## _CHURCH OF SAINT LAWRENCE HATFIELD_ ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING
to be held in St Lawrence Church on Wednesday 3[rd] May 2023 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 3[rd] May 2023 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 2022/23. 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 Wednesday 3[rd] May 2023 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 11[th] May 2022 page 4 3. Matters Arising **4. Annual Reports 2022** a) Electoral Roll report since the last Annual Meeting _ER Officer_ page 12
b) Annual Report on the proceedings of the PCC _PCC secretary_ page 14 c) Safeguarding Report _Safeguarding Officer_ page 15
d) Financial Statements of the PCC for the year ending December 2022 page 16 _PCC Treasurer + Independent Examiner_
e) Annual Fabric Report _Fabric Officer + Wardens_ page 22 f) Project Manager report _Project Manager_ page 49 g) Hatfield Church Building Trust _Chair_ page 51 h) Deanery Synod _Representatives_ page 52
i) Churchwardens’ Report _Churchwardens_ page 53 j) Training Log _PCC secretary_ page 54 k) Ministry, Worship, Discipleship, Pastoral Care _Priest-in-Charge_ page 54 l) Centenary Project Worker report _Youth and Children’s worker_ page 57 m)Eco-church _Eco reps_ page 62 n) Activities of the Parish _Priest-in-Charge_ page 63
(including various reports)
o) Communications and Admin – magazine, parish office,
& online presence _Priest in Charge_ page 68
**5. Elections and Appointments 2023/2024** - Parochial Church Council representatives
- Deanery representatives
- Appointment of Independent Examiner
- **6. Address: Revd Canon Liz Turner-Loisel**
**7. Any Further Questions or Comments**
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## **8. Dates to Note**
Monday June 5[th] 2023 Monday 19[th] June 2023[th] 2024
- Date of the 1[st] meeting of the PCC:
- Date of the Archdeacon’s Visitation:
- Date of the next Annual Meeting: April 24
## **9. Closing Prayer**
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## APCM 2022 Minutes
**The Parish Church of St. Lawrence, Hatfield Registered Charity No: 1127942**
## **ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING 2022**
Minutes of the Annual Parochial Church Meeting held at 19:30 on Wednesday 11[th] May 2022 in church.
## **Present**
Revd Canon Liz Turner-Loisel, Rev'd Gill Salter, Rev’d Joyce Barker, Vera Owen, Viv Stubbs, Beryl Adamson, John Alick, Gill Atkinson, Sandra Beadle, Tim Beadle, Karen Blair, Andy Deakins, Hilary Dinsdale, Dianne Fox, Chrissy Grindle minute-taker, Anita Jepson, Ann Kitchen, Glenys Mashford, Jill McGarvie, Terry Raper, Carol Rashid, Anne Render, Ron Reed, Rachel Ridler, Maureen Scott, Glynis Smith, Susan Spencer, Philippe Turner-Loisel, Cath Watson, Stuart Watson, Barbara Young.
## **Welcome and Prayers**
Revd Liz opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and leading the prayers. We started prayers together using the “Prayer in the Evening” booklet.
Beryl read from Isaiah 40 and, following this, Revd Liz reminded us of its message that ‘God is in charge’ and that, in this turbulent time, the whole world needs to know this fact.
## **ANNUAL MEETING OF PARISHIONERS 19.50**
1. Election of Churchwardens There were two nominations:
Revd Liz spoke of the 6 year rule for churchwardens and of the fact that Viv and Vera had already completed theirs; however, as a result of the disruptions caused by the pandemic, they had agreed to stay on for a further year.
Revd Liz requested permission of the meeting to extend their service for one more year. This was gratefully agreed to.
A very big thank you to the churchwardens was given by Beryl on behalf us all.
## **Vera Owen proposed by John Alick and seconded by Chrissy Grindle. Viv Stubbs proposed by John Alick and seconded by Chrissy Grindle.**
**As no vote was necessary, it was proposed that Vera Owen and Viv Stubbs serve for a seventh year.**
**Proposer Beryl Adamson, seconded by Terry Raper, carried unanimously.**
**Revd Liz had pleasure in announcing that Vera and Viv would serve their seventh term of office.**
She added that the wardens had done so much in caring for the church during their period of office, but now she commissioned them with the task of training and empowering future churchwardens.
## **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 Brian Adamson, Anne Bennett, Andy Green, Mark Johnson, Rosh Milner, Peter Render, Stephen Rivers, Jean Rowley, David Spencer and Tim Sweed.(the latter did arrive towards the end of the meeting)
**2. Minutes of the Previous Meeting – held on Wednesday 21st July 2021 in church**
## Amendments:-
Point 7c Julia was of course the PCC **secretary** not treasurer.
**The minutes were agreed to be a true record by all who had been present** .
**3. Matters Arising**
There were no matters arising.
## **4. Annual Reports 2021 - 2022**
Revd Liz explained that, as we all had a copy of the APCM booklet ably compiled by Glenys, she would go through the reports briefly but anyone could add what they wanted verbally.
a) Electoral Roll report since the last Annual Meeting.
The electoral roll now stands at 144.
Of the six people we lost from last year, 3 have died:- Janet Alick, Ann Dewsnap and Julia Halls, and 3 moved away Colin Grimsey, Chris and Sennette Wroot.
We gained four people, Sandra and Tim Beadle, Mark Johnson and Maureen Raper. There were no questions from the floor.
b) Annual Report on the proceedings of the PCC.
## From the report
point h) The PCC did agree that the chalice should be reintroduced, but a subsequent rise in Covid numbers necessitated further consideration and vote by email. It was decided not to reintroduce it at this point in time, however the situation is constantly under review, with the aim of returning to the common cup.
Events and fundraising – all were glad that the Garden Party is being held this year.
Revd Liz gave tribute to Julia Halls. We all miss her very much and thank God for her life, for her PCC work as well as for her music. Glenys has been an absolute rock in taking over from her.
## c) Safeguarding Report
No additional items but Revd Liz drew everyone’s attention to the new 3 year rule for DBS certificates. She reminded each new member of the PCC that, as trustees, they must have a DBS check. Vera will arrange this.
d) Financial Statements of the PCC for the year ending Dec.2021
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Karen, the PCC treasurer, stood to explain that, since taking over the PCC accounts this year, she has only recently been made aware of a CCLA investment account, the Barn Regeneration account. It had not been entered into the accounts or financial statement that she had prepared up to Dec 2021, so she had no knowledge of its existence until she received the documentation from CCLA. This investment account stands at just over £140,000.
There were no questions or comments on the accounts which were submitted in the booklet.
## e) Annual Fabric Report
Thanks were given to Terry for his thorough and detailed report. He had obviously spent a great deal of time and thought on it, in spite of being stretched at work. There’s clearly quite a lot going on.
Revd Liz went through each page for comments/corrections and she also provided more background information that
- page 25 - Major Parish Church designation would make it much easier to get grants. New appointed buildings’ officers, such as Viv Cooling, are funded by the Church Commissioners but only for a limited number of years. Statements of Significance and Needs for St Lawrence are being prepared. There is a new team on the DAC. We can now produce block faculties and it is easier to seek advice where work is needed, for example on the rood screen. Rosh has worked very hard and her appointment has been a good one.
- A heating advisor in the diocese is also funded by the Church Commissioners for a limited time. Philippe, Rosh, Vera and Brian have met with him both for the Church and the Barn
- Thanks were expressed to Tim Sweed for getting grants for the existing Barn; a damp course is viable.
- Cath Watson congratulated Terry for “an even better than usual” report, and for the 10+ years he’s been writing it. A round of applause followed.
- page 34 - The alarm in church is still causing problems.
- page 35 -The churchyard has joined Dr Water’s Garden in becoming the responsibility of Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council (DMBC). They are responsible for keeping the grass cut and for expensive items such as paths and perimeter walls. A representative visited to explain that their grass cutting average is every 17 days in the height of the season and he remarked that they had never taken over a churchyard that was so well cared for. Peter Render and Peter Styles have been so faithful in their commitment and Pete Render was very appreciative of Johnny Alick and Andy Deakins’ recent help when he was on his own.
- page 37- In answer to a question concerning the Fabric Committee, Revd Liz stated that, at present, it does not exist; however, Rosh is working on its reorganization.
- page 37- It was pointed out that buying Fairtrade is not new in church, any consumables bought for the church have been Fairtrade for years, any items that are not so will have been donated.
- There was a explanation on Toilet Twinning from Beryl, who gave thanks that the money had been raised so quickly at a recent church service on the subject, that it enabled St Lawrence to twin the church toilet, the parish office toilet and the one in the Millennium window! She explained that it costs £60 to sponsor one, which includes advice on basic hygiene. At least one member of the congregation had gone home after the service and twinned her own toilet. Rev'd Liz explained that she had spoken about twinning at the Mayor’s Civic service where she ‘charged’ the Parish Council to twin theirs.
- Memorial plans – Stuart Watson spoke of an excellent plan of our memorials in Doncaster Reference Library, and the meeting was informed of a plan in the Parish Office. Revd Gill spoke of The Ledgerstone Survey – of England and Wales (lsew.org.uk) where churches can register their ledgerstones. [A ledger stone or ledgerstone is an inscribed stone slab usually laid into the floor of a church to commemorate or mark the place of the burial. Wikipedia]
- f) Deanery Synod
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Glenys did sterling work with the bank! Rev’d Justine Smith of the Marshland Churches will step down as Area Dean at the end of May when Rev’d Tim Mitchell is installed at Thorne as Vicar, Oversight Minster and Area Dean for Snaith and Hatfield Deanery. There is a new vicar and a new vicarage at Thorne. His installation service is at 19:00 on 31[st] May, Revd Liz is unsure, at this point in time, whether there are limited places.
At present the first part of synod meetings, usually 19:30-20:30, is open to anyone when there is a diocesan speaker. On June 9[th] all are welcome to St James Rawcliffe when Revd Ian Smith from “the White Church” at Warmsworth will talk about “Living in Love and Faith”.-a programme to help Christians think more deeply about what it means to be human.
## g) Churchwardens Report
The churchwardens had nothing to report beyond their written report.
h) Training log
Revd. Liz pointed out that, in spite of Covid, the PCC had still done a lot of training, although mostly on Zoom.
- i) Ministry, Worship, Discipleship, Pastoral Care
Revd Liz informed the meeting that
- the occasional offices and support had still been going on in spite of the recent difficulties with restricted movement.
- there has been a growth of 17 new people attending worship; however several people, particularly from St Edwin’s, have been experiencing difficulty in getting to St Lawrence’s and some have begun to attend the Methodist church at Dunsville. She introduced the idea of a rota to offer lifts.
- Her thanks were given to members of the ministry team and pastoral workers who have worked so hard, often at great personal risk, throughout the pandemic in covering funerals etc, especially at Thorne. Also there was a great deal of ‘unseen’ ministry taking place during lockdowns, including lots of phone calls to stay in contact with people,.
- We need to look at how we track people who are feeling less able to come to church.
- The Wednesday drop-in after the morning service has proved most successful.
- j) Activities of the Parish
- A huge thanks was expressed to all who are involved with DN7 Community Food Bank and especially for their efforts throughout the last two years.
- It was pointed out that Church has developed an important link with the Library through the games clubs. Stuart was keen to clarify that the Monday Bridge Club wasn’t the sort of Club where you had to be an experienced player. It was a friendly group, and anyone from a real beginner onwards would be most welcome. The Games Club on a Tuesday was similarly friendly, with a large variety of games.
- The Bible Study and Fellowship Group on Thursdays is still going on, a big thank you to Susan and Anita for continuing that.
- Magazine – grateful thanks were given to Chrissy for a really enjoyable and informative magazine and also to the team who support with the printing and distribution. We are so lucky to have such a consistently good magazine and there was a well-deserved clap.
## k) Centenary Project Worker report
Revd Liz acknowledged that
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- Rachel, our CPW, has not been defeated by Covid, although at times she has been frustrated.
- She is a great asset to this parish, and her work is recognized across the diocese.
- Achieving involvement with schools has been a huge success and she is now welcomed into Sheepdip and Crookesbroom Primaries.
- The Uniform Bank provides a good service to the community.
- Rachel is still short of helpers for Little Lions, Bible Study with the Youth Hatfield Heroes and also Messy Church, especially when the latter returns to its original format in September.
## l) Project Manager report
Revd Liz said what an asset Rosh’s appointment had been to both the church and also in her role as of Rachel’s line manager. Things are definitely moving forward in terms of building projects.
## m) Communications and Admin
Many thanks to Jill McGarvie for the smooth running of the Parish Office, and to the Endowment Trust for funding it.
**5. Elections and Appointments 2021/2022**
- Parochial Church Council representatives in this church are customarily appointed for three years. They may be nominated to continue for a further three but must then stand down for a year.
For the APCM 2022 there are eight vacancies,
Term of office ending 2022 4 vacancies Term of office ending 2023 3 vacancies Term of Office ending 2024 1 vacancy Nominations are Andy Deakins proposed by Vera Owen seconded by Maureen Scott Mark Johnson proposed by Vera Owen seconded by Terry Raper Janet BARBARA Young proposed by Vera Owen seconded by Viv Stubbs Anne Render proposed by Gill Atkinson, seconded by Glenys Mashford Dianne Fox proposed by Carol Rashid seconded by Gillian Salter Andy Green proposed by Carol Rashid seconded by Chrissy Grindle Glynis Smith proposed by Terry Raper, seconded by Viv Stubbs
Revd Liz explained the procedure of the rolling programme with 4 members in each group. She proposed that the members who had had previous experience would be in the group 2022-2025. This included Anne Render, Dianne Fox , Andy Green and Glynis Smith, whilst the others with no PCC experience would be given the chance to ‘test the water’ for a year and then reapply for 3
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years at the next APCM. So Andy Deakins, Mark Johnson and Barbara Young join Susan Spencer in the 2020-2023 group
All present agreed to these appointments and the arrangements.
**The issue of PCC members stepping down after two periods of 3 years will be discussed at the 2023 APCM**
Anita Jepson has stepped down for a while, having completed 2x 3 year terms and Revd Liz thanked her for her support and contribution to the life of the church through her service on the PCC.
Independent Examiner
**It is proposed that we continue with Faith Star as our independent examiner for the next year.**
**Proposed by Karen Blair, seconded by Philippe Turner -Loisel. All were in favour 6. Address: Revd. Canon Liz Turner-Loisel**
The work of a shepherd is always hard, pastoral as well as leading a flock which sometimes includes giving them a good push to put them back where they should be. In Isaiah’s time, it was dangerous too.
On Facebook today Revd Liz came across Ian Paul, a Biblical scholar, talking about the word ‘meek’, she apologized that she didn’t have the link to give us. Ian took line of the prayer “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild”, and spoke of the fact that sometimes ‘meekness’ can be misinterpreted as ‘weak’.
The Beatitudes speak of ‘Blessed are the meek’… so what does ‘meek’ actually mean? Good? Subjected? Not to question? Never to chastise?
Meekness is not shyness or softness, other people cannot use us because we are meek. Jesus was so often not meek in those terms.
Ian Ball suggests that meekness means strength under God-trained control. Using ‘War Horse’ as an example where the horse has incredible strength but is subservient to its rider, we are called to be only subservient to God.
We are called to challenge, but we need to challenge well. This has relevance as we come out of lockdown.
Revd Liz spoke of the fact that ‘Songs of Praise’ is being moved from mainstream channels. For many, especially older people and those without the internet, the programme has been, and still is, a lifeline for their faith. In fact, anything connected with faith is being side-lined by the media, and this should be challenged.
As a church, we also can feel a loss of identity. ‘Who are we as a church now or in the future?’ We can’t go back to as we were. We are developing new relationships with the local community, the schools, the library, the businesses. We are in a new stage of church life, with a service pattern that must be changeable. We have to accept that, whilst there can be no Sunday refreshments because of baptisms, it is because of these baptisms that we are developing
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relationships with the families in the lead-up sessions. Unfortunately, new opportunities can cause distress to some; however, part of being meek is to accept that change is for the good of others. So we have to try to be gentle, to serve,
In her eight years at Hatfield, Revd Liz pointed out that most people in the diocese hierarchy have changed. We have got to change in the way that we work in the PCC too; as new people join, they will bring a breath of fresh air. Hopefully we can agree and disagree well.
Revd Liz admitted she often questions God’s direction for her work, but in the end she must be meek. She spoke of the need to have faith. Good news stories are often not passed on, especially in small churches. We have to trust the one who holds the reins. The same applies to the world. The world is in a mess and by and large the stories in the News are not good…. It’s up to us to show that there is Hope in the world.
Our deanery and our mission area are a good place to be in at present. Scott is coming to the Stainforth churches and another curate is going to Snaith. We will be better staffed than we have been since well before Revd Liz arrived.
There was a fantastic confirmation service here on Monday, four people were confirmed from St Lawrence and three from elsewhere, and some were new to faith. Bishop Sophie was moved, and we were moved by her..
God is moving in Hatfield, and we are getting people who want to know more. By and large, baptism parents are seeking something good for their children, which they see in Christianity. Opportunities to talk about God are growing. Amen.
## **7. Any further questions or comments?**
Cath Watson wanted to raise awareness of a booklet about the history of St Lawrence church which is on sale, but hasn’t been visible during lockdown. It is based on the original booklet written by Revd Gordon Brown in 1938, updated in 2014 by Paul Wilson. Vernon Hoyle and Cath have further updated it, through cataloguing and photographing the monuments inside church, including the misericords and it was typed up by Philippe Turner-Loisel.. The Friends of Hatfield Church are selling copies.
The local History Group have traced the history of many of the people named on the War Memorial and produced a booklet of their lives.
Cath reminded us that there is a great deal of local information which, she suggested, should be stored centrally,
Revd Liz read out Cath’s letter of resignation from being chairperson of Hatfield Church Building Trust and the Friends of Hatfield Church which is run by the Trust She has played a very significant role for more than 20 years. Cath did inform the meeting that Stuart would be staying on to keep an eye on things. There was applause and grateful thanks for Cath.
## **8. Dates to note**
- a) Date of the first meeting of the PCC: Monday 6[th] June 2022 at 19.00 on Zoom
- b) Date of the Archdeacon’s Visitation: to be confirmed
- a) Date of the next Annual Meeting: Wednesday 3[rd] May 2023
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**Closing Prayer** The meeting ended at 21:40
These minutes were discussed at the PCC meeting 6[th] June 2022 and, with the amendments, were deemed to be a true record subject to approval at the 2023 APCM Proposer :- Anne Render Seconder:- Andy Deakins
Signed:- ______________________________________ Date:-
_The Parish Church of Saint Lawrence, Hatfield: Registered Charity No. 1127942_
## **ANNUAL REPORT 2022/2023** 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
1 name has been added and 8 have been removed.
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The roll was completed between Tuesday 4[th] April and Sunday 16[th] April 2023 and there are now 137 names on the new electoral roll.
The new roll will be on view at the back of church (near the south door entrance) for 14 days prior to the Annual Parochial Church meeting on Wednesday 3[rd] May 2023
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 months May 2022 – April 2023 and, as such, were therefore Trustees of the PCC:
|Rev Liz Turner-Loisel ex-ofcio|Rev Liz Turner-Loisel ex-ofcio|**Priest-in-Charge**,|**Priest-in-Charge**,||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Rev Gill Salter|ex-ofcio|**Curate**|||
|Mrs Viv Stubbs|ex-ofcio|**Church Warden**, Reader,||Safeguarding Ofcer|
|Mrs Vera Owen|ex-ofcio|**Church Warden**, Safeguarding Ofcer,|||
||||Lay Chair of PCC||
|Mrs Beryl Adamson|ex-ofcio|**Reader**|||
|Mrs Chrissy Grindle|ex-ofcio|**Deanery Synod**(2020 -2023)|||
||||PCC Minuting Secretary,( -July||
|2022)|||||
|Mrs Glenys Mashford ex-ofcio||**Deanery Synod **(2020-2023) PCC|||
|Secretary,|||||
|Mrs Carol Rashid|ex-ofcio||
**Reader**,||
|**Elected lay representatives**|||||
|Term of ofce ends 2023|||Term of Ofce ends 2024||
|Mrs Susan Spencer|||Mr Terry Raper|Buildings|
|Ofcer|||||
|Mr Mark Johnson|||Mrs Rosh Milner|Project Manager|
|Mrs Barbara Young|||Mrs Karen Blair Treasurer and Giving||
|Secretary|||||
|Mr Andrew Deakins|||+ 1 vacancy||
|Term of Ofce ends 2025|||||
|Mrs Anne Render|Assistant||Treasurer||
|Mrs Dianne Fox|||||
|Mr Andy Green|||||
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## Mrs Glynis Smith
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,, Churchwardens, PCC Secretary, PCC|
|---|---|
||Treasurer, Assistant Treasurer and Assistant|
||Churchwardens, Buildings Ofcer 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, CPW,|
||Worship Leaders and Churchwardens|
|Children’s Ministry:|Rachel Ridler|
||Messy Church|
||Schools|
||Safeguarding Ofcer 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|
## Review of the Months April 2022- Feb 2023
There have been 8 PCC meetings and 2 extraordinary meetings, whilst the Standing Committee has met twice during this period. Thankfully many of these have returned to being in person, either in Church or in the Barn, although it was decided to revert to Zoom for the winter months to save on heating costs. Minutes are kept at all meetings and our thanks go to Chrissy Grindle, who held the post of minuting secretary for many years, until being forced through visual problems to stand down in July 2022. The minutes are available to view on request, once they have been approved by the PCC at the subsequent meeting. Revd Liz took a 3 month sabbatical from 1[st] September until 1[st] December and Vera Owen very ably took over as Chair of the PCC during that period.
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As Trustees, it is important that the PCC is kept up to date with all matters relating to the life and fabric of the Church and the minutes record any proposals which have been voted upon during any specific meeting. The agenda of each is varied 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 P M, Rosh has kept the PCC informed through verbal and written reports. These have included
- The fantastic achievement of St Lawrence being awarded Major Church Status, the result of hours of work in form filling and in producing the evidence in the form of a Statement of Significance and a Statement of Need
- Bringing St Lawrence into the 21[st] century through card readers and the use of Iknowchurch as an online diary
- The finalisation of the handover of maintenance of the Churchyard to Street Scene
- The faculty to remove some of the free standing pews and the replacement of new noticeboards outside of church
b) **Centenary Project Worker:** Rachel has produced monthly updates and attended some of our meetings to ensure the PCC is well informed of events and also to seek approval for her proposed activities. Her dedication and fantastic achievements have been recognised and this resulted in the decision to extend Rachel’s contract for a further 3yrs.
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 issues relating to the Barn and the Church building. On the subject of the church clock, he kept PCC members informed through links to his e-mails with the clock repairers. From the interest shown during the time it stopped working, it is obvious the clock is regarded as a community asset.
## d) **Old and New Barn:**
Thanks to the tenacity of our treasurer in her dealings with the bank, the Old and New Barn finances are now in separate accounts.
The Old Barn has been restored, (we are grateful to Vera for organising the tradespeople), and thankfully there is now a regular income from a nursery tenancy for 4 days per week during term time, and also regular coffee mornings. e) **Eco- church:** there is a regular slot at each meeting where members have been informed of
- our findings in the ARocha questionnaire
- the proposed area in the churchyard adopted by Street Scene for wilding
- the use of Lent to confirm our commitment to God’s creation
f) **Deanery and Diocese:** The PCC has received information on the Diocesan and Deanery Synods. Our new Area Dean has changed the format of the deanery meetings to an Open session for all during the first half and PCC members have been encouraged to attend the discussions on ‘Living in Love and Faith’ and ‘Evangelism for Normal Christians’.
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g) **Finances:** Karen, as treasurer, has done an amazing job in organising the church finances. During the post-Covid period when there has been not only a welcome increase in income but also an equal increase in expenditure, Karen has kept the PCC informed with regular updates on all the different accounts.
## h) **Church services**
The PCC has made the following decisions:-
- a) Thankfully most people are feeling more confident to attend the services, however we are aware that Covid is still ever-present and so the use of hand sanitisers is still encouraged.
- b) The Chalice has been reintroduced, but with the priest dipping the wafer and offering it to the communicant.
- c) The return of hospitality after both the Wednesday and now the Sunday Communion services has been greatly appreciated.
- d) During the winter, the Barn was used for the evening services as it is a warmer space.
## **Events and Fundraising**
Thankfully, the PCC felt it was now safer to approve more events which meant a very welcome return of a very successful Summer Fair, together with
- Strawberry tea- once again, Vera’s delicious takeaway strawberry teas proved very popular
- Autumn and Spring Fayres
- Concerts and many other family events
This is obviously a very brief overview of PCC activities and the following reports will give you much more insight into what has taken place over this period. Having read them, I think you will agree that Hatfield St Lawrence Church is truly blessed that God has placed here so many individuals who are using their time, energy and diverse talents to support, not only the fabric of our ancient building for future generations, but also the mission and ministry for the present communities.
Glenys Mashford PCC Secretary
## Safeguarding
The addition of Viv Stubbs and Rachel Ridler to the safeguarding team has improved our ability to keep our volunteers up to date with training. We intend to put on some in house training during the Spring. This will be on offer to anyone from our congregation who has any dealings with young people, elderly or vulnerable people…. in other words, all of us.
Please sign up and join in, who knows when the knowledge gained will be helpful in some area of your life.
Vera Owen Safeguarding Officer
## Finance
Page | 16
## **Treasurer's Report 2022 Accounts**
## **Bank balances as at 31st December 2022**
St Lawrence Hatfield PCC Account £34,682.15 St Lawrence Barn Management Account £ 3,526.81 St Lawrence Barn Regeneration Account (New) £30,453.75 St Lawrence Hatfield PCC Organ Fund Account £ 1,973.08 St Lawrence Eliza Roe Account £ 3,743.61
## **St Lawrence Hatfeld PCC Account - 31267655**
Reconciled Bank balance as at 31[st] December 2022 £34,682.15 Cheques not presented £ 1,607.05 Designated/Restricted - see table below £ 6,906.31 Available for PCC use £ 26,168.79
I am pleased to say that the net income for 2022 has increased considerably from the previous year. This is in part due to increased income from collections at various services including weddings, baptisms and funerals. The income from collections during 2021 was minimal for the first half of the year but increased during the second half of 2021 as services began to resume and this has continued throughout 2022. Income from collections for 2022 is up £5,000 on last year, which is pretty amazing considering the cost of living crisis.
Income from wedding fees and funeral fees is also up on last year whilst income from Bankers Orders and Giving Envelopes is slightly down.
We are grateful for all the hard work put into the many fundraising events during 2022. A total of £8,684.46 was raised and participants were able to enjoy a Trumpet Concert, Strawberry Teas, a Spring Fayre, a Garden Party, a Christmas Fayre also plants, cakes and refreshments.
We are also thankful for the grant of £6,990.00 from the Endowment Trust to cover the costs of the invaluable Project Management work for 2021. A request for a further grant of £7,175.10 for this vital Project Management work for 2022 plus £850.00 to cover the Parish Office rent has been submitted to the Endowment Trust and will be discussed at their next meeting on 13[th] February 2023.
A grant for £200 was also gratefully received from Robert Forster’s Charity and a legacy of £5,000 was generously left to the Church.
## **CPW**
I am really pleased to tell you that the very generous monthly salary contributions and one-off contributions towards the CPW’s salary costs have exceeded her salary costs for 2022. This means we will not need to apply for a grant from the Endowment Trust for 2022. There have been some large one-off contributions and also several people who give very generously each month. We are grateful for the CPW’s continued hard work and also her dedication to raising money to help fund her costs. We continue to be thankful to DMBC, Hatfield Town Council, Co-op, Arnold Clark, Hollowford Trust and the West Riding Masonic Charity and also to the very many very generous individual donations. Hopefully, the contributions and one-off
Page | 17
donations will continue at a similar rate in 2023 as the cost for the CPW worker is set to go up again in 2023.
CPW Salary Costs for 2022 £10,296.62 CPW Income towards Salary costs for 2022 £11,601.86
## **CPW Resources**
Again we are very appreciative to DMBC, Co-op and Hollowford Trust and also individual contributors for their donations towards the many activities for the children and youth groups and also the Summer Club. The CPW worker works extremely hard to fund all the projects and groups that she runs.
CPW Resource costs for 2022 £7,824.92 CPW Resource income for 2022 £7,826.02
A total of £3,427.62 from 2022 and previous years remains in Designated/Restricted Funds (see below).
## **Designated/Restricted Funds**
|c/f 2017|For Retreat|£1,000|
|---|---|---|
|28.10.18|Heaters in Barn|£ 300.00|
|20.11.18|Memorial Candle Stand|£558.50|
|3.12.18|Blanshard Memorial|£ 632.21|
|30.8.20|Chaplin Altar Cloth|£ 500.00|
|C/f 2020|Social Committee|£ 457.87|
|31.8.21|Children + Family|£3427.62(£3116.35 C/f 2020 +
£310.17 2021
+ £1.10 2022)|
|31.12.21|Action Aid|£30.11(£20.11 c/f 2020 + £10.00
2021)|
||**Total**
**Designated/Restricted**|**£6,906.31**|
## **St Lawrence Barn Management Account - 41545140**
Reconciled Bank balance as at 31[st] December 2022 £3,526.81
Cheques not yet presented Nil
Available funds £3,526.81
After many months of chasing HSBC bank the Barn account was finally split into two accounts in October 2022 as agreed at PCC. The amount of £30,463.75 was transferred to the new Barn Regeneration Account on 4[th] October 2022.
The Barn Account has been running at a loss for the past 2 years with utility and insurance costs still to be paid even though the building was hardly used and there was virtually no income. PCC agreed to transfer a total of £3,500 from the PCC account to the Barn Account to manage this shortfall. During the Summer of 2022, the barn refurbishment was completed using grant money received from DMBC in 2020 and 2021. Following this refurbishment The Barn is in excellent condition and can now be hired out again to the community to generate its own income.
## **Barn Refurbishment Costs**
Page | 18
|New Gates
Garage Electrics
Replacement Windows + Door
Roof
Contractor work
Clearing
New Blinds
Floor
**Grant Income Total for Barn**|£ 515.00
£ 717.60
£ 2,825.00
£ 2,400.00
£16,970.00
£ 40.00
£ 450.00
£ 1,812.00
**£25,729.60**
**£27,431.00**|
|---|---|
|||
DMBC Covid Re-opening Grants were received in 2020 (£10,000) and April 2021 (£17,431) – totalling £27,431.00.
Many thanks to Vera for co-ordinating all of the work and driving the improvements.
Following the refurbishment I am pleased to say that it is looking like we now have a regular income for The Barn with KayDans Childcare. They are hiring the building on 4 days per week during term-time - they opened for business in November 2022. They have paid their first rental invoice which covered November and December 2022. Hopefully this agreement will continue to enable the Barn to be at least cost neutral. The agreement is that KayDans will also pay towards gas and electricity bills which Rosh and I are going to look at together. We also look forward to more groups/individuals hiring The Barn going forward.
## **St Lawrence Barn Regeneration Account –01614118 – (New)**
Reconciled Bank balance as at 31[st] December 2022 £30,453.75
The Barn Regeneration Account is reducing by £5.00 each month due to bank charges.
## **CCLA Deposit Fund Barn Regeneration Account**
Account Number 635153001D
Balance as at 31[st] December 2022 £141,822.59
(Balance as at 31[st] December 2021 £139,981.46 – an increase of £1,841.13)
PCC 2022 2021 Notes £ £ **INCOME Collections** Baptism £1,968.76 £653.96 Funeral (PCC) £4,379.20 £1,761.32 Page | 19
|Funeral (Charity)
£3,519.49
Services
£3,692.59
Wedding
£1,137.93
**Total Collections**
**£14,697.97**
**Donations**
Cash Envelopes
£4,360.20
Bankers Orders
£23,545.99
Yard Trail
£0.00
Refreshments
£0.00
Other
£3,192.46
**Total Donations**
**£31,098.65**
**Fees (PCC)**
Funeral
£4,374.00
Wedding
£3,866.00
**Total Fees**
**£8,240.00**
**Fees For Passing On**
Funeral
£10,942.00
Wedding
£5,436.00
**Total Fees**
**£16,378.00**
**CPW & PM**
CPW Salary
£11,601.86
CPW Resources
£7,826.02
PM Contributions
£0.00
**Total CPW & PM**
**£19,427.88**
**Grants**
HC Building Trust
£0.00
Endowment Trust
£5,887.50
Dunscroft Church
£0.00
SDBF
£0.00
Robert Forster
£200.00
**Total Grants**
**£6,087.50**
**Fundraising**
Yard Trail
£0.00
Plant Sale
£141.20
Garden Party
£2,255.92
Cake Sale / Refreshments
£869.20
Trumpet Concert
£605.00
Strawberry Tea
£520.56
Spring Fayre
£1,486.69
Christmas Fayre
£1,708.44
Other
£1,097.45
**Total Fees**
**£8,684.46**
**Other Income**
Magazine
£1,159.43
Legacy
£5,000.00
Gift Aid
£8,067.42
**Total Other Income**
**£14,226.85**
**TOTAL INCOME**
**£118,841.31**|£2,461.24
£4,551.25
£134.91
**£9,562.68**
£5,567.00
£24,634.03
£111.20
£4,495.00
**£34,807.23**
£2,110.00
£1,321.00
**£3,431.00**
£8,351.00
£1,348.00
**£9,699.00**
£2,679.00
£4,877.25
£0.00
**£7,556.25**
£1,070.00
£1,911.54
for CPW Worker
£479.77
£500.00
£1,200.00
Includes other for
2021
**£5,161.31**
£1,669.20
£1,121.87
£0.00
£342.35
£866.90
2021 Band Concert
£516.17
£2,091.78
2021 Autumn Fayre
£457.74
**£7,066.01**
£889.20
J Halls
£7,526.27
**£8,415.47**
**£85,698.95**|
|---|---|
|PCC
Notes|PCC
Notes|2022 2021|
|---|---|---|
|||£ £|
||**EXPENDITURE**
**Common Fund**
SDBF
£40,008.00
**Total Common Fund**
**£40,008.00**|£40,008.00
**£40,008.00**|
Page | 20
## **Church Premises**
|Parish Office Rent
£850.00
Insurance
£7,100.62
Electric
£1,533.65
Gas
£3,086.66
Water
£30.97
Internet
£31.66
Technology
£863.09
Scheduled Maintenance/Services
£1,738.79
Ad-Hoc Repairs
£2,867.92
**Total Church Premises**
**£18,103.36**
**Vicarage Premises**
Water Rates
£532.31
**Total Vicarage Premises**
**£532.31**
**Fees**
SDBF
£4,325.00
Workers
£9,680.00
Received on behalf of other Churches
£110.00
**Total Fees**
**£14,115.00**
**CPW & PM**
CPW Salary
£7,695.37
Expenses (Direct)
£1,030.02
Expenses (Messy Church)
£373.35
Expenses (Children)
£6,421.55
PM Costs
£7,136.32
**Total CPW& PM**
**£22,656.61**
**Other Costs**
Admin
£831.26
Bank Charges
£247.89
Clergy Expenses
£0.00
Magazine
£275.10
Ministry
£1,415.88
Mission
£296.40
Licences
£715.17
Fundraising paid to charities
£5,021.79
Transfer out to Barn Account
£3,500.00
**Total Other Costs**
**£12,303.49**
**TOTAL EXPENDITURE**
**£107,718.77**
**NET INCOME**
**£11,122.54**
**Opening Bank Balance**
£23,559.61
**Closing Bank Balance**
£34,682.15|£850.00
£6,748.42
£977.86
£2,116.28
£42.60
£2,261.83
Service/Inspection of Roof Alarm/Fire
Alarm/Intruder Alarm/Clock/Church Heating
£1,335.97
Deposit clock repair/prune
tree/removal&store monument/roof alarm
+ callouts
**£14,332.96**
£522.83
**£522.83**
£3,100.00
£5,515.29
£90.00
**£8,705.29**
£2,604.86
Oct-Dec+Back Pay to be paid in 2023 (2022 total
salary
£10,296.62 inc. backpay
£430.95
£1,433.32
£2,702.81
£6,741.30
**£13,913.24**
£2,318.42
Independent Examination
Accounts/Flowers/Stamps/Action
Aid
£631.55
£1,392.20
£921.42
£247.46
£716.71
£1,523.07
**£7,750.83**
**£85,233.15**
**£465.80**
£23,093.81
£23,559.61|
|---|---|
|**BARN MANAGEMENT**
**2022**
**£**
**INCOME**|**2021**
**£**
**Notes**|
|---|---|
Page | 21
|**Grants**
DMBC Grants
£0.00
**Total Grants**
£0.00
**Other Income**
Rents Income
£181.00
KayDans Childcare Rents Income
£923.10
100 Club Subscriptions
£636.00
Cash In
£12.50
Transfer in from PCC Account
£3,500.00
**Total Other Income**
£5,252.60
**TOTAL INCOME**
**£5,252.60**
**EXPENDITURE**
**Barn Premises**
Insurance
£713.19
Gas
£311.75
Electric
£437.23
Water
£171.40
Facilities - Scheduled Maintenance
£146.10
Facilities - AdHoc Repairs
£24,497.00
**Total Barn Premises**
£26,276.67
**Other Costs**
Bank Charges
£68.65
Transfer out to Barn Regen Account
£30,463.75
**Total Other Costs**
£30,532.40
**TOTAL EXPENDITURE**
**£56,809.07**
**NET INCOME**
**-£51,556.47**
**Opening Bank Balance**
£55,083.28
**Closing Bank Balance**
£3,526.81|£17,431.00|
|---|---|
||£17,431.00|
||£166.00
£580.00
£0.00|
||£746.00|
|||
||**£18,177.00**|
||£689.08
£350.15
£254.44
£174.65
£126.22
£1,328.43|
||£2,922.97|
|||
|||
|||
||**£2,922.97**|
|||
||**£15,254.03**|
|||
||£39,829.25|
||£55,083.28|
Page | 22
## **Church Fabric Report 2022**
## **Routine Maintenance & Cleaning.**
Routine maintenance has been carried out on the fire extinguishers (Sept). The church intruder alarm was serviced in September, and the roof alarm in October. The organ has received no service in 2022, and 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 February, and the service for this year is being booked as I write. The lightening conductor testing was carried out in 2021 and is due in July of this year. All portable items of electrical equipment were portable appliance tested in January 2020. The re-test is overdue; but has been booked and 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 due in 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.
Regular, fortnightly interior cleaning has started up again this year, though unfortunately there are now only two teams, one of which includes our church wardens. 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 few years; and those who remain are obviously still desperate for more help as we all get older. Two teams, now means that the job comes around every month. I would therefore like to appeal yet again for new members to join the group and expand the now Page | 23
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 church wardens. 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.
## **Insurance Policy.**
I told you last year that we had a visit from our insurers (Ecclesiastical Insurance) in January 2021, 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. That review however raised our annual premium from £6750 in 2021 to £6899.94 for 2022, or approximately £575.00 per month!
The new insurance value for total loss was also raised to £16,375,000.00. For your information, this value, is not the cost to fully re-build 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 have a serious fire. It is assumed, that most of the stone structure will survive and require only minor repair.
In November of this year, the PCC began to re-consider the insurance, as the renewal approached.
We have always been happy with Ecclesiastical Insurance, they seem to have been always helpful and fair, and they are by far the most widely trusted insurance company used by the Anglican Church, and churches in general. We have been with them for many years, and this year were about to re-enter a new 3 year discounted deal. Recently however a new insurance company (Trinitas Church Insurance) has come onto the scene, and several churches in the Diocese have recently transferred, due to lower premium quotations. The PCC thought it worth approaching them for a quote. Inevitably with the new company there were forms to fill in, with a relatively full description of the church building, it’s construction, significance, and also of the contents. A Standing Committee meeting was convened on 19[th] December specially to review and compare both quotes, to try to assess the premiums, and levels of cover in the many and varied aspects. This proved to be fairly difficult in the short term, and raised a number of questions. Since the current period was very close to expiry, the committee eventually made the decision to stick with Ecclesiastical for another three year term, but to keep an eye on Trinitas, and see how they perform as the years progress and use of them becomes more common.
For your information then, our insurance premium for 2023 will be £6,903.92 + insurance premium tax of £828.48 = £7,732.40, or £644.37 / month, or £148.70 per week!
## **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 where the window guard protecting the window beside the RAF window was pulled away in one corner. The window itself was not damaged and damage to the guard minimal, so it was easy to push back into position. Items receiving general / minor repairs that I know of in 2022 included the following: -
The tower fire extinguisher was replaced in February – (it was very old). In April, Philippe re-shaped the metal bars at the bottom of the legs for the small folding tables, and replaced some of the pop rivets securing them. He also replaced some locks on a storage cabinet to give us an additional, lockable storage facility. The toilet flush handle was repaired and replaced in July after it came off in someone’s hand during the Garden Party. 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-
Page | 24
less we are grateful for all help in these matters. These would include general lighting / lamp replacements, woodworm monitoring, vacuum cleaner repairs, mower & strimmer 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 previously gave 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 Covid had delayed meetings between ourselves, and our architect such that it wasn’t until after the November 2020 meeting that we had drawn up a brief project plan to list some of the actions and priority tasks we had decided upon. We have completed some of those tasks which were easy to close out, such as seeking confirmation & dates of surveys and inspections etc, and an update to our list of church contractors, however these will continuously need to be revised, whenever details change.
We completed one of the major items on our project plan in 2021, which was the need to commission a full glazing survey for the church. 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.
Thankfully, on 22[nd] October, a small team including myself, Andy Deakins & John Alick, were able to make satisfactory repairs to the wood and plastic mesh window guard for the Northern Belfry window, on the West side. It took us a couple of hours, and we all came down extremely dirty, but happy with the result. We did have to spend half an hour scaring out at least 3 pigeons which had got in again, before we barricaded the window with the mesh, against their re-entry. There is no sign of any bats ever having been in, and since the repair, no repeated sign of entry by pigeon; although the belfry is still extremely dirty and in need of a clean since they were in. We shall have to try to clear it again during the summer.
Other items on the list have not moved forwards yet; whilst different tasks have come up and changed our original focus. As the tasks we have been dealing with this year come to a close, The PCC needs to re-assess and create a new plan of priorities to take us forward into 2023.
## **The Glazing Survey & Report.**
One of the major items on the project plan, originating from the Quinquennial Inspection and the meetings with the architect, was the need 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 some forwards as an acceptable repair project. You may remember that my report last year gave full details about the organizing and planning for the glazing survey, and then a summary of the results of the finished report from the glaziers. If anyone would like to read either, please ask. A copy of the report was passed onto the architect, for him to add his own notes about the stonework. When these come back, we will be able to establish the urgency and respective priorities of each window and to draw up a programme of repairs.
As I write in March 2023, there has been little to no progress moving forward from the glazing survey, and no contact with the architect on this subject as yet. Our focus has been on other items this year; such as church yard closure, Major Parish Church application, Barn refurbishment, and a faculty application for replacement notice boards, candle stands & pews. As these items complete and move behind us, next year should hopefully see us free to refocus on the priority windows and agree a program of repair works from those described, be they glazing, or masonry repairs.
Page | 25
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 &**
## **The Friends of the Hatfield Church Building Trust.**
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 briefly like to mention at this time Mrs Jean Waters, & Mrs. Betty Bateson; two well liked & respected former members of our church and community, who we are sadly mourning this month as I write. They were both integral in the setting up of the “Building Trust”, and the “Friends” organisations, and were leading members of those committees for many years. It is thanks to their involvement at the setting up, organisation, and then the dedicated running of both groups over the next couple of decades, that these organisations exist and are still here to look after the church building which they both loved.
Incidentally, it is from Jean Waters that I took over this job as “Church Buildings Officer”, – it seems oh so long ago – (about 18 years). So many reports!
This last year, Hatfield Church Building Trust have not been asked to pay for anything towards the upkeep of our church building. In 2021 they paid for the glazing survey, and for the service on our church clock (They usually apply for and receive a grant for the clock maintenance from the Town Council). This year however, the clock was not working during the second half of the year and thus not actually serviced. See the section titled Church Clock, for more about this.
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 some of the projects we are working on are finalised! I know that both groups are keen to see and support a project, such as a future window repair programme, and would like to get back into a more active and targeted fund-raising role. We will look forward to this in the coming year.
I should again like to pay tribute to so many members of our church, and those from the general public, who continually support the 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.
## **Bridgett Conservation Church Maintenance Programme.**
Some of you may remember that 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 re-employ 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 tried to carry out some of this work ourselves and had cleaned and examined some of the roofs and gutters of the church, and the surface gulleys & underground drainage pipes.
Page | 26
In 2022 then, some clearing of roof gutters & down pipes has occurred, done by a small team including Johnny, Stuart & Pete, however some of the roof guttering has not been done as the higher-level work is not really possible for the aging team that we now have. The silt traps and underground drainage pipes and gullies have however been cleaned out again, thanks to Philippe, Johnny, Stuart & Pete.
In the coming year, the PCC really need to discuss at length with our architect, investigate and decide whether to try to renew the maintenance contract with Bridgetts, or to go with an alternative; however this hasn’t yet been discussed.
## **Church Re-ordering – Removal of Unfixed Pews.**
I reported last year that since the quinquennial inspection, throughout the covid period, and moving into last year 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 had 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 freestanding pews. It was thought that 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. I also told you that the process began with Rosh speaking to the then interim DAC Secretary, who said that they could be disposed of, but that 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 needed to know how old the pews were, and when and where they came from. We started our investigations into the origin of the freestanding pews, by asking some of our oldest parishioners, previous clergy, and searching our own records and some of those from the diocese. Although some thought the pews had come from one of the local chapels, most of which have been redundant or demolished for many years, nobody could give a definite answer or offer any proof.
I also reported last year (in more detail than here), that 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 in July 2021, 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 to discuss our application in detail. They looked at and measured these pews, trying to establish whether they were ever native to our church, and decided that they didn’t fit anywhere well. They discussed our future plans for the space/s currently housing these pews, and also discussed the transfer of some of the items acquired from Dunscroft church.
At the end of the DAC visit, we were advised that we might still be able to dispose of some of the pews, although we would need to put in a full faculty application, and they stressed the need for strong statements of significance and need, highlighting the benefits. They said 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 DAC left after a few hours, to compile a report, but advised us to put in one faculty for the transfer of the items from Dunscroft, and a separate faculty for the pew removal.
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In addition to the DAC visit, Andrew, our architect came during the window survey in October 2021, 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. Andrew thought that the pews in question could have been assembled by cobbling together earlier seating and panelling, with the pew ends being added. It was possible that they may have originated from the galleries or furniture removed in the 1872 alterations, or the 1882 restoration. In the end, 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. His 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.
The DAC report was received 14[th] Sept 2021, the tone of which, together with the architect’s comments, prompted us to delay putting in a revised faculty application which was planned to be sent in for the October DAC meeting.
All the above actually occurred in 2021. Since then, the urgent removal of the Hatfield wall monument, the application to become a Major Parish Church, and ongoing developments with the Barn and churchyard, all changed and broadened our focus until later in the year. Only in the second half of 2022, did the focus move back towards trying to find out more details about the pews, and trying to obtain the necessary reports & permissions from the various “interested” organisations; complying with the due diligence as required by each of those, and more specifically the DAC and the faculty process. In June / July then, Rosh with a small team, working together with Viv Cooling, and mindful that we intended to submit faculties for various remodelling works; began working on revised Statements of Significance and Need, which would have to be submitted alongside any future faculty proposals. Using an earlier draft as a base, revised documents were compiled, to incorporate up-to date information and also to change the emphasis towards being more supportive of a re-ordering scheme. A new draft of these documents was viewed, tweaked and agreed at the PCC meeting of 5[th] September, such that they could accompany a faculty application which Rosh intended to submit the next day.
The faculty application went in on 6[th] September, to be considered by the DAC on the 13[th] .
From the minutes of the DAC meeting on the 13[th] , we were advised: “ _ACTION: As a major parish church, Hatfield St Lawrence was advised to engage the Lead Church Buildings Officer (Viv Cooling) in the formulation of their plans. Viv might provide a channel of communication to DAC. This would help to eliminate uncertainties. The Secretary is to consult Viv on how best to communicate the meeting’s findings. Once the Statements of Significance and Need have been revised, a pre-application consultation visit will be needed from Historic England, the Victorian Society and the Georgian Group. This can assist in identifying the age of the pews and their significance.”_
From the above then, Rosh wrote to these organisations, requesting comments, advice and / or a visit.
On 10[th] October, James Darwin, Head of Casework at the Georgian Group visited to view our pews. he was very knowledgeable and brought a helpful book detailing all the faculties in the York Diocese between 1613 and 1899. Hatfield had 13 entries, one of which related to repewing in 1695. Note on the very interesting list below, one which requested the building of 2 pig sties and a cow shed! The chap from the Georgian Group said that he had never seen
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anything like our pews, he thought that they were 'cobbled together', mainly 17th century and some panels maybe late 16th Century, but the bench ends and seats didn't match so he was pretty mystified. Never-the-less, he promised to pull something together and submit a report to us and also to contact the other agencies the DAC mentioned who hadn’t responded back to Rosh as yet. He also said that he would put Rosh in touch with a grant body who make grants for restoring monuments. He is the Senior Conservation Adviser for the group and also sits on Derby DAC. In a roundabout way then, our DAC being picky has had a silver lining, and we do feel that we have learned something. Following on from the above, Rosh contacted Andrew Boyce to see if we can access the Diocese of York records at all. It would be nice to see what detail is available.
The report by the Georgian group was received on 7[th] December. It talks about those pews viewed, and suggests which elements are recommended to be retained, and which are probably suitable for disposal. The full report is available should anyone like to read it, but as a taster the following paragraph is typical. “ _These pews and frontals were probably put together in the early twentieth century reusing woodwork from a variety of sources in their backs and ends. The seats and bible shelves themselves appear to be all of early twentieth century date, as are a few of the seat backs and ends. Whilst not an expert in church seating of this period I would feel reasonably confident in suggesting that these pews are not of great significance as they are not of a high standard of construction, or of an attractive or innovative design. Neither do they appear to stylistically relate to the church’s other highquality fittings by Temple Moore (1912) or Brodrick and Lowther (1896). Some of the reused woodwork contained within them is however of historic interest”._
On 8[th] December, Rosh again submitted the faculty on the online faculty system, such that it would once again go before the DAC on the 13[th] December, with the report from the Georgian Group, and with another from the Victorian Society expected by the end of the week. As part of this faculty application, formal requests for consultation were sent out to the Victorian Society, to Historic
Buildings and Places, and to The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. The deadline set for any response was 1[st] February 2023. On Sunday 11[th] December, Rosh and myself went round each of the considered pews, using the Georgian report for guidance, deciding which ones had to be retained and which were suitable for disposal / possible re-purposing into storage. They were each marked accordingly using coloured stickers. Out of the 13 freestanding pews in church, 2 were to be retained due to having the date and carving on the end. The pew situated in the Choir Vestry is to be retained. A further pew is to be retained due to having a possibly Georgian back panel behind it. There are also two pew frontals which are to be retained, which will be considered for their suitability for inclusion into a future storage facility (cupboard/s or chest/s) yet to be designed. Ultimately then we are planning to remove and dispose of 9 free standing pews.
As I write, the situation is that the faculty has not yet been finally granted but is expected to be so at the next sitting. Responses re the pews were finally received from the Victorian Society 17[th] Jan 2023, they were happy to defer to the DAC and Georgian Group opinions and so have no objections; also from Historic Buildings 23[rd] Jan 2023, who again endorsed the observations of the Georgian Group and had no further observations to make, other than to commend us for the research done on the matter.
Taken from “Church Fabric in the York Diocese 1613 – 1899:
The records of the Archbishop’s faculty jurisdiction – a Handlist compiled by Peter Evans
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## **The Hatfield Family Wall Monument.**
I reported last year that our architect had become concerned about the stability of the Hatfield family wall monument during his visit as part of the glazing survey. I reported that the monument which used to hang in the Choir Vestry was removed as a matter of urgency with special permission from the Archdeacon, and was transported, along with other parts of the same monument which had been removed some years earlier, back to the workshop of the Stone Mason, Matthias Garn to undergo some minor repairs. There was a more comprehensive report on this last year, although the actual removal took place on February 8[th] , 2022.
Currently then, there have been no further discussions or developments on this, and there are no plans to rush into putting the monument back up. In the first place, a full faculty application will be needed. We had a quote to simply repair the tablet and pediment as recently removed. We will need a revised quote for the full repair including all the repair / replacement of the additional parts removed many years ago. In the future we might be able to apply for grant funding towards the full cost of the repair and re-instatement. There was also 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. At this point however, we are happy that the monument is no longer at risk, and that we have the opportunity for re-instatement of it at some point in the future, probably as part of a larger project involving other monuments too.
## **Major Parish Church Designation.**
I told you last year, that at a meeting between Rosh and Viv Cooling our Diocesan Buildings Officer in December, Viv had 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.
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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, and defined a Major Parish Church thus:-
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: -
- Physically very big (over 1000m2 footprint).
- Grade l, ll* or (exceptionally) ll listed
- Exceptional significance and/or issues necessitating a conservation management plan
- Have a role or roles beyond those of a typical parish church, and make a considerable civic,
- cultural and economic contribution to their communities.
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.
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.
All of 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 spoke to the new Diocesan Advisory Committee Secretary, Simon – who asked her to prepare a paper to support our application. In April we were advised that the DAC would approve us to submit an application. On 26[th] April, Viv Cooling visited again, and together with Rosh, they filled in the first draft of the application form and began working on drafts of the Statements of Significance and Need which would be required to support any faculty applications. The first draft was completed 10[th] May, for the PCC to review & comment on. On 21[st] June, Viv contacted Rosh to say that applications for the next round had to be submitted the next day. After some rapid additions, and minor changes, and a late night signoff, the application went in on time. Rosh was also encouraged to report, that when she had initially sent the first draft to the DAC secretary for comment, he had initially returned to us a copy of the only other Sheffield Diocesan Church to apply; and which she felt was a poor application against the merits of our own.
I am pleased to report here, that our efforts were not in vain, and that we were successful in gaining the designation of a Major Parish Church. The formal letter was received on 27[th] July, and the good news was announced to rapturous applause at the services on 31[st] July and 3[rd] August.
Well done to Rosh and Viv, and to all those who helped in this application, this can only be good for us, as the designation is intended to help us obtain funding for projects in the future.
Notwithstanding the above, it does not mean that obtaining funding for all future projects will be easy.
All projects will still need to comply with the full faculty and governance processes and compete with other projects for limited funding; it does however mean that there is more funding available to those churches designated as MPC’s.
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## **Microphones, Sound System, Hearing Loop & Digital Broadcast.**
I told you last year, that in December 2021, we were told that Rachel had received a £1000.00 grant to upgrade the technology within the church. This was extremely fortunate, and it was immediately used to replace the sound mixing desk for the P.A. system, which had suddenly failed (after more than 30 years of reliable service). Philippe replaced the sound mixing desk in December 2021 then, just in time for our Christmas services, (cost £164).
The remainder of this grant was spent in February 2022 on a new projector (£549), a remote controlled, motorised projector screen (£207), and new gooseneck microphones for the Lectern & Pulpit, plus a selection of inter-connecting cables with the remaining £80. The new microphones were installed and tested by Phillippe on 6[th] April. The projector has been used, but the screen hasn’t so far, and is in storage for now. This will need semi-permanent installation on top of the Rood Screen, with an electric supply, and will undoubtably require a faculty and satisfactory design before installation. We hope to work on this during this coming year. You may have noted, that the microphones, though being new, have been playing up a little recently. This is apparently due to a very poor connection between the goose neck and it’s base unit. We plug them in and all is fine, but it only takes a couple of adjustments of the neck, and the connection dis-lodges. We are currently trying to find a solution, and have complained to the manufacturer, but if we have no joy we may need to re-consider replacements. (They weren’t overly expensive at around £25 each).
I also told you last year, that in December 2021, we were advised by the Diocesan Digital Enabler to get a “Reliable and affordable internet connection” for our church. This was brought up again during the March PCC meeting and it was suggested that a card reader & QR code reader ought to be acquired for installation in church, as many of the younger generation don’t carry cash. We are also regularly asked whether it is possible to pay for weddings and funerals etc by card. Rosh suggested that training in their successful use would be required, but was happy to trial leaving one of the readers in church. (We already had two, used by Rachel and in the Parish office). Successful use of a card reader requires the use of the internet or wifi. (As does our desire to do more live-streaming of services etc, as mentioned in last year’s report), so the search was on to find a reliable but cost effective solution. Rosh and Rachel tried the card readers in various locations, with limited success initially.
Philippe was also looking into this, and in April he contacted a local company prepared to install a small antenna on the tower roof, pointing towards an O2 mast located in Stainforth, which should give us an Internet speed of about 50Mbps, enough for live streaming, and other less demanding internet tasks. They were offering a good deal on the installation, (if we could run a cable from the roof to the ground), they also offered a deal on the monthly charges. The PCC were quite interested in this proposal and agreed to investigate it further (seeking DAC advice & applying for a faculty etc).
In the end, none of that was necessary. On the 12[th] October, after further extensive research and advice, Rosh was able to set up a Mobile 4G Home Hub which you can now find plugged in by the Pulpit.
It operates on the THREE network and seems to cover the whole of the church from that point. With it she has been able to fully use her laptop, listen and play radio and music through both her mobile and the sound system and also to live stream a small snippet of video. The card readers are able to be positioned near the Porch exit – the most advantageous position, and have been used many times, particularly at weddings & funerals. The beauty of this is there are no wires and it can be used in the barn as well and the best bit is no interaction with the DAC required!!
The system seems to work well, and has been used many times since, with only a couple of blips. This was possibly caused by over enthusiastic church wardens (or others) turning off the
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power at all the sockets when leaving, and causing the connection to be lost (it was Christmas with trees and lights!).
Any legitimate users can log on to the network within the church if they need to. – If you have any need to, please contact Rosh who can provide connection details.
In August, we were given a PC and monitor to add to our PA system. This will allow us to play CD’s directly from the PC, we can use it to select specific tracks and create play lists, etc. We can also upload CDs, and other songs stored on USB sticks, phones, etc. It will also allow us to record sermons.
I should like to thank Philippe who has spent many hours sorting out some of the problems with the sound system, both with fault finding and with integration of the new equipment into our system, with some help from Gordon Troop. He cleaned many contacts (from electrical connections on plugs to other connectors with low voltage currents (between amplifiers and other equipment, including speakers). As a result, both speakers in the nave now appear to be clear of background hums.
He has again cleaned the heads of both CD players, and tried to set the mixing desk up for each input so that they should not need adjusting most of the time.
One of the front amplifiers stopped working for a while, so he was forced to prioritise the main nave speakers, the choir speaker (for the organist) and the chapel speaker, and thus disconnect the transept speakers for a while. The problem was later found to be a blown internal fuse, which he has replaced, and all is back in operation.
One of the rear speakers also stopped working, so Philippe & Gordon removed it and disassembled it,
found the internal printed circuitry to be at fault such that it was essentially un-repairable. In December, Phillippe found a pair of very similar speakers on eBay, which he bid for and secured.
Following minor modifications to the mounting arrangement, one of these speakers is now fitted and working at the rear of the nave, and we have a spare should any of the others fail in the future.
Finally, 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 drive the PA system for some of our services, or would like to record and broadcast our services for us, then please contact Liz or the church wardens. Woe betide me for suggesting that the current operators are not doing it properly! – but I know some additional help would be appreciated, it can be very burdensome when volunteers are few and services many.
## **The Church Clock.**
I told you last year that our clock has been maintained for a long time by a company called Smith of Derby, who had taken over from William Potts of Guildford, the original installers in 1956. I also said that we had been contacted by another company, Time Assured from Mansfield, who offered to maintain our clock at a slightly cheaper rate than the current contractor, but that we had investigated this but eventually decided to stick with Smith of Derby. That investigation had delayed our usual clock service, due - end of September, and it was eventually carried out on 10[th] January 2022. In previous years, I have told you that our clock generally runs trouble free between services, however over the last few years the synchronous motor which drives it had started to have problems re-starting after stopping during power cuts. You may remember my report for the year 2018 – 2019, which described us writing to the contractor and asking them to quote us for changing this motor, and that they had given a budgetary quote of £2,500.00 to change the whole movement because the existing motor was obsolete. The service engineer in 2018 had talked over this quote with Philippe and had suggested that the clock might continue as it is for many years, and that we
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|could
leave||**Price**|**Notes**||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|it|**Option Two: Quotation - Clock**||||
|until|**Movement, Back-Up Unit, Strike**||||
|it fails|**Motor and Controller Item**||||
||Supply and install a Smith of Derby|**£4,947**|Price is excluding VAT, valid for||
||T1R clock movement and Auto||30 days and as per our T&C’s.||
||Restart Unit, along with a new 1/4HP||||
||strike motor and C220 controller.||||
## altogether.
On the 11[th] August I was told that the church clock had stopped. I went that night to try to get it started again, and after a few attempts was successful, though noted that it appeared to be labouring occasionally. After about 20 mins I left it running, having confirmed that it was chiming correctly. I returned 2 hrs later and checked that it was still running and chiming correctly. The next day Liz reported that it had stopped again. I returned a number of times over the next few days, but could not get the motor to keep running for more than 30 seconds. On the 14[th] August I wrote to Smith of Derby, and asked them to re-validate their previous 2018 quote, as our clock appeared to have stopped for good. On the 5[th] September I received their quotation, and immediately emailed back with some clarification questions, so that I would have sufficient answers to discuss the quote at PCC that night.
The quote from Smith of Derby came with two options as follows:-
## **Option One: Proposal – Clock Movement and Back-Up Unit**
As per our previous correspondence, the clock movement is an early English Clock Systems self-start electric movement driving the hands through the mechanical clock. As the movement has become faulty and parts are no longer available, we will need to replace this with a Smith of Derby T1R clock movement to return the clock back to reliable working order. The T1R will drive the clock hands through the mechanical clock, as per the current unit. Supporting the T1R would be a Smith of Derby Auto Restart Unit (ARU), which will re-start the clock at the correct time following any power cuts and complete the GMT/BST time change automatically.
|automatically.|||
|---|---|---|
|**Option One: Quotation – Clock**|**Price**|**Notes**|
|**Movement and Back-Up Unit Item**|||
|Supply and install a Smith of Derby|**£2,467**|Price is excluding VAT, valid for|
|T1R clock movement and Auto Restart||30 days and as per our T&C’s.|
|Unit.|||
## **Option Two: Proposal - Clock Movement, Back-Up Unit, Strike Motor and Controller**
Along with the works described above, to install a T1R clock movement with supporting ARU, we recommend that the strike motor is also replaced at this time, as it is a similar age to the movement driving the clock. The strike motor would be replaced by a Smith of Derby 1/4HP motor, driving the strike unit and bell hammers. This would be controlled by a Smith of Derby C220, to ensure accurate striking of the times.
The PCC were quite happy with the above quotation, but after consideration decided that Option 2 was largely un-necessary as we had never had problems with the strike mechanism as yet. Its operation is largely independent of the clock mechanism, simply triggered by a cam operated switch on the minute drive shaft, and thus it could be repaired / renewed whenever necessary. Also the clock could operate quite happily without the chiming mechanism for as long as was necessary. We were also pleased to see that the Option 1 quote was actually
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slightly cheaper than the budgetary quote we had received for the same thing in 2018.
Having decided all the above, in the interest of governance, the PCC decided that we needed to try to obtain at least one other quote. On 16[th] September I emailed Time Assured, sent photographs of our clock mechanism and told them our requirements. The Time Assured quote was received 28[th] September, and in fairness was very similar in value to the Smith’s quote (£2650). The 3[rd] October PCC compared the two quotations, and in the end chose our current contractor and Option 1, for the replacement. On the 5[th] October, we wrote to Smith of Derby, and informed them that we wished to proceed with option 1 and thus authorised them to begin work on the design & manufacture of our new mechanism. They confirmed our order and sent a deposit invoice (a 30% payment with order was part of the T’s & C’s). Unfortunately, due to an email (Spam) error, this wasn’t spotted for a while, even though we were expecting and supposedly looking out for it. The deposit invoice was eventually paid 11[th] November.
On 16[th] November, the engineer from Smith’s came and removed the old clock drive mechanism. Whilst here, he spoke to Brian Adamson, and asked if it would be possible to update the electrical connection boxes for the clock. (Those fitted were old Bakelite switches, which were presumably original to when the clock was installed in 1957). Unfortunately due to sickness, there was about a 2 week delay in the message getting passed on, and we were now into December and heavily into Christmas services and preparations etc. Though this change to the electrics hadn’t actually been considered at the time, it was both eminently sensible and expected to be a relatively cheap and simple upgrade to the clock electrics, so the Standing committee agreed, and we planned to get Fowlers Electricians in to quote and make the change.
On the 4[th] January 2023, Vera took a phone call from Smith’s which surprised us, and said that they intended to re-visit and fit our new clock mechanism on the 10[th] January. We weren’t ready! Later on the 4[th] , I sent some photos of the clock’s electrical supply, which I had already taken in preparation), and asked for a quote to swap the two switches for 2 x Metal-Clad, switched, fused, connection boxes, with cable outlets. I also told them of the urgency, and that if possible we needed it doing before 10[th] . On the evening of the 5[th] , I met with Dean Fowler, showed him the arrangement and explained what we thought we needed. He agreed that the existing supply cable should be fine, and the plan to change only the connection boxes should be very straightforward and inexpensive. He also said that because of their long association with our church, and their previous location within the village; that they would do the work at cost for us, and that he would organise for someone to visit and complete the works before the 10[th] , so that we wouldn’t need to delay the re-installation of the clock. True to their word, two electricians turned up on the morning of the 9[th] Jan, and fitted the new connection points. It almost took them longer to carry everything up and then back down the tower, than to complete the job, they were here just over an hour.
On the 10[th] , an engineer called Jason, from Smiths arrived to install the new clock mechanism. Again Vera said that the poor man had to go up and down the tower many times between his van and the clock, and that he was here for most of the day. She said that he had reported that it had been a little more difficult than he had expected but it was now all sorted. Vera was excited to report at about 5.30, that it was all working perfectly again, and had been adjusted until it was now approximately 2 seconds slow when chiming.
The final bill has now been paid to Smith of Derby, and also to Peter Fowler Electrical, although Fowlers have since communicated that their bill had been sent in error, and that they had intended to carry out the work for free; therefore they now intended to send us a credit to cover this.
On behalf of the Church, and I think I can possibly speak for the Town on this, we are all very pleased to see the clock back in operation. We have received a number of comments from people asking about it, and clearly missing it.
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At this point then, I need to pass on a well-deserved thank-you to various groups and individuals.
- Thanks to Smith of Derby Clock makers for a job well done, with minimum fuss.
- Thanks to Peter Fowler Electrical, also for a job well done, for fitting us in at extremely short notice, and for your donation in respect of the work on the electrics.
- Thanks to those who have donated towards the cost of this replacement. So far we have had donations totalling £1525 towards the full cost (£2960.92 inc Vat), thus leaving £1,435.92 for the church to pay. Donations so far - one larger donation, and a couple of smaller donations. Should anyone else like to give anything towards the repair of the clock it is not too late. Any further donations would be welcomed – speak to our church wardens or treasury team, and they will be pleased to help.
- Thanks also to Vera and Brian, and any others who met with and looked after the contractors whilst on site.
Unfortunately we haven’t been able to ask for a grant from the Town Council for the clock repair this year, as their policy is that they cannot fund invoices that have already been paid. We will however be applying again for the on-going maintenance costs in the future, for which they usually do give us a grant.
The PCC also need to try to fill in a claim form – for the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, Hopefully, we should be able to reclaim Vat on this cost as the final bill was over £1000.00.
## **The Church Organ.**
Our church organ was planned 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. 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. Our organ saw significantly more use in early 2022 for regular services etc, and sadly declining use latterly following Vernon’s decision to retire from playing for the regular services. (He is still happy to do weddings, funerals & special services when asked). Neither of the scheduled organ services occurred in 2022, though thankfully our organ has performed well throughout, with no problems.
Organs do slide out of tune steadily, so a service & re-tune is recommended, and with Vernon’s advice we will be contacting the service company towards the Summer for that overdue service. The PCC will need to consider & discuss with Spinks and try to agree a reduced / more flexible service approach for servicing going forward.
The only work which has been necessary, and which I reported last year, 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.**
During this latest heating period then, our heating system does seem to have behaved quite well. The system was serviced in November 2021, and I believe again in April 2022. There have been no service call outs – since then, but as I write, a service was about to be booked for some time in March. I have not been made aware of any issues of failing to start, and we have not really had many complaints about the temperature being too cold with the heating on since then, so all looks fairly good for now.
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We have however experienced a couple of programming errors, whereby the heating was either programmed for the wrong time or day, and thus didn’t come on as expected. There were also errors where a program was inadvertently left in the memory following an ad-hoc service such as a funeral, which was then repeated the following week, heating the church for no reason. We obviously need to be a little more careful of that if possible.
Partially for that reason, when the engineer calls for this service, Philippe is going to ask him to add a “Cancel” or “Advance” button, so that we can easily cancel a program part way through its cycle and advance to the end. This is currently difficult and requires us to amend the stored program to get the system to stop. The problem there is that you can’t then reenter the same program parameters again for next week without re-starting the current program again; you must go away and return the next day to re program the very program you just cancelled.
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 greener energy sources. Inevitably then, this has 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.
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.
A preliminary discussion took place in April, between Rosh and Eddie Murphy from Ollio Consultancy who is the DAC Heating Specialist. Rosh gave him a brief outline of our current heating system in church, and in the Barn and told him we were seeking advice on options for the future to make both more effective etc. He was invited to pay us a visit on May 9[th] , which he did and spoke to Rosh, Vera, Philippe & Brian. He looked at our church heating and is going to send a report under the remit of his role as advisor to the DAC (i.e. no charge!). I am not aware that we have received this yet, we will have to chase it. He did comment that if he was going to design a heating system for a church like ours in terms of building and use, the last thing he would come up with would be what we have! Having said that, since the system is functioning reasonably well at the moment, he suggested we consider incorporating something like De-Stratification fans to get the heat where it needs to be, when we come to submit some of the plans and faculties for major works we are envisioning over the next few years.
He also looked at the barn and within minutes had told us to get the damp proofing done first, and then a wet system with boiler and radiators. He was happy to look at the quotes for the damp proofing and advise, and at the heating when we got the quotes. He also advised that provided the Marley tiles were not lifted that a Damp Course installation would not cause an Asbestos hazard.
I think that in recognition of the current fuel 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 reordering plans for the church.
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In response to a question from Liz, who had received a bulletin from the Diocese in August, Karen our Treasurer confirmed that we do indeed already benefit from the reduced Vat rate on energy bills for charities and are currently paying 5% Vat for both Church and Barn.
## **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 rope installation and to Andy Deakins who helped with the lighting installation and again with the removal. I am pleased to say that there were no problems with the lights yet again, 8 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.
## **Tolling for the Queen’s Funeral.**
As a sad reminder of last year’s arrangements for Prince Phillip, September again found us with the flag at half-mast and tolling our church bell together with many other churches, for the funeral of our beloved Queen. To do this, I had to re-connect the old tolling rope temporarily to our No. 2 bell again. It is not generally connected, as it interferes with our chiming system. Thanks to Rosh & to Andy and others for taking a turn with the tolling.
Co-incidentally, it just happened that we had a wedding booked for the exact date and time of the Queen’s funeral, and that this wedding had already been cancelled before, due to Covid restrictions.
As a church we had to honour our commitment to the wedding couple, so the wedding went ahead, with the Bishop’s approval; and with a respectful acknowledgment for the Queen’s funeral at the beginning.
It also meant that I had to dis-connect the tolling mechanism during the wedding service!
## **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 we had re-signed a new agreement in April 2021, to enable us to leave the items there; also that we had given permission for photos to be included in a new book titled: Armour of the English Knight: Continental Armour in England 1435 – 1500. At the same time, we had re-enquired about the possibility of getting replicas made and receiving some literature, which we could keep in our church. Whilst as yet we have not received anything physically, a response from the Royal Armouries did say that they were considering the possibility of replicas, so we should probably chase this again soon.
For anyone interested, I would recommend you visit the Armouries and look out for our armour, it is apparently quite rare and is significant to historians of this period.
## **The Barn**
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I told you last year, that in April 2021, Tim Sweed had again applied for a “Covid Re-start Grant” for the Barn. In 2020 we had been awarded £10,000.00 towards re-opening the Barn. In 2021 he 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 totalled £27,431.00 could only be spent on re-opening the existing Barn, and on making it more suitable for use in the current / post Covid-prevalent period, Grateful thanks again then to Tim on his sterling work, applying for this funding on our behalf.
I also told you last year that in May 2021, the Standing Committee of the PCC met to discuss the grants received; and to plan the way forward for re-opening the Barn. Various suggestions were put forward, and a list of potential improvements was compiled. It was agreed that at least 2 quotations had to be sought for each item on the list, these quotations for each element were then compared and decided upon either by the PCC or by the Standing Committee before their installation. I also told you last year of the progress to date; but now as the full works have reached their conclusion, I shall present the full list of improvements including last years, and those from this year too. I do this in the interests of transparency and as a record of where the grant monies were spent.
The following improvement items then, were undertaken and have reached their completion
|**Item**|**Cost**|**Completion**|
|---|---|---|
|New Gates|£515.00||
|Garage Electrics|£717.60|September 2021|
|Garage Doors|£2,115.00|October 2021|
|Replacement Windows + Door|£2,825.00|February2022|
|Contractor work(see below *)|£16,970.00|August 2022|
|Roof(Porch)|£2,400.00|August 2022|
|Clearing|£40.00|July /August 2022|
|New Blinds|£450.00|September 2022|
|Floor Coverings(Vinyl)|£1,812.00|September 2022|
|**Total**|**£27,844.60**|2021 - 2022|
The first item was a replacement Barn Field Gate. The existing gate which could only close off half of the opening was 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, also to discourage parents from parking on the field when collecting children from school. There is now additional security and the gate is locked whilst the Barn is in use by the Day-care Nursery. We now also use 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 metal-clad 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 2021.
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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, such that we can still open the doors should the power have failed.
In February 2022, we 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 were 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 door remains original.
You may remember that I told you last year, that we had received one quote and were awaiting a second for the installation of an injection type of dampcourse to the Barn, to try to eliminate the rising damp. The first quotation was £9,216.00, included 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. The second quotation was similar by design, but using a different damp course methodology. That quote was for £14,000, and they were not going to re-fit fixtures and fittings (such as plumbing & electrical switches & sockets), advising us instead to get a “Professional” in to do these tasks after the damp course was finished and the walls dried. I also mentioned that we had concerns that the installation of the damp course might cause damage to the floor tiles, which are proven to be made from an Asbestos composite.
I also told you last year that we had been considering options around replacement heaters for the Barn, and had considered radiant panels, infra-red wall heaters, replacement gas fires & central heating systems. When we started looking at this pre Covid, we had been favouring the infra-red heaters, though at this stage had not actually gone through with the change. I have already told you that in April, a discussion took place between Rosh and Eddie Murphy from Ollio Consultancy who is the DAC heating' specialist' and that he visited in May to see our church heating system. He also looked at the barn and within minutes had told us to get the damp proofing done first, and then a wet system with boiler and radiators. He was happy to look at the quotes for the damp proofing and advise, and the heating when we got the quotes. He also advised that provided the floor tiles were not lifted that a damp course installation would not cause an Asbestos hazard.
In June, Vera sought and received a quotation from Complete Property Services, asking him /them to quote for similar work in installing the damp course, but also to include installation of a central heating system, and basic internal / external refresh of the building. The quotation was received on 29[th] June, and was discussed and agreed upon by the Standing Committee at a meeting on 7[th] July. The initial price quoted was £16,370.00 although that did rise by an additional £600.00 to cover additional work & electrical sockets installed on a new ring main. He expected the job to last for 3 weeks and promised to try to fit this project into his schedule as soon as possible. We would still have to do the final decoration and refit any floor covering, though they would remove all waste, and leave the building clean and tidy.
## **The main Contractor Works are listed below:**
Remove existing boiler and wall heaters replacing with new boiler + 4 radiators
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- (2 in the meeting room, 1 in the kitchen and 1 in the toilet).
- Removal of wet plaster, walls dried out for a week before replacing with moisture resistant plasterboard
- Addition of 50mm internal insulation
- Removal of brickwork which protrudes into the meeting room
- Install 200mm extra loft insulation throughout the building
- Removal of existing wood cupboards and replacement with new with 2 new doors
- Replacement of existing lights with LED tubes
- Replacement of stud wall between toilet and cupboard and between the cupboard and the main room
- Removal and reinstall of toilet, cistern and sink
- Installation of extractor fans to kitchen and toilet
- Additional electric sockets installed
- All wires and pipes to be hidden inside the walls.
- Full project management of all tasks & trades
- Disposal of all waste, building to be left clean & tidy.
- Cost as listed above - £16,970.00
As this work was expected to start sometime in August, July saw Vera, Rachel and others clearing and sorting out the contents of the Barn. Some of the children’s stuff (used by Rachel) went into the garages, The Uniform Bank went into the Church Vestry, some stuff was inevitably dumped. The square wooden tables are acting as shelving in the garages, and the folding tables went into church. Eventually the only thing left in there was the large wooden table. During this time Vera also investigated the possibility of getting a steel storage container put at the end of the carpark hoping to store the chairs and tables from the barn in there. Unfortunately, this wasn’t possible. The driver didn’t think he would be able to get the lorry into the Barn field. Plan B was to move the chairs from the barn into a similar container to be securely stored at Eco Way. We are currently not being charged for this.
The contractor started work re-furbishing the Barn in August and was due to finish around the end of August as expected. Unfortunately, the porch roof was found to be rotten, when one of the contractors almost fell through it. After a lengthy discussion with the contractor, it was agreed for them to replace the woodwork and rebuild the roof. This was obviously an extra cost to that previously planned.
The above quick decision by Vera was soon ratified by emails from other Standing Committee members. The additional cost of this repair was £2,400 as listed above.
Once the contractor had finished, all that was left was the internal decorations and finishing off.
For that, the internal painting was carried out by a team of local volunteers, thanks to all those who helped with that. Vertical blinds were fitted to all windows in the hall and porch, (not kitchen); by KW Blinds Ltd @ £450.00.
A vinyl floor covering was fitted throughout the Barn by Stainforth Carpets Ltd. We did consider carpet against vinyl, and eventually chose the vinyl, (knowing that the Day-care Nursery were hoping to come in), on the grounds that it would be easier to clean. We also received quotes from Stainforth Carpets and Wilson’s Carpets for this, but the PCC chose the Stainforth Carpets quote @ £1812.29 by email on 20[th] September. During the decoration phase, we did consider swapping the kitchen sink cupboard doors from the Parish Office to the Barn, as they were an exact match, however in the end this hasn’t happened, and we settled upon just a general re-paint for the kitchen.
The quinquennial (5 yearly) fixed electrical inspection for the Barn was carried out by Fowlers electricians in April 2018, and therefore is not due until April 2023, but should be booked and carried out soon. The portable appliance (PAT) testing was carried out on 15[th] January 2020, along with the church and Parish Office. The re-test is overdue; but again will hopefully be completed shortly. The fire extinguishers were serviced in September 2022. The Burglar alarm
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received a service call in March 2022, where the alarm keypad was difficult to operate, making it difficult to stop or to arm it. The engineer cleaned the contacts on the keypad internally, reporting that they had probably been affected by damp as the building had not been used or heated for a year. The Alarm was re-serviced 14[th] September by Chubb, whereby a new sensor and batteries were fitted to the Garages.
In August, Philippe & Johnny worked hard to clear the “Ransom strip” and to restore the fence between the Barn and the property next door. It has been mentioned that we would like to receive any old paving slabs etc to lay on that area behind the barn, so that we can hopefully retain the full all- round access without being overcome by weeds, brambles, or ivy again. If anyone knows of any suitable slabs going spare, please let us know. Philippe and Stuart also looked at and brought the sit-on mower back into operation. It hadn’t been used for at least 2 years. After recharging a very dead battery, everything worked OK. For the last couple of years, during lockdowns and until recently, our Barn field has very kindly been cut by the man from Woodhouse Cemetery, however as our Barn returns to more active use, cuts will need to be more frequent, and we shall probably have to take more upon ourselves again.
You may well have noticed that Rachel and the Children’s groups have taken over some areas on the Barn field. Most noticeably with the outdoor play area for the Little Lions toddler group which is tree bark covered and has a Wendy house situated on it, against the East wall. This area had a “Grand Opening” on 1[st] October, complete with ribbon cutting, the Mayor in attendance, and bacon butties!. Rachel and the children asked the PCC for permission to start this project, and with permission granted the transformation began in late June. It was created by Rachel, aided and abetted by many volunteers of all ages. Some helped with the physical aspect of removing the bush, then the grass in that area, some with the positioning, restoring and filling of the raised flower beds, the spreading of the bark and the transportation and assembly of the Wendy house.
Many thanks to all those who helped in this, people of all ages and abilities, and not forgetting those who gave any donations towards it.
Also noticeable is the fact that the weeds, nettles & brambles around the edges of the field have, in places, been significantly cut back this year. This is partly to protect the children from them, but also because the previous few years following Covid, saw the weeds left to grow unchecked to the point where they had begun to reduce the field space available. Also we needed to set the right boundaries before deciding on and allowing the wild areas to flourish. Many thanks especially to Johnny on this, although others also put in considerable effort too.
Thankfully then, this year has seen the Barn come back into more regular use, although not in a big way until the end of the year. The Barn has seen use for a couple of coffee mornings, some PCC & other church and group meetings, and is used once again by Rachel for our children’s work and clubs.
We now also have a regular hiring from a couple running “Kay & Dans Day-care” which brings in a valuable income 4 days per week. We hope to see its use expanding over the coming year, moving back towards previous usage levels, and would like to see it attracting more evening & meeting use.
Additional note! The wooden shed positioned in the corner of the carpark is actually the property of the Day-care couple, positioned there with the permission of the PCC, to store much of their equipment. The PCC are looking to replicate that, with a second unit for our use, such that the Barn chairs (currently at Eco park) can be returned and stored locally to be used for coffee mornings, meetings etc, as well as additional much needed storage for us.
## **The Parish Office.**
The Parish Office - fixed electrical inspection was carried out in April 2022 and therefore will
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be due for a re-test in April 2027. 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, however it has been booked and will be carried out shortly.
I told you over the last couple of years, that the Parish Office had undergone quite a refurbishment during 2020, mostly finishing with re-decoration in 2021, and leaving only the fitment of the floor coverings throughout, for early 2022. The plan to renew the floor coverings has not actually progressed as yet, with the existing remaining as serviceable for now. With all the work that was completed, there should have been nothing more to do in the office decoration wise this year, however yet another leak originating from the shower of the flat above has caused further damage this year. The leak has again been rectified – hopefully permanently, and as I write, the Diocesan Buildings Officer has instructed us to rectify the new stains by getting the previous contractor back in to repaint the affected areas. I believe we have now booked this, and it will be completed shortly.
Our biggest problems in the Parish Office have this year all been of the electronic equipment variety.
Beginning around May, our printer started to get low on ink, and as we tried to order more, we were told by the manufacturer (Riso) that they couldn’t supply any more. Riso didn’t make the cartridges anymore, as our machine was now obsolete; and they had been supplying us with the last remaining stock for the past few months. We therefore needed to find a new printer suitable to our needs, and there began the discussions over fundamentals such as rent or buy, ink jet or laser, Riso or Canon or other manufacturer etc. Quotations were sought, looking primarily at the various “costs per print” of the various machines assuming an annual rent and maintenance contract would be put in place to replace the one we currently had with Riso. Interested parties from the parish office also looked at the output quality of various local machines as used by other local churches and organisations.
Eventually after much negotiation, by the PO team, we decided to stick with a fully refurbished Riso colour ink jet printer. The order was signed off 25[th] June, but there was expected to be a 6 – 8 week delivery on our refurbished printer. The new printer (a Riso Com Colour FW5230) arrived and was installed and working on 23[rd] August. Unfortunately, the new printer developed a fault in December, just as it was needed for Christmas printing. Riso came out and repaired it in accordance with the contract, so it wasn’t out of action long. During the interim period between May and August, we were forced to have many documents such as Newsletters, Magazines, PCC packs, Garden Party flyers etc all printed elsewhere. Dependent on volumes and efficiency, some went to the library, some to Thorne Church, and some to St. John’s Church Goole. Thanks to Chrissy and Jill for organising and collecting most of the various printed packs as and when they were needed.
During December, we also started to have problems with the office computer and the internet, such that the office computer was not receiving incoming Mail. It was initially thought that the problem might be a lack of memory on the PC, as the drive was rather full, so some of the files were archived elsewhere or purged and deleted if not required. Later the problem was discovered to be a change to our Internet Service Provider. Actually, there had been a couple within a matter of weeks, which had compounded the problem. As it stands now, The old email address for the Parish office cannot be used, and we are still trying to retrieve any emails that might have been lost during the period 10[th] December 2022 to end February 2023.
Rachel has now set up a new email address for the Parish Office, which can be used going forward, and which is linked to the new website. Details below: -
Website: www.hatfeldstlawrencechurch.com
Email: hello@hatfeldstlawrencechurch.com
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## **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. As I write, I have started the process of re-reviewing the above documents, and have downloaded the latest Ecclesiastical Insurance templates, and starting with the Fire Risk Assessment, with the others to follow, I am copying over and amending details as necessary. When complete, these documents will need to be reviewed and accepted and signed off by the PCC.
We need to keep these documents up to date, it is a requirement of the Archdeacon’s visitation to the Churchwardens for him/her to see them. Our insurance company could withhold payment if they were non-existent or too far out of date, and some of the funding organisations demand to see them from time to time as we apply for grants, (as pointed out recently by Rachel). Our Churchwardens carried out a successful fire escape trial in February 2022, a repeat is now due – listen out for the shout!
You will remember of course, that during these last few years, different rules, regulations & guidance came out repeatedly, which amended what we were able to do, particularly to do with our services. These have been repeatedly reviewed and risk assessed, from the Bishop down, but locally by Revd Liz, our Churchwardens, Ministry Team & PCC. Compliance has sometimes been difficult, but essential to protecting ourselves and each other from the virus. As I write, we can be thankful that much has changed, and we are now able to hold much more satisfactory Communion services (currently using the “Intinction Method” of dipping a wafer into the wine). We are of course able to sing loudly again, and the wearing of masks is purely voluntary. 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 you will agree that we are at least heading in the right direction, though some restrictions may be with us for some time yet and some former practices may never actually return.
## **The Church Intruder Alarm / Roof Alarm.**
I reported last year that the proximity detector contacts on the South Door (the one we all use), was intermittently sticking, and we were about to call Chubb in to re-look at it. This service call was completed on 24/03/22, though yet again the sensor had seemed to rectify itself and thus was not changed. I am not aware of any repeats of this intermittent door sensor fault since then. The engineer also looked at and cleaned up the keypad in the Barn, which was sticking and preventing the alarm from being properly set.
The church intruder alarm was serviced on 14[th] September 2022, with the Barn done on the same visit. The Chubb service engineer checked the system over, extended the entry & exit periods (at the Churchwardens request), and declared it healthy again.
The roof alarm system was last serviced 3[rd] October 2022. 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. Unfortunately, following the service, we started to have problems with intermittent tripping. Initially we thought the problem was caused by tree branches that were getting very close to the North wall, so Vera organised for the tree surgeon to do some strategic lopping.
Unfortunately, that didn’t solve the problem, and the incidents became even more frequent in late October and November. The 15[th] November saw 3 activations between 8.00 & 8.30pm, and the 16[th] saw another 2 activations at 8.00. & 8.10pm. A member of our church
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investigated each event, with Philippe, Brian, and Vera & Rhys attending, and walking around our church to discount foul play.
In each case they drew a blank with identifying any probable cause. Philippe did suggest that the cause might be an Owl or another large bird of prey, which could have taken up temporary residence and be nesting on one of the roofs. Finally these activations stopped as suddenly as they started, and I am unaware of any further incidents, so maybe a large bird was the culprit.
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 that December. Unfortunately, throughout the above series of incidents, despite our having opted out of the “Night Guard” cover, the alarm company have sent us several bills for attendance by the “Night Guard”. These bills (which are supposed to be paid as required, and on top of the annual service agreement); have currently not been paid, and we are currently in dispute over their payment. Suffice to say that we will be re-examining the terms of the contract, to ensure we are getting the service we have asked for and not paying for anything that we didn’t ask for. Incidentally the roof alarm company (E-Bound AVX Ltd) moved into new offices in November 2022. Whether that has any relevance to our dispute I don’t know, – but it shouldn’t have.
## **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.
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, generally throughout the year, but more particularly as we get into wedding season, and also around the times of our larger church / community events. Thanks 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.
The annual churchyard survey to check the stability of the gravestones within the churchyard was last completed 3[rd] September 2022; with a quick walk round by myself during a wedding, in which I observed no real changes worthy of note. Neither have we received any notification from our maintenance teams that there are any gravestones which they consider to be more unstable or in need of any specific maintenance; though they have uncovered a few more which were previously buried in the undergrowth. There was 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 had been no significant change in their condition at the time of the survey, but recent work will appear below.
There have been a number of surveys done of the gravestones within our churchyard over the years, inevitably with varying levels of coverage and accuracy over the plotting of individual stones, and also where dedications and inscriptions have been recorded. The PCC do have an ongoing desire to try to consolidate all of this information and using new technology, to try to create a more comprehensive and usable list/plan. We would be pleased to hear from any volunteers willing to embark on such a task.
You may remember that in 2019 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, the PCC acted on its urgent recommendations, including the felling of some trees and the removal of branches and crowning of others.
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Further removals of some self-set small trees were handled by our own maintenance team. I told you last year that during 2020 &2021 not much had been done, but for 2022, we would need to look at some of the trees which were advised to have work done within 3 years, which is becoming due. In particular, there were a couple of trees on the North side, whose branches were partially lopped in 2019 for getting close to the wall, which were now beginning to get close again. In August, Rosh and Vera submitted an online application for permission to prune 4 trees, under the provisions of List B of the Faculty Justification rules. (A full faculty application isn’t required, but application and permission from the Archdeacon is required). In September, the Archdeacon granted his consent, and the tree surgeon visited late in October at Vera’s request, to conduct the required pruning.
Additionally, we had 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. One came from Margaret Mountain as a memorial for her husband, and the other from Yvonne Wright as a celebration of her 80[th] Birthday. Again, the Archdeacon’s permission under List B was required. When the last trees were felled in 2019, the DMBC officer for trees had also instructed us that those felled would need to be replaced as part of their permission.
I told you over the last couple of years about the progress that Rosh had made in the discussions with the Town Council and DMBC about them taking over the maintenance of our churchyard. Our churchyard has been officially closed since 1888, but until recently the council had not agreed to take it into their care. I reported last year that a letter had been sent to the Town Council asking them to take over the maintenance of our churchyard, effective from Jan 6[th] , 2022; and that after consideration, they had decided to pass on the responsibility to DMBC. Rosh’s discussions with Street Scene (DMBC) continued through February and their representative was 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 the churchyard looking tidy for weddings etc. This integration was further worked out during the year. The Street Scene representative also stated that “it didn’t matter what state the memorials and ledger stones, pathways or walls were in”, and it wouldn’t affect when or if they took the churchyard on at all. In March 2022, we were supposably added to the local authority portfolio of closed churchyards, to be looked after by Street Scene, although internally they required an estimate of the cost of this in order to add us to the list.
On May 9[th] , Rosh met the gentleman from Street Scene who was measuring up the churchyard to provide an estimate to DMBC for the grass cutting. He suggested that we should receive 13 cuts during the growing season from their team, and they would also remove weeds around the base of headstones and paths etc. Following this, Rosh agreed to arrange a meeting with the Street Scene team leader, herself, the Eco Church team, Churchwardens and members of our own churchyard team, to ensure all were aware of each other’s plans, and to agree the extent and positions of planned wilding & wildlife friendly zones. This meeting was to take place before the first maintenance visit by Street Scene. Unfortunately, despite repeated requests, this meeting didn’t take place until 10[th] November, and then with only Bob Allen and the team leader from Street Scene, Rosh and Vera. They did however discuss the wilding zones, plans for wildflower seeding of areas, and plans to spray the weeds with an animal & child friendly weedkiller. Throughout all the above then, I am not aware that we had any visits from Street Scene during 2022 to actually cut any grass, although they did apply the weedkiller soon after the November meeting. Hopefully all plans are now in place for them to begin 2023 afresh, with us as part of the wider L.A. portfolio, and receiving our “up to 13 cuts per year during the growing season”.
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).
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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 the first of these, and we may now need to consider what, if anything, can be done, taking into consideration that DMBC are now responsible for the churchyard.
There has however been some progress on the South Path between the Porch and car park. The raised edges of the gravestones seemed yet more pronounced this year; and thus, more of a trip hazard. It was also significant that this item appears as a priority 1, (urgent) job within our Q.I. report. Having officially requested DMBC to take over our church yard effective 6[th] January 2022, and with the take-over being underway, Rosh contacted the Council regarding the uneven path from the Porch to the Car Park and within 2 days a team had visited and removed the offending tree root and levelled the path. They also painted the step edges. Unfortunately, that paint ran in the rain that followed, but the Street Scene team have said that they will repaint when better weather arrives.
I reported last year that the wooden frame for our notice board had collapsed in the storms of early December 2021. It had been rotten for a few years, hence the regular running repairs. Early in the year we had started to look at options to replace it, and were considering replacing it with 2 or three alternatively sited notice boards, but needed to decide what information we were looking to display, in what format, and in which locations. During August, Rosh had been looking at our options and various notice board manufacturers and was beginning to prepare a faculty, which was intended to include both the removal of the pews and the re-instatement of the notice board.
The September PCC considered a couple of design examples from The Church Notice Board Company. We agreed on installing 2 notice boards in the “Classic” range, with a 1800mm x 1200mm aluminium notice board, mounted on aluminium posts. The main display panel would be powder coated in purple, with white writing. It was to include both the St Lawrence & Diocese of Sheffield emblems, at the top of the board. In the centre could be any inscription or wording of our choice, (we have chosen an inscription from Isaiah 40:31); and there are 2 x A2 poster cases positioned either side. It was agreed that with this format, we would not need to have the actual service times in permanent lettering in the middle of the board but they could be displayed in one of the 2 lockable poster cases, with the other used for more immediate event and service advertisements. We did discuss an additional board to display some of the history & heritage of Hatfield, but whilst it was a good idea and would be nice to have, it was thought that it would dramatically delay this project while content & wording was agreed, and that we should probably do that in conjunction with Hatfield Town Council.
The faculty application went in on 6[th] September, to be considered by the DAC on the 13[th] .
The DAC meeting did not approve our application, but instead requested us to seek further consultations about our pews, and to do more work on our Statements of Significance and Need etc, in conjunction with Viv Cooling.
The faculty application was only part of the process, and we also had to apply to DMBC for permission to advertise, so Rosh had also submitted an application there. On 6[th] October DMBC planning requested that we “provide an improved/amended Proposed Site Plan, complete with a red boundary line around the church/churchyard (site in question) for the above Advertisement Application”. The site plan needed to be in the scale of 1:500, with accurate size and positional representation of the proposed notice boards. As we didn’t possess any such plan to the scale required, Rosh had to register for an online subscription to Ordnance Survey to obtain such a plan. Having drawn on the proposed notice boards the revised plan was submitted 12[th] October. Hatfield Town Council raised no objections at their meeting 11[th] October. On 8[th] November we received notification that Advertising Consent had been granted by DMBC Planning, so Rosh informed the DAC that that particular hurdle had been overcome. She also asked about the possibility of granting permission for just the notice boards, as we were still waiting for reports about the pews from the Georgian Group, Victorian
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Society, and Historic England, and was told that this was unlikely to be possible. Never-theless, the granting of the faculty in its entirety had moved a step closer.
Rosh and Viv Cooling had also been working on the Heritage Impact Statement, which was needed to accompany the faculty application. The results of their hard work were viewed and agreed at the November PCC meeting.
On 8[th] December, Rosh again submitted the faculty on the online faculty system, such that it would once again go before the DAC on the 13[th] December, (having received a report from the Georgian Group about the pews 7[th] December, and with another from the Victorian Society requested by the end of the week). Rosh also confirmed to the DAC that the planning application was for advertising consent as required by DMBC for the notice boards. As part of that application, reports were obtained by DMBC from Highways, Public Rights of Way, and the Conservation Officer. None of which had any objections. Hatfield Town Council were also consulted and had no objections to make. Whilst no notices were put up for the public that we are aware of, we did hold a funding campaign on our social media to replace the storm damaged board and would assume given the amount we raised towards this that the local community are supportive of our plans.
As I write, the situation is that the faculty has not yet been finally granted but is expected to be so at the next sitting. Responses re the pews were finally received from the Victorian Society 17[th] Jan 2023, they were happy to defer to the DAC and Georgian Group opinions and so have no objections; and also Historic Buildings, who also endorsed the observations of the Georgian Group and had no further observations to make, other than to commend us for the research done on the matter.
We have ordered the notice boards, in anticipation, and when complete they can be stored at the manufacturers until such time as they are erected. In terms of cost, the total for 2 noticeboards is £2,124 plus £263.20 for the planning application, which is a total of £2387.20.
As at 5[th] March, 2023, £896.15 has been donated so far through donations and coffee mornings, leaving £1,491.05 for church to pay; although there was a coffee morning on 11[th] March, also to raise money for the notice boards, so this balance will have reduced further. I understand that the Street Scene team have agreed to erect the notice boards for us, as soon as is possible. We look forward to that day soon.
## **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 told you last year that Chrissy Grindle & Glenys Mashford are our voluntary champions in this and signed themselves up to attend a conference entitled “Eco Church Festival with “Churches Count on Nature 2021”.
The conference suggested that many things could be done as individuals, such as saving energy, re-cycling more and wasting less etc, but many could also 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.
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I told you last year that we had three bird feeders set up in the churchyard, and that plans were afoot to build bird boxes, hedgehog boxes and composting stations in the churchyard and in the Barn field corners too. The youth are extremely keen to be involved and run this, and they have. Walk round the churchyard and see what you can find. The composting stations are working well, and I am told that if anyone would like some compost – please help yourself. (Bring your own wheelbarrow)!
I have already told you under Churchyard that Street Scene have discussed plans and agreed to work with us in maintaining the wilding zones within the churchyard, and they have been very impressed with our plans and progress.
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.
As part of our ongoing commitment, we have been asked to fill in the Diocesan Energy Footprint tool – which aims to calculate the energy used by the various churches, in what form and for what purpose, such that the diocese can then look to decide where targeted help and advice needs to go to cut costs for our churches. We still need to fill this in, but inevitably it will require some work, calculating heating and lighting costs and areas etc.
On 28[th] January 2023, Glenys & Dianne sat in our churchyard as part of the “Big Garden Birdwatch”. Unfortunately they didn’t actually see many birds, though they heard a few more higher up in the trees.
They are hopeful however, that with the wildflower seeds being planted, there will be an increase in small mammals & insects, and an increase in the bird population too. With luck (and a bit of work) next year’s statistics will prove this to be true.
## **The Committee**
Since the former “Fabric Committee” was disbanded in February 2019, all decisions and matters relating to the fabric of our church building have been discussed and handled directly by the PCC, or the Standing Committee of the PCC. (The former fabric committee was a subcommittee of the PCC and therefore brought recommendations only, and all decisions came from the PCC anyway). We did this to take away a level of meetings and reporting thought to be un-necessary during Covid.
We had initially intended to have an “Architect Liaison Committee”, who would contact the architect, and agree specs and priorities, and co-ordinate with external contractors etc. We had also planned to ask additional members to join and give us the benefit of their experience / opinions. The PCC need to re-consider whether this wider committee is still desirable and still needs to be officially initiated; or whether to carry on as we are now with the PCC itself keeping things ticking over; having achieved the progress and carried out all tasks as described above. The appointment of Rosh as our project Manager has been the main reason behind our success so far. One of the reasons to widen the membership as originally planned however, was to include interested parties from the Hatfield Church Building Trust, and the Friends of the Hatfield Church Building Trust, not precluding any other technically minded or even interested parties.
I predicted last year that Rosh, who was appointed as our Project Manager, and working on a part time basis, 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 the DAC, DMBC, other external organisations, and at times us too; to maintain the momentum on our priority projects. She
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has done this whilst also mentoring Rachel, our Centenary Project Worker.
We are still keen to find additional help with the regular maintenance chores. A small 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 PCC are acutely aware that the Hatfield Church Building Trust, and indeed “The Friends” are still 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, since then we have seen delays in the completion of any of our bigger plans, by the pandemic and its restrictions, and then by organizational & process changes within the Diocese. 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 seems to me to make it overly complicated, a little unfair, and ultimately much harder to do anything. I know that Rosh has struggled with that this year; and it is evident that what should have been a very simple request to replace a notice board, has been hugely impacted by being included within a single faculty involving pews. Things that we might expect to get passed in a single DAC sitting have taken more than a year to get through, and we still do not have final authority.
Nevertheless, 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. A new 2022 amendment to the Faculty Jurisdiction Rules came into effect on 1[st] July 2022, replacing the earlier 2019 amendment (effective April 2020). These have revised the listings of those items which require full faculty approval, those which
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can be undertaken without faculty or any consultation (List A), and those which can be undertaken without faculty but still require consultation (List B).
I reported last year that the Sheffield Diocese have now enabled us to apply for faculties online. Rosh has used this facility a couple of times now, and I believe it to be a success with regards to simplifying the process, despite our actual faculty not yet having been granted. The same system was also used in September, to successfully apply to the Archdeacon for permission under a List B application for installation of 2 portable votive stands and for the pruning of 4 trees.
I also reported previously that as part of its new strategy and transformation, the Diocese had appointed some new Diocesan Buildings Officers to help the parishes in this work, and I have already mentioned above the help that Viv Cooling our Diocesan Buildings Officer has given us. Unfortunately, Viv has now moved on, and we have a new replacement, a Mr Josh Hunter. It is however worthy of note, that before Viv left, she came to visit our church and Rosh on 10[th] August, bringing with her 2 candidates for Buildings Officer and she asked if she could use St Lawrence as a guinea pig to sound them out as she chose which 1 to appoint! This also gave Rosh the perfect opportunity to ask lots of hard questions and to advise on areas within the system where improvements could be made, and more help given. Since his appointment, Rosh has met with Josh on a couple of occasions and is again building on the relationship.
The Diocese have continued in their re-organisation of the “Church Care” website and the 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, 2022 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 has been completion on a couple of long outstanding jobs, such as transferring the maintenance of the churchyard to DMBC, and the refurbishment of the Barn, started last year. We have also removed the Hatfield monument, repaired our clock, and of course have successfully applied to become a Major Parish Church. We are well on with the faculty for replacing the noticeboard, and the pew removal, and expect approval to be imminent.
All of this has diverted our concentration away from any repairs following the window survey, to supplement our Q.I. inspection report. We hope that 2023 might see some window repairs borne out of the earlier survey results. We still have several outstanding jobs which were started a few years ago and remain uncompleted, but we carry forward into 2023 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.
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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## Project Manager’s Report **Hatfield St Lawrence Church Report**
## **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.
I am delighted to present my report for the year since the last APCM in May 2022
## **Centenary Project**
Line Management of CPW, including processing expenses , fundraising and networking emails and phone calls and supervision. Rachel and her support group were hoping to attend a Network Day in March but this has now sadly been moved to July! The same day as our garden party but we will be back for that as the event is hopefully taking place in Kirk Sandall not Sheffield! This group has a key role in praying and supporting the work on a daily basis. Rachel and myself and her contracted line manager meet on a 6 monthly basis at least to review progress and support her in her action plan for the year.
Rachel has now been with us for 3 years and as in the terms of our partnership with the Diocese Centenary project it is now our full responsibility to cover all her costs from this year onwards. We have been blessed to have the sacrificial financial support of those who contribute on a monthly basis towards her salary costs and have continued during 2022 to secure sufficient income through donations and grants to cover our contribution for Rachel’s salary. Securing ongoing Funding for the year ahead is a key priority for Rachel and myself , and – at the time of preparing this report -we have made applications to 5 major grant funding bodies.
Smaller grants and awards have been invaluable in bringing in the funds for free crafts and events throughout the year , our Summer club and work with the Youth. Our presence and outreach within the schools and local community bears witness to God’s blessing on the Children’s , youth and families work in the Parish. The PCC have accordingly extended the contract with the diocese for a CPW worker for a further 3 years.
Rachel and I continue to work together in the Parish Office for a few hours most Tuesdays..pop in and say hello!
## **Finance**
Work continues under PCC guidance, and in close cooperation with our Treasurer:-
- We have received an electronic Collectin device for receiving card donations through a diocesan digital giving awards scheme. This is useful as we can design bespoke campaigns which display a unique screen for various events and make contactless donating so much easier. We saw a huge increase in giving at events in the run up to Christmas for instance.
- We use internet banking on an almost daily basis now, which again, has improved our grasp and understanding of the state of our finances and saved time and money in processing.
- We are still registered with the block diocese account with the ACAT :- Association of Church Accountants and Treasurers.
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## **Churchyard**
The formal arrangement for the churchyard to be maintained by Street Scene Grounds Dept under a service level agreement with DMBC has begun in earnest this year following some delays in 2022. We are thankful for the incredible and dedicated work of so many who have undertaken this task for so many years , and are looking forward to their continued involvement in the little extras that make our environment such a lovely place. The representatives from all agencies have commented on how well maintained and beautiful we have managed to keep the churchyard through all these years! WE have a good working relationship with the management and team leadership and will continue working in close partnership with DMBC going forward, especially round eco and environmental matters. Very swift action was taken on notification to level the ledger stone pathway from the car park to the South Porch towards the end of 2022.
## **Quinquennial Inspection and Architect**
I continue to lead in liaison with our Architect as we focus on Priority 1 items from our QI report.
I will be working with him to identify 2 pressing projects to progress during the year ahead, 1 of which will most likely involve window(s).
## **Diocesan Partnership**
During the year we have maintained positive relationships with staff at the Diocese. Our Diocesan Buildings Officer Viv Cooling was most helpful in our application to become a Major Parish Church. As outlined last time:-
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 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:
- Physically very big ( over 1000m2 footprint)
- Grade l,ll* or ( exceptionally) ll listed
- Exceptional significance and/or issues necessitating a conservation management plan
- Have a role or roles beyond those of a typical parish church, and make a considerable
- civic, cultural and economic contribution to their communities.
They 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.
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.
We were delighted to receive Major Parish Church Status in July 2022! Sadly, Viv has now moved on but we have already met with her successor, Josh Hunter, who will be supporting us moving forward, not least as we begin work on our Conservation Management Plan.
## **Faculty Applications and Diocesan Advisory Committee (DAC)**
In September we put in a formal application to the DAC by way of a ‘Faculty’ to:-
1. Remove the redundant free standing pews in the North and South aisles
2. Re-site the original noticeboard nearer the road and install a new noticeboard at the Southern perimeter of the Churchyard adjacent to the car park
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At the time of preparing the report we are nearing the end of a this grindingly slow, complicated and laborious process which has involved preparing around 30 documents (3 of which were over 20 pages long!) / plans and photos to submit and liaising with DMBC planners and the Georgian Group, the Victorian Society and Historic Buildings and Places. A period of Public Notice consultation was also required. We are just awaiting the final formal approval by the relevant Authorities. Who knows.. we may have been given approval by the time of the APCM!!!
And finally, something that was relatively straightforward and painless.. we now have internet access in the church by way of a portable ‘3’ wireless router! Having been advised this would not be a viable option given the thickness of our walls and the need accordingly to go down the dreaded ‘faculty’ route for wired alternatives, we researched and tested and found that this works brilliantly with the added bonus it can be used in the Barn for various events and it also did a great job of standing in for the Parish office network when that was down!!
I continue to enjoy the challenges raised and remain encouraged by the support and optimism for positive change I have encountered from all quarters! Thank you to everyone who has been a part of my work during the year in whatever guise!
Rosh Milner , Project Manager
## **Hatfield Church Building Trust**
2022 saw the retirement of Cath Watson as chair of the Building Trust after many years at the helm. She has ensured the Trust stayed within its remit to maintain and enhance our beautiful Grade 1 listed Church. I stepped into her shoes with some anxiety but I know Cath will generously help me if I flounder.
The Church was listed as a Major Church in 2022 and, with that, will go more interest in the building and subsequently more work to be carried out from our quinquennial report. I anticipate that the funds we have been gathering will soon be called upon to pay for the needed repairs.
Our thanks go to the Friends of the Building Trust who tirelessly work to provide funds for the trust to meet the Church's requests.
Vera Owen - Chair
## Deanery and Diocese Report 2022-23
## **Hatfield Deanery Reps:**
Revd Liz Turner-Loisel, Diocesan Synod Rep, resigned as secretary prior to her sabbatical. Chrissy Grindle, minute taker stopped taking minutes when she stopped driving in May,
- “too many white screens” for her sight.
Jo Mitchell, Tim’s wife, has taken over as temporary
secretary as there
were no other offers mid term.
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Carol Rashid had been a valued part of the Deanery Synod as she was a member of Diocesan Synod, but resigned when she started her training for the
ordained ministry.
A deanery is a group of churches within a diocese. The purpose of a Deanery Synod is to act as a layer between the diocese and the churches in aspects which affect all the churches involved, sending and receiving information and opinions. There are 22 churches in our Deanery of Snaith and Hatfield. It is the biggest deanery, and in a recent pairing up of deaneries we were paired with Adwick. We met together at Adwick in 2022 but realistically we don’t meet often.
It has been delightful to re-convene in person, to listen, discuss and learn together things which affect us all, to see other people from churches in our Deanery, to welcome newcomers, and to eat cake together!
We were pleased to welcome Rev’d Tim Mitchell when he arrived as the new priest-incharge at Thorne, and our Area Dean. Officially he is Priest-in-Charge of St Nicholas, Thorne, Oversight Minister for the Mission Area of Flowing Waters, and Area Dean for the Deanery of Snaith and Hatfield!
Our former Area Dean Revd Justine Smith has recently accepted the post of Associate Minister in Rotherham Minster, we wish her very well.
Our new Area Dean has adapted the format of the Synod meetings and the recent ones have been Open Meetings, which everyone is very welcome to attend, followed by half an hour of a business section where only the reps can vote on issues under discussion.
Two meetings have particularly been memorable. The first was at St Mary’s Hook, where Rev’d Ian Smith spoke to us about Living in Love and Faith, an official project of the Church of England, intended to provide resources for Christian teaching and learning about identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage. You can learn more on Page | 55
https://www.churchofengland.org/resources/living-love-and-faith where the Bishop of Dover speaks of a church where everyone is welcomed, accepted, and affirmed in a 21[st] century church. This affects us all, and will continue to do so.
Another interesting speaker was Revd Graham Anderson, vicar of Crick, Lilbourne and Yelvertoft and Rural Dean of Brixworth, a former colleague of Rev’d Tim. He was entertaining and very straight-talking about the difficulties of being a Christian in everyday life. He’s got a very good line in one-minute chats about Evangelism for Normal Christians - YouTube He spoke about the difficulties that the clergy have in many aspects, and especially when they move on from a parish. He also had the question ... “Why do we ask God to come to us, he's busy, shouldn’t we be going to him? Let’s start our day by saying we’ll be with him all day, not the other way round!” Food for thought indeed.
The PCC representatives on the Deanery Synod are up for re-election this year. In my opinion it shouldn’t be up to whoever volunteers, it’s potentially an important role, it’s up to the APCM to suggest who they think would best represent our church! But do volunteer of course, how wonderful if there were more people wanting to be part of this!
Chrissy Grindle and Glenys Mashford , Snaith and Hatfield Deanery Reps.
## Churchwardens
2022 has been a more settled year for the wardens. It has been good to welcome more of the congregation back to Church. The Ministry team have made a great effort to reduce the waiting list of families for baptisms. Sitting people around the font at the back of Church has made the occasions more intimate and less formal, which made the occasions more enjoyable for guests who are not regular Church attenders. We have had several weddings, always a joy to be part of. Sadly we have had too many funerals, it is hard to look around and see the empty spaces. Knowing our friends are with the Lord does not stop us missing them.
We are still pouncing on people to read at services when they come in. It was our intention to restart side person and readers rotas but winter flu got in the way. We will restart soon but in the meantime we are so grateful for people helping at short notice.
Viv and I are coming to the end of our term of office and wait with confidence to see who God has called to take over from us. We will not be disappearing but will help in any way the new Wardens want us to, as I am sure you all will. It has been a privilege to serve the congregation at St Lawrence but we do look forward to just being at Church.
Vera Owen and Viv Stubbs
## Training Log April 2022- March 2023
## **The following training has been undertaken during 2022/23**
- Safeguarding at appropriate levels
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- Net Zero Open meeting
- Discover your Burial Grounds
- -Advanced mindfulness course
- -Lent course (in-house)
- Modern Slavery
- Living in Love and Faith
- Drug awareness - 2 PCC members together with Hatfield Heroes
- training for Foundation Governors
- Bishop’s Annual Lectures
- -Bishops Lent lecture
- -Additional needs and SEN training organised by Centenary Project
- -Claiming Gift Aid and GASDS
## Ministry, Worship, Discipleship and Pastoral Care
## **Every Member Ministry**
## **1 Corinthians 12: 24-27**
_God put our bodies together in such a way that even the parts that seem the least important are valuable. He did this to make all parts of the body work together smoothly, with each part caring about the others. If one part of our body hurts, we hurt all over. If one part of our body is honoured, the whole body will be happy._ _**27** Together you are the body of Christ. Each one of you is part of his body.”_
When I think of the “ministry team” at St Lawrence I think of this wonderful image of the body made up of many parts, each with their own purpose and function. I love this image because it is inclusive and not just about what licensed ministers can or cannot do - so thank you everyone for being part of ministry at Hatfield Church!
The trouble is that too many people have the image of ministry as being someone who has got it all sorted, knows the Bible inside out, and therefore it’s for someone else and not them. Well, sorry to disillusion you everyone, but most of us just “wing it” most of the time. Being lazy? No, relying on the guidance of the Holy Spirit because it’s much safer than any sat nav or map! Remember, the Wise Men followed a star, not a Mission Action Plan or the Church Representation Rules! Yes we need Page | 57
frameworks and titles, but not ones which inhibit the flow of God given ministry through us to others and through them to yet more people.
Sadly, in many churches, and to some extent in ours, Covid halted this natural flow and took us back to being led by an extended ministry team, but with too many others becoming passive recipients. This was done with no ill intent but because people care deeply about others and wanted to protect them.
Now the tide has turned and it’s time to get all the limbs (members) of the body of Christ back into action, to get fit – maybe, for some of us, not in body but in spirit and mind, eager to join in again and to build confidence in what God can do in us and through us, as, in all we do, we seek to point others to him and not to ourselves.
Since our last APCM this has begun to happen again. Our fear of Covid has subsided enough to release us from its stranglehold of fear, and new members are joining us and becoming a living part of Christ’s body at Hatfield St Lawrence church, while former ones are slowly returning.
Our confidence may have taken a knock, but the Holy Spirit can heal the bruises and give us renewed vitality and strength if we ask for them! Let’s put in a bulk order for both – shall we? And we won’t even have to pay, because Jesus has already paid the price. Alleluia, he is risen! He is risen indeed!
## **The Service Leadership Team**
I am so grateful to all who lead us during our services. We are blessed in having a strong team which allows for flexibility and variety of approach. That team consists of:
- the clergy – Revds Liz, Joyce and curate Gill;
- our Readers – Viv and Beryl;
- our Centenary Project Worker, Rachel;
- our Churchwardens, Vera and Viv;
- and our ordinand (that means someone training to be a priest) who is of course Carol Rashid.
And a huge thank you to this team and others from other churches who covered services while I was on sabbatical. I am so grateful to you for the privilege of being able to do this, knowing that the church was in very safe hands.
## **Ministry, leadership and worship are supposed to be a chorus never a solo** !
Messy Church is a good example of this where there is a leader but others play a large part in its success. But then so is a Holy Communion service with ideally different people to open the church and set up, put the hymn numbers up, set up the Communion table, do the PA, choose the music, read the readings, say prayers, set up the tables for refreshments, wash the Communion ware……..Sadly the burden has fallen largely on a few people rather than a wider team as we used to have pre-Covid. This PCC year it would be great to return to having more people sharing the load and enjoying serving God and others in whatever small or large part they can play. Every little helps!
I know people are eager to help, while others are timid or fearful that they will be landed with a job for life - but if we work together we can avoid that together! So do watch out for a relaunch of this way of working.
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And other aspects of ministry - what are your gardening skills like? How about joining in our eco church projects or gardening team.
Are you good at welcoming people and putting them at ease – please look at becoming a sidesperson or a verger for weddings, baptisms, funerals…..and/ or helping with admin for these services.
Can you make hot chocolate? Talk to Rachel!! Hatfield Heroes drink it by the gallon! Can you sing, play a musical instrument….well read on to the next section!
## **Worship**
We are still operating a reduced service pattern and that is likely to stay for the foreseeable future, especially with an interregnum (gap between vicars) coming up. While some are sad that some of the old services have gone, we can recognise that this also leaves the possibility to explore new forms of worship or refresh some of the services we used to do such as café church, family friendly services into which we can direct baptism families…..and we have earmarked the 3[rd] Sunday morning service for that at some stage in the future.
We would love to have a choir/singing group on a regular basis again but that needs musicians, leadership and time to prepare music etc. As Dianne our Worship Leader is working very long hours for the NHS, she hasn’t got that time unless other people can help her.
Bring a friend to a service! Do you live near someone who is lonely or who asks you questions about church? Could you ask them to come with you to a service or a social event?
Be a friend – is there someone sitting on their own, maybe they would like you to sit with them and help them know what on earth is going on and what they should be doing! Is there someone who would like to stay for refreshments, but doesn’t know anyone so heads for the exit at great speed? Maybe they would like an invitation to sit with you at your table.
## **Discipleship**
We have continued some courses online and in person and our sermons are geared to helping people grow in faith and in understanding of the Bible. That’s not to say that we know it all! In preparing sermons we learn too! Do please remember that no question is a silly question. If you want to ask it, you can guarantee that others do too but aren’t always brave enough!
Many of you have received sermons and ‘thoughts for the day’ online, by email or in the seasonal booklets we order for you and sometimes these are discussed informally over refreshments or chats at the door.
A group of us formed the majority of the congregation at Bishop Pete’s Lent lecture again this year. And it was wonderful to host the deanery confirmation service led by Bishop Sophie and have some brave candidates from St Lawrence.
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## **Pastoral Care**
Our licensed Pastoral Workers - Anita and Anne - form part of ministry team in providing pastoral care to those who need it and many of us have needed a listening ear at some stage in these difficult times. For most of this year that has been by phone, but we are getting back to seeing people in person where possible.
Is there someone you haven’t seen for a while, could you ring them up, send a card or go and call on them? Would you like to explore becoming a pastoral visitor to accompany a pastoral worker initially? It would be wonderful to have a bigger team as it is advisable to go out in twos most of the time to do this kind of work. We also have some requests to take out home communions and visit people in residential or nursing homes. Would you like to join a team to do that? You would never be expected to go on your own.
Thank you for reading this longer than usual report on the aspects of church life it has covered, aspects of which I am proud to be part and I hope you are too!
Revd Canon Liz Turner-Loisel
## Centenary Project Worker report
## **Children’s, Youth and Families’ worker**
March 2022-March 2023 has been a very busy year for our youth, children’s and families’ ministry. Groups that were launched last year are now firmly embedded in the church calendar and community, seeing many relationships grow and develop over the last year. From running a Start Course on zoom, to hosting Grown Up Meals for ‘Little Lions’ Parents, and welcoming new volunteers into many of our teams, we are starting to see people connect in more to church and feel like part of the family.
Thank you once again to everyone in the congregation, PCC and leadership team who have supported me this year, especially when deciding to renew my contract and role here for another 3 years from January 2023. This is such exciting news as it means that the work that has been started for the youth and children can continue, embed, and hopefully produce much fruit over the next 3 years. Please join me in praying for all the ministries below:-
**Messy Church** – We finished our theme of “Celebration” back in July looking at Messy Baptism, and started on the new theme of “When I grow up I want to be……” looking at different jobs people had in the bible. Whilst it has felt some months that attendance has dropped, we still have 139 active regulars on the register for this, with new families coming along each month too. The team has welcomed new volunteers Hazel, Alex and Cheryl to the team, who alongside existing volunteers put in lots of work to create great crafts for the children. Talks have been shared between me, Glenys and Viv, with some new songs learnt too (our favourite being “WILD!”)
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**Hatfield Heroes Youth** – It’s been a very busy year for Hatfield Heroes Youth. We held our first social action day in July, funded by a £400 grant from the Hollowford Trust, where we did DIY for the toddler group and made blessing packs for the local care home. We’ve also done a litter pick around the local community together. This is on top of our fortnightly meetings where we have read the whole of Mark’s Gospel together, as well as exploring topics such as Drugs Awareness.
We have very much enjoyed linking in with Doncaster Youth Hub for their half termly events, and have done Tree Trekking, UV Party, Nerf Games, Taskmaster Night and Summer Social with inflatables.
This year we were also able to take 7 young people and 3 leaders to Breathe Deep, the Diocese Youth Event at Sheffield Cathedral, and this was very impactful for them. We hope to take even more next year and to be involved in more events and activities to deepen faith and help them on that journey.
We welcomed lots of Year 6’s to the group in September too and are praying for the same again this year – if you know anyone with a current Year 5 pupil do link me up with them so they can be invited along.
Thank you to everyone who has volunteered to help out on our new parents and helpers rota, and an honourable mention to Carol Rashid who has helped from the beginning but had to take a step back this year to concentrate on her ordination training – we miss you!
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**Summer Holiday Club –** In July/August we ran our first fully in person Family Summer Club called “Follow the Leader”. It ran across 2 weeks, with some sessions in church and some on the Barn Field with over 140 people signed up (parents and children both had to sign up). We had lots of crafts, some memory verses and we loved singing the Follow the Leader song together! Highlights were the water themed fun day and beach themed fun day outside. We were very lucky to receive funding from Tesco Blue Token Scheme and also the Council Holiday Activity Fund which meant that we were able to provide packed lunch for all the children who came along.
**Schools –** The schools work has really taken off this year, with the time spent building relationships really showing. We finished the academic year with two days of carousel activities for Travis School in church seeing all 350 pupils. I was also able to deliver “It’s Your Move” prayer workshops in four of our local primary schools for Year 6 pupils before the summer. We then had our second year of the Backpack Blessing Roadshow, where I visited all 5 local primary schools to pray over them and hand out bag tags with this year’s bible verse on:
“I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from the love of God” Romans 8:38
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We had harvest festivals, RE lessons and then lots of visits into church for Christmas services too, and it was lovely to be able to welcome parents back in for these occasions. Ash Hill Academy also got in touch and I was able to deliver a pre-recorded assembly for them all to watch during registration.
This Easter time I will be taking the chalk Holy Week Prayer Path on a tour of local primary schools.
**Little Lions Baby and Toddler Group –** Our toddler group has gone from strength to strength this year, with new toddlers joining as well as volunteers (thanks to Susan, Abbie, Stacey, Charlotte, Kay, Leona, Gill and Dianne). The money we received from the Co-op Community Cause has enabled us to complete our outdoor play corner on the Barn Field. A huge thank you to Tim Beadle for the hard work he put into creating this area, as well as the Youth Group who did lots of the painting and raking of bark chippings!
Our toddlers now know our special Little Lions prayer off by heart and enjoy coming along each week. We have also run two grown ups meals to help people get to know each other better.
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**Special Occasions –** Both Easter and Christmas this year included lots of children and families to enjoy. From the chalk Holy Week Prayer path, to Noisy Choir Workshops, there was something for everyone. At Easter our Noisy Children’s Choir performed their Elvis inspired Easter song “The Rock Went A Rollin!” at the Easter Sunday service.
Christmas was mostly back to normal this year, with the posada being enjoyed by different families around Hatfield, Christingle and other services taking place as usual. We kept the format of the Christmas Eve services, having an early bird one suitable for toddlers and a later on for all families. This worked well in keeping the church full but not over-crowded. Our Youth Group did an excellent job again with narrating, and a big thank you to Helen Green for editing and preparing the script, as well as ushering children into positions!
I think we can all agree that the Angels and Stars art installation produced by local school children was that extra special thing this year. Thank you to every school that contributed to this.
**Teddy Parachute Jump –** In June we hosted a Teddy Bear Parachute Jump event to raise funds for the Centenary Project here in Hatfield. The day was well attended, with 37 teddies jumping bravely off the top of the church. Thank you to Rosh and Terry who were stationed on the roof getting the teddies ready for launch, with a special button the children could press at the bottom to release them. We only had one teddy casualty who landed in the trees. Thank you to Jack who ran the model railway and to the other volunteers who supported on the day.
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**Free crafts in church/half term activities** – Our free crafts in church sessions have continued (alongside other seasonal activities) every half term holiday, with averages of over 100 attendees each time. Families really value this time to drop in, spend time together and not have to spend money during the holidays. We are very grateful to our three local councillors for funding this over the last year and into 2023. This is often the first connection for new families to church.
**Pre-Loved Uniform Bank** – Big change for us this year was a move from Travis House (which is currently for sale) into church. Luckily God had made a nice space for us when the vestry had to be cleared to remove a dangerous monument on the wall, and so our many boxes of uniform have fitted nicely in that space! We have continued to run fortnightly open sessions from the back of church which remain busy, whilst also providing stalls at the Community Gala Event, Christmas Fayre and Spring Fayre. This year, on top of our “fill a bag for a fiver” campaign, we also launched a Christmas Jumper Swap which was well supported. Thank you as always to my right hand woman – Donna – who has gone above and beyond in running this ministry with me. We have raised over £500 through this ministry over the last year, the profits of which are used to replace storage boxes or go to fund the activities for children.
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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 fourth 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”**
## Eco-Church 2022-2023
Towards the end of last year our closed churchyard was finally officially taken over by Street Scene, run by Doncaster Council and, on an initial visit, they were very impressed in the way the churchyard had been maintained by our hardworking volunteers.
Last year the PCC voted to ‘wild’ a specific area to the north of the churchyard, to encourage an improvement in the biodiversity of wildlife in the area and Shaun, from Street Scene, enthusiastically agreed with this. He has committed to scattering wildflower seeds and leaving the area north of the diagonal path (the earth path from the back of Travis school to the front of church) to ‘wild’ until late summer. He says he has been involved in the wilding of other areas around Doncaster, so watch this space.
Hopefully, this will have a knock-on effect of attracting birdlife into our churchyard. The birdfeeders have been in place for almost a year, but are not being used as regularly as we would like. We did take part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch and this emphasised how few visitors we do get at the moment. However, with the ‘wilding’ and installation of nest boxes, we hope to report on more visitors next January.
As a PCC, we haven’t ignored our responsibility in our ARocha eco-challenge. Sheffield Diocese encourages its churches to work on the programme to achieve a Bronze, Silver or Gold award. Recently, three of us visited Walkers’ coffee shop (we needed the teacakes and coffee) to tackle the ARocha questionnaire, a year on from when we first looked at it. Our findings demonstrated that we are working at a Gold standard in our ‘Worship and Teaching’ and Bronze in our approach to ‘Land ‘ and ‘Lifestyle’ but we failed to score on ‘Buildings’ and ‘Community and Global Engagement’. This did prove a positive exercise as it gave us pointers on how to move forward. Wherever possible, Fairtrade goods and eco-products are used in church and we are encouraging one another to make small changes in our personal lives – one member
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of our weekly walking group always has a bag of soft plastic to drop in at the Co-op on her way round!
Recently, two PCC members attended a Net Zero Open meeting …. the Church of England has set an ambitious net zero Carbon target by 2030. It was most definitely a challenging meeting, led by a group of inspirational and knowledgeable speakers. It is accepted that our largest and oldest churches have the biggest carbon footprint, but it shouldn’t prevent us from trying to offset what we can’t change.
It is good to be able to end this report on a positive note. We must mention Rachel, our CPW, and her group of our younger church members, the ‘Hatfield Heroes’. They are enthusiastic re-cyclers of resources as well being involved in regular litter-picks to enhance our community.
Thank you to all who are contributing to making Hatfield ‘greener’. On the Net Zero course, the final thought was that, individually we might think we can’t make much of a difference, but consider a beach, it wouldn’t be a beach without the individual grains of sand.
If you would like to get involved with any of our projects or want to know more, please do speak to us.
Chrissy Grindle and Glenys Mashford
## Activities of the Parish
When I wrote this section last year, we were only just starting up some of the activities which were shut down because of the Covid pandemic, but somewhat cautiously this year has seen some of them coming back and new ones or new ways of doing them introduced.
## **A few examples**
- Wine at Communion (by intinction – dipping the wafers into the chalice)
- A choir for weddings, funerals and some special services
- Refreshments after most services
- Occasional Offices booked and arranged in person
- Larger baptism parties!
- Lent Course in person and online
- Bible study group back in person
- Meetings in person and online
- Meetings and activities in the newly upgraded Barn The Friends of Hatfield Church Building restarting their activities and the annual trip is back!
- Games Café in the library
- Coffee mornings
- Crafty Women Ladies Night Out
- Uniform Bank
- Free Craft sessions
- Hatfield Heroes, Messy Church and other groups being able to do more varied activities again
- Messy Church families being able to mix rather than sit on their own tables Noisy Choir Workshop School visits, carousels, services returning to church
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- Schools opening up to in person visits
- Governors’ meetings back in person
- Fayres and other fundraising events
- Community Carol singing………..
**Open Church after Wednesday Communions** – a wonderful opportunity for people not just from church but from the community to drop in for coffee and chat, to be quiet and light candles, to look round the church and make new friends. For funeral families, baptism or wedding couples, a chance to visit and see church in action.
## **DN7 Foodbank - well this never stopped!**
Heavily involved in the original setup of the Foodbank, St Lawrence Church has continued to support it and provide stalwart volunteers to whom we and the area the Foodbank covers owe a huge thank you for soldiering on, risking their health and going above and beyond. THANK YOU!
Additionally, new people have started volunteering and with the increase in demand due to the economic crisis more help in person and increased donations of food or money are always welcome and so necessary for those struggling to feed their families and pay energy bills for cooking.
Revd Canon Liz Turner-Loisel
## Ladies Fellowship and Bible Study Group
## Bible Study
Another year passes and our group has had an interesting 12 months of bible study.
Each study discussed deals with a particular message, which is not always easy to work out. However, we are always able to gain some understanding through our discussions. Our aim is to try to apply what we have learned to our own lives.
Our studies have included ‘The Ascension of Jesus’; ‘The road to Emmaus’; ‘The road to Damascus and ‘The conversion of Saul’; ‘Paul’s Ministry – the first journey’. ‘Sending out the 72’ and ‘The return of the 72’; and ‘The fruits of the spirit’. During the second part of the year we began to read ‘Hebrews’. However, due to the fact we have missed a few weeks of actual study due to ill health, Doctor’s and hospital appointments etc., we have had to carry this over into the new year.
## Fellowship and Social Group
As a small group of 5 we have developed strong friendships and we are able to talk openly about our own personal circumstances and our families and enjoy great support from each other. Our morning begins with a catch up of the previous week’s events and we finish with a cup of tea and cake. Our meetings are now held on a Friday morning starting at 10 am and finishing around 12 noon. If you would like further information contact Anita or Susan.
_**Anita Jepson and Susan Spencer Feb 2023** Ladies Fellowship Group_
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## Annual Garden Party 2022
Many thanks to everyone who helped with or attended and supported our Annual Garden Party held this year on 16th July.
Thank you to all the stallholders, and to many friends for helping to set everything up, and for clearing away afterwards.
The Garden Party was again a great success. The day was most enjoyable and well attended, and it was especially nice to be out on the Barn field again as a community, following the previous 2 years of absence through Covid. The decision to house the Refreshments, Chocolate Tombola and Cake-stall in church was taken largely to give protection from the extreme heat that was expected, but also partly because of the higher Covid incidence in the region at that time, and the increased space available within church over the Barn.
Many people have commented that they thoroughly enjoyed the whole afternoon and found the atmosphere to be a very friendly one, also that they enjoyed sitting and listening to the band. The Afternoon Teas were popular – as usual; despite being in church, maybe this was because it gave people a break from the intense heat. It also offered a choice of venue for those who enjoyed the opportunity to relax and talk with friends that they hadn’t seen for a while.
The children seemed to enjoy the games, and the Miniature Train Rides were enjoyed by many. The school displays were especially good again this year, and still as popular as ever. It was also good to welcome the McLeod Academy of Irish Dance to our event, who were also highly complimented by many.
Thanks then to Markham Main Colliery Band and to the Travis St. Lawrence, & Hatfield Woodhouse Primary Schools; whose performances were excellent as usual; and to our Opener, Cllr. Debbie Smith – Hatfield Mayor 2022/23 who opened our event.
The amount taken on the day was **£2,505.92,** leaving a profit of just over **£2,256.00** to go towards general church funds, a magnificent figure, and one raised entirely within 3 hours!
It is also important to note that the event is not just about being financially successful and raising money, though the additional money raised is necessary to keep our church running. The Garden Party is also one of our major opportunities to meet and interact with the wider community, and it is important that we do this well, and give them something to enjoy and remember, so that they will come and join with us again.
I believe that it can be taken as a tribute to all the hard work and effort put in by all the stallholders, entertainment groups, and helpers, both on the day and in the weeks prior to the event that the Garden Party went according to plan and was so successful.
Once again, a sincere THANK YOU to all who have helped in any way with the organisation and running of any part of the Garden Party. Thank you also to all those who donated prizes or items for the stalls. we couldn’t have done it without
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you. The final total is entirely due to the kindness and generosity of so many of our church and community members.
It is extremely re-assuring to know that reliable help is available when planning events of this scale, and we are fortunate to have a large and regular team of helpers to call upon.
A good day’s work, helping to ensure our church will still be here in the foreseeable future.
We look forward seeing you all again at the 2023 event – 8[th] July (2[nd] Saturday in July).
The Garden Party Committee.
## 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 are 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 has had a complete year of normality in delivering, and as ever in wonderful contributions, collation and getting a paper copy to the people who prefer that, and to Liz’s online list of church contacts. Without the on-going participants I could edit for ever with no results, so my sincere thanks to them.
It’s often difficult to know what to put in a church magazine. There are some standard bits that never change: the QR code for church which is probably the only genuinely constant item, the title and date and price. There will be a thoughtful letter from a member of the ministry team; parish registers; dates for your diary; 100 club and Vera’s bright conversation; Rachel’s energising news of all that she does, she actually does even more that is not publishable such as endless making and keeping contacts; Tina’s Friends of Hatfield Church Building Trust news; details of services; local useful contact details; a children’s page; something about caring for our world; a diminishing number of adverts.
All those items are vital: I see them as the grounding of the magazine, an on-going showcase showing others what we believe and what we do about it. Vital is a medical term meaning “necessary to maintain life,” and the magazine shows that life.
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But that doesn’t take up enough pages! So I add something to raise a smile – as Christians we have a lot to smile about! Often that’s a cartoon from the invaluable Parish Pump online or a letter from Uncle Eustace. I add something devotional, a prayer or a challenge seems to be relevant. I’m writing this in Lent when challenges do seem to be relevant! When it’s appropriate I add something to show the worldwide church in action. Of course it’s always relevant but it has to be appropriate for a magazine. And possibly most important, anything anyone sends me!
If you’re the church and this is your magazine then when did you last contribute ? I’m smiling not nagging. But more seriously when did you last tell me what you thought about it? An editor has awesome powers (more smiling) but it’s not MY magazine, it represents YOUR church, so I’m making a sincere plea, tell me what you’d like in it, and maybe contribute too. The contact is maghatfeldchurch@gmail.com
Chrissy Grindle, Editor
## DN7 Community Foodbank
DN7 Community food bank has had another busy year. On average we feed 20 families each week, some who come to St Mary’s Church to collect their food parcel and some that are delivered by DMBC staff to people who, for one reason or another, cannot get to us. The reason for the need has changed a little, less illness but more unemployment. The closure of the Airport led to a peak, with people having to suddenly re-evaluate their life styles and cut back on their outgoings. Not a simple task when you were not exactly living in the lap of luxury in the first place. The increased cost of living has not been easy, we have provided lots of continental quilts, sleeping bags and hot water bottles to our clients.
We are indebted to our many supporters who donate food, money and time to keep us afloat. In no particular order, our thanks go to Tesco Edenthorpe ,Aldi Kirk Sandall and Thorne, the Dunscroft CO-OP, Broughs bakers in Stainforth , local businesses, men who would hate to be mentioned and the staff of DMBC who turn out come rain or shine to deliver for us, We also wish to thank our local Churches for their prayers and all those people who come to our coffee mornings or drop a few tins off at one of our collection points. You will never know how much we love and treasure your generosity.
Vera Owen
## Crafty Women report 2022/23
Crafty Women started again probably about a year ago. We had shut down completely over all the lockdowns, but felt it was a necessary return to whatever normality emerged for us. It had always been a supportive group and definitely still
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remains so! It’s held every first Monday in the month, 2-5, at 60 Station Road, and it’s very much a pop-in event, so stay for as long or as short a time as you like, bring your own craft, or not! Tea, coffee, biscuits and cake are available as standard, no charge. Do bring a friend, we are very welcoming!
We started many years ago when we had got together to make fabric brooches, after my failure to do what I’d said I would and make some for the Autumn Fayre, following a workshop at Scargill House! So I asked people to come and make them, there would be cake: there was and they did. At the end of that afternoon dear Hazel Crookes said “We’ve really enjoyed this, can we come again”, and it was that simple, Crafty Women was born! For four plus years I provided a craft to do, then a group took turns, but the lockdown break meant our new start was tentative, so it’s now BYO craft, although colouring and knitting squares are always available.
We are indeed supportive: over the years individuals have experienced deaths and disaster as well as new people in their lives and new homes to live in. It’s not a gossip group. We do catch up with news, someone said recently “when we see each other at church it’s so often ‘work’ talk.” So there are bits of caring “how are they managing, should I call in?” chat, as well as “the Co-op* hot cross buns are wonderful!” and we decided that was necessary research! There are many unspoken prayers going on too for linked people. Not all who attend go to church at all, not all attend our church, numbers now range from 7 to 13.
So if you’re female come and see what we’re like. If you’re male then sorry you can’t come every time, but you are welcome to “have to deliver” something, and you’ll be given a drink and cake and a good welcome.
Chrissy Grindle
P.S. *Other hot-cross buns are available locally, and may be just as good! Oh Crafty Women, that could make a good afternoon of necessary testing, warm with butter…?
## Communications and Administration
Well this really is an example of “Mixed mode” working as, while many of our church members and supporters are now on the internet, a good number still are not; so trying to reach as wide an audience as possible is a challenge which we hope we are embracing well. However, that means constant re-evaluation and the need for feedback please!!
Administration is done by a variety of people and we are so grateful to all of them - especially to Jill McGarvie who keeps the show on the road (and us all on our toes) and also to the Endowment Trust for funding the office and to Stuart Watson our Financial Advisor to this Trust.
## Our main means of communication are:
- **A weekly Newsletter** with paper copies in church and sent out by email.
- _Thank you to Jill for producing the newsletter!_
- **A monthly Church Magazine** also sent out on the email list but with paper copies in church and hand distributed by our amazing team.
- _Thank you to all involved and especially to Chrissy Grindle, its wonderful Editor._
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- **Our group email list** used by Revd Liz for the above but also to send out weekly readings, reminders, requests, news, announcements
- _If you are not on this list please let Revd Liz have your email address. Everything is sent BCC so no-one else would be able to see it._
- **Our Church Facebook Page and Website both at @ Hatfield St Lawrence** All our events, services….are published on this and we also share some of them on other community Facebook Pages such as DN7 Community, Hatfield Residents notices….. This page has an Inbox where we receive requests for baptism, weddings, information,
help…..
## **Our Parish Office phone number and our email address which is now linked to the Website**
Please note this has recently changed to hello@hatfeldstlawrencechurch.com
- Phone: 01302 350591 – _please note that the office isn’t staffed all the time so do leave a message and we’ll get back to you asap._
## **Help needed please**
The Parish Office is well used but still requires a cleaner as I had no answer to my plea last year.
It doesn’t get very dirty so once every 10 days would do the job.
## **The Future**
Sadly, as I am retiring and the Vicarage together with the Flat and Parish Office will be sold (and a new house purchased for the next minister) that may well leave the church with no premises for a Parish Office. Some churches have the office in the church building but ours really doesn’t lend itself to that, partly because it is Grade 1 listed and also because it costs so much to heat.
Do you know of anywhere which may be suitable please, such as:
- An empty space above a local shop or pub.
- A room in someone’s house ………?
Revd Canon Liz Turner-Loisel
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