the system is at present, and of course we had not used it too much until Autumn 2021!

During this latest heating period then, our heating system does seem to have behaved quite well. The system was re-serviced in November 2021, and I have not been made aware of any issues of failing to start, and we have not really had any complaints about the temperature being too cold since then, so all looks good for now.

Our current heating system, for those who don’t know, is gas fired. We are all acutely aware of the soaring prices for gas (and other types of fuel too), and this trend is unlikely to ever reverse as fuel sources are reduced, and as we strive towards a greener, energy saving planet. Inevitably then, this must lead us to consider installing an alternative heating system. There are many options to consider: - Types of heating such as electric radiant heaters, underfloor electric, under floor warm air, a piped hot water & radiator system. Each will have different benefits and failings, the running costs of each may vary significantly now, and in the future. Some systems will be easier to install than others, in terms of permissions. Which type of fuel should we opt for, to be cheapest in the long term? We could consider installing solar panels to offset our energy costs, but these are never likely to be able to supply our own needs fully. The relative success of each against the other is not easy to work out. The one thing that all systems will have in common, is that they are likely to be very expensive to install.

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Unfortunately, our church is an enormous single space to heat. As a Grade 1 Listed Building, it is unlikely that we will ever be able to insulate our walls or fit double glazed windows to improve our efficiency and lower our bills that way. We might choose to section off parts of our church to make individual sections easier to heat, but this has implications into how we use our building going forwards, so this would also need to be very carefully considered at the same time. The PCC / Fabric committee have discussed this whole topic in the past, but not in depth recently. I think that in recognition of the current pricing trend, this topic will be on the agenda again very soon and will certainly need to be considered in conjunction with our long-term re-ordering plans for the church.

As we continue to face high covid infection rates, and in recognition of some of our congregation’s nervousness to return, I leave the following note about our heating system.

During the period between lockdowns, when we were doing restricted small services in church, and as we approached the period when heating was required, concern was expressed as to whether we could use a heating system that moved air around when Covid 19 was obviously an airborne risk. We were however reassured that it was as safe as any other system, as none of the air is recycled. All the air is “Fresh” as it is drawn in through the Belfry, it is then warmed before being blown down to us. Any risk of infection comes from being too close to others and breathing their air in, thus social distancing and masks are the key to keeping us safe.

The Christmas Lights, The Flagpole & Tolling Bell.

The Christmas Lights worked well on the top of our tower again this year. Many thanks to James Scott for helping me with the installation and again with the removal. I am pleased to say that there were no problems with the lights yet again, 7 years after purchase, and still not a single lamp lost yet; (we used to replace about 80 of the old lamps per year, which at that time would cost us about £50.00 per year). These lights are much loved and often mentioned by many of our locals and visitors alike. They serve as a welcome home beacon for many local travellers at Christmas, making our church visible from miles around in all directions! As a matter of fact, we have been contacted by a church at Belton, who were looking to install a similar display, however the planned meeting didn’t take place due to illness.

One problem that we did have, was that we had to re-rope the flagpole first. The rope had been ok (but obviously dodgy) when we had used it for the death of Prince Phillip. It had obviously broken since then. Re-roping the flagpole is very tricky – like threading a needle 25 foot above your head. Philippe and I eventually managed it after about 2 hrs struggling with a draw wire through plastic piping, which still swayed far too much in the wind, and was difficult to control.

You may also remember that we tolled our bell (100 times in 1 hr), in unison with many other churches to mark the funeral of Prince Phillip. To do this, I had to temporarily re-connect the old tolling rope to our No. 2 bell. It is not generally connected, as it interferes with our chiming system.

For interest, we were also asked to ring the bells this year to signify the start of the COP 26 Climate change conference in October.

The Church Armour

Some of you may remember that our church used to have some pieces of Church Armour on display. For many years now, this armour has been in the care of the Royal Armouries at Leeds. It is currently on display there, and in the past has been on display in the Tower of London. I reported last year that they had asked us to re-sign a new agreement in March 2020, to enable us to leave the items there. Although that agreement was signed, apparently it was lost, or didn’t get there during the first Covid lockdown. Consequently, in April 2021, we were asked again to sign a new agreement.

Whilst in the care of the Royal Armouries, most of the items are covered by their blanket insurance policy. If we chose to bring them back here, we would need to arrange our own insurance and place of

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safekeeping. Also, whilst there, they had some conservation work done to them in 2014, and they are continually kept in a “controlled & friendly” environment. The PCC obviously agreed to re-sign the loan agreement again, and the items were kept on display at Leeds. Whilst responding, we took the opportunity to ask about the possibility of getting some replicas made and receiving some literature, which we could keep in our church. This had been hinted at when we made the original loan agreement. A reply from the Armouries said that they are looking into the possibility of replicas, and that they would send some information / leaflets through. Nothing has been received yet, so we will follow this up. As I write, we have also just been asked, and have agreed, to give permission for photographs of some of our artifacts to be published within a book titled: Armour of the English Knight: Continental Armour in England 1435 – 1500. For anyone interested, I would recommend you visit the Armouries and look out for our armour, it is apparently quite rare and significant to historians of this period.

The Barn

Unfortunately, the Barn has still not been used a great deal this year because of restrictions on social distancing and mixing indoors. Coffee mornings and regular church meetings have not resumed, because of the limited space, and poor ventilation. Rachel has now begun to use the Barn for our children’s work and toddler groups and is looking forward to seeing some of the refurbishment work completed to make it more suitable for this, (more about this below).

Some general maintenance has continued at the Barn, though this has also been at a reduced level because of the restrictions and lack of use. Most of this has been carried out by Philippe and / or Gordon Troope. Thank you to them for their dedication in this matter. Thanks also to the team of gardeners and helpers who have cut and cleared the grass on the Barn Field, battled with the moles, and to those who keep the weeds and nettles down around the outside. In February of last year, Philippe struggled to open the Barn door which was sticking badly. It had not been opened for a while. He sanded it down to get it to close again; and will re-assess what further work may be required as necessary. In June, Philippe fixed the leaking stop-tap, he also disconnected the water supply and sealed the pipework and the waste pipe, having removed the toilet from the storage room.

The quinquennial (5 yearly) fixed electrical inspection was carried out by Fowlers electricians in April 2018, and therefore is not due until April 2023. The portable appliance (PAT) testing was carried out on 15[th] January 2020, along with the Church and Parish Office. The re-test is slightly overdue; but will hopefully be completed shortly. The fire extinguishers and burglar alarm were serviced in September & October respectively. Last year, Philippe reported that the alarm keypad was difficult to operate, possibly affected by damp as the building had not been used or heated for a year. Recent use has seen this difficulty persist into this year, and Vera intends to call the engineer out again to get it cleaned internally or replaced.

In April 2021, Tim Sweed wrote to us to inform us that he had again applied for a “Covid Re-start Grant” for the Barn. Last year we had been awarded £10,000.00 towards re-opening the Barn. This year Tim had applied for a follow-on Re-start grant of £8,000.00. In addition to that, a Support Grant of £9,431.00 had been offered towards paying the running & maintenance costs of Community Buildings – still not able to fully open. These grants – now totalling £27,000.00 can only be spent on re-opening the existing Barn, and on making it more suitable for use in the current Covid-prevalent period, where social distancing restrictions make re-opening more difficult. Grateful thanks then to Tim on his sterling work, applying for this funding on our behalf.

The Standing Committee of the PCC met in May to discuss the grants received; and to plan the way forward for re-opening the Barn. Various suggestions were put forwards, and, from this, Rosh drew up a list of potential improvements and a plan showing the status of each item on the list. At least 2 quotations have been sought by various people including Rachel, Philippe, and Vera for each item on the list. The quotations for each element were then compared and decided upon either by the PCC or by the Standing Committee before their installation. The following items have been installed and reached their completion.

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The first item was a replacement for the Barn Field Gate. The existing Barn gate which could only close off half of the opening has been removed. This has been replaced by a pair of wooden “field type” gates, one of which is ¾ width to allow vehicular access and is lockable in the closed position. The other gate is similar, but ¼ width for access by foot. The new gates were needed to increase security when Rachel is using the Barn & field for children’s events, and also to discourage parents from parking on the field when collecting children from school. We now have a parking permit system for those who park in the Barn carpark regularly for church services or events.

The next items installed were new electrically operated garage doors. The existing up & over steel doors were heavy and difficult to open, often dis-locating themselves from their tracks if not opened carefully. We considered and sought quotes for manual operation and electric operation, but eventually opted for the electrical operation. Firstly then, we needed to run an electrical supply from the Barn into each of the garages to feed the new doors. This was installed by Fowlers in September. They installed a single metalclad socket to power each of the doors, A 5’ LED batten light fitting and metal-clad light switch to each garage, and a twin metal-clad socket for general purpose use, in the Left-hand garage. These were fed from a new 4-way metal consumer unit fitted within the L/H garage; and protected by a 30ma RCD in addition to the individual MCB devices. The new consumer unit is itself fed from the existing consumer unit in the Barn. At the same time, the opportunity was taken to upgrade the original kitchen radial circuit into a 32A ring main, to alleviate the random tripping which had occurred in the past. The new doors then were installed by Zapp doors in October. Generally, they are to be fob operated, and each has full electrical operation, up and down. They have built in obstacle detection, such that they will re-open if they sense that any obstacle is preventing closure; and can be stopped mid operation by pressing the same button a second time. There is also an emergency system fitted, so that we can still open the doors should the power have failed.

More recently, we have had most of the Barn windows replaced with UPVC double glazed units. You may remember that the original windows had small top openers, which were too high for most to reach, even when standing on a chair. This was the main reason for replacing them. They needed to be easy to open to provide the necessary ventilation required if we are to re-open the Barn. Each window within the main room has now been fitted with a vertical opening window such that they can be used as an escape route in case of fire, but also are much easier to reach and open regularly. The new window in the porch has no openings, however the porch is very small and served by two doors one of which is an emergency exit. The toilet window has a small top opener and is obviously obscure rather than plain glass. The kitchen window was replaced a few years ago and has not been renewed. We have also had a UPVC door fitted in the

Kitchen. It is not our intention to give out any keys for this door, as it is not a regular point of entry, and is only to be opened from within as an emergency exit from the kitchen. Neither of the porch doors have been replaced. The main entrance door was replaced in 2020 by Philippe, and the emergency exit remains original.

Other items which are under consideration, but which have yet to be completed and are subject to the remaining funding are as follows: -

We have had a quote to install an injection type of dampcourse to the Barn, to try to eliminate the rising damp which has always been an issue. The first quotation is more than £10,000, but this includes removing and replacing plaster work to various levels on the different walls, and the stud walls to the toilet/ storage area, and removal & re-fitting of the toilet & plumbing to install the damp course. As I write, we are awaiting a second quotation for a similar damp course treatment. If we choose to go ahead, we will also need to factor in for the removal of our kitchen & toilet floor tiling, which contains asbestos, and which therefore needs to be carried out by a specialist company. This remains in our remit; and will need to be removed prior to the damp course treatment, and then will obviously need to be replaced when the treatment is finished. This also might prove quite expensive.

We have had a couple of quotations for replacement kitchen units including a new cooker; with no decisions made yet. We are also considering just changing doors and worktops and cooker. Currently our

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cooker hob is gas, and all other gas appliances have been dis-connected. We have been thinking about replacing the hob with an electric one so that we can do away with the standing charge for the gas supply.

You may remember that I told you last year, that the committee had already been considering alternative forms of heating within the Barn, because the current heaters can be noisy at meetings, and the temperature falls quickly if they are turned off. We were favouring installing some Quartz Infra-Red wall heaters which could be used in place of the existing heaters, and these would be silent to run. This type of heater is designed to heat bodies rather than the air and are thus far more efficient. The PCC granted permission to go ahead with the purchase and fitment in 2020. Unfortunately, this work has not yet been carried out, mainly because it fell off our radar amongst other priorities, and the Barn had not been in use for most of that, and this year. The problem remains, and our views may now have changed, so we should re-consider the options and try to get a scheme completed as soon as possible. We have therefore had more quotes for differing electrical heating systems within the main room, and for a gas fired central heating system to replace the current electrical fan heaters. All need to be reviewed against each other for pros, cons & running costs. At this extremely volatile period where all fuel costs are rising it may not be easy to predict what will happen long term. At this point, no final decision has been made yet.

Possibly linked to the above, you may remember that I told you last year that early in 2019 an electric instantaneous water heater was fitted into the barn to provide water for handwashing and dishwashing. I said that we had a couple of problems with leaks coming from the water meter, also that during this early part of the year, there were a few complaints that the heater as fitted, was not big enough to provide sufficient hot water for dish washing. In June 2020, we discussed this, and gave Philippe permission to remove this heater and re-fit it into the Parish Office, where it would be adequate for low levels of washing up after meetings etc. A new 6 litre, 1.5KW storage type heater was to be purchased to be installed into the Barn in its place. To date then, this has not been fitted, while the Barn has been out of action, and there is currently no hot water supply in the Barn. Clearly this also needs to be completed prior to us reopening fully.

When the above items have been completed, the intention is to re-furbish the interior of the Barn, and the scope of this will depend largely on what has happened from the above. This might range from a simple lick of paint to more extensive re-skimming of plaster followed by full re-paint. Similarly with the floor coverings and skirting boards which may need replacing if removed for the damp course treatment. The amount of funding remaining will undoubtably also affect this. Never-the-less some decoration will be done, and I am sure volunteers will be found if needed. Rachel has already discussed this with the youth group who have several ideas and are keen to get started with the transformation.

Finally, we have also had quotations to replace the square tables within the barn with folding tables of a similar size, and to replace some of the old type gazebos within the garage with easier to erect pop-up style ones, such that all are easier to move and use for events without necessarily requiring ‘muscle’, which is not always present, particularly at children / youth events.

The Parish Office.

The Parish Office - fixed electrical inspection was last carried out in January 2017 and therefore was due for a re-test in January 2022. This task will be re-booked shortly. Similarly, the Parish Office PAT testing was last carried out on 15[th] January 2020 along with the Church & Barn, and a re-test of that was due in October 2021. This has not been carried out yet, is therefore overdue, and again will be booked shortly.

I told you last year, that the Parish Office had undergone quite a refurbishment during 2020, this being largely the result of the flooding from the flat above in 2019. Thankfully much of the cost was borne by the insurance claim, however other items were updated / refreshed at the same time, and these were funded by a grant from the Endowment Trust. 2021 saw the tail end of some of this work. In January, Philippe changed two of the outside floodlights to the West & North sides of the office, to be PIR controlled L.E.D. Floodlights. The old one on the West had been permanently on for some time! He similarly changed the

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light above the Vicarage back door. He also changed a 6 ft fluorescent tube and some starters within the office and replaced the entrance light. Externally, Philippe made and fitted a polystyrene box and some pipe insulation to protect the outside water tap; and fitted a letter box to the new UPVC Office door, which is now suitable for taking A3 sized mail.

Discussions were held in March about renewing the floor coverings for the Parish Office. A quotation was sought and received from Stainforth Carpets, to renew the toilet, entrance hall and kitchen, using vinyl floor covering, and to replace the existing office tiles with new carpet tiles. The quote came with fitting as an option, and a total of around £1250 + vat. We were also looking to do this ourselves using vinyl off-cuts for the smaller rooms, and doing the fitting ourselves, hoping to bring the project in at around £800.00. Unfortunately, this project didn’t progress much further than the discussions about colours and types of vinyl, but this was largely down to the lack of time for the fitment at that time, so this project is now back on the cards for 2022.

Around May, the users of the Parish Office began to have problems with the electric tripping off unexpectedly, with no obvious cause. This would also occur overnight when nobody was using the office. The problem was suspected to be the safety circuit breaker (an RCBO – Residual Current Circuit Breaker). An RCBO checks the electrical supply for an in-balance between incoming and return current. Any missing current is assumed to be a leakage to earth, which is dangerous, and the breaker thus trips. Though very reliable, these things can become in-accurate over time, which is what happened here. A new RCBO was sourced, with identical tripping characteristics, I fitted it on 27[th] June, and thankfully we have had no further problems with the Parish Office electrics.

Fire Risk / Health & Safety Policy/ General Risk Assessments etc.

As mentioned last year, the Fire Risk Assessment, General Risk Assessment and the Health and Safety Policy were all updated for 2019 following the Ecclesiastical Insurance templates. These procedures as such have not been reviewed since. You will appreciate however, that during this last couple of years, different rules, regulations & guidance have come out which have amended what we were able to do, and how we have done things. These have been repeatedly reviewed and risk assessed, from the Bishop down, but locally by Revd Liz, our Churchwardens, Ministry Team & PCC. Compliance has been difficult, but essential to protecting ourselves and each other from the virus. As I write, and despite the outstanding success of our vaccination programme, we are still unsure as to when we will be able to leave these restrictions totally behind us and go back to the “old rules”. We continue to follow a cautious path, trying to maintain the safety and confidence of our most vulnerable, whilst slowly relaxing our restrictions. We hope that we are at least heading in the right direction now, though some restrictions may be with us for some time yet.

Our Churchwardens have carried out a successful fire escape trial in January 2022.

The Church Intruder Alarm / Roof Alarm.

The Church intruder alarm was serviced on 4[th] October 2021, with the Barn done on the same visit. The engineer checked the system, changed batteries and one of the PIR’s in the Vestry, and declared it healthy again. The proximity detector contact on the South Door (the one we all use), which I reported was sticking last year, had seemed to rectify itself and thus was not changed. Unfortunately, on the 10[th ] of October it did stick again, and caught Chrissy & Glynis out when they came into church. I am not aware of any repeats of this incident since then, however as I write, we are about to call them out to re-look at the keypad in the Barn, which is sticking, and will also ask him to look again at this door contact.

The roof alarm system was last serviced on 20/04/2021. Part of the regular service is to change the batteries in each of the roof PIR’s annually, to ensure their correct operation, although they should last for 2 – 3 years comfortably. We have had no real problems with the roof alarm within 2021, possibly due to

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the enhanced service that we had in 2020 where the back-up batteries and control panel were changed, and which I reported on last year. Other than a single activation in December 2020 which could have been a large bird, I am not aware of any other activations since. I reported last year that in October 2020 we were asked to join an extended 3-year warranty plan, which we considered and then declined. We also opted out of the “Night Guard” cover, whereby a guard comes to investigate any activations during the hours of darkness, after the guard took almost an hour to respond to the activation in December.

Churchyard

The churchyard maintenance team have continued to work at keeping our churchyard clean and tidy. Their numbers have reduced, and their ages increased, however they continue to do us proud. There have been no summer events to prepare for, and thus no larger maintenance team efforts required.

A big thank you then is due to all those volunteers who continue to work so hard keeping the grass cut, and the paths and graves clean. Also, to those (including members of the public) who tidy up the cans and bottles and chocolate wrappers etc, which regularly appear.

Once again, anyone able to offer any help in this task going forward, please contact either Churchwarden, or speak to those dedicated few gardeners.

I told you last year that Rosh had taken on the baton in the discussions with the Town Council about them taking over the maintenance of our churchyard. Our churchyard is designated as a “Closed Churchyard”, (meaning it is closed for new burials), and it has been since 1888! Maintenance of closed churchyards is legally the responsibility of the Town Council; however, they must formally accept this responsibility, and this has never happened at Hatfield. There have been more discussions in 2021 on this subject between Rosh, the Town Council, and the secretary to the DAC, and a formal letter was sent from the PCC to the recently elected Town Council in June, asking them to take on our Churchyard. Rosh met again with the Town Council in September, describing the meeting as very helpful and positive, and a revised letter was sent in October. This letter requested that the council take over the maintenance of our churchyard, effective from Jan 6[th] , 2022. It now appears that after consideration, the Town Council have decided to pass on the responsibility to the DMBC; so, Rosh has recently discussed with the DMBC representative (Feb 2022), who also sounded positive and sympathetic to our request. He seemed happy to integrate their team’s attendances with our own team’s attendances. Our intention is to continue with occasional grass cutting ourselves during the summer months, to keep it looking tidy for weddings etc. This integration will obviously need to be worked out during the year. The DMBC man also stated that “it didn’t matter what state the memorials and ledger stones, pathways or walls were in”, it seems that wouldn’t affect when or if they took the churchyard on at all.

Finally, this long-awaited transfer seems to be entering the final phase, and although we have yet to see a council team within the churchyard, we look forward to seeing it soon.

The annual churchyard survey to check the stability of the gravestones within the churchyard has not been completed since October 2019, and as such is overdue. We have received no notification however, from our maintenance teams that there are any gravestones which they consider to be more unstable or in need of any specific maintenance. There is still the South path pointing and the path between the South Porch and the car-park which were noted within this survey for the last couple of years, also appearing in our QI report. There has been no significant change in their condition since then.

You may remember that I reported for the last couple of years, that following a couple of fallen tree branches, we had instigated a full churchyard (and a Barn) tree survey to be conducted in line with BS 5837 to assess the current health and condition of each of our trees. Having received the report in June 2019, it was important that the PCC should act on its recommendations, which we did. Those trees which we were advised to fell within the year, were felled in 2019, some additional branch removals were carried out at the same time, as directed by the survey. Further removals of some self-set small trees were handled by our own maintenance team.

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As 2020 & 2021 has now passed, there is probably more work to do and some of the trees which were advised to have work done within 3 years will now be becoming due. We shall have to re-look through both of our surveys and decide on a new programme of works for this coming year. A couple of trees on the North Side, whose branches were partially lopped in 2019 for getting close to the wall, are beginning to get close again. Additionally, we have been discussing tree types and possible locations for the planting of two new trees within our churchyard. These new trees are required to replace those felled by necessity in previous years; and we have also received a couple of individual offers to provide those trees as a memorial for some of those recently lost.

You may remember I told you about a couple of on-going projects within the churchyard. One of these being the damage caused to the iron gates at the end of Church Walk (which are grade II listed), following the laying of the new tarmac on Church Walk (done in August 2018). The other item being the levelling of the path between the car park and the South Porch. So far there has been no progress on either of these. Initially both were on hold pending the appointment of our new architect. Since then, we have been delayed by a lack of meetings and visitations, due to Covid restrictions. As we move from 2021 into 2022 the committee would like to be able to re-start these projects as soon as possible. The South Path in particular, as the raised edges of the current gravestones again seem more pronounced this year; and thus, more of a trip hazard. It is also significant that this item appears as a priority 1, (urgent) job within our Q.I. report. As we prepare to hand over our churchyard to the care of DMBC, it remains to be seen whether this will help or hinder us in our quest to lower and re-lay the South Path.

I reported last year that Philippe and Pete had repaired and modified the church notice board to accept additional notices underneath the main body, and on the back of the notice board too. Unfortunately, I must report that the wooden frame for our notice board collapsed in the storms of early December. It has been rotten for a few years, hence the regular running repairs. The main aluminium panel should be good to be re-used, it is only slightly bent on one corner, though we may also choose to re-design & re-word it to bring it up to date. We are considering replacing it with 2 or three alternatively sited notice boards, but still need to decide what information we are looking to display, in what format, and in which locations. We will then be needing comprehensive designs and specifications, and the appropriate faculty permissions. Finally, of course, we will need the money to purchase these notice boards; however, I am led to understand that we have already received donations towards this endeavour.

Additional minor works that have taken place in the churchyard include the following: -

The door to the gas meter enclosure had become difficult to open to read the meter, the hinges were rusty and sticking. These were exchanged and the door made easier to open in February. In March, Yorkshire Water installed a water meter to cover our church. Up - until that point, we had been paying water rates at an extremely low rate; and we might find ourselves dis-advantaged by going onto a meter, even if paying the lowest tariff. We shall have to wait and see whether, and how much our bill changes, but certainly this was not a change that we requested. The padlock on the Crypt entrance door had to be replaced in December, when we tried to get in to retrieve the Christmas trees. Confusingly it seemed to have already been replaced with a new lock. None of us had a key to open it, and no-one had any knowledge of its replacement, though the padlock was definitely new! Having asked everyone we could think of, we had no choice but to cut it off and replace it! There is nothing of any value in there, (a load of old chairs), and there was no sign of any disturbance when we did get in.

ECO Church

You may have noticed within the church magazine and the weekly newsletter, that our church has been increasingly involved in an initiative called Eco-Church. Obviously, climate change, sustainability, recycling, etc are all incredibly important issues, and very much in public focus at the moment. I have already told you that we rang our church bells for the start of the COP 26 Climate Change Conference.

Chrissy Grindle & Glenys Mashford are our voluntary champions in this and signed themselves up to attend

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a conference entitled “Eco Church Festival with “Churches Count on Nature 2021”.

They watched various videos and presentations on many different ways that our church could become more Eco-friendly, and came back with many resources, and quite enthused about it all.

Many of the things suggested could be done as individuals, such as saving energy, re-cycling more and wasting less etc, but many could be applied to the church too.

One of the important things that they took from the conference was that Churchyards are extremely important places for our plants, animals & insect diversity, that they are well “managed” by volunteers, and that if all churchyards could be put together, they would cover an area the size of Exmoor.

Making all our churchyards more diverse, could have an enormous impact on our environment. You may have seen that we now have three bird feeders set up in the churchyard. Plans are afoot to build bird boxes, hedgehog boxes and composting stations too. Similar stations are to be set up in the Barn field corners too. The youth are extremely keen to be involved and run this.

We have subsequently signed up for a Diocesan “Bronze Eco-Church Award” and are steadily working towards this. This has led to a couple of other recent evolving projects: -

A repeat drive to consume only Fairtrade and /or ethically sourced products within the church. (We did agree to this about 30 years ago, but have since lapsed a little, so re-agreement is good).

We have also gone through a toilet twinning process, – which is essentially a sponsorship deal to have a toilet built in a third world country. Our church toilet has been twinned, and more recently we have also twinned the Parish Office toilet, and even the toilet within our Millennium Window, all with toilets in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Our plan to replace all our low energy fluorescent stick lighting with even lower energy LED’s is still ongoing, we are now at approx. 60%. The changeout is steady because the impact is not so large. The immediate change of the remaining 80 bulbs would save only 250 watts per hr. Our current trend is to changeout 16 (2 pendants worth) every few months, as the fluorescent sticks fail.

The Committee

I have told you for the last couple of years, that going forwards, we had decided to re-organise the Fabric Committee after we got our new architect. We had planned to have an “Architect Liaison Committee”, who would contact the architect, and agree specs and priorities, and co-ordinate with external contractors etc. As stated within the Q.I. section of this report, we had intended to ask additional members to join and give us the benefit of their experience / opinions. This wider committee still needs to be officially initiated, which has been delayed throughout 2020 and 2021 by the restrictions on meetings, by our priorities, and an overview which suggested little progress was likely during the period. As previously stated, the smaller, existing, Architect Liaison Steering Group has been keeping things ticking over, and has achieved the progress, and carried out all tasks as described above. We would still like to widen the membership as originally planned, as soon as practically possible, and would probably include interested parties from the PCC, the Hatfield Church Building Trust, and the Friends of the Hatfield Church Building Trust. This does not however preclude any other technically minded or even interested parties from asking to join the group. If you feel at all interested, please do ask – we could do with your help!

I also told you last year, that we had appointed Rosh Milner to be our Project Manager, working on a part time basis. Rosh has a wealth of experience managing specific projects, coupled with general management, and running of various charity organisations. The other thing which she brings of course, is a local and personal interest in the outcomes. She told us that following the receipt of the QI report, she has walked around the church, reading the report aloud, and recording it on her phone as an audio file; whilst looking out for each issue noted, to understand it. She has also reviewed each issue in conjunction with the Churchwardens; to establish which items are on which of the Diocesan faculty lists, & therefore which will

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need faculties. Moving forwards, Liz and Rosh have set aside a couple of dates, to prepare a revised ‘Statement of Needs’, and ‘Statement of Significance’ both of which will need to be submitted with each faculty application we submit.

I predicted last year that Rosh would make a big difference to our committee and its outcomes. I am sure that you will agree from my earlier reporting, that she has done that. I believe that we have seen good progress in the last year, largely through the efforts that Rosh has put in. Through her leadership and doggedness, she has pushed and prodded, to maintain the momentum on our priority projects. She has done this whilst also mentoring Rachel, our Centenary Project Worker, and leading on our selection of a new church administration / business suite software package.

We also said a couple of years ago, that we would like to create a maintenance group of “do-ers – not talkers” for regular maintenance chores. This group have already been unofficially keeping an eye on the regular, and minor maintenance tasks, and have just undertaken them as individuals or in small groups as they came up. The group exists then, though it has no official leader, no official members, and has had no formal meetings. The informal approach of a collection of volunteers is in many instances fine, and currently any tasks have been on the instruction of the PCC / Churchwardens and /or members of the old fabric committee. There will, however, be times when a co-ordinated approach will be needed, and specific instructions will need to be communicated to any volunteers and then followed. To this end, we could do with a volunteer willing to stand as a team leader / co-ordinator, through whom tasks can be planned and added to a list, jobs allocated to appropriately competent individuals / groups, and progress monitored. Someone able to ask appropriate questions and seek the answers, and report back any problems. If anybody would like to offer themselves for this co-ordinating role or would just like to help with some of the maintenance tasks, please see myself, the Churchwardens or Liz, or anyone you know already involved in this type of work. We would love to bring you on board.

Many thanks to all our members and helpers for their support, and for all the work they do to keep the church running, in the practical roles they each fulfil. Thanks especially to Philippe, Viv and Vera, the Parish Office staff, and all the others who contact, and meet the various contractors. Thanks also to all the willing volunteers who have helped us to accomplish some of the minor maintenance tasks throughout the year.

We on the fabric committee, and the PCC are aware that the Hatfield Church Building Trust, and indeed “The Friends” are keen to see a new project started such that they can donate some of their funds towards it, and thus maintain the enthusiasm of their members who support them. Unfortunately, they have seen no significant work completed in recent years. In 2019, we were pleased to have taken a couple of large steps forwards, in our appointment of a new architect; and in having received the new Q.I. report. Unfortunately, we were then delayed through 2020 and into 2021, in completing any of our bigger plans, this time by the pandemic and its restrictions. I ask you all to bear with us then, as we continue to move steadily forwards on those tasks we have selected to concentrate on.

I must also repeat that none are more frustrated by the apparent lack of, or slow progress than those of us who are involved with fabric issues. The workload, especially in an ancient and listed building such as ours is extremely large; each item is complicated and needs careful consideration and discussion.

Also significant in causing delay, is the fact that we are asked to try to consider doing many things at once, in a grand scheme; as the DAC (and prospective funding bodies themselves) would apparently have us do; instead of doing smaller repairs individually. It sometimes seems to me to be overly complicated, a little unfair, and to be much harder to do anything, however we can’t just do what we want even when we know what we would like to do. Certainly, for any larger schemes where we hope to obtain outside funding, then we must comply with the wishes of the funding bodies as well as the DAC, and we always must operate within the current faculty rules etc. Looking on the bright side, the Diocese and the Church of England have taken more steps this year to simplify the faculty process to relieve us of some of the difficulties and restrictions these rules impose upon us. The new Faculty Jurisdiction Rules came into effect on 1[st] April 2020. These have revised the listings of items which require faculty approval, and the Diocese have now also enabled us to apply for faculties on-line.

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As part of its new strategy and transformation, the Diocese has appointed some new Diocesan Buildings Officers to help the parishes in this work, and I have already mentioned the help that Viv Cooling our new officer has given us. They have re-organised the “Church Care” website and there is now a full menu of “handy links” to the faculty jurisdiction rules applicable to almost any given subject. This again, is designed to help Churchwardens and all those involved with care towards church buildings, to comply with all the complicated rules and obtain relevant permissions. Hopefully all these systemic improvements will help us move forward more easily. It is becoming increasingly important that our churches can modernise and become useful spaces, otherwise they might eventually become unusable, dis-used, and eventually fall down!

In Summary

As you can see, 2021 saw the committee and several individuals again busy and involved with many minor repairs and general maintenance activities. The current team are like minded and work well together. There was some real progress towards future projects, our concentration being on obtaining the window survey, to supplement our Q.I. inspection report. We hope that 2022 will see some window repairs borne out of the survey results. We still have several outstanding jobs which were started a few years ago and remain uncompleted, but we carry forward into 2022 a renewed desire to progress some of these to completion, especially as they are now priority repairs detailed within our Q.I. report. Following on from here then, we shall probably try to do a plan of all our wall mounted monuments, so that we can commission a survey of those, and thus prioritise the work needed there.

We would also like to get some actual repairs done, like the Belfry window guards, and the cleaning & inspecting of the roofs. All of these we may be able to begin during the summer months, but previously, they have been largely hampered by social distancing restrictions, and they are not safe tasks for an individual, but more suited to a small team.

Changes within the Diocese and its systems seem to have been positive so-far, and our thoughts and plans for a larger re-ordering of our church have begun. We again hope to rejuvenate the new committee and to re-enthuse the Hatfield Church Building Trust and the Friends for the future benefit of our church building and our community.

Terry Raper – Buildings Officer.

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Deanery and Diocese Report

Hatfield St Lawrence is well represented at Deanery and Diocesan level.

Deanery Reps: Revd Liz Turner-Loisel, Secretary and Diocesan Synod Rep Chrissy Grindle minute taker

Glenys Mashford, treasurer

Two of the Deanery and all of the Standing Committee meetings between July 2021 – March 2022 have taken place on Zoom and this has worked well in that

The June synod was an Open Zoom meeting which began with a presentation by Luke Bunting , the Giving and Generosity Officer for the Diocese. This is obviously a very relevant topic for all churches with the severe restrictions imposed on church finances over the past two years. Luke suggested ‘Generous June’, but the PCC has decided that a Giving campaign would be more appropriate in August when there are less church fundraising activities

We also welcomed and thanked God for the Revd Jacqui Jones, the new oversight Minister for Stainforth and the Fishlake Group of Parishes.

Summer 2021 saw the election of representatives for the Diocesan Synod and Carol Rashid stepped down as our rep after many years. She was thanked for all her faithful work. It is important to point out how the Deanery can and should challenge and impact on any decisions made at Diocesan and General Synod. A question from our deanery re the work of the Diocesan Building Officers was presented in the July Diocesan Synod and the response reported back at our October Synod.

This synod was an ‘in person’ meeting and members were also able to hear from Dr Cathy Rhodes, the Diocesan Officer for the Environment, talking on the Diocesan Climate Justice Policy.

In December, there was a twinned Deanery meeting with Adwick, held in Goole and hosted by the Senior staff of the Diocese. This was an opportunity to air views and Bishop Pete asked attendees to think of

On our behalf, Revd Liz and Revd Gill presented the advantages experienced at St Lawrence of

BUT Revd Liz went on to point out that the latter was presenting a daunting issue for them, as the success of Messy Church and the huge backlog of baptisms meant that more manpower was needed to allow them to address the needs of the parents and work with them on their spiritual journey.

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The February Deanery Synod was on Zoom and, once again, followed the format of Open meeting and then business. Sally Myers, the Director of Focal Ministry, spoke of the latest guidelines and the process involved in creating Focal Ministers.

Our thanks to Revd Justine Smith, our Area Dean, for her hard work and leadership over this difficult time.

Glenys Mashford ,Treasurer Snaith and Hatfield Deanery

Churchwardens

Well, another strange year, having mix and match services to accommodate the needs of the patiently waiting baptism families and sadly a considerable number of funerals, including some from our own congregation. We are so blessed to have such a strong funeral ministry team who have not only looked after our congregation but other bereaved families in need, their ministry is wonderful.

You will have noticed that we are still not using the main communion rail, this was introduced to avoid the risk of passing too close to each other at the height of the pandemic; however, the decision has proved a boon to the less mobile members of our congregation.

Viv and I are very grateful for the help given by members of the congregation in helping us keep our Church clean. We will be restarting rotas again in the near future, also the readers and side person rotas. If you feel ready to restart this service to your Church, please let us know.

One piece of good news is that we had a successful ‘Archdeacon’s visitation’ (an inspection of our essential paperwork) on Tuesday 22[nd] February. This was carried out by the Area Dean , Revd Justine Smith, on the Archdeacon’s behalf.

We continue to monitor the Covid situation and are slowly making changes. We are grateful for your patience, having come so far, we do not want to lose the game now.

Our prayer is that the next wardens’ report will be full of joyful news.

Vera Owen and Viv Stubbs

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Training Log July 2021-March 2022

The following training has been undertaken during 2021/22: (the majority on Zoom)

-Luke/ Matthew for Preachers

-Whole Life Preaching

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Ministry, Worship, Discipleship and Pastoral Care

Ministry is a word which is often used too narrowly, implying that only the “Ministry Team” can do it and are responsible for it! The Ministry Team here at Hatfield is brilliant but we can’t do it all by ourselves. As baptised Christians we all have a part to play in the Ministry of the Church and the Mission of God. At St Lawrence so many people are doing so without even knowing it and I would like to say a huge thank you to all who ‘minister’ to their families, neighbours and friends and the church by showing them the love of God in action and deed.

The working out of the command to love God and our neighbour has been so much more necessary during the uncertain times we have been through, and are still doing so. It has been hard when we couldn’t see people in person, but we have found other means. I and others have spent hours talking to strangers on the phone who have rung up with questions about faith and where God is in all this mess we are in. People have needed reassurance that there is more to this life which awaits us. The hugely increased numbers of baptism and funerals we have been asked to take reflect this search for faith in something bigger than ourselves. New people have joined us in worship and fellowship. The take-up of Rachel’s children’s and youth work reflects a sense of wanting to do the best for the next generation.

Worship is still provided by a reduced service pattern as we struggle to get through all the baptisms and weddings still outstanding from the lockdowns, as well as new ones which are constantly coming in. Only this week I have taken 8 more families onto the very long waiting list for baptisms. Thank you for your patience and support while we work through all this. We are saddened that about a third of our congregations still don’t feel able to come back to church, not only owing to the current still high covid levels, but also because they are older and perhaps physically not able to attend anymore. Others can’t always get as they now need lifts, having given up their cars or being less mobile.

Could you perhaps help on a rota to pick people up?

Pastoral Care has largely been done over the phone, email, Facebook messenger……, or by cards or notes through the door; but increasingly we are trying to visit people as well. We are more than willing to take Home Communions to those who need and would like them.

Discipleship has been encouraged by emailing out sermons, reflections, study notes….and by courses on Zoom. We did manage a good attendance at two Lent Course sessions at Doncaster Minster as we heard Bishop Pete talking about creation and its stewardship. Rachel has now launched a Start Course on Zoom and we are hoping to do an in person course called ‘Living in Love and Faith’ in the summer. Lastly, we have four candidates for Confirmation this year and we thank God for them!

Janet and Julia - sadly we lost these two very active members of the ministry team during the year and we miss them both very much. Janet was a great encourager and ideas person and Julia’s lovely voice and guitar playing have left a huge gap in our worship.

To conclude – did you know that, thanks to live streaming, we have had people joining us from across the world – Australia, Kazakhstan, and Dubai? A daughter was able to watch her mum get married, and family members or friends have been able to be godparents and make their promises with others. Well used, technology is wonderful so we are working on getting WiFi in church in the next few months to make it work even better for us!

Revd Canon Liz Turner-Loisel

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Activities of the Parish

Sadly many of our usual activities and groups have still not been able to start up again or meet in person for most of this PCC year. This includes our choir but watch this space!

However, things are beginning to change with the Games Café and Bridge Club being back on at the library and the church participating at the monthly coffee mornings now hosted at the library as well. The Bible Study and Fellowship group is also back in business.

Fundraising fairs have been held and have been very successful. Our thanks go to the stalwarts who organise them, to the stall holders and to all who buy from them and support their church in so doing.

Children and youth activities haven’t been as badly hit this year as last and it is wonderful to have the children and schools back in the building!

Coffee mornings are back on the agenda as are the times when the church is open for people to just ‘drop in’. As soon as we felt it safe to do so, we put on ‘Open Church’ after our Wednesday morning services and this is proving very popular, both for those who attend the service and for those who drop in during the morning. This is open to everyone so do call in for a cuppa and biscuits!

Lastly, our stalwart volunteers at the DN7 Foodbank have continued their support throughout the pandemic and we are so proud of them for the hours they have put in, always going the extra mile to help others. Well done!!

Revd Canon Liz Turner-Loisel

Bible Study and Fellowship Group

After the lifting of 'lockdown' restrictions in September 2021 our Fellowship Group were once again able to meet to begin our weekly meetings. We did have a number of missed weeks, due to hospital appointments, optician appointment and ill health and our group became more of a pastoral support group for each other.

We did a few studies from 1 Peter, Chapter 1-4, with a view of looking at the book of Jude later in the new year, as these are the lesser read books of the bible.

In October our group of 6 became a group of 5 as our dear friend Beryl Leary left the Hatfield area, to go and live nearer to her son.

In January we began to look at Matthew 5 verses 1-12 ' The Sermon on the Mount'. The aim of this book is simple, to help us to apply the message of this sermon, particularly the Beatitudes, to our lives. The question asked was what kind of people did Jesus call blessed and how should we live our lives

As things get easier (Covid) wise, and the weather is getting better, we can start thinking about going out for afternoon tea again, always a treat.

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If anyone would like to join our group, please contact Susan Spencer or Rev Liz for details. We meet on a Friday morning between 10am to 12 noon. You don't have to have a great knowledge and you might surprise yourself with what you know and what you are able to contribute to the discussions.

Susan Spencer Ladies Fellowship Group

Hatfield Community Library Games Activities

Once the library was able to open its doors to the public again, the "games" activities restarted.

Bridge on Monday 1pm until 3pm …..all levels catered for.

Tuesday 10am until 12noon, a variety of games on offer including mah-jong and a welcome tea or coffee and biscuit all for £1.00 .

Why not join us, even if you are not a great games enthusiast, it is a lovely sociable space and a reason to come out.

Vera

Parish Magazine

The magazine flows on month by month, and the contributors continue to send interesting and informative detail, and sometimes very humorous too. My great thanks to them, I know it’s yet something else they do which unites people; look at their names and you’ll understand, they are all people who include others.

Of course, the paper magazine continues to have an extremely important part to play in the communication of our church, particularly for those without internet links. In fact, because it was also passed on to someone else, there was a financial contribution to Rachel’s salary! So re-use, re-use, re-use, then recycle!

We were sad to say goodbye to ‘The Sign’, the magazine insert which we have bought in from ‘Hymns Ancient and Modern’ for many years. They kindly put it online FREE during the pandemic, but this has resulted in far fewer churches buying it and it has become financially a drain, so has stopped being published. Thank you for the years, A+M.

My personal thanks go to all the magazine contributors, but also to the small army of collators and distributors, please give them an extra big smile as it comes through your door or into your inbox. And, of course, all contributions are gratefully received on paper or by e-mail maghatfieldchurch@gmail.com

Chrissy Grindle, Editor

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Children’s Work Report

What a different year March 2021-March 2022 has been. After a year of lockdown ministry, 2021 finally saw the opening of in person activities. The most significant has been the launch of Little Lions Baby and Toddler Group and Hatfield Heroes Youth Group, ensuring that our ministry covers a broad range of ages from birth up to adulthood.

In person ministry has taken online acquaintances into real relationships and it's been a joy to be part of this process. New volunteers have joined the team whilst others have stepped back, and we have felt the deep loss of two of the foundation members of the children’s work team with the passing of both Janet Alick and Julia Halls this year. Their contributions will not be forgotten and we will attempt to let their legacy live on through us.

Thank you once again to everyone in the congregation, PCC and leadership team who have supported me this year, especially when difficult decisions have had to be made and calculated risks taken to further the children’s ministry during the ongoing background of the pandemic. Whilst it has been a challenging year it has been a very fruitful one, and here is summary of the main activities and outcomes of the past year:

Messy Church – we returned to meeting in person in September 2021, starting on a theme of “Celebration!” to make up for all the celebrations we missed last year. We have seen a very regular congregation of families come back to this in person and some new faces too. There are 223 on our Messy Church register, with 76 of those being active regulars.

Hatfield Heroes Youth – After Easter, when groups were allowed to reopen, we launched a monthly youth session on the Barn Field. In the summer they chose their name “Hatfield Heroes Youth” and requested the group go fortnightly. We have 18 young people that have connected with the group, with 14 of them coming regularly, and referrals of new young people from those who are enjoying attending. We secured a £400 grant in October to purchase bibles and games for the group, and we have started studying the book of Mark together from January 2022. In October we also attended the Doncaster Youth Hub Go Bounce Event with 8 of our young people. Thanks to Philippa, Carol and Jake for their help in leading this group.

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Summer Holiday Club – 48 children signed up to take part in our hybrid summer club this year, with activities taking place both online, at home and in person. The Family Thursday sessions on the Barn Field proved particularly popular with even more families coming down to take part ad hoc. We explored themes of science and faith, helping the children see that the two can work together. Activities included slime making, litmus testing, making diffraction goggles and parachutes for our teddy bears.

Schools – I was able to go into more schools in person this year and finished off the academic year by providing “It’s Your Move” Prayer workshops for Travis St Lawrence and Hatfield Woodhouse Primary Schools. We then started the 2021/22 school year with a bang by doing a Backpack Blessing Roadshow – Rev Gill accompanied me as we prayed over all the children in our 5 primary schools (over 1,000 children). I was then invited in to deliver RE lessons to all classes at Sheep Dip Lane Primary during the Autumn Term, and Crookesbroom pupils visited the church building in the Spring Term. It’s been a busy year for schools work, but one where relationships have grown and the children have really warmed to our input in lessons and assemblies.

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Special Occasions – Christmas was very special this year with the return of in person activities for our children. We ran a free crafts in church session, a Noisy Children’s Choir Workshop Day, the posada returned to travel around local families and the usual Christingle and Christmas Eve services returned. We altered things to accommodate COVID restrictions (Christingle bags to each family, online booking for events and restricted numbers) but many families were able to join us to celebrate. Christmas Eve was an ad hoc event with many children dropping out last minute as a result of COVID, others stepping in and our Youth narrating the service well.

Little Lions Baby and Toddler Group – After Easter 2021 we were able to launch Little Lions in person on the Barn Field as a “wild” toddler group. With other groups not having started back, we were fully booked most weeks with 15 adults and 15 children attending, plus a separate session for mums with babies. We grew our own runner bean tepee in the Barn field and had fun digging in the mole hills! Huge thanks to Susan, Helen and Jake for helping to get this off the ground. In September we decided to move the group inside the church for the winter time, and the children have enjoyed running around the building and exploring the space. We have only had one accident on the stone floor so far (a head bump) which was our major risk of moving inside. We were chosen as the local Co-op Store’s local cause from October 2021-September 2022 and they have been providing us with healthy snacks each week. Lots of great relationships have been formed with mums, dads and grandparents through this group and we pray it continues.

Pre-Loved Uniform Bank – With a permanent base for the uniform bank at Travis House (opposite Travis St Lawrence Lower School Site) we have been able to host fortnightly open sessions for families to come and purchase low cost pre-loved uniform. The 50p cost per items seems to be working well as those who wish to contribute more can, but the cost remains low for those who

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can’t afford it. We have rehomed over 1000 items of uniform and raised £507.41 from our fortnightly sales. Requests come in regularly and Donna has been an amazing support in keeping this running with me. In December we ran a “fill a bag for a fiver” campaign where families could get as much uniform as they wanted for £5.

I am sure I have missed out many things from this report, but the one thing that prevails is God’s hand in all of these activities. I look forward to carrying on serving the community of Hatfield and the church here in my third year as Youth, Children’s and Families Worker.

Rachel.ridler@centenaryproject.org.uk

07851 991286

Befriend me on Facebook for regular updates on my work - “Rachel Youthworker”

Project Manager’s Report

Hatfield St Lawrence Church Report from Rosh Milner

Introduction

I have continued in engagement on behalf of the PCC on project managing various pieces of work. This has been rewarding, interesting and at times challenging, but at all times the sense of

openness, partnership and common vision has been present as we seek to further the Lord’s work here at St Lawrence.

In last year’s report I outlined 3 priorities for work moving forward

I am delighted to present my report for the intervening year!

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Centenary Project

In the course of my line management of the CPW, the work has included processing expenses, fundraising, networking emails and phone calls and supervision. Rachel and her support group all enjoyed the Network day in March and, following that, we met to agree an action plan for the year.

During the second half of 2021 we were successful in securing sufficient income through donations to cover our contribution for Rachel’s salary. Securing ongoing funding for the year ahead is a key priority for Rachel and myself , especially as the percentage contribution to salary payable by the Church moves towards 100%. We have spent time looking at funding opportunities and working together to produce our ongoing funding plan.

We are so thankful for the sacrificial giving of families and friends and the successful grants we have secured for the post. Further Applications are in the pipeline to various grant funders as well.

We have been working together in the Parish Office for a few hours most Tuesdays.

Finance

Work continues under PCC guidance , and in close cooperation with our new(ish) Treasurer:-

Churchyard

It is pleasing to report completion of the handover of our closed churchyard for

maintenance. After lengthy negotiation with the Town Council and DMBC , the latter agreed in early 2022 to take it into their portfolio of Closed Churchyards, maintained by Street Scene Grounds Dept under a service level agreement with DMBC. We are thankful for the incredible and dedicated work of so many who have undertaken the churchyard maintenance for so many years , and we are looking forward to their continued involvement in the little extras that make our environment such a lovely place. We will be working in close partnership with DMBC going forward.

Quinquennial Inspection and Architect

I continue to lead in liaising with our Architect as we focus on Priority 1 items from our QI report.

Jonathan and Ruth Cooke of Stained Glass Conservation spent 2 days at the church in early

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October 2021 carrying out the Glass survey. Our Architect also visited on 1 of those days and also on Wednesday 6[th] October. We have received the element of the glass survey relating to the glazing and lead and await the completed survey, which is with the Architect for stone and masonry comments.

We are grateful to Hatfield Church Building Trust for providing a grant to cover the cost of this survey. Jonathan and Ruth Cooke were extremely impressed and moved by the quality of our Church building and have offered to assist in any way they can to raise awareness locally and also when we apply for grants in the future. Watch this space!

On the advice of our Architect The Hatfield Memorial slab in the vestry was removed for safety and transported for safekeeping by and to the workshop of Matthias Garn, Master Mason, in early February.

Over the Christmas holiday, we were blessed to have an offer of drone footage of the exterior of the church and tower interior. We liaised with the architect … and received some fabulous footage, especially of the upper storeys and roofs.

Diocesan Partnership

During the year we have built positive relationships with staff at the Diocese. As well as having an already close working relationship with those involved with the Centenary Project, we have met and continue to be supported by the Diocesan Digital Mission Enabler, the Giving and Generosity Officer and our Diocesan Buildings Officer. The latter is working closely with us, and the PCC, to establish St Lawrence as a Major Parish Church. She has also agreed to help us with our contacts with the DAC, with getting internet /broadband into the church and, on a grander scale, developing our plans for more major works and remodelling.

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What denotes a Major Parish Church?

Part of the work of the Church Buildings Council is to support churches in keeping open and sustainable and , with this in view, it has been looking at defining the different roles of buildings. Major Parish Churches (MPCs) comprise over 300 of the largest and most significant churches in England. A MPC has all or most of the following characteristics:

They are recognised as historically significant parish church buildings, facing a different scale of opportunities and challenges compared to the vast majority of other CofE buildings. As a result of their special functions, significance and potential, Major Churches are likely to require a higher level of attention from the Diocese and the Church Buildings Council,

Secondly and following on from the above:- MPCs are of such size and significance that having a Conservation Management Plan (CMP) for the building is strongly recommended. A CMP allows everyone to agree on the values and significance of the church and should be used to inform all decisions that affect the building, It can help in the success of grant applications, faculty applications, listed building consent and scheduled monument consent.

Work is currently underway on both avenues of development. Exciting times lie ahead!

I Know Church

We are now subscribed to an online Church Administration , database and Mission Suite.

This will allow all areas of our Church Community to work better together and more effectively. WE are slowly but surely getting to grips with it as a PCC and will in due course ‘ roll it out’ to the wider church family and community.

The online ticketing section and check in worked really well for those ticketed Christmas events!

Conclusion

I continue to enjoy the challenges raised and remain encouraged by the support and optimism for positive change that I have encountered from all quarters! Thank you to everyone who has been part of my work during the year in whatever guise!

Rosh Milner Project Manager

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Communications and Administration

Our thanks go once again to Jill McGarvie for the smooth running of the Parish Office and to the Endowment Trust which continues to fund it.

Chrissy has continued to provide us with an excellent magazine every month, with some wonderful contributions from church members. The collators and distributors also do a fantastic job behind the scenes and we couldn’t manage without you!

The Parish Office is now very well used by our Centenary Project Worker and Project Manager and we have started to hold small meetings again in the office, as well as marriage and baptism bookings, especially in the colder months when church is freezing.

Our digital presence continues to aid our paper communications with the magazine and weekly newsletters reaching a wider audience by email. Our Facebook page and Website are well used, with many baptism enquiries being made that way, and reminders are sent out about events and services which serve to jog memories about what is on and when.

Our service pattern is still a reduced one and, while a few people have said they don’t know when the services are, we do try our best to let people know in a wide variety of ways. Services and events are regularly advertised in the magazine and the newsletter, on posters around the church, sent out by email and are on Facebook and the Website. Sadly our noticeboard blew down in the wind but a funding plea to replace it was hugely successful and we will get a new and better one up as soon as we have the necessary permissions.

Lastly, in spite of our appeal in the last APCM booklet, we still don’t have a cleaner for the parish office. It would only take a couple of hours a week at the most. Any offers gratefully received – thank you in anticipation!! P.S: There is often a tub of biscuits and sweets to dip into while you work!! Revd Canon Liz Turner-Loisel

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