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2022-12-31-accounts

Unrestricted Unrestricted Restricted Legacy 2022 2021
RECEIPTS: Fund Fund Fund
Voluntary Income: Christian Stewardship 81,295 81,295 82,524
Income Tax recovered 23,492 23,492 28,201
Collections / Bookstall 95 95 0
Events . 1,731 1,731 1,477
Youth collections • 0 0 243
Sundry Donations 27,669 27,669 39,844
Magazine Sales 415 415 817
Charities 0 1,444 1,444 2,162
−Fees 8,354 8,354 6,076
−Gift Fund 2,515 2,515 4,579
Legacies 3,100 3,100 10,000
Fund raising Organ Fund 0 0 ...
0
FriendsOfSt Martins Subscriptions 154 154 227
St Pauls Flower Fund
St Martins Flower Fund		 Donations
Donations		 S 1,062
0		 1,062
0		 ,..700
0		 .
−St Pauls Choir Fund Weddings/Bells 0. 0.. 0
Trading Receipts: Hall Lettings • 14,557 14,557 . 10,370
Printing 0 0 •
0
Investment Income: Dividends 22 22 _
21
−
Interest' 58 58 27
VAT! Insurance claim 938 938 1,564
Movement on value of investments ((Loss)/Profit) −13,530 −13,530 − 22,267
Signboard 1,150 1,150 0
Furlough/Gas/Energy grant 6,847 6,847 13,045
T O T A L RECEIPTS 158,708 2,660 0 161,368 224,144

PAYMENTS Unrestricted Restricted 2022 2021
Fund Fund
Outreach Giving: 8,160 8,160 5,837
Charities 995 995 650
Direct: Parish Fairer Share 80,400 80,400 86,783
Ministry: Rector's expenses 695 695 1,306
Curate's expenses 0 0 169
Gift fund 1,759 1,759 2,217
Church: Insurances 5,678 5,678 5,442
Heat, light & water 6,024 6,024 6,333
Upkeep of services 16,950 16,950 6,554
Minor repairs 21,032 21,032 37,376
Licences/subscriptions 954 954 949
Website/publications/mag 249 249 249
Choir Director/music 4,660 4,660 3,670
Choir Fund expenses 0 0 0
Organist/maintenance 7,590 7,590 4,324
Traning/ Education 0 0 0
Flowers −St PauIs 1,123 1,123 632
Flowers −St Martins 0 0 96
Youth Leader 1,352 1,352 1,217
Godly play 0 0 0
Fees Weddings/choir/bells/verger 4,605 4,605 3,829
Administration: Audit costs 630 630 630
Payroll and licence costs 1,148 1,148 3,188
Activities: Events 0 0 0
Repayment of fees 0 0 0
Friends of St Martins: Expenses 2,324 2,324 0
Parish Centre: Caretaker/materials 1,473 1,473 5,113
Heat/light & water 3,975 3,975 3,006
Minor repairs 0 0 0
Insurances 1,827 1,827 1,778
Parish Office: _
Secretary		 12,550 12,550 11,632
Tel/post/stationery 2,280 2,280 1,894
Photocopier/printer 1,573 1,573 1,352
Computercolour printer 423 423 1,297
PROVISIONS: Depreciation 0 0 0
T O T A L PAYMENTS: 185,989 4,442 0 190,431 197,523
Surplus / (Deficit) for the year −27,281 −1,782 0 −29,063 26,621
Reordering 0 0 0 0
Quinquennial 0 0 0 0
−27,281 −1,782 0 −29,063 0 26,621

Balance Sheet
As at 31st December 2022
2022 2021
£ £
Fixed Assets
Tangible Assets 642,464 642,464
Investments 135,815 149,345
Current assets
Debtors 0 0
Cash at bank and in hand 26,624 42,157
26,624 42,157
Creditors: Amounts falling due
within one year 630 630
Net current assets 25,994 41,527
Net assets 804,273 833,336
Accumulated funds
Unrestricted funds 783,457 815,145
Restricted funds 20,816 18,191
804,273 833,336

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143

PARISH OF ST MARTIN AND ST PAUL, CANTERBURY Annual Parochial Church Council Meeting May 2023

‘Shew me thy ways O Lord, and teach me thy paths.’ Psalm 25 V3

PARISH OF ST. MARTIN AND ST. PAUL CANTERBURY

THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL 2022-2023

Rector (Chairman) The Reverend Mark Griffin Vice Chairman Mr Christopher Robinson (also Reader/Diocesan Synod) Curate The Reverend Charlotte Sleigh (from July 2nd) Churchwardens at St. Martn’s Mr. David Stuart Mrs Christine Robinson Churchwardens at St. Paul’s Vacant Mr Michael Keeler-Walker Parish Treasurer Mr Gordon Craig (and Co-opted member) Readers holding the Bishop’s Licence Mr. Samuel Keeler-Walker Mrs Mary Butcher (PTO- non-voting member) Deanery Synod Representatves Mrs Ruth Matthews

Elected Members 2020-2023

Mr John Salmon Mrs Clare Butler Ms Jo Lawson Mr James Sampson

Elected members 2021-2024 Miss Ruth Baker Mrs Jackie Curd Mrs Judith Dimond Mrs Ruth Sibson Elected Members 2022-2025 Ms Ros Newington Mrs Jo Luck Ms Felicity Bolton

Co-Opted Member 2022-2023 Monica Walling Also in Atendance (non-votng in maters of legal resoluton and non-trustees)

Mr Dominic del Nevo (Choir Director) Mrs Christine Page (PCC secretary)

Welcome to our 2023 Annual Report.

Our report this year continues to reflect the return towards normality as we move away from the covid years. Our congregations have returned close to pre-covid numbers and social events are happening again. There is still much to do as we continue to rebuild but much to be thankful for.

I would like to thank all those who have given tirelessly over the last year, churchwardens, our musicians, the ministry team and everyone who have been there giving of their time and skill in so many ways.

This report is a record of a tough year but one that has seen us face all that has come our way with faith, empathy, tears, and laughter.

Introduction

At the 2022 APCM, Jennifer Llewellin stepped down with our grateful thanks. Our other three wardens were re-elected for the year, leaving us with a vacancy at St Paul’s. We give thanks for their service as our Churchwardens over the last year.

Sadly we lost some much-loved members of our congregations in the last year- notably Ruth Smith, Bob Parvin, Bill Valentine and Dorothy Dobbs, also friends like Eric Griffiths. Each of them played an important part in the life of our parish and gave much to our mission, each in their own way. We will miss them and our thoughts are with their families.

This year we welcomed Charlotte Sleigh as our new self-supporting curate in July. Charlotte has quickly become part of our life as a parish, bringing her own gifts while developing her ministry with us. We look forward to her priesting in July. Henrik Schoenefeldt paused his training as Reader but we hope he will be able to continue in the not too distant future. Clary Read was selected for training for ordination and is currently on a long placement at St Nicholas, Thanington. Jeanne MacKay joined us as our Senior Visitor House at St Martin’s in the summer and has been a great asset to the parish bringing her enthusiasm, her networking skills and her love of St Martin’s.

Among the highlights was the blessing of the new organ at St Martins and the tidying of the North West corner, our joining the Inclusive Church Network, the choir visit to Rochester, the arrival of our new Archdeacon, the Venerable Will Adam and the Deanery visit by Bishop Rose. We marked the unprecedented Platinum Jubilee of a sovereign when we celebrated Queen Elizabeth the Second’s 70th year on the throne and in September we marked the passing of her long reign. We celebrated the accession of King Charles III and this year will mark his Coronation.

Christmas saw us back to normal with our carol singing in our estates and a full range of services all well supported. Mary and Joseph travelled around the parish from house to house once again blessing all they visited.

So, read on for the story of the year gone - and prepare to write the next year’s story. Reverend Mark Griffin, Rector

Significant decisions of the PCC

Churchwardens Report – St Paul’s

Somehow, I now realise that I am writing my third of these reports. One of the things I always regret when I come to the end of the year is wishing I’d made a note of all the things that were happening this time last year to do a like for like comparison. For example, it’s very difficult to remember what COVID restrictions were still in place in our worshipping life in Easter 2022. I still can’t remember but we celebrated Easter 2023 with pretty much all the restrictions of our common life and worship gone for which we give ongoing thanks! There have been a number of significant milestones in the year of our country which the church played an important role in marking with our community. First of all was the joy of the royal Jubilee, with special platinum puddings galore followed by the poignant stillness as we gathered to remember the death of the late Queen Elizabeth just a few months later. It was at these moments, that our determination to keep our doors open every day of the week means that our church is there for all of our parish, not just those of us who worship here each Sunday. What the impact is on those who visit, what encounters those have who stop to pray here we may never know but that being open and there means our church both as a building and as a people continues its age-old mission day by day. After many years of routine building maintenance only, it would be remiss of me not to mention that a nasty surprise that appeared in the South East Gable Wall which had, unbeknownst to anyone, invisibly been taking on water for many years. Alas that wall had not been built well by the Victorians and their mortar had turned to powder. Very hard frosts in early December led to bulging flintwork and partial collapse. The problem appeared small but was in fact enormous with much of the upper facing flintwork needing to be dismantled and completely rebuilt. All told the bill was circa £15,000 including repairs to some rotten framework on the dormer windows. This has left the St Paul’s emergency building fund perilously low. Our Parish have responded very generously to bolster up that coffer once again and we have plans later in the year to undertake some further fundraising events to get ourselves back on an even keel. Thank you for all you have given in helping us in this work to date.

The worshipping life of the parish continues in its pattern and as Warden I hope I have encouraged us to always put our best foot forward to make sure we are making the best of the gifts and traditions we have to make our Worship to God as beautiful and purposeful as it can possibly be.

Numbers have stabilised across most of our services including the Parish Eucharist, MidWeek Eucharist, TeaTime and Choral Evensong but a look over our statistics show that numbers although healthy are below where we are before the pandemic.

We regularly have new people coming to join our worship for which we give thanks. They tell us they like our worship and appear to be staying but my instinct is we sometime struggle to build the deeper relationships with new people that would help them become more part of our community and mission here. Some people who try us out, inevitably will think we are not right for them, and I observe that those who stay are the ones whom we get involved quickly and teach about our life together often through serving or singing in the choir. So, getting people through the door seems to be the easier bit, it’s building the deeper, quality relationships that seem to be harder. Maybe this suggests that we need to offer more in terms of our life together outside of the quality worship offering on Sunday mornings, perhaps we need to explain more about what we do and think about how our younger people have more ministry opportunities. The answer is not yet clear, but we need to pray and discern it.

Our priorities for the next year therefore need to be - drawing people in. Not just new people but other, faithful members of our worshipping community. As warden I am hugely grateful for all that everyone does to keep the life of the parish vibrant and alive from our meals together, to the care of our church and the running of our worship – there are actually too many to count.

However, some parts of our life have thin foundations at the moment, too much of the ‘bigger jobs’ is dependent on too few. This puts our mission and life together at risk. This has been demonstrated clearly this year where we only have one warden and sadly St Paul’s has suffered because of it – the wheels of Sundays, heating and maintenance kept turning but I had no time left for planning, resourcing imagination, vision or innovation. My duty as Churchwarden has been to support our Rector and people to ensure we are always putting our best foot forward. In today’s church keeping the ‘show on the road’ by making sure the day to day happens is just not good enough. Nor is it good enough that our Rector Mark has had to do some of the churchwarden jobs too, eating into his ministry time. This is a great pity when we give so generously to make ends meet which enables us to have our own Rector which few other parishes are lucky enough to afford on their own. We owe it to him and our mission, to ensure he has the team around him to enable him to undertake his work.

So let’s move into 2023/24 well-resourced in gifts, in time and in talents so we can all continue to build the kingdom here. Building it by putting our best foot forward, confident in the message of the resurrection hope that we have to share with those around us. Michael Keeler-Walker, Churchwarden St Paul’s

Churchwarden’s Report – St Martin’s

In our last report we described a ‘game of two halves’ as we eased out of restrictions and start our road to recovery. This year we have been making up for lost time and putting ourselves in the strongest position we can be. The two significant changes for 2022 have been the installation of our new organ and the introduction of our paid senior visits host. When you see the installation of a new organ written down it sounds so easy but it was anything but and we are entirely grateful to Christopher Gower for all his efforts in managing the project for us. There was a significant amount of work to both the West End area of the church where an extensive amount of furniture and a fixed pew needed to be removed and a radiator pipe moved. Alongside this work the old organ had to be removed and the space left boarded up. We have been left with a beautiful organ and a spacious vestry which we will spend 2023 planning how we reorder.

In July 2022 we welcomed Jeanne as our Senior Visitor Host which enables us to open continuously throughout the year on a Wednesday to Sunday from 11am to 3pm. Jeanne has taken over organising volunteers and forging links with English Heritage and the Cathedral. She has taken over the bookings for organised tours and put it on a more formal footing. She is getting excellent reviews on both TripAdvisor and Google. Jeanne is also in the early stages of some exciting new initiatives, exploring a possible tour involving both Lyminge and Folkestone Churches, with the connection of Bertha, Ethelberga and Eanswythe; Grandmother, daughter and granddaughter.

Jeanne is also hoping to reach out to local Primary Schools and give them the opportunity to bring Key stage 2 students to visit as part of the Anglo-Saxon part of the history curriculum. We are continuing to analyse the benefit of this both in terms of increasing visitor numbers and income and look forward to sharing this with PCC over the coming months. Alongside these two significant, noteworthy changes we have continued to maintain our wonderful church including replacing our smoke alarms and a deep clean across all areas of the church. We clearly would not be able to do all of this without the support of our community who do so much for us, in particular John, Ruth, Doreen, James, Gordon, Judith, Christopher and Sylvia. We are also grateful for Mike Butler’s work with the World Heritage Committee.

We have a busy 2023 planned as we continue to work on planning the reordering of the vestry, introducing a toilet facility, improving access to the Bell Tower and maximising the number of pilgrims and tourists to St Martins and next year it is time for our Quinquennial again, how it comes around so quickly!

Dave Stuart and Christine Robinson, Churchwardens

Community Engagement

The last year has seen things grow again after the covid years. As always, this is just the official connections that we have as a church and does not begin to count the many connections that you all have as individuals with different community projects across the city.

Schools

This saw us begin to take assemblies again for Pilgrims Way School especially around festivals and seasons of the year. Again we gave small gifts to all of the staff at Pilgrims Way for Christmas and Easter to say thank you for their hard work. The Christmas collections from our services went partly to the school for their Bursary Fund helping families to access activities and trips that they otherwise might not be able to afford. The school were very grateful for the £500 that we presented. There were also visits to both churches by year groups and Mary Butcher was able to help with those. The school are keen to increase the level of contact with us, which I’m very keen to capitalise on. The relationship between parish and school is a strong one and long may that continue and flourish.

Spring Lane and Querns

We have kept in touch with both community centres over the last year, offering support where we could. Querns has had a more difficult year, as the centre needs some repairs and less activities have taken place. We supported their family work in the summer and this year we were able to go carol singing after a two year break. Their work with food poverty and food waste issues over the past few years has continued despite the problems with the centre and we have been offering our help in various ways.

Messy Church has continued at Spring Lane and is very well supported. We were able to sing carols in the Neighbourhood Centre at Christmas with musical backing from our churches and was a great success. As ever Barbara has been a good friend to us at Spring Lane and we look forward to working with her and the residents in the year ahead.

Chaucer and Highland House

We now have two services at Chaucer House each month- one a communion, the other a morning prayer with hymns. We visit Highland House on a monthly basis where twenty residents sing favourite hymns. We also visit regularly two residents at the Red House with communion and a number of other people who are housebound receive the sacrament at home.

Night Shelter and winter warmth

The night shelter this year wasn’t able to run in churches in the city due to insurance concerns but we have been able to provide treats each week.

Across the city this winter an initiative was started to provide warm spaces in the time of rising energy spaces. We participated for most of the winter but numbers were very low and we learned that simply opening St Paul’s as we do allows people to find space and peace. Hall and church hire

The hall and church have hosted singing groups over the last year making the most of our wonderful acoustic. This year we’ve continued to welcome Domenica and her team to the hall for the drop in on Thursday mornings for refugees from Afghanistan who are living in local hotels. We are also hiring to Migrateful Cooking who help refugees to develop their culinary skills. The new AV facilities installed in the autumn has helped us to offer the hall to community groups as well as hirers.

Reverend Mark Griffin, Rector

Finance and Stewardship

2022 was a difficult year due to expected and unexpected costs. There were further costs associated with the refurbished organ at St Martins while the new fire alarm system was installed at St Martins. Masonry repairs at St Pauls were unexpected and are ongoing. The final cost will be over £10000 but the Without Walls appeal has already raised £2500. Energy prices are fixed until September 2024 while insurance premiums have increased by a below inflation amount. The increase in Upkeep of Services was mainly due to the wages of Jeanne Mckay, the Senior Visitor Host at St Martins. She has been a great success and has had a positive effect on visitor numbers and income. Parish Share is our major outlay -around 45% of total costs – and this risen from £6700 monthly in 2022 to £7165 monthly in 2023. Quinquennial work maybe carried out at both churches depending on the availability of finances. Stewardship income has been stable. The move to Parish Giving began in April and has been a success. Income is received on the 10[th] of the month and tax refunds shortly afterwards. Over 80% of donors have joined the scheme. Diocesan House will cease to be involved with Gift Aid from April and Richard has set up an account with HMRC to deal with with small gifts and those not in Parish Giving. We have benefitted from many generous donations and also some legacies. Outreach payments of £800 each were paid to 10 charities while our Christmas charities -Pilgrims Way School and Canterbury 4 Ukraine – both received £500. The current year will be challenging but with good cash management, strict cost control and further income breakeven should be achievable. Jane Neame is our independent accounts examiner and also provides our payroll service. Jane does an excellent job and I recommend that she be reappointed for 2023. Finally I would like to thank you all for your efforts, time, and money. Gordon Craig, Treasurer

Sunday Zone

We have continued to meet weekly during the Sunday morning Eucharist with varying numbers and a loyal core of about 4 children. We have a committed group of adult leaders - Felicity, Marilyn and Sue who have been joined by Irene this year. We continue to use Godly Play as a way of telling stories, enabling the children to draw their own learning from what they have heard. It is always a challenge to slow down the pace to give the children space to reflect. I recently wrote about the outline of each session in Pilgrim Post so encourage you to read that if you want to know more detail or ask to come along!

The wondering questions I ask the children include (not always all each week) They don’t have to respond directly but are encouraged to think about each one

I have also had the privilege of regularly sharing a Godly Play Story at St Pauls @Teatime. Thank you for your prayers and continued support of our young people. Ruth Baker, Sunday Zone Leader

Choir Report

The Choir’s regular duties cover the 10.30am service most Sunday mornings, monthly choral evensong (except in April, August and December), and additional services throughout the year (e.g. Advent and Christmas carols, Ash Wednesday, Holy Week, Ascension). Alongside that, as in previous years we have led choral evensong at Canterbury Cathedral a couple of times, and this year we also travelled up the road to Rochester, whose Cathedral is a beautiful setting for evensong, and also a very welcoming place – much more laid back than ‘the local’. Alas our anticipated trip to Guildford was cancelled due to filming restrictions at the Cathedral there, though we will arrange for a trip in the future.

In October we completed the Psalmathon, and raised over £1,600 for the Canterbury Food Bank. Prior to this we completed our project of reproducing the Parish Psalter (both pointing and chants) into a format that Charlotte could convert into Braille. Several in the choir put in hours of work to see this completed, and I am very grateful for their efforts. I mentioned last year that we were doing a bit of this on an ‘ad hoc’ basis as demanded by the Lectionary, but we have now completed the exercise for all 150 psalms, which also makes my weekly music planning a lot easier.

In terms of repertoire this year, I have tried to feature more music by female composers. Our Christmas carol service was the pinnacle of this, with all the choir items (and two descants for the congregational carols) composed by women. As part of this, we have engaged with the Multitude of Voyces project, which looks to promote music by people whose demographics have historically been under-represented. The Royal School of Church Music has commissioned an anthem in celebration of the Coronation of King Charles III later this year, “The mountains shall bring peace”, composed by Joanna Forbes-L’Estrange. We have purchased copies in loving memory of Bob Parvin, thanks to a donation from Bob’s family, and it will feature as part of the Sunday morning service on the weekend of the Coronation. We did not use David Rees-Williams’s Mass setting during Epiphany this year, as it was undergoing essential maintenance; however we did sing the re-worked Gloria during Maundy Thursday, and we are using the full service setting shortly after Easter. Alongside David’s setting, we continue to use Thorne’s Mass of St Thomas and Trinity Mass settings in rotation during Ordinary Time, along with Nardone’s Mass of St Cedd for Lent and Advent. The use of four settings should strike the right balance of keeping the worship fresh, without straying too far from the familiar. Congregational copies of the settings are available. As always I would like to extend my thanks to David and the members of the Choir for their commitment, and to everyone who supports our work throughout the year. Dom del Nevo, Choir Director

Outreach

The last year has seen the small Outreach Group putting in to practice our new plan to promote our support for our chosen causes. Each month we have a Cause of the Month which we highlight with a display at St Paul’s and an article in Pilgrim Post. We are very grateful to Ros Newington for her work on the displays and to Clive Barlow for guaranteeing us space in the magazine each month.

We have a champion for each cause now in place, who are able to promote the charity’s work and answer queries that the congregation have. Last year Lisa Marchusson came to St Paul’s while on furlough to update us on Pastos Verdes and we are hoping to have several guest speakers during the year to highlight their work, some giving us an update, others like Lisa using the sermon slot.

We have 11 causes that we support, although that was reduced to ten when Kidzklub folded in the summer. In 2022 PCC agreed to restore the pre covid level of financial support for our causes after our budgeted reduction in 2020 and 2021, meaning that each cause received £800. We as a group hope that our Outreach is becoming more embedded In our life as a parish and that by promoting ten causes we can focus our support. There continue to be other one-off appeals and causes that we support often in response to need.

The causes that we support regularly are:

Local

Connecting Canterbury Schools Work Trust Street Pastors Catching Lives KRAN (working with refugees in Canterbury)

National

Christians Against Poverty

International

Pastos Verdes

Open Doors UK (working with those facing persecution for their faith) CORD (working in justice and development)

Amos Trust

Reverend Mark Griffin, Rector

St Paul’s at Teatime (SP@TT)

SP@TT has become a vibrant and important part of Parish life. Meeting each second Sunday from 3.30-5pm in St Paul’s Church, it reaches and touches a lot of families who we do not see at other Parish services and events. With time spent by the organising team beforehand and on the day, themes and stories are shared, with activities, prayers and songs. We aim to create a welcoming, happy atmosphere where there is safety, acceptance and fun in a sacred space. Thanks go to the wonderful team, who offer their varied talents and gifts to make this such a success. Do come along and join us if you would like to – everyone is welcome.

Mothers’ Union

It has been a happy and fulfilling year for our branch of the MU. We have enjoyed meetings with speakers, social events and of course, times of prayer and reflection. We have enrolled new members and have organised family activities for the school holiday times when possible. The branch has supported Archdeaconry and Diocesan functions, with 4 of our members volunteering to help at the Away From It All holiday. This is a free week’s holiday in August for families at Ashburnham in Sussex, paid for entirely by the MU Canterbury diocese. The Mothers’ Union is an important worldwide organisation, which is part of the Anglican Communion, supporting families around the world and giving fellowship to its members.

Children and Young Families Committee

This small committee continues to meet to oversee the Parishes work in this area of life. We said a sad farewell to Tess Hickson in November, when she and Matt moved away from Canterbury. She had been a wonderful Safeguarding Officer for the Parish and an efficient secretary for the committee. We are delighted that Lydia Newington agreed to take over the role of Safeguarding Officer. How lucky we are. There have recently been opportunities for Safeguarding Training in the Parish and soon we will be joining in the Diocesan First Aid training days. We are trying to concentrate our thoughts on a new provision for Secondary School age young people. Hoping to investigate what may be possible in readiness for September. Please hold this initiative in your prayers and talk to Mark if you feel you could help in any way. Perhaps you would like to join the committee? Sue Spillett, MU Branch leader

Celebrating the Deanery: 2022-2023

Meetings: Deanery Synod met at

Personnel:

Highlights:

Working together on aspects of the Deanery Mission Plan this year, Deanery highlights have been

Parishes have been circulated with the new Deanery Mission Plan to discuss and the next stage in its development will consider the feedback from them.

Finally: Thanks go to Harry Macdonald our administrator, John Morrison our treasurer, Liz Morrison, Lay Chair, Rev Jo Richards and our Mission and Ministry Committee for carrying us forward through 2023 and into 2024 as we move on in good heart. Dr Rosemary Walters

Parish Lifelong Learning 2022-2023

Highlights from the Parish LLL group 2022-2023 have included:

Lent activity: contributing to the Deanery Lent leaflet Living Lent Together with The Passion in St John and the Four Gospels

Interim Dean Jane Hedges on Being a Dean

Professor David Ormrod on Economic Realities and Environmental Catastrophe

Recommendations for reading in Advent and Lent in Pilgrim Post

Publicity on parish displays and the parish website and A Church Near You

The LLL group is always open to any ideas you may have for future activities. Do let us know. Dr Rosemary Walters

Christians Together in Canterbury, 2022/2023

Simon Redman of the Vineyard Church and Healing on the Streets continues as Moderator, with Lyndall Bywater as Secretary. Regular meetings of representatives have now resumed after covid, and there is a willingness to share and support social action by churches. The Walk of Witness on Good Friday, led by the Salvation Army band, was again our principal act of witness in Canterbury, and there was an uplifting Taize service at St Thomas’s in the Week of Prayer. Information on prayer meetings and talks etc are widely shared.

The board of Christians Together provided a grant to help pay for the appointment of Tim Cook, as a part-time Network Coordinator to Connecting Canterbury, to develop the vision of Connecting Canterbury in working more effectively for the good of those in need, through greater ecumenical partnership, and to social agencies across Canterbury. Due to the wonderful support of Christians, Churches and charitable trusts, Connecting Canterbury were able to make 505 small, discreet emergency grants in 2022 totalling £8752 (more than

double 2021), and 63 grants for white goods, travel and rent, principally through the gracious giving of Acts 435.

My thanks too to Ruth Sibson, for her willingness to share our link to Christians Together. David Hartwell

Flowers at St Paul’s

Grateful thanks must firstly be conveyed to Anthea Rishworth who retired as the St Paul’s Flower Team organiser after many years. Fortunately, Anthea still helps with flower arranging and her knowledge and experience is very much appreciated by all of us.

This year has been a much more active one. Flower arrangements were required for several weddings and a 60th celebration of ordination in the summer, as well as the usual festival and service arrangements. The flower team welcomed Jo Luck who joined us at Christmas. In addition, as part of a new venture, Annabel Marsh has been helping and training with us towards her Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award.

The cost of flowers has risen considerably over the past year and we are extremely grateful for the donations given. The greenery for all the arrangements comes from our gardens and we are always looking out for further sources. New flower arrangers are also very welcome. No experience is necessary, just a love of flowers and a little bit of creativity!

Finally, thank you to Yvonne Pearson, Sue Spillett and Ruth Sibson, who have given so freely of their time over the past year, and to Ann Gosbee for the Remembrance arrangement. Ros Newington

Flowers at St Martin’s

Three of us have done our modest best to provide fresh flowers at our little church – visited by increasing numbers of pilgrims and tourists. Sometimes we have greeted Advent and Lent with relief and have been extremely grateful to Vanessa Stanton and Diana Francis who once again produced wonderful arrangements at Christmas and Easter.

Doreen Laven

Parish Office/Parish Centre Bookings

The Parish Office remains busy. Reflecting on the pandemic has encouraged us to look at how and why we do things, streamlining and changing how we operate in order to keep up with an ever changing Parish. We continue to think about how we work and communicate with the Parish. We are still sending the Keeping in Touch email out, and people are responding well to us being more present online, especially through Social Media and YouTube. We are pleased to continue with so many of our stalwart hirers, and are pleased that Bookings remain constant and new enquiries seem to be increasing. Things look busy as we approach the summer months, and we thank you all for the help, support and cooperation you give us.

Sylvia del Nevo and Chris Page, Parish Administrators

St. Martin’s and St. Paul’s Eco Group

Another year, and a flood of blister packs recycled. It is clear that during the past year more people have engaged with our efforts to recycle and the Eco group is very grateful to everyone who has and is taking part. From the volume of crisp packets we have donated to Tesco we can only assume that they are equally grateful for the level of sales that has engendered. We have continued to have gardening parties at St. Martin’s churchyard and

these will continue throughout the coming year. I think it is amazing that we were once again awarded a silver gilt despite the judge having reservations about our recycling of freezer baskets to hold the pine cones in the Bee Ritz. I refrained from responding to this observation, after all we were actively upcycling items that would have gone to landfill. He did suggest we label the areas where we have put prunings between the trees as wildlife habitats. That seems a good idea though only the wild will be able to get through the accompanying brambles to the safety of the branches we have cut down. Next year promises new challenges as we must forge ahead and achieve a bronze if not a silver from Eco-Church. Sue White