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← The Parochial Church Council Of The Ecclesiastical Parish Of All Saints, Church Normanton

2025-12-31-accounts

Annual Parochial Meeting - Reports for 2025 ~~a~~ = S Vicar’s Report confirm its results, as they were a surprise to them.

Vicar’s Report

As I sit and write this, I haven't long been back from a Leadership Conference where much of the discussion centred on the Bible Society Survey and report, The Quiet Revival. This report, based on a survey by the respected polling organisation YouGov, highlighted a large, measured increase in church attendance, particularly among the young. Young men particularly showed a fourfold increase, and the elderly also showed increasing attendance. The Bible Society itself kept asking YouGov to

This report really angered the Humanist Society, who took to the media in force, rubbishing the findings and methodology. Sometime after I got back from the conference, YouGov admitted some flaws in its methodology and is now set to repeat the survey. Regardless of the final result, the report itself has merit. It is backed up by anecdotal evidence and testimony of many congregations, especially in our university towns and cities where we tend to send the majority of our young people these days when they turn 18.

Even in the back waters of Normanton, recently we have experienced people, especially the young, unexpectedly showing up on Sunday mornings, feeling they needed to come to church that day. Some have never been to church before. It appears that while a previous generation rejected their parents' cultural Christianity for the atheism of Dawkins, etc., a new generation is rejecting that empty atheism of their parents, and finding the beginning of spiritual awakenings. At worst, they can be described as open and at least curious.

Regardless of the redone poll's final result, the killer statistic for me is the recent upsurge in Bible sales. Publishing houses

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report that for decades, Bible sales in this country have hovered around 2 million copies annually. Last year it shot up to 6.3 million. If that doesn't show spiritual curiosity, then I don't know what does.

This cultural change requires us to step up. Curiosity makes talking about God much easier than spiritual deafness, but it is to no avail if people do not discover the life altering love of God and a personal relationship with Jesus for themselves. As a church we are just about to run another Alpha group, and also the new version of the Bible Course. We continue to reach out into our community through a socially caring gospel, rites of passage, service and worship that meets with God. But the majority of our mission happens around the kitchen table, and by not being afraid to invite people to courses, events and services. It is the mission on our own street and within our own family that we need to pray into; and always be prepared to give an answer for the reason for the hope that is in you. As the words of a well known poem say, 'we are the only gospel a careless world will read.'

delight ourselves in the Lord and desire that God's kingdom will grow in the hearts and minds of the people of this parish. When All Saints was at the forefront of the charismatic revival in the 80's, people flocked from all over West Yorkshire to attend church here. Particularly because of the worship experienced here. I'm told you couldn't get a parking spot for several streets if you came less than half an hour before the service. Church Growth analysts would call much of that growth transfer growth. Its weakness is that with time, much of it transfers again elsewhere. Our desire and prayer must be to see a fundamental change in the hearts of our parish, and for the people of Normanton to encounter the living Christ.

As this report shows, our wonderful church family has continued to give of themselves in many ways.

I was reminded that a couple of years ago our weekly prayer group had a series of words such as open goal, open heart and open book that indicated opportunity if we wish to take it. One specific picture was of a blank diary, waiting to be written upon, along with the words of Ps 37:4 ‘Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.’ We are now experiencing that openness, we need to continue to

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In finance, for the second year we have paid our parish share in full, and done a lot of work on the Church Building and Parish Rooms. By giving time and energy our schools, community groups and church life have continued to thrive. I can only continue to thank the many people who quietly pursue their calling to honour our Lord in return for all he has done for us. Rendel and I are continually thankful God called us to minister here alongside you. It gladdens our hearts when we think of you.

We continue to place a high value on teaching. Over the last year we focused our sermons on why Jesus came, the fruit of the Spirit, unlikely heroes of the Bible, covered a large chunk of Luke's Gospel, and looked at the prophetic songs sung around the incarnation. We ran our usual Lent course, and many people have attended large summer gatherings and teaching events. We said farewell to Beth as she started full time ministerial training and we recently had Jackie here on placement as she looks to become an LLM.

If anything stands out as slightly lacking, it is that we need to recover a heart for prayer and intercession, so that we seize this moment to be even deeper in love with the God who is love itself. Spiurgeon once seized on a casual comment someone made, about how warm and comfortable a particular church was. "Shall I show you the boiler house?" Spurgeon asked, and then led the man into the preservice church prayer meeting. And as we continue to delight ourselves in God, he will bring the kingdom in.

I love my Celtic blessings and so I leave you with this one, with a particular emphasis on the now line

May your past be a pleasant memory,

Your future filled with delight and mystery,

Your now a glorious moment,

That fills your life with deep contentment.

Blessings

Alan

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All Saints Normanton Parish Church MEETING OF PARISHIONERS 6 April 2025

Present: 42 Church members were present at the meeting.

1. Minutes of the previous APM 21 April 2024

The minutes from the previous meeting were accepted as a true and accurate record.

2. Matters Arising

None.

3. Apologies

Diane Collett Lee Maddison Ann Preston Christine Shaw Raymond Shaw Natalie Turner Elaine Wells

4. Electoral Roll

Roll in 2024: 99. There have been twelve new enrolments, one deceased, one no longer attend and live outside the area and four did not renew their names on the Roll; the new Electoral Roll is 105.

5. Election of PCC Representatives

There were three vacancies for PCC Representatives. Marianne Fernandez and Derek Howell have been on PCC for six years and therefore cannot stand again; Rev Alan Murray thanked them for their service. Two nominations were received therefore there was no need for a vote. Those duly elected were: Elected to PCC: Proposed by: Seconded by:

Brian Turner Andy Vanstan Marianne Fernandez Stewart Drury Andy Vanstan Marianne Fernandez

6. Election of Deanery Representatives

No election of Deanery Representatives was required.

7. Accounts

The report was contained in the APM booklet.

Derek Howell expressed his thanks to Diane Brennan, Joy Smith and John Penrose. The meeting accepted the accounts that are based on 31 st December 2024.

Estimated levels of direct and planned giving this year have not fully materialised falling short by around 7%. However, some of this reduction has been offset by less accountable aspects of giving e.g. plate and cashless

giving and an increase in sundry donations. The shortfall has been met by drawing on our cash reserves, leaving them at a low but sustainable level and with the possibility of drawing on them to meet any future budget pressures, greatly reduced. Regular giving is the lifeblood of the church and Derek Howells thanked

everybody who supports the church regularly by giving either by direct debit or the church’s envelope scheme particularly, and especially those who have responded so positively to appeals in 2024 to increase their giving.

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Derek encouraging everyone to again, on behalf of the PCC, to consider regular giving or to review the amount of regular giving by at least the rate of inflation – about 5%. In the meantime, the church is working hard to keep running costs and expenses down by keeping contracts and expenses under regular review. The reduced hours of our new church administrator under a newly agreed part time contact is just one example of this work.

The church is a grade 2 star listed building. The Parish Rooms is not listed but is in a conservation area within the church building. Major works on these buildings cannot be financed by church members alone, therefore, other sources of funding are always sought e.g. grants. As a church we have a separate ‘Reordering and Fabric Fund’ which is a specific internal fund to allow PCC the means to consider how to deal with wider, major fabric issues, beyond everyday maintenance and upkeep on both the church and Parish rooms. It remains a ‘restricted fund’ which means that donations to it and expenditure from it will only be for those purposes named. Since completion of the reordering, some members of the congregation have continued donating to this fund, for which we are extremely grateful.

In addition, some of the work this year has only been possible because of a

bequest left to the PCC in the WILL of a church member. Replacement Parish Room Windows, side chapel window clean and new mesh protection, church tower louvres repair and the Parish rooms foyer renovation are just some of the works done that have been paid for, from this fund.

Gifts to the fabric fund are still possible and it is encouraged that this is additional to regular giving. It is hoped that further work can be done to the windows in church, paid for by gifts and legacies. If you’d like to give to

Church in any way, please do speak to Derek Howell at any time.

Rev Alan Murray expressed his sincere thanks to Derek Howell for doing the accounts.

8. Appointment of Examiner of Accounts

Derek Howell asked that the meeting agree to appoint John Penrose again, as the Independent Certifier of the accounts. All present agreed.

9. Reports

All reports were contained in the APM booklet. No questions were forthcoming.

10. Vicar’s Report

Rev Alan Murray thanked everyone for all they do; wardens, treasurer, governors, PCC, Children’s work, Rock Solid, Acorn, Church School, Mums, Dads and Tots, worship, PA, VA, Baptism team, prayer warriors, food bank,

Meets n Eats, WOT, Mens group, Code Life, refreshments, Welcome Team. In the later part of last year, Joy Smith took over from Diane Brennan as Church Administrator. As Derek Howell has already mentioned in respect of the church budget, Joy Smith has been employed on a 15 hours per week contract, opposed to the 30 hours per week that Diane Brennan previously worked. This is already having a big impact on administration priorities within the church office, so please continue to be kind and patient as we continue to reassess those priorities over the next few months - there will be changes to

how some things are done in church.

Rev Alan Murray closed the meeting by saying together The Grace.

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All Saints Normanton Parish Church MEETING OF PARISHIONERS

6th April 2025

1. Minutes of the previous meeting 21 April 2024

The minutes were accepted as a true and accurate record of the previous

meeting.

2. Election of Church Wardens

There were two vacancies for Church Wardens

Two nominations were received for Church Warden

Virginia Hashimi

Proposed by Marianne Fernandez, seconded by Stewart Drury

Andy Vanstan

Proposed by Rendel Murray, seconded by Sandy Vanstan

As there were no other nominations Virginia Hashimi and Andy Vanstan were duly elected as Church Wardens for the ensuing year.

Rev Alan Murray thanked both Virginia Hashimi and Andy Vanstan for their service as Church Wardens over the last year.

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. The Annual Parochial Church Council Report 2025

The Church and Church Office are situated on the B6133 in Normanton.

The Council is required, as stated in the Parochial Church Councils (Powers) Measure 1956, to co-operate with the ministers in promoting in the parish the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical.

Membership

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

During the year, the following served as members of the PCC:

Incumbent: Alan Murray Wardens: Virginia Hashimi (APCM 2023) Andy Vanstan (APCM 2024) Training Treasurer: Derek Howell (co-opted 2025) Giving Officer Secretary: Roz Maddison (co-opted 2024) Deanery Synod: Sue Hodgson (APCM 2023 - 2nd term) Roslyn Maddison (APCM 2023) Andy Vanstan (APCM 2023) Lay Vice Chair / Training Michelle West (APCM 2023 - 2nd term) Disability Elected Members: Stewart Drury (APCM 2025) Beth Edwards (APCM 2023) Denise Monkman (APCM 2023) Joy Smith (APCM 2024 - 2nd term) Brian / Craig Turner (APCM 2025) Michael Woodhead (APCM 2024)

The Standing Committee

The Standing Committee is a statutory committee which deals with anything that arises in between PCC meetings. The committee consists of the Incumbent, Churchwardens, Vice Chair, Treasurer, Secretary and one elected PCC member.

The retiring members of the PCC are Marianne Fernandez and Derek Howell.

There are no retiring members of Deanery Synod.

There are 105 parishioners on the Electoral Roll, 24 of whom are not resident in the parish. 1 has moved out of the area and no longer attends and 1 was deceased. There are 12 new enrolments.

The full PCC met 6 times during the year. The Standing Committee has the power to deal with any emergency which arises, subject to any directions given by the council. There are also two sub-committees: Estates and Mission & Ministry meet 3 times a year, to further discuss their areas of ministry.

As an Anglican church in the parish of Normanton, West Yorkshire, our intention is to meet the spiritual, physical and pastoral needs of all the people who live within our parochial boundary. We seek to minister pastoral care to all age groups and cultural backgrounds within a Christian context.

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Parochial Church Council Annual Review of Meetings in 2025

All meetings during the year were chaired by Rev’d Alan Murray. Regular items on the agenda include:

Matters arising, correspondence received, Vicar’s items, Warden’s items, Finance, and also reports from The Well, Acorn Alternative Provision, Church School Governors, Deanery & Churches Together.

JANUARY

Estates

Mission & Ministry

MARCH

Feedback from Sub Committees

MAY

JULY

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latter signed by Alan as an annual confirmation for 2025

Feedback from Sub Committees

Estates

Mission & Ministry

SEPTEMBER

NOVEMBER

Rev Alan Murray Chairman

All Saints Parish Church

High Street Normanton West Yorkshire WF6 1NR

Registered Charity No: 1135324

Roslyn Maddison PCC Secretary

Bank:

CAF Bank Ltd 25 Kings Hill Avenue Kings Hill West Malling Kent ME19 4JQ

Independent Examiner:

Mr John Penrose 2 Park Avenue Normanton West Yorkshire WF6 2DR

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Church Warden’s Report

It doesn't feel like 12 months since I sat down to write the Warden's report for last year's APCM, but here we are again – Tempus Fugit, as they say!

It's been great that we've been able to welcome some new faces over the last year; some have just been passing through but others have become loved & treasured members of our Church family & we've been blessed by each & everyone of them as a church.

Whilst it's been great to say hello we've also, sadly, had to say some goodbyes; some to Glory, others to new adventures away from Normanton & other's in answer God's call upon their lives; We've a great & long tradition as a "sending out" church & Beth was the latest to hear & answer God's call & go forward for Ordination training; she continues to be in our prayers.

As ever 2025 was a busy year for the Church with our regular Sunday and Wednesday services, Baptisms, Weddings, and Funerals as well as our regular seasonal services such as Remembrance Sunday, the Memorial service, Lent and Holy Week, Advent and Christmas. We've also hosted community events such as the Christmas Fare, Fashion Show, local talks & exhibitions whilst once again were a collection hub for the Christmas Shoe Box Appeal.

As a Grade 2 listed building, well over 900 years old, the Church building is is structurally safe & watertight with general repairs & upkeep being carried out through the year. Much of this work is "below the surface" & goes unseen, however, during the year, you may have noticed that remedial work was undertaken to carry out repairs to the stonework on the outside of the building (this is a rolling project & our contractor will continue their work as the weather permits). One other major undertaking was, thanks to a

generous bequest, was to have the East

Window & the War Memorial Window cleaned inside & out, along with replacing the dirty & unsightly Perspex protection on the outside – I hope that your as pleased with the results as I am. Hopefully we can show similar TLC to more of our beautiful windows, as funds allow.

My thanks go to all the volunteers who help, in whatever capacity, with our services both on Sunday & Wednesday as well as all those extra services & events that I mentioned earlier.

As ever my thanks go to Derek Howell, not only for his sterling work as our Treasurer, but also for all the extra work that he undertakes; Derek really does go above & beyond, liaising with & meeting our architects & contractors, investigating & applying for grants to name but a few – all of which takes up a

considerable amount of time & effort – Thanks Derek!

Finally, I want to thank Abi Cooper, who took up the role of Church Administrator, during the year having taken over from Joy Smith (thanks to Joy too).

Blessings

Andy Vanstan

Electoral Roll Report

Electoral Roll Report Electoral Roll Report
Afer the APCM 2025 the Electoral Roll stood at
105. The total for this year is 112, (please see
breakdown below):
1) Deceased 0
2) No longer atend and live outside area 2
3) Not renewed 0
4) New Enrolments 9
(2025)
105 + 9 =
112
Andy Vanstan, Electoral Roll Ofcer

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Finance Report 2024

The Accounts have been prepared in accordance with the Receipts and Payments Method required under the 'The Charities Act 2011’. These Accounts were presented to and approved by PCC on 28 January 2026.

I am pleased to say that this has been another year where we have been able to use our budget to achieve all the aspects of maintenance and ministry that PCC agreed at its budget meeting in January 2025 and subsequent additions and changes agreed during the year.

We have accomplishing that through careful monitoring of all costs and cash flow, and it is pleasing to note that in achieving the above our cash resources have slightly increased by £2265 over the year from £1670 at 31 December 2024 to £3935 at 31 December 2025.

The detailed accounts follow, both in summary and published form. I have drawn out the following points:

Giving and Overall Income Levels:

A most pleasing feature of 2025 is that for the first time in several years our estimated levels of direct & planned giving have almost achieved the estimate set, approaching 99% in fact. Other, less accountable aspects of giving however, e.g. plate and cashless giving and sundry donations have decreased.

There has also been a slight increase in the numbers gift aiding their regular gifts yielding an increase above estimate there.

The overall effect is that our total Voluntary Giving plus gift aid was 98% of the budget and when the December gift aid figure (claimed in January) is added the full budgeted level of voluntary giving was achieved.

It is always worth reminding ourselves that Regular Giving is the life-blood of any church and if we are to maintain our current levels of mission

in this and the wider community and ensure our buildings continue to serve us adequately, this level of giving needs to be maintained and increased, at least cover inflation, year by year.

I want to thank everyone of you who supports the church by regular giving, either by direct bank giving or the church’s envelope scheme and especially those who have responded so positively to appeals during 2025 to increase the level of your giving.

I will however repeat the very important point I continue to make concerning us regularly reviewing our planned giving, in the following quote from The Church of England:

‘Regular giving is of course good and we thank everyone who is committed to supporting the church in that way. However, before all of us who do so feel smug - one aspect of regular giving which is of concern throughout the Church of England is what has become known as ‘static giving’.

Basically, giving the same amount regularly, year on year (i.e. but not increasing it).

If we do not increase our giving by at least the rate of inflation each year how can even existing things continue, when all costs are rising by at least that rate?’

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We all recognise, because of our home situation, that the cost of essentials continue to rise. Unfortunately, the church is not immune to any of that and rising costs have to be found and that can only be found from our giving.

I, on behalf of the PCC, would ask all regular givers to All Saints’ to think about this and, if possible, to consider a 5% increase in their giving in 2026.

If you are new to the church and have become, or intend to become, a regular member -maybe the idea of giving regularly to support its ministry is new to you? Of course you can still place cash in the collection plate or use your card at our wall mounted cash machine, but by far the preferred way is to plan how much you wish to give weekly or preferably monthly and to set up a standing order for that amount with your bank, to pay the church directly. If you want help with that or have any questions please have a word with me anytime.

Also, if you are a UK taxpayer whether working or paying tax on your superannuation/pension income, you can help the church even more by gift aiding your regular amount. The UK government pays churches and other charities 25% extra on gift aided gifts. So, e.g. if you give £50 per month the government makes that £62.50 and it costs you nothing. All you have to do is fill in a gift aid form (always available at the back of church) and either give it to me or hand it in to Abi in the church office and I’ll do the rest.

Expenditure

The majority of expenditure is on items of necessity for the ongoing running of all aspects of the church. Many of these are subject to negotiated contracts, e.g. Heat, Light, Water, Insurance, Security, Telephone and Internet, Wages, all of which are reviewed regularly to ensure the most economic and value for money options are obtained. Other elements of expenditure are relatively small and there is little room for reduction in any of them. The only aspects of major expenditure within the PCC’s control falls within the category of Church Mission and Parish Share (which, although treated separately, is really ‘Mission” in our Diocese).

As stated earlier all planned levels of mission and ministry have been financed in accordance with the budget, including meeting in full, our Parish Share.

This year, there were again significant changes to church administration. Joy Smith left the Church Administrator role after a year, handing responsibilities on to Abigail (Abi) Cooper in September/ October. That led to a period of hand over and settling in. There are many processes, procedures and linkages, local, diocesan and national to deal with in a church such as ours and I express my heartfelt thanks to Joy and Abi for all the hard work with specific regard to working with me on the church finances.

Re-ordering & Fabric Fund:

The Reordering & Fabric Fund was created out of the former Reordering Fund and is a specific internal fund to allow PCC, the means to consider how to deal with wider, major fabric issues, beyond everyday maintenance and upkeep, on both the Church Building and Parish Rooms. It remains a ‘restricted fund’ meaning donations to it and expenditure from it will only be for those purposes named and will mainly be project based.

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financed by church members alone and therefore other sources of funding are always sought, e.g. grants.

However, as the regular users and beneficiaries of the building, we must be prepared to bear some of the cost and certainly we must be the ones to plan the work and pursue possibilities for its completion.

During the year, the following have been paid from this fund:

● New church guttering

● East Window, Side chapel south wall windows and NW corner round window clean with removal of old degraded Perspex covers and installation of customised new powder mesh protection.

Some members of the congregation have continued donating to the Reordering and Fabric Fund for which we are extremely grateful. If any other members of the congregation wish to commence or recommence donations to the Reordering and Fabric fund, additional to their regular giving, whether monthly or by one off donations, that would be greatly appreciated. If anyone wants further advice on making donations or bequests, please have a word with me (Derek Howell) at any time.

In Conclusion:

May I reiterate my thanks to you all for your support throughout the year. As previous mentioned, my special thanks go to our Church Administrators, Joy Smith and now Abi Cooper for all the work in maintaining the day to day financial processes and record keeping and to John Penrose for undertaking the role as our Independent Examiner for these accounts.

Derek Howell Treasurer & Giving Officer

Offsetting the costs of the above have been:

Work of this nature is undertaken by the PCC, through its Estates Sub Committee who assist the wardens with the oversight of all aspects of our buildings and surrounds. Major works on our Grade 2* listed building CANNOT be

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Summarised Annual Accounts 2025

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Acorn@Normanton Alternative Provision

Like every other year, we have worked with students who disengaged from mainstream education and have experienced anxiety, family issues, trauma or cannot engage with the current school system. Despite all these factors, we have seen some form or success with every one of our students and by July 2025, three students had returned to their mainstream setting and four went onto to successfully enrol into post-16 education. The rest continued to attend Acorn on a regular basis or began phased returns back to their schools.

In April, we said goodbye to Rachael Allan, our classroom teacher who returned to TLG. We quickly employed Emily, who’s proven to be a great addition to the Acorn team, and is currently leading in the development of our core curriculum. Due to the closure of the Bolton centre, we also gained the services of Breanna on a twoday basis which allowed us to increase our student allocation on those days.

Based on previous years, we did see a decrease in the number of behaviour and

graduation event that saw every student receive an award, two of our long-term partner schools either decreased referrals to a minimal two days or ended the partnership all together. This did have a major impact on a number of things including the wellbeing of the students and families

who relied on the support Acorn was giving at that time. It also looked

like we would struggle to fill these places during the usual September to October quiet period. Thankfully, by November we had formed partnerships with two new schools, and these have proven to be very successful.

Despite the challenges, Acorn nationally is developing and growing at a healthy rate. Along with the new Exeter centre that this year completed their first twelve months, we are opening a new centre in Teesside late 2026.

In closing, thank you to the staff and volunteers who give everything to ensure our young people are given a chance to fulfil their potential. It is both a physically and mentally demanding job that will often leave to drained. It is then only right that we thank Alan and the church who support, encourage and pray for Acorn@Normanton. We know that when we’ve made it through the rough periods, it’s down to the faith and prayers of our church family.

Continue to hold the students and staff up to God and thank you again. Gavin Budby (Head of Centre)

safeguarding reports. Much of this was down to the fact we saw student who were enrolled

on a long-term basis began to respond to our support along with setting a positive culture for newly enrolled students. In reflection, I do believe that much of our success is rooted by an

unchanging expectation we have when it comes to what we expect from our students. Along

with a very successful final term which saw all our students gain NOCN qualifications. We

were also able to take our students on various trips and experiences thanks to a number of charitable contributions. These include the Mayors Fund and The Rotary Club who I had the privilege of presenting the story of Acorn to in December.

Despite the many issues and problems, we need to navigate when working with vulnerable students, the need to meet financial expectations is a very real and constant anxiety. Though we have a healthy number of unique referrers, numbers and partner schools can fluctuate from term to term. In July, despite success with all of our students and a very successful

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Baptism

In 2025 our congregation welcomed 12 families into Church when they attended their child’s Thanksgiving service, which took place during the first Sunday morning service of the month. Many said it was lovely to meet the families and the child being baptised.

The Baptism services took place after the Sunday morning church service, on the third Sunday of the month. We welcomed 13 children into our church family in 2024.

Thank you Ann for continuing to write the naming and blessing prayer for each child baptised, it is a popular part of the service when we read this out. My grateful thanks go to the Baptism team for their continued support in ensuring things run smoothly and all the families have some wonderful memories of their child’s special day.

Sue Hodgson

Churches Together

In the early part of 2025 Churches in Altofts and Normanton met to discuss the upcoming events in the year, across the town. In October 2025 due to the dwindling numbers of people involved, the decision was made to formally fold ‘Churches Together’ in Normanton and Altofts. However, working together with other churches across the town, still continues, particularly in the Care Home Ministry and the Lent Course

Marianne Fernandez & Sue Hodgson

Wakefield Dean- THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND

D eanery Synod

June 4th 2025 - took place at Wakefield Cathedral

Erik Peeters - Lay Training Officer for the Diocese (& Residentiary Canon at Wakefield Cathedral) introduced himself and gave an update about lay training in the diocese.

Main Speaker - Jude Smith - Director of Mission and Revitalisation One of the teams that Jude looks after at Church House is

The Barnabas Team. Jude gave an overview of their purpose and a presentation of one of the tools / resources available to help local churches, called COMPASS.

The purpose of the Barnabos Team is to ‘Encourage Confidence’ in the church, it is funded by a grant from the National Church and was developed out of 2 questions challenging the church:

What do we do in a world where there are fewer clergy?

What do we do to support churches, as there are fewer volunteers, and in the context of the diocese's vision - to have confident Christians and growing churches, transforming communities?

The Barnabas team concentrates on encouraging confidence in local churches in the following four areas:

Confidence in our Mission, Confidence in our Future, Confidence in our Leadership and Confidence in our Witness.

In her presentation on COMPASS, Jude explained how the team uses this tool to help encourage churches to initially identify their next steps in this area and then, to identify what help they need and what support is required / available from Church House.

November 18th 2025 - took place at St George’s Church, Lupset

Licensing of Area Dean - Hannah Hobday and Assistant Area Dean - Andrew Griffin

Speaker - Bishop Malcolm (Chamberlain) - Bishop of Wakefield

Bishop Malcolm spoke about ‘The Great Commision’ that we read about in Chapter 28 of Matthew’s gospel, and reminded us of the instructions that Jesus gives to his disciples - Go, Make Disciples, Baptise and Teach.

We discussed in small groups the question ‘what 3 things would you see in a disciple?’ and shared ideas.

Bishop Malcolm suggested that the things we expect to see in a disciple are things that we see in Jesus, and we expect disciples to begin to look like Jesus. The disciples of Jesus’ calling, then and still to us today, is to continue as disciples, and to make more disciples for Jesus - being involved in the work of disciple-making.

Bishop Malcolm explained that the instructions in the Great Commission are not an

add-on at the end of Jesus’ ministry but Jesus’ approach throughout his ministry, which we find throughout the gospels.

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March 4th 2026 - took place at St Paul’s Church, Alverthorpe

Speaker: Rosalind Cooper - Net Zero Carbon Programme Manager, Diocese of Leeds

Rosalind Cooper spoke about The Diocese of Leeds’ commitment to strive to be carbon net zero by 2030, in line with the national Church of England.

Rosalind also explained how they, as a team, might be able to help local parishes achieve this and highlighted some of the resources that are available.

Sue Hodgson, Roslyn Maddison & Andy Vanstan

Deanery Synod Reps

Café Church

This year Cafe Church events have been less regular and more occasional. The idea is to have a less formal service where everyone, young and old and everywhere in between can equally participate. The style is informal and relaxed, with refreshments available throughout, but it is still a service which includes prayer, teaching, discussion and worship. It is hoped that people will see this as a service they can bring others to, who may not be familiar with church, and with a coffee shop atmosphere they feel less uncomfortable .

Alan

Men’s Group

The men's group has continued to meet for its monthly breakfast and bible study throughout the year.

It has also hosted occasional curry nights and teaching sessions using material from CVM. The most recent innovation is a monthly games night intended to increase the group's social aspect.

After leading the group for several years, Scott has now moved jobs to Austrailia, so we have just said goodbye and thank you to him with a traditional curry night. Jordan has volunteered to take leadership .

Messy Church

Its’ been another fun filled year at Messy Church, welcoming in children and their grown ups to have fun and get creative while learning the important messages in the bible.

I can’t quite believe it has been over a year now since we took over leading Messy Church. Its safe to say we are now settled into the role! We have a great team of Messy Helpers on board which is amazing as it is a big job to do on your own. Everyone is so keen

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to get stuck in and put their craft skills to the test.

Since the last report, we have run sessions on Jonah and the Big Fish, where we had an under the sea adventure; Advent, where we looked forward to ‘a special gift’ and most recently Easter, where we learnt about all the new life that is associated with spring time and of course ‘The Resurrection’.

All of the sessions put a creative twist on what are really important messages for us to pass on through both activities and our own faith. The children love to come and talk about all of the different activities they

have competed as well as answer different questions related to the theme of the week. We have a story or watch a little video before everyone enjoys a hot dog or 2 before they go home.

On average, we get around 20 to 25 children attend but we

would love to see more smiley faces come through the doors so please do spread the word of Messy Church!

Thank you again to all of our Messy Helpers. We hope to see you all next time!

Thank you also to Abi, for helping on all of the admin and advertising!

Here’s to the next Messy year!

Victoria and Wendy.

Mums, Dads & Tots

Our numbers have dropped again since my last report. We now have a steady 10 toddlers and babies each week. We had a couple of children who left in the Summer, which took away some siblings too, but we have had some new children join us too. Some weeks are busier than others, but always very different.

We are very lucky to have Emma Farnell who is the family support worker, the children

absolutely adore her. Emma comes along most weeks to help and support us and talk to our families.

We now have a large range of new toys, which we have been able to buy with the help of The Well.

Once again Michelle Newton and Emma Farnell arranged the Christmas gifts and a small selection pack, which go down very well with the children. No contribution is asked for parents/ carers who have babies.

Although the cost of food etc keeps going up we have been able to keep the contribution cost at £2. With some fruit being donated by The Well.

This year at our Easter Party we were able to give the children a small gift and an Easter egg each which were supplied by The Well.

A big thank you as always goes to June and Denise who come every week to prepare and serve adults and children alike with drinks and snacks and look after the kitchen.

Our lovely mum Vikki Nix is still running and sets up each week, and. arranges craft and activities

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for the children. I continue to support Vikki, I help with crafts and getting supplies when needed. When Vikki is unable to come for any reason, we have a group of lovely adults that come early and help me and my husband set up and put away the toys and equipment and generally tidy up at the end of the afternoon.

Thank you to Joy, who was always happy to support us, in any way she could. a Abi our current church administrator continues to support us every week.

Wendy Smith

Sunday 23 November 2025 to support displaced Nigerian Christians who have lost everything and to unwrap hope for children at Christmas. Your prayers and support are changing lives and helping the persecuted church to stand strong in their faith...ʺ

An item on persecuted Christians is in each monthly church newsletter, which includes a few suggested prayer points.

If anyone would like to know more about Open Doors or the prayer meetings, please do not hesitate to contact us. Everyone is welcome to the prayer meetings; we are always pleased to see new faces. However, if you do join one Saturday morning, though prefer to pray alone at home, there would be no obligation, or any pressure to continue.

Love Stephanie and Ginny

Open Doors Prayer Group

Open Door prayer meetings are held by Zoom,

on the first Saturday of the month, now from 10:30am to 11:30am . The link to join the meeting is sent by email from the church office the day before.

Until recently we have prayed for persecuted Christians and countries featured in bi-monthly prayer news videos on the Open Doors website.

These have now been replaced by videos under different categories i.e. Prayer, Arise Africa, Top 50 persecuted countries, Women and World Watch List.

These are often very distressing to watch, and sometimes it is hard to find the right words to pray, however we trust God leads us and uses our words to bless our persecuted brothers and sisters.

We held an Open Doors Service in November; below is the response from Henrietta Blyth CEO of Open Doors to our donation.

…" Thank you so much for your kind gift of £340.00 raised at your Open Doors Service on

Pastoral Support Team

Marianne and Rendel, our fully trained Pastoral Ministers, have been supporting many members of the church family (and others), giving emotional and spiritual support and in practical ways. This has been done by visiting, taking home communion, shopping and social outings, as well supporting by phone, text and email. We are also very aware that many of our church family also provide much needed care and support to others, and we are thankful for that. Let us continue to care for one another as a response to Gods love.

If anyone knows of anyone who might benefit from pastoral support or who would like to receive support themselves, please contact Alan, Rendel or Marianne

Rendel Murray & Marianne Fernandez

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Pastoral Care Team Report

During 2025/26, the Pastoral Care Team,

(Marianne and Rendel), has been supporting members of the church family and others, in practical ways and through emotional and spiritual

support. All this may happen under the radar, but it does happen! We are also very aware that many of our church family also provide much needed care and support to others, and we are very thankful for that. Let us continue to care for one another as a response to God’s love for us.

We can be asked to see people by Alan, or we can be the first point of contact for people who would like some support and ‘self-refer’. We can support by seeing people face to face, by phone and/or through text message (WhatsApp etc.) Also Sunday mornings are often a time when it is possible to make contact, receive concerns from others or to pray with people. If you would like someone to talk to, prayer support or maybe practical help, do speak to Alan or either of us.

Marianne and Rendel

Rock Solid Youth Group

This group is co-run by Joy (Smith), Stewart and Rendel. We meet during term time, on

Wednesday evenings from 6pm - 7pm. This year we decided that, as we were no longer using the Rock Solid material, we would change the name to fit with our church Saints ‘theme’ and so Solid Saints was adopted. The other decision was to

extend the age range of those who can attend. This was in response to there being some young people who wished to continue after they had reached year 9. We are now open to those from Year 7 to Year 11. Currently we have 8 regulars.

Several new members have come from invitations through school friendships. Because numbers are low, this allows those who need a quieter space to feel comfortable. It also enables us, as leaders, to build trust with the youngsters and they then feel able to share or ask questions if they would like to. As well as chill time and games, another important feature of the session is the tuck shop!

We would like to thank the parents and carers of the young people for their support and for bringing and fetching them to the group each week, whatever the weather!

We do have one request. There are times when one or more of us are unable to be present for the Solid Saints session. In order to keep the group running safely we do need volunteers to join us. We would ask you to consider whether you could be called to join us in providing this safe space for the youngsters. Please speak to any of us if you can help.

Joy, Rendel and Stewart

Safeguarding

On behalf of the PCC, I have continued to work to ensure that we comply with the National Safeguarding requirements and have due regard to the House of Bishops’ Guidance on Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults.

I have informed PCC of my intention to retire as Safeguarding Officer following this meeting. The PCC is in the process of making a new

appointment. I shall be handing over during the next few weeks whilst still offering any ongoing assistance needed.

I am grateful for all the support and cooperation that the PCC, Group Leaders and

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Volunteers have offered in the completion of DBS checks and Training Courses, and in the development of Policies and Practice that have been required by the Diocesan and National safeguarding Team.

Judith Howell Safeguarding Officer

Small Saints

This year has seen our church family grow in numbers especially the young people, round 17 mixed ages! This will always make me smile. We run on the 2[nd] and 4[th] Sunday of the month.

We can report we are having fun. We have around 8 small saints on a regular basis. We have looked at lots of popular bible stories and create lots of interesting crafts. I think the Davd and Goliath was Ce OZ A il a firm favorite. We started with Katte Cecil the lost Ab ‘3 = sheep last year, : Sr i this year we PyKA soHe tig enjoyed his i"> ¥DA erteil, DeSB story of Psalm This Photo by Unknown Author is li23.

The Monday evening prayer group meets on Zoom each week for an hour (7pm - 8pm). We are a small band of women and even if there is only one of us on the zoom call, prayer still happens! We know that God answers prayer (we have seen answers) and we consider joining together to pray to be a privilege and an essential part of church life. The structure of our time together can vary from week to week but at present we find ourselves praying regularly for those in our church family who have longterm illness, for prayer requests that have been put on the All Saints or the WOT WhatsApp prayer groups and, of course, for the life and work of our church here in Normanton. We also feel it is essential to spend time listening to what God might be saying to us for our church.

We have felt for a while now that God is moving in our church and town. There is a sense that the Holy Spirit is moving during services, often in our times of sung worship or through the sermon, calling us to deepen our relationship with God. Alan recently told us about the Quiet Revival that is happening nationally, especially in university towns. But we, too, are seeing people who have no experience of God, or a churchgoing background, coming in through our doors. We feel that we need to be ready to welcome and nurture them - to be spiritual mothers and fathers to them - and for that we need to be praying!

If you would like to join us, please speak to Rendel and we can send you the zoom link.

Sadly we said goodbye to Sophie who went off to university and a see you soon to Naomi who has moved for work3.

We’ve said hello to Ros and to Debbie our new Small Saints grown-ups. Thank you very much ladies past and present.

Marianne Fernandez

A call to pray

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Worship Team

Firstly, on behalf of the Worship Team, I would like to give our heartfelt thanks to Derek and WORSHIP Judith for their contribution to the Worship Team (and many other Church activities and events) over the years. Derek decided this year to step down from leading worship but both have continued to play a part in worship Sunday mornings. However more than just playing and leading, they have been a great source of encouragement and support particularly to myself over the years and I’m sure we all wish them all the happiness in the next phase of their journey with God.

I know I speak for all the Worship Team members when I say it’s been a privilege to be a part of leading worship and serving you, our church family week after week. Whether it’s a regular Sunday morning or a special occasion, we are always aware of the responsibility and blessing it is to help draw our congregation closer to God through music and praise.

This past year has seen growth within the Worship Team and we welcome the new members to our team, Hannah, Charlotte, Oli, Jordan and Patience with both Hannah and Charlotte sharing the roles of leading with Mark and myself. Having additional leaders helps with sharing the responsibility, but most importantly bringing fresh ideas, songs and sounds to the way we worship God.

Additionally, Abi organises the monthly rota and takes care of printing our service materials and sheet music. And to you, the congregation, who not only uplift us with your voices but also provide support, encouragement, and prayers for all of us.

Of course, this year has not been without its challenges with absences due to holidays, illness, family bereavements and other commitments which have sometimes stretched us. Yet every challenge has drawn us closer and reminded us of the value of supporting and praying for one another. The team’s dedication and commitment to serve has shone brightly throughout the year, and I am grateful for each person’s devotion and prayers.

Our team looks forward to the future with enthusiasm, aiming to develop musically while encouraging more church members to get involved. Whether it’s through singing, playing, or supporting in the background.

So, on behalf of the whole Worship Team, I want to express our heartfelt thanks to Alan, our spiritual leader and all who help with the running of our church. Your support, feedback, and prayers have been a constant encouragement and we look forward to another year of serving, worshipping, growing, and celebrating together as a church family.

Blessings, Terry

Leading worship would be challenging without the support of additional musicians, singers, sound and visual personnel so I would also like to personally thank all involved in creating an atmosphere of joy, reflection and thoughtful worship:

Musicians – Michael, Leah, Rendel, Scott, Francis and Ellie

Singers – Pam, Pat, June, Elaine, Chrissie, Christine, Lynsey and Rebecca

PA & VA – Lee, David, Bob, Sandy, Judith and Michelle

WoT - Women On Thursdays

This year we enjoyed lots of evenings together. We have been joined by some lovely ladies as usual.

As always the food nights have been ever

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popular as was the White Elephant, which we changed for the last one and used a dice, most of our ladies needed a torch to read. *

Every lady is welcome and we encourage you to bring a friend along. If you need a lift this is not a problem just mention it and there is always someone who will oblige. We also have a WhatsApp group if you would like adding to it please let us know.

Marianne Fernandez & Sue Hodgson

Going forward we are looking at the feasibility of installing solar panels, with a view to producing our own renewable energy. However, with a Grade 2 listed building it is not at all simple - there are many additional restrictions imposed from outside bodies on what we can and cannot do.

Therefore, we acknowledge that the journey of All Saints, Normanton becoming carbon net zero will be a marathon, not a sprint but we are however, committed to doing what we can.

Roslyn Maddison - Environmental Officer

Health Walks from The Well

In 2025 we walked over 110 miles and had 47 weekly walks. Our numbers have fallen a little and we now have a 3 to 6 walkers each week.

Three of us are trained walk leaders. Total attendance over the year is down to 186 from 287 in 2024.

Environment Report

Combating Climate Change by driving down carbon emissions is a universally agreed priority, The 2020 General Synod of the Church of England made a commitment to be Carbon Net Zero by 2030 and much good work is already underway at a national level, in the diocese and indeed locally here at All Saints, Normanton.

We meet at 10 am every Friday in The Well building in Haw Hill Park and often use cars to enable us to walk in a variety of locations near Normanton including the river Calder, canal, Washlands, Sharlston Common, Heath Common and Walton Country Park.

After a walk of 2 to 2 1⁄2 miles, lasting about an hour or so, we usually return for a snack of soup and bread at the Well building.

Everyone is welcome to join us particularly those new to walking and needing encourage-

There are many aspects to church life that come under the umbrella of environment and as a PCC the environmental impact of our decisions is something that is at the forefront of our minds with each decision made.

Some of the work done this year in isolation might be small (such as replacing some of the radiators in the Parish Rooms), but every little change contributes to reducing carbon emissions, whilst at the same time managing the finances of the church wisely and caring sympathetically for our beautiful church.

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School report to the Church community

I am pleased to once again present this report highlighting the recent achievements and progress of our school family. We remain grateful for the continued support, love, guidance and partnership of the church. Alongside our wonderful staff team, this has played a vital role in nurturing our young children. We continue to be proud of all our children. Just like the butterfly, represented on our school logo, our children continue to reach their full potential, flourish and fly high. We encourage them all to put on their brightest colours, strive to be the best they can be and be proud of who they are. Our School Vision of ‘Respect, Empower, Grow’ is lived out by all members of our school community:

Respect- We respect and love one another

Empower- We encourage and strengthen one another

Grow- We grow and flourish together as individuals within a community

Academic Achievements

Our dedicated staff continue to work hard to ensure that our children continue to succeed academically. We continue to achieve above the national averages at the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage, Phonics and at the end of Key Stage One. This year we are predicting 93% of our children will pass the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check, which highlights the significance we place on ensuring our young children have the best start in the earliest of years and the priority placed on developing every child as a reader. Our literacy specialists, who continue to work for the English Hub, are fully committed to ensuring high outcomes are achieved for all.

Our recent Governor learning morning was a wonderful way to showcase our recent journey of how we are continuing to improve our writing curriculum linked to the Department for Education’s writing framework. The comments we received from our Governors was a true testament to the dedication and hard work our staff put in every single day to ensure our children become the best version of their selves. Visiting the Early Years Foundation Stage together highlighted the focus we place of nurturing strong positive relationships where adults enjoy interacting with children through high quality play both indoors and outdoors.

I can honestly say our school ‘never rests of its laurels!’ After the incredible outcome of our Ofsted and SIAMS inspections which took place last year, we continue to work hard to keep improving our practice. We value the professional development of our staff. Mrs Bellis is currently completing her National Professional Qualification as a SENDCO, Mrs Anderson continues to attend the Early Years leadership programme, Mrs Bond is participating in the writing leaders’ course and Miss Hargrave and Mrs Dixon are completing their own in-house project as part of the All Saints flourishing leaders’ programme. Miss McDermott and Miss Dutton are successfully completing their second year as Early Career Teachers and Miss Ballance is continuing her Graduate Teacher Programme in our Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Meetng the growing needs and changes in schools

Our school context continues to grow and change and we continue to work hard in order to best meet our children’s current needs in the best possible way we can. We currently have 17 children with an Education Health and Care Plan all who have significant and profound needs. Through successful funding grants we now have developed internal areas in school to best provide learning spaces linked around communication and language and high quality play and interactions. The staff working with our SEND children receive regular coaching from our EYFS lead, SENDCO and external professionals. All our staff are now trained in Emotional Based School Avoidance (EBSA) through the work of Wakefield’s Educational Psychology service. We have trained staff in ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistants) who lead on targeted 1:1 and small group interventions, ELKLAN linked to speech, communication and language skills, Makaton and have a whole school training day planned where support staff will be trained in Attention Autism.

Spiritual Development

Spiritual growth continues to be a key part of our vision. Daily worship, our One Life curriculum, weekly Samba music sessions, choir, Hygge family days, Hand to Mouth days, regular attendance at church, reflection areas and our Collective Worship Committee continue to strength our children’s faith and moral values. It is always wonderful to see our parents and families enjoy attending events we hold in church such as our nativities, our Mother’s Day and Easter service.

Our Community

We are proud of our children’s involvement in our local community. Our School Council, led by Mrs Carroll and Mrs Burton, now meet with Normanton Junior Academy’s School Council, to plan and organise joint events. The junior children will be soon volunteering to act as reading buddies to some of our youngest children and will be offering a helping hand during our sports days. Our School Council have also visited Normanton Town Hall, have recorded a song for the talking newspaper and enjoyed sending Christmas cards to local neighbours. We continue to feel lucky to be placed in the center of Normanton and enjoy utilising the facilities which are on our doorstep. Our children have visited the park, cenotaph, library, Town Hall and many more local businesses and areas to enhance our curriculum. Our children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities thoroughly love their weekly sensory and rebound sessions at Normanton Sports Acro and Artventurers regularly lead workshops and after school clubs. We also continue to enhance our curriculum with visits and visitors from wider afield. This year, visits include a trip to the seaside, Methley Tree Farm, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Marks and Spencer’s museum, Skelton Grange and many more! We are always keen to widen our children’s opportunities beyond the immediate curriculum. We continue to take part in events such as mental health week, NSPCC Childhood day, Earth day, Down Syndrome Awareness Day and many more. Our recent science week, linked to curiosity, encouraged children to think and wonder about big questions! Also, our open evening art gallery was an inspiring way to display the creative art work of all our children linked to the theme ‘The world through our eyes!’

All Saints Church School Partnership

“For the body is not one member, but many.” 1 Corinthians 12:14-16

Our All Saints partnership continues to be a collaborative partnership of 10 other Wakefield Church schools who believe in the value of sharing knowledge, experience and resources, in order to strive for excellence in the communities that we serve. The schools within the partnership are rooted in a Christian ethos. This partnership provides a great opportunity to draw on the

strengths of each school and it recognises that each of the schools within the partnership will remain unique and autonomous in order to effectively meet the needs of their children and their communities.

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Our supportive partnership work involves headteacher and subject leader network meetings, shared leadership professional development and peer challenge review days at each school.

Finally …

We sincerely appreciate your support, prayers and moral guidance. Your contributions, in particular from our Governors, continue to enrich our school family and environment. Thank you to Dave Collett and Elaine Wells who lead our Governing Body with respect, care, support and challenge. With our Governors support we are currently improving our nursery building and environment for our youngest children. As always, we continue to look forward to working in partnership with our church and achieving greater milestones for all our children and their families.

Best regards,

Mrs Amy Stone

Headteacher

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the well (= funded by WF Youth until June 2026. The APCM Report 2025 funding application is under review by the council and we are hoping to apply Youth Clubs and Outreach again for the next year.

Our youth club provision continues to run the weekly sessions for young people aged 6 to 19 years. Normanton Town Council allow us to use the Woodhouse Community Centre on Monday evenings free of charge, to be able to run the youth club there. Vibe Fitness is used for dance on Fridays.

The Youth Work Team continue to run detached/outreach sessions each Wednesday followed by a teen – drop in session. Wednesdays is now the day for young people to complete any Leadership Course or DofE award work that they need to do too.

The Easter Egg Hunt was a success with over 350 children attending. We raised £523 with the tombola and cake/drinks sale. Normanton Town Council provided funding for the face painter/craft and balloon modeler for the event.

The Halloween Trail in October took place in the park again, organised by Normanton Town Council – we offered refreshments at the event and raised £254 which is less than the previous year, but still a great amount.

Younger sessions and Dance are funded by the Well Project. Teen sessions are f

Christmas gifts were again awarded by Mission Christmas and each young person attending the youth clubs received a gift.

The Well Project continue to support the Mum’s, Dad’s and Tot’s session held at the Parish Rooms, helping to provide some equipment, refreshments and gifts at Christmas. Emma, our Community Support Worker is also on hand to help out/offer advice to parents.

We were successful again in gaining funding from Wakefield Council for the Happy Healthy Holiday programme which operated through Easter, Summer and Christmas school holidays. The clubs are held at Vibe Fitness with Vicki taking the lead. The clubs were very well attended and feedback received was really good.

Food Bank

Between January 2025 and December 2025 we provided over 31,400 meals, slightly less than the previous year - 31,500. Over 10,800 meals were provided to children under 18.

Our donations at Christmas flew off the shelves very fast and we soon had to rely on funding grants and monetary

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Well Loved Shop

Our first year anniversary was celebrated by holding a successful £5 a bag sale.

We continue to have small building issues and these have been dealt with as and when they have arisen by us.

During the back end of the year, we have had CCTV installed. We are rarely short of donations for the shop and often have to put the brakes on receiving them to give our team of volunteers time to sort through them.

In 2025 we have saved approximately 26,261 items from landfill and sold them on the shop.

This figure is very approximate as when we have sales such as the bag sale where people take a full bag of clothes, this is counted as one item on our till. In 2024 we saved 3000 less approximately.

The Normanton School Uniform Exchange

Tracy continues to operate the uniform exchange and has an abundance of uniform available. The shop volunteers help out when needed.

The school uniform exchange has saved 11,130 items from landfill, helping 1944 families this works out an average of 6 items per family. The School Uniform Exchange has helped raise £3291.19 in the shop alone, this doesn’t include outside events and grants.

Community Support Worker

Emma continues to support the Well Project and help people in the community with all sorts of problems and support including career advice, housing advice, benefits forms, court attendance, mental health advice and much more. Over the year, Emma has helped over 200 people (single/families) with various issues.

Emma is employed on an ongoing basis as long as we are able to provide the funding

The Meet n Eat’s Diner

We continue to appeal for more cooks to help with the diner. Attendee numbers are around 40 each week and they all enjoy their meal, with great feedback received.

A big thanks to Gem’s Bistro for all the support with cooking meals and providing cakes and buns for the diner each week. Christmas dinner took place on the 11th December and again was a success, with everyone having a lovely dinner. Normanton Junior Academy choir attended and we had a piano player throughout too.

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Funding from Normanton Town Council was received to help with the costs to put the Christmas dinner on - the main meal was again outsourced using the Caring Kitchen by Prince of Wales Hospice

Health Walks

Health Walks are attended by around 5/6 people each week and they return to enjoy soup and a roll at the Well Project if they wish and it’s available.

Walking Football and Seated Exercise

These groups are all run in partnership with Coalfields/Five Towns Active and take place weekly. Helen continues to run the Seated Exercise with Sue, our volunteer each week and it’s well attended. The Walking Football is now solely run by Ash at Lock Lane Sports Club, they meet here at the Well and our minibus is used to take them to the venue. The weekly quiz and social hour afterwards are good fun.

The Well Maintained Bike Library

The Bike Library continued to receive a lot of bike donations in and kept Terry busy doing them up and giving them out as well as putting some up for sale in the shop to help raise more funds. Bikes also make a great tombola and raffle prize at our fundraisers.

Fundraising

We held stalls/fundraisers at the Altofts and Normanton galas both successful events.

The Classic Car Show was a busy time, as we helped Colin, the organiser who suffered with ill health, organise the event this year. It was hugely successful with over 100 cars in attendance.

We cannot thank All Saints Normanton Parish Church for all of the help we receive through them, it really means a lot and we hope this continues.

Thank you to our amazing team of volunteers too, we simply could not do any of this without them.

Michelle Newton, Community Project Co-ordinator

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All Saints Parish Church High Street Normanton West Yorkshire WF6 1NR

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