Annual Report & Accounts 2023
Parochial Church Council St Paul’s Church Wimbledon Parkside
Report to the Annual Parochial Church Meeting 2024 of the Ecclesiastical Parish of St Paul’s Wimbledon Parkside 118-120 Augustus Road, London SW19 6EW Presented on the 19th May 2024 Reporting period 1[st] January – 31[st] December 2023
Registered Charity 1142917
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Ministry Report
We are pleased to report that in 2023 we have seen some significant signs of progress in several areas of ministry and mission at St Paul’s. We continue to see growing numbers in church across our traditional Sunday morning services as well as our monthly All-Age Messy Church services. Morning and evening services continue to be offered both inperson and online, allowing us to cater to the somewhat gathered nature of our community, with regular congregation members living both in parish and some as far away as Banstead, Surrey.
Our vision is to be a growing community where God is found in the beauty and joy of our worship, the warmth of our welcome, the breadth of our outreach and our love for our neighbour, with priorities therefore focusing on: Nurture, Outreach, Welcome and the Environment. This report focusses primarily on Nurture, while other reports will address the latter three.
Nurture: The year has been largely been a joyful one, with the longawaited arrival of our new full-time Curate, Jack Belloli, for whom we are grateful; a steady number of baptisms including one adult baptism and confirmation; the wedding of one of St Paul’s longstanding members and the arrival of a small but growing number of young professionals.
Sunday evening prayer has been largely offered by laity, so we give thanks for the ministry of Margaret Brown, David Gooderson, Eve Speare and of course, our wonderful Lay Reader, Norman Allen who has also preached once monthly at our Sunday morning Eucharist.
Other special services this year included a Deanery Welcome service for the new Kingston Area Bishop, the Right Reverend Dr Martin Gainsborough; Compline, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services were held during Holy Week. We saw well-attended Easter celebrations; a Blessing of the Animals service as well as a Choral Evensong service in celebration of Creationtide in September; a special Evening Prayer service with Bishop Rob Gillian to celebrate the completion the Reredos; All Soul’s Memorial service in November; a Lessons and Carols service and a Christingle service in Advent; and well-attended Christmas celebrations at the Crib service and Midnight Mass.
The ministry team, augmented by members of the laity including Margaret Brown, Lesley Hazel, Doreen Hewitt, Gill Thompson and Terry Woolgar, continue to welcome St Cecilia’s school on a termly basis for
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‘Worship in the Community’ and occasional sessions of Junior Church have been offered by our Children and Young People’s (CYP) ministry team on Sunday mornings. We continue to actively seek solutions to grow our CYP ministry and we expect to see further developments in this important area in the coming year.
Another important area of ministry to the church and wider community has traditionally been funeral ministry. In 2023, the number of funerals significantly declined at St Paul’s, which reflects a national trend away from traditional funerals and particularly church funerals. Nevertheless, there were some significant funerals in church in 2023 as we celebrated the lives of three much-loved members of St Paul’s, including a longtime Sacristan who had served St Paul’s with great dedication.
Quiet days have been an important feature of St Paul’s in the past and in 2023 we were able to renew our offering of semi-annual quiet days with a Pre-Advent Quiet Morning held in November.
Other nurture/teaching events took place throughout the year and included Lent and Advent courses, joint study courses with the Wimbledon Synagogue as well as baptism and wedding preparation courses.
We owe special thanks to the many people who make St Paul’s the warm and welcoming church that it is, including St Paul’s music director, Kevin Jones and members of the choir, who made great efforts to provide beautiful and moving music that greatly enhanced our worship at special services and every Sunday Eucharist. We give thanks for our welcomers as well as our flower arranging team organized by Doreen Hewitt; our readers and intercessors organized by Eve Speare; our hospitality team organized by Juliet Childs and our housekeeping team which includes the Woolgars, the Hewitts and the Thompsons, who faithfully spend their Tuesday mornings putting the church right.
As ever, the most important thing to be said about the ministry and mission of St Paul ’ s is that many people are involved in carrying it out, far beyond the ministry team. At St Paul ’ s we are blessed with many highly talented and generous individuals who wholeheartedly engage in sharing the love of God in daily life and through the work of the church and Community Centre. I am enormously grateful for a fantastic Staff team, including Revd Jack Belloli, Norman Allen, Gill Thompson, Terry Woolgar, Guy Booth and Sam Egan. A special mention goes to Mark
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Gilbert, who has continued to offer extraordinary support to the newly formed Finance team who are a wonderful support in their own right and include Sylvia Mpawulo, Craig Campbell, Gillian Jago, Mike Lowe and Gill Thompson. The PCC and I are enormously grateful. Thanks also go to the many other members of our congregation and community who offer their time and talent for the ministry and mission of St Paul’s. I offer my heartfelt appreciation and deepest thanks to you all!
Revd Susan Bolen, Vicar
Churchwardens’ Report (including Fabric Report)
The number of people attending church services has increased during the year and live streaming continues to be an important part of our worship. The average attendance at the Sunday morning Eucharist service is 59, which is an increase on last year. The church continues to be open during the week for visitors and for private reflection and prayer which, although the numbers are modest, is appreciated by those who come in. There continues to be a midday Eucharist service on Wednesday each week attended by a small number of regular members.
In April we held a service of Choral Evensong for the Deanery to welcome the new Bishop of Kingston. This was well attended by members of St Paul’s, as well as from other churches.
In May we celebrated the coronation of King Charles III by opening the church to enable residents and members to come together and watch the ceremony on the big screen. Light refreshments were provided. This was appreciated by all who attended.
In June we welcomed The Revd Jack Belloli as our Curate. We were lucky enough to be able to attend the ordination service at Southwark Cathedral and we welcomed Jack to the parish on Sunday 25[th] June. We were also charged by the Diocese with finding him accommodation and with the help of staff at John D. Wood & Co we managed to find a suitable flat in the parish and within walking distance to the church.
July provided us with the opportunity to hold a Summer Fair. Organised by the Community Centre Manager and with the help of many members of St Paul’s congregation, it proved to be a very successful event. We hope to organise a similar event in 2025. A huge thankyou to all who took part.
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St Paul’s also agreed to take part in the Faith Trails for schools organised by the Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE). St Paul’s became part of the Wimbledon Faith Trail which includes the Wimbledon Synagogue and the Buddhist Temple. It has been a pleasure to be involved with this initiative and to see how the children enjoy the visits.
We once again celebrated ‘Creationtide’ in church with the display board showing a variety of art and interpretations by members of the congregation.
Anne Minors organised a very successful concert to raise the final funds needed to complete the reredos project. It was a very enjoyable evening of entertainment, followed by refreshments. Well done, Anne for the vision and tenacity to see this through.
Our Christmas Fair in November was attended by members of the community and managed to raise £2,165 towards church funds. Our sincere thanks to all those members of the congregation who willingly turned up and helped on the day. We met with the Area Dean for the annual inspection of the church and were pleased that all continues to be positive. St Paul’s also continues to work within the local community, running Tea and Toys on a Tuesday morning and All-Age Messy Church on the first Sunday of the month at 4.00 pm. Both offer different activities: play at Tea and Toys , and more organized activities for Messy Church . There are also occasional meetings between the local synagogue and mosque. St Cecelia’s Secondary School holds termly visits to the church by House Groups. St Paul’s Pantry continues to serve those in need on the 1[st] and 3[rd] Thursday of every month. Students from St Cecelia’s also help with St Paul’s Pantry on a regular basis.
Fabric Report
Last year we reported that one or two wooden blocks in the floor had risen. Following further investigation, it was discovered that the surface beneath the blocks had cracked and a small amount of damp had caused the problem. This surface beneath the blocks has been repaired and the blocks re-laid. To date all is well. Our thanks to Mike Lowe for doing this work for us.
The restoration of the reredos, roodscreen and cross was completed in June. Our thanks to Elizabeth Simon who managed the project P a g e 6 | 31
throughout. The craftsmen/women were a joy to watch and always had time to explain and show what they were doing; it was a real insight into real craftsmanship.
The restorers also cleaned and repainted the damp patch on the north wall of the church and again our thanks to Elizabeth for organising this. The work on the wall was completed at no cost to the church.
For many years we have had a problem with one of the downpipes from the church that is located at the back of one of the hall cupboards, causing water ingress and dampness. The company who carried out the latest repair also noted a few other items of repair needed, including gutter clearance. We had our Quinquennial inspection and will await the report before taking any further action on the roof. It has also been recorded that there is a raised stone on the steps going up to the high altar and a damp corner in the wayside chapel.
Cameras for live streaming/recording have been installed in the Lady Chapel and behind the screen in the chancel. Our thanks to Sebastiaan Bolen, Mike Lowe and Alan and Jenny Bryant for all their work in completing this work.
Terry will be standing down at the APCM after serving three years as churchwarden. I would like to pass on my thanks to him for his work and support.
Gill Thompson and Terry Woolgar
Special Report: Restoration of Reredos and Roodscreen
2023 saw the long-awaited completion of our project to restore the 1908 reredos and the 1896 roodscreen, both the work of the eminent designer Charles Eamer Kempe. This was a project intended originally to be included in our 1995 Centenary Works. We could not afford to undertake it then but were finally able to realise it this year, after many years of preparation, with the key initial financial support of a legacy from our late much loved organist, David Leyland, and a grant from The Kempe Trust, together with a legacy from a dear member and former Churchwarden, Andrew Keat.
Faculty permission was received in October 2022 and the restoration team of Stephen Bellion, with Ricky Green and Ann Reed, started work
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in late January 2023 and completed the restoration in June. Although some small elements of damaged or missing carving were replaced, especially in the reredos, the main work consisted of restoring the faded painting and gilding on the reredos and the roodscreen and introducing selective gilding on the cross, including gilding its inscription ‘So God loved the world’. On the reredos, restoration was undertaken both to the original Kempe painting and gilding and the new work, mainly painting, overseen in 1938 by Martin Travers. (On the latter, the Travers blues and reds were restored to the more intense 1908 Kempe palette.) On the screen, the 1957 colours were restored, using the Kempe shades, and the gold painting was gilded to provide more long-lasting lustre. As an added bonus the team repaired, cleaned and polished our pulpit and sounding board statue of St John the Baptist with his gilded halo and cross.
A funding appeal to raise the balance of the estimated cost of the restoration was launched in November 2022 to church members and friends and to our local community. When the appeal closed at the end of October 2023 it had raised £31,000 in donations with a further £1,000 raised by the very successful concert, organised by Anne Minors and held in October. Including the initial legacies and grant, and adding in the Gift Aid which many donors included, the total sum raised to pay for the restoration was nearly £84,000 which almost exactly matched the net cost of the restoration project. This means that the restoration was realised as intended at no direct cost to the PCC General Funds; in fact the Annual Accounts show a small surplus which will help fund the plaque recording the restoration, which will be installed on the reredos, opposite the 1908 plaque.
We give huge thanks to everyone who helped bring this restoration project to fruition. DEO GRATIAS.
Elizabeth Simon
Reader’s Report
I am grateful to receive Diocesan Permission to Officiate (PTO), with encouragement from the Vicar and the congregation. 2023 was another busy year: twenty sermons, delivered at various services, plus some pastoral support. I have also attended events hosted by the Ahmadiyya Community, the Wimbledon Synagogue, and the International Liberty
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Association, supporting the people of Iran. I hope to be able to continue to serve St Paul’s, albeit at the slower pace of advancing years. Norman Allen, Reader
Southwark Pastoral Auxiliary (SPA)
I retired from being a Southwark Pastoral Auxiliary (SPA) on October 8[th] 2023 after 22 and a half years of being a SPA and part of the staff team at St. Paul’s. I have learned a lot during this time and met and supported many lovely people, some of whom are no longer with us.
The most valued time for me was at the start of the Covid pandemic where I worked with Revd Susan to set up church support groups and also set up and administered the Angels Project, which put people in need in touch with those offering help. We needed to ensure that vulnerable people and those offering them support had guidelines to protect themselves. This led to setting up St Paul’s Pantry in which I helped support Helen with paperwork during the first year.
The Bishop of Southwark has sent me a letter of thanks and a certificate, and has given me the title of SPA Emeritus. I am sad not to be a ‘full’ SPA. Age and health plays a part, plus family commitments, but I hope to continue to help and support where I can, and I know that St. Paul’s Church will continue to grow in the capable hands of Revd
Joan Endean
Electoral Roll Officer Report
The Electoral Roll of St Paul’s Church now stands at 101.
Very sadly, we have lost some of our faithful members this year, but some new people have joined. If you consider yourself a part of St. Paul’s Church and have been worshipping with us for three months, and are not yet on the Electoral Roll, please do fill in a yellow form at the back of the church and give it to a Churchwarden or me. When you are on the Church Electoral Roll it allows you to vote in the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM), and also to be on the Parochial Church Council (PCC) to have a say in the running of our church. Do please consider it.
Joan Endean
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Parish Safeguarding
St Paul’s church continues to follow the Safeguarding polices for children and vulnerable adults established by the Diocese of Southwark. In January 2023 I completed a Parish Safeguarding course at Trinity House Southwark, which adds to the leadership course I had previously attended. Southwark Diocese provides online courses covering basic and foundation in Safeguarding and training to raise awareness of domestic abuse.
In September 2023 we organised with Southwark Diocese for Revd Hannah Thomson from Christ Church & St Philip, Worcester Park to kindly come along to St Paul’s to deliver Safeguarding training at foundation level. Over 20 of our staff and volunteers attended. I am pleased to say the day was a huge success and feedback was very positive. A huge ‘thank you’ to everyone who attended.
Face to face proof of identity checks are being carried out as part of Disclosure and Barring service (DBS). DBS is renewable after 3 years.
I continue to arrange for people to complete Safeguarding training online. Ann parkin is on standby for whenever I need her assistance.
Claire Neate, St Paul's Safeguarding Officer
------------------- NURTURE -------------------
Friday Group
We meet fortnightly, except in Lent and Advent when it’s weekly. It’s a supportive group where we spend time together over coffee talking about concerns we have and praying for those situations. We then read either a part of the Bible or a book on faith/beliefs. It’s a relaxed and safe space where we can express our ideas, doubts and joys. The books we read aren’t always easy, but they invariably give us food for discussion and ideas for our onward journey in life, with support from each other.
Sue Chick
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Prayer Chain
We are a group of people who pray for anyone in need. There is a list we all hold and anyone can add people to that list. Just contact Sue Chick, Daphne Foster or any of the clergy team and we will pray for those in need. It would also be helpful to know of any changes or if the
Daphne Foster/Sue Chick
Church Birthday Card Scheme
We give a birthday card to anyone from St Paul’ s who would like their birthday celebrated in this way. Their name also appears on the pew sheet in the relevant month. If you wish to receive a card for yourself or your family members, please contact Daphne Foster or Sue Chick. We don’t need to know ages, but if we have the age of children we can try to find an appropriate card.
Daphne Foster/Sue Chick
Jean Garling Fund
This fund was set up in memory of Jean with a bequest from her estate and is available to lay members of the congregation for training to support their spiritual development. Once again, this year no one has approached us for support, which means the fund is in a good position to help going forward. With expanding work with children and young people, and the opportunities for more ‘Quiet’ and /or Study Days now that Covid lockdowns are over, we are hopeful that the fund will be used again in the near future.
Doreen Hewitt
------------------- WELCOME -------------------
Music
The choir continue to lead the hymn singing at the front of the church with most singers sitting facing the congregation in front of the
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roodscreen. Most of the choir and members of the congregation feel that this arrangement provides a better lead, helps singers to sing more confidently and looks better on live-stream. However others prefer the choir to be seated in the choir stalls which is our usual arrangement for special services. This presents significant challenges with respect to confidence, ensemble and coordination when numbers are low, but works well with a healthy turn-out.
Choir numbers each week tend to be very variable – on occasions up to 24 singers, other times as low as 5 or 6 - but this year we have been delighted to welcome some new voices whose contributions have been greatly appreciated.
To avoid making services too long (by request) the choir will rarely sing a stand-alone anthem but now will frequently sing a Communion anthem before the Communion hymn – a pattern which seems to work well. We continue to sing settings from a variety of periods, ancient and modern, including arrangements of music from other world music traditions as appropriate.
The organ has generally been working well, but the lowest ‘Positive’ manual continues to present challenges with additional stops joining the ‘failing list’ this year. When the more important ‘Great’ and ‘Swell’ were upgraded a few years ago it was thought that the ‘Positive’ could wait, but with more parts wearing out it would now benefit from the same upgrading.
Many thanks to Sue, Julia, Morgan and other visiting organists for standing in when Kevin has been away.
Once again, many thanks to all choir members for their loyal support, and especially to John for his tireless commitment helping to copy music and organise the choir music library, to Ann for dealing with music licence reporting and copyright, to Susan, Norman and Churchwardens for their support, and to members of the congregation and visitors who have made a point of thanking and complimenting St Paul’s musicians for our contribution to services.
Kevin Jones
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Flower Group
This year has been another busy one for the team with a wedding and a number of funerals/memorial services to decorate for as well as the regular festivals. As usual we have continued to ensure suitable arrangements are in place week by week for the Sunday service with materials generously donated by the team, who see this as part of their regular giving and preparation for Sunday worship.
This year we have been supported by a small number of the congregation who have been happy to regularly plunder their gardens for greenery. We are very grateful for their generosity, however this last year we have had to buy foliage outside of the usual festivals or special occasions. Going forward this looks like becoming a regular occurrence, which means if we are to continue with fresh flowers in church on a weekly basis we are likely to be looking for more regular contributions to the flower fund. For the moment we will continue as usual and provide examples of God’s wonderful creation for all to enjoy.
Doreen Hewitt
IT and Technical Developments
Several improvements to the church’s technical infrastructure were made during the year.
Two more cameras were installed: one is in the choir area behind the roodscreen and can be controlled from the sound desk to look through the screen into the church and also in the other direction to the altar; the other is at the back of the Lady Chapel, looking forward. Both are integrated into the AV system for broadcasts of services.
A HIVE control system was installed to control the heating in the church. This allows a much more flexible and responsive approach to managing the heating, which can now be done from the church office and remotely by smartphone. This will also enable reduction in energy usage.
The enhancements to the sound system in church, delivered in 2022, were completed with the purchase of a second radio microphone in 2023 for clergy use.
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A large projector screen, with stand, was purchased to support screenings of film, video and TV broadcasts to audiences.
Sebastiaan Boelen / Mike Lowe
------------------- ------------------- OUTREACH
Outreach is an area that has continued to grow in 2023. Outreach specifically aimed at youth and children – Tea & Toys , Tea & Toast and Wednesday Club – is covered in the section below.
St Paul’s Pantry has continued to provide support for 40+ families in our community at least twice a month. We had the great fortune of receiving £10,000 from the Community Lottery Fund, thanks to the effective work of Helen Lowe. We are grateful for the leadership of Juliet Childs, Michellie Brown and Angela Ireland and for the many capable volunteers for this important part of our outreach to the community.
St Paul’s Community Centre continues to play a vital role in our service to the wider community as a venue to gather, learn and support one another. We continue to support the Tuesday Lunch Club : the full twocourse meal is now prepared by volunteers fortnightly, and a lighter meal is normally arranged in the intervening weeks to ensure that a regular weekly pattern is maintained. The Club has hosted a range of occasional entertainers and visitors offering community support this year, and welcomed children and carers from Tea & Toys and Tea & Toast to celebrate Pancake Day.
The lounge is reserved on Thursday mornings for a Warm Space : this is currently on hiatus, and we hope it will be relaunched with a broader volunteer team in 2024.
We are grateful for the efforts our Community Centre manager, Sam Egan, in all that happens at the centre.
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Annual Outreach Events
St Paul’s Community Fete in June showcased many of the activities of the church and community centre. It was well attended and much appreciation was voiced by those who came.
The Christmas Fair in November saw a good number of people from the wider community. It was a successful fundraiser for St Paul’s and offered the community a positive experience of the church and Community Centre.
Lighting of the Community Christmas Tree took place in the Memorial Garden, with carols by candlelight and many staying to enjoy refreshments afterwards.
Our annual Christmas carolling once again raised significant funds for Glass Door while bringing the Christmas message of hope and good cheer to people at Southfields station and local residents.
A family film night was hosted shortly before Christmas, gathering families from our Youth and Children’s outreach activities.
School Work Development
We welcomed Albemarle, Prospect House, Putney High School and the Study Prep school for concerts or assemblies in the last year.
House groups from St Cecilia’s visited church for their ‘Worship in the Community’ every Advent and Lent. Thank you to Norman Allen, Margaret Brown, Lesley Hazel and Doreen Hewitt for supporting these sessions.
A number of primary schools also visited us as part of Wandsworth SACRE’s new programme of faith trails: the children spend an hour being introduced to features of our church, visiting Wimbledon Synagogue and the Buddha Adipa Temple on the same day. Thanks to Norman Allen, Lesley Hazel, Doreen Hewitt, Gill Thompson and Terry Woolgar for offering welcome and leading groups on these trails.
Open Church
St Paul’s has continued to maintain an Open Church for private prayer, access to listeners and for pastoral support. With the generous help of several volunteers, including Doreen and John Hewitt, Terry and Kay Woolgar, Gill and Shirley Thompson, Margaret Brown, Norman and Lois
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Allen, and Julia and Stuart Raeburn, the doors of the church have continued to be open four mornings and one afternoon during the week, and a warm atmosphere of welcome has been acknowledged and appreciated by members of the congregation and passers-by.
Revd Jack Belloli and Revd Susan Bolen
Youth and Children
It has been the stated aim of the PCC at St Paul’s since 2018 to build up our outreach to children and young people in the Parish. We were lucky to have Katie Gilbert, who was willing in 2019 to help start Tea and Toys , for pre-school children and their parents/carers on Tuesday mornings from 9.30-10.30am.
This continues to meet weekly in term-time, now with an average attendance of at least 15 adults and children combined. For some families, this is now a firm weekly part of their schedule; others drop in more occasionally, or even as a one-off when visiting the area; all are warmly welcomed, and enjoy the chance for mutual support in a relaxed environment.
We were also lucky to have a group of people led by Marc Stoneham, who successfully started monthly All-Age Messy Church on Sunday afternoons. This continues to meet on the first Sunday of the month: while numbers each month can vary significantly, it is now common for attendance to reach 40-50 adults and children combined, and thus sometimes equal to or greater than the numbers at the Sunday morning service.
Since last autumn, the team have benefitted from ordering in ‘Sunday Boxes’ from the Red Balloon Foundation (see below), which provide ready-to-use materials and instructions for craft activities on our chosen theme. We spend the first 40 minutes of the session taking part in these activities and other games, and then we gather for a Bible story or talk, songs led on the piano by Kana, and prayers – before ending with pizza!
We are continuing to explore ways in which All-Age Messy Church families and the Sunday morning congregation can be more integrated: P a g e 16 | 31
groups from both participated, and in many cases got a first chance to meet each other, in welcoming Mary and Joseph into their homes during our inaugural Advent Posada in 2023; an Epiphany chalk blessing activity was also introduced to both congregations. The Messy Church team also put together our annual Christmas Eve crib service and Children’s Stations of the Cross on Good Friday, as well as arranging activities for children during the Sunday morning Harvest Festival and Easter Day Communion. We hope that one-off events like these, and the sustainable relationships that have built up through Messy Church , will serve as the foundation on which we can restore regular Junior Church provision on Sunday mornings in the near future.
A huge thank you to Marc, Caroline Wehrle and Kana Jones (and their families) for their dedication and good humour in continuing to make Messy Church a success – as well as to Deirdre Gooderson and Arani Nirmalaraj, who have stepped back from regular involvement in the last year but continue to offer support and encouragement! Our thanks also to Candice Andrade, Mike Bower, Sylvia Mpawulo, Claire Neate and Joan Endean for their support and participation at a range of events.
In 2019, we recognised we didn’t really have anyone with any experience of youth work to enable outreach or ministry to older children, so in 2022 the PCC decided to apply to the Wimbledon Foundation Community Fund (WFCF) to support the appointment of a part-time youth and children’s worker on a 2-year contract. The balance of funding was to be met out of a generous legacy from Elizabeth Burgess. The bid for £10 000, which also included some equipment, was successful, but we were not initially able to find any suitable applicants for the post. After consulting with other local schools and youth groups, we found an agency, the Red Balloon Foundation, which was able to supply qualified youth workers to support church activities, and signed a contract with them to launch a weekly Wednesday Club for ages 10-14 years in July 2023. As a result of discussions with them and others, we changed our original plan for a homework club to instead include a wide range of leisure activities, including card and board games, crafts, video games and indoor sports. At the end of each week’s session, the young people share a discussion about a topical issue, facilitated by their youth worker, over pizza: we are beginning to reflect on possibilities for them to engage in group
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projects or forms of community engagement together. This arrangement has worked well, and though the numbers attending (usually around 8-10) are smaller than we expected, we hope to build this up to around 20 during 2024.
Meanwhile, we discovered that some of the parents/carers also brought younger children along and wanted to stay to socialise, so in November 2023 we started to run a Tea and Toast group in the church for ages 4-9 years and their parents/carers between 3.30 and 5.30 pm, in parallel with Wednesday Club in the Community Centre. This has quickly become a source of community and deep mutual support, similar to (and overlapping with the members of) Tea and Toys . The funds from WFCF have covered the cost of a second youth worker from Red Balloon, who is also helping to run Tea and Toys on Tuesdays, as well as of additional games and equipment.
Huge thanks to Eyrusalem and Renee from Red Balloon, and to Shanta Chellappoo, Anne Minors, and Bob Essert who have provided enthusiastic and valiant help in starting and continuing to support Wednesday Club and Tea and Toast .
Margaret Brown, Revd Jack Belloli and Revd Susan Bolen
Community Centre
The Community Centre continues to be a warm and welcoming place for all those who use it, either for hiring or visiting, and we continue to get great feedback especially on Google maps. We remain a very popular venue for children’s parties, especially with our accessible outdoor space which is always a plus point for many customers.
The Girl Guides joined us in April. In the short time they have been here, the Guides have contributed to the Summer Fete and Christmas Fair. It’s great to have them at St Paul’s.
Summer Fete was a great success and was encouraging to see so many local families attending and taking part in the activities.
In October we were successful for the third successive year in securing funding as part of the Wellbeing Brighter Living week in Wandsworth, receiving £250.00. Sam organised an afternoon with refreshments and table tennis, Pilates, Zumba Gold and line dance, which was enjoyed by
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all. Stephanie Norris’ photo appeared in the Brighter Living Magazine, playing Table tennis at 97 years old!
The numbers for the Thursday morning coffee have declined despite trying to boost attendance by holding a monthly tabletop sale. New ideas of how to use the space more effectively are in discussion.
Our main maintenance items this year were the scrub and seal of the main hall floor and purchase of new blinds for all three offices. We have also managed to start a rolling programme of painting projects with the coffee lounge tables, toilet doors and conservatory all having been redecorated.
The Community Centre management committee meets quarterly and attendance has been good. We have discussed the new committee terms of reference. We have been unable to find a weekend cleaner and so currently this work is being covered as extra time by Sam and Siobhan.
Would like to say thank you to Alan and Jenny who continue to help and support us with our maintenance. It really is appreciated.
Sam Egan and Gill Thompson
Lunch Club
The Lunch Club was started as a Millenium Project in 2000, and for 23 years we have managed to operate once a week on Tuesdays. Sadly, due to a lack of volunteer leaders (there are now only two), we have had to scale back the operations and this year we are only open on the first and third Tuesday of each month. On the alternate Tuesdays, Sam Egan (Centre Manager) has volunteered to offer sandwiches, soup and occasionally a ‘ready meal’ kindly donated by ‘Cook’ in Southfields.
We continue to provide a service to the members; our oldest is 98 years old. An interesting project this year started with a request from students attending the London College of Communication to film in the Community Centre. Sam was able to arrange for some of the members to take part in the short film the students produced, which they all enjoyed. The Lunch Club was also invited to see a screening of the finished film, which was arranged in the church. Thanks to Sebastiaan Boelen for setting everything up for us.
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Our two cooks Janice O’Connor and Mary Novis continue to work with us, assisted by Eve Speare, Margaret McManus, and Jan Sharp. We would like to thank Chris Ward, who has retired, for his help and commitment to the Lunch Club over several years.
Thank you to Sam Egan for taking the bookings, collecting the money, being at the end of the phone, and on occasions delivering meals to those who are unable to attend in person. Sam voluntarily runs a bingo session after the Lunch Club each week. All of this is very much appreciated by the members. Our thanks also go to Chris Wright for organizing carol singing with a pianist for after lunch at Christmas.
We very much hope that Lunch Club will survive for many more years, but we really need at least two more volunteers to lead a team. This involves a commitment to coming along once every four weeks, choosing a two-course menu (main and dessert), shopping for the ingredients (money refunded on the production of bills), supervising the cooks and at least one volunteer.
This is a very worthwhile outreach project and is very much appreciated
Shirley Thompson
Church Bookings: Concerts & Recitals
Church hire bookings were steady throughout 2023: 7 concerts / recitals by amateur choirs and orchestras (plus 2 rehearsals); 8 schools concerts, a summer piano students’ recital, and our ‘Songs by Candlelight’ reredos appeal fundraiser on 21[st] October (at no charge).
Owing to rising inflation and the need to hedge against higher costs for heating and lighting, we reluctantly increased our church hire charges by 20% in January 2023. This was the first price rise since the 2020 review and was received with understanding by our loyal customers.
Among our regular hirers and friends, Wimbledon Symphony Orchestra (WSO) put on three concerts: a ‘Scandinavian Winter Concert’ with a performance of Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 and Ruth Gipps’ Seascape conducted by Marc Dooley in February; a ‘Summer Concert’ in June conducted by Thomas Payne with works by Brahms, Prokofiev and Shostakovich; and an ‘Autumn Concert’ in early November led by
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Andrew Morley, featuring Weber’s Overture from Der Freischutz, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.23 and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8.
Putney Choral Society (PCS), under musical director Jamie Powe, performed a moving rendition of Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor on 13[th] May; and on 2[nd] December the choir returned to deliver an accomplished recital of Henry Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas.
We welcomed new hirers Thames Youth Orchestra, based in Kingstonupon-Thames, performing in March, and Prospect House School from Putney on 4[th] July. It is pleasing to note that Thames Youth Orchestra will be returning in summer 2024.
The busy Advent season saw two carol concerts by Putney High School Juniors on 7[th] December, led for the last time before her well-earned retirement by Ena Burgess, Head of Music. It was both heartwarming and poignant to welcome the staff and children from The Study Wimbledon Preparatory School for their nativity concert the following day, coming at the end of a year when their community has never been far from mind. We also hosted our local primary Albemarle for their Christmas Concerts, which followed earlier visits in the spring.
On 16[th] December, Wimbledon Choral Society’s (WCS) ever-popular Christmas Concerts (matinee and evening performances) were enjoyed by large audiences, bringing many new faces to St Paul’s.
Total revenue from church bookings made during 2023 was £6,848. This represents a 38% increase in revenue over 2022.
Guy Booth, Parish Administrator
Communications Group
Three editions of Parkside Post were produced in 2023, for Easter, Creationtide and Advent/Christmas. We now have a consistent format including a masthead which shows the St Paul’s logo. The magazine is one of the main ways in which the activities of St Paul’s are promoted throughout the Parish and features colourful posters for most of our worship and outreach activities (e.g. Wednesday Club , Tea & Toys , AllAge Messy Church , the Pantry ).
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Printing costs remain high and we are pleased to have some regular advertisers who help to defray these (Putney Choral Society, Wimbledon Symphony Orchestra and The Seasons Art Classes).
3,000 copies are printed and most of these are distributed to households in the parish by our faithful band of volunteers, to whom we are very grateful. Young people working towards their Duke of Edinburgh awards occasionally help as well. Other copies are placed in locations such as Southfields Library, coffee shops, surgeries etc. Any other ideas of places where copies could be placed would be gratefully received.
Posters and banners are produced for display outside the church, also helping to advertise St Paul’s worship and activities to the community, and hopefully, encouraging people through our doors. Juliet Childs
e-Newsletters
There were 7 e-Newsletters broadcast to our contacts during 2023 using ChurchDesk email management software. The subjects were: ‘Please help us to restore our reredos’ (30[th] April); ‘Coronation Weekend at St Paul’s’ (4[th] May); ‘Annual Parochial Church Meeting This Sunday 12:00 noon’ (20[th] May); ‘Songs by Candlelight’ in aid of the Reredos Appeal, Saturday 21[st] October 7:00 pm’ (22[nd] September); ‘Songs by Candlelight’ this Saturday 21[st] October, 7:00 pm – tickets still available’ (20[th] October); ‘St Paul’s Christmas Fair, Saturday 25[th] November’ (23[rd] November); ‘Wishing you a very special Christmas’ (22[nd] December 2023). We sent one text message: a reminder about the Service of Lessons & Carols by candlelight.
Open rates for all e-Newsletters in 2023 averaged 65%, click through rates 8% and unsubscribes 1%; broadly similar to 2022 performance with the same number of email campaigns broadcast (7). Our open rate is good for a relatively small database, and often the message content is sufficient to inform the reader without clicking through to the linked pages. Our most opened e-Newsletter was the first reredos appeal (78%), followed closely by Revd Susan’s Christmas message (73%), which latter achieved the highest number of click throughs (12%), proving that an engaging message really cuts through.
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Our total contacts subscribed to the e-Newsletter at the end of 2023 were 274. Our contact database is 374 (including those not subscribed).
Guy Booth, Parish Administrator
St Paul’s Website
St Paul’s website, hosted on the ChurchDesk online church management platform, is the main digital resource for marketing the church and Community Centre to audiences in the parish and beyond. The website was kept up-to-date with a regular rotation of content to promote our services of worship and events at St Paul’s, and to communicate community, parish and Diocese news.
The coronation of King Charles III in May 2023 was commemorated with a homepage banner image of the King and Queen with the coronation logo and linked to information on our coronation weekend events: live screening in church of the service at Westminster Abbey, the Coronation Picnic on Wimbledon Common, and our service of celebration.
Recitals and concerts in church by choral societies and orchestras were promoted on the homepage and in the ‘What’s On’ section, with links to further details and booking sites. Organisers’ promotional material was often reformatted and re-sized using ‘Canva’ design software, which was also used for creating digital artwork for banners and posters.
The welcome service of Choral Evensong for our new Kingston Area Bishop in April, and community events such as the St Paul’s Summer Fete and the Christmas Fair, as well as the launch of the new St Paul’s youth initiatives Tea & Toast and Wednesday Club , were all given a high profile. Easter and Christmas service times were displayed prominently on the homepage with dedicated pages carrying links to Orders of Service and links to the YouTube channel for those worshipping online.
The Reredos Restoration Appeal was featured on the website from April to October and a dedicated fundraising page was set up which collected £1,340 towards the project. A further £1,050 was raised towards general church funds during 2023 through the website ‘Giving’ page.
News blogs on the website carried many stories of interest including ‘St Paul’s Joins Wandsworth SACRE Faith Trails initiative’; ‘Bishop of Kingston Leads Holy Communion at St Paul’s’; ‘Celebrating our own “Millennium Babe” at Southwark Cathedral’ (commemorating Joan
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Endean’s retirement as SPA); and ‘St Paul’s Carol Singers Raise Over £600 for Glass Door Homeless Charity’.
Parkside Post was made available to download, and the pew sheet was posted in the ‘Pew Sheets’ section every week. The ‘Orders of Service’ section was updated with new liturgies. Norman Allen’s sermons were regularly uploaded to the ‘Sermons’ section.
Many existing images of the church were replaced with new photography following the restoration of the reredos and roodscreen.
Following a poorly managed migration of client websites to a new operating platform by ChurchDesk, the website has been out of service and requires a complete rebuild of the content. We aim to complete the work in summer 2024.
Guy Booth, Parish Administrator
Charity Collections
We now limit our Christian Aid Week effort to distributing envelopes to about 20 of the Parkside Post rounds, acting as a collection point, and collecting among our own congregation. We were able to bank £710; less than previously, but we know many people contributed online.
In December, our Carol Singers had a very positive reception on two nights, at the tube station and in the Gardens area, collecting £633.34 for Glass Door , supporting church hospitality for London’s homeless.
Margaret Brown
Interfaith Relations
St Paul’s enjoys warm relations with its many interfaith neighbours, including Jewish (both Orthodox and Reformed), Ahmadiyya Muslim and Baha’i friends who variously support our mission including St Paul’s Pantry and Wednesday Club. In 2023, we were warmly welcomed to Interfaith services, including a celebration of Shavuot and a talk on Revelation in the Jewish tradition: God is still talking, at the Wimbledon Synagogue; the annual Peace Symposium held at the Ahmadiyya Mosque in Morden; and we participated in the Baha’i community organised
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event entitled Our Story is One - Music in praise of Women. St Paul’s invited both Jewish and Muslim friends to our annual Remembrance Day service in church and an Act of Remembrance at the War Memorial.
St Paul’s hosted the Wandsworth Deanery Synod in February and organised guest speakers from the Council of Christians and Jews. The event had been planned for many months, so was not initially intended to address the current situation in the Middle East. However, in light of the events of October 7[th] in Israel, the national CCJ Christian co-chair, the Revd Dr Nathan Eddy and the local Jewish co-chair, Rabbi Adrian Schell, engaged in a listening exercise to model how we might address in a helpful way the tensions expressed in this country. The listening exercise enabled Deanery Synod members and other guests to hear of the experience of Rabbi Adrian and the local Jewish community, on the day and subsequently. Many people expressed appreciation for this meaningful experience of listening. It is our hope to enable broader listening opportunities in our community in 2024.
St Paul’s took part in Faith Trails, a programme organised by Wandsworth SACRE, which enables schoolchildren to visit places of faith in the area, with Wimbledon Synagogue and the Buddha Adipa Temple on Calonne Road. This takes place a few times per year as area schools are invited in turn. We hope this might provide a basis for further multifaith cooperation, which seems especially important at this time.
Joint Study Sessions were also held with both the Wimbledon Synagogue and the local Ahmadiyya congregation. Sessions with our Jewish friends were alternatively hosted and included such topics as: Faith traditions at home; Jerusalem: the holy city; Healing and cure in the Jewish and Christian traditions; Creation and stewardship of the environment; The Open Door: Welcoming the stranger; and Finding Light in dark times. The Ahmadiyya women were also invited to St Paul’s for talks on aspects of the Christian faith. Similar opportunities are planned for 2024.
Revd Susan Bolen
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------------------- ------------------- ENVIRONMENT
Eco Church
Mike Lowe agreed to succeed Norman Allen as Chair of the Eco Church sub-committee. Many thanks to Norman for his contributions to running the committee, including writing the terms of reference which had been accepted by the PCC in November 2022.
Mike Lowe
ST Paul’s PCC – Treasurer’s Report 2023
2023's finances were dominated by the renovation works at 90 Augustus Road (costing around £24,000) as well as general inflation-driven increases in costs.
Income from the hire of the church and Community Centre increased substantially (by £15,000) on 2022, with regular donations also increasing between 2022 and 2023.
Overall this left us with a deficit of £27,600 in 2023, largely driven by the renovation works on 90 Augustus Road. This leaves us with a weaker cash position (£91,250 at the end of 2023), but we are confident that this investment is necessary to provide rental income in the future.
Fundraising for the reredos restoration covered all costs. Donations and grants for the reredos were classified as restricted ("R - Reredos" on the accounts), and legacies were classified as designated ("D - Reredos").
The pantry continues to attract generous donations and a £7,900 grant from the National Lottery. The pantry had £16K in funds at the end of 2023.
We gratefully acknowledge Andrew Keat's generous £10,000 legacy, which has been designated towards the restoration of the reredos (£5000) and the organ fund (£5000).
The Finance Committee
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APPENDIX: ST PAUL’S PCC ACCOUNTS 2023
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Annual Report & Accounts 2023
Parochial Church Council St Paul’s Church Wimbledon Parkside
Report to the Annual Parochial Church Meeting 2024 of the Ecclesiastical Parish of St Paul’s Wimbledon Parkside 118-120 Augustus Road, London SW19 6EW Presented on the 19th May 2024 Reporting period 1[st] January – 31[st] December 2023
Registered Charity 1142917
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Ministry Report
We are pleased to report that in 2023 we have seen some significant signs of progress in several areas of ministry and mission at St Paul’s. We continue to see growing numbers in church across our traditional Sunday morning services as well as our monthly All-Age Messy Church services. Morning and evening services continue to be offered both inperson and online, allowing us to cater to the somewhat gathered nature of our community, with regular congregation members living both in parish and some as far away as Banstead, Surrey.
Our vision is to be a growing community where God is found in the beauty and joy of our worship, the warmth of our welcome, the breadth of our outreach and our love for our neighbour, with priorities therefore focusing on: Nurture, Outreach, Welcome and the Environment. This report focusses primarily on Nurture, while other reports will address the latter three.
Nurture: The year has been largely been a joyful one, with the longawaited arrival of our new full-time Curate, Jack Belloli, for whom we are grateful; a steady number of baptisms including one adult baptism and confirmation; the wedding of one of St Paul’s longstanding members and the arrival of a small but growing number of young professionals.
Sunday evening prayer has been largely offered by laity, so we give thanks for the ministry of Margaret Brown, David Gooderson, Eve Speare and of course, our wonderful Lay Reader, Norman Allen who has also preached once monthly at our Sunday morning Eucharist.
Other special services this year included a Deanery Welcome service for the new Kingston Area Bishop, the Right Reverend Dr Martin Gainsborough; Compline, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services were held during Holy Week. We saw well-attended Easter celebrations; a Blessing of the Animals service as well as a Choral Evensong service in celebration of Creationtide in September; a special Evening Prayer service with Bishop Rob Gillian to celebrate the completion the Reredos; All Soul’s Memorial service in November; a Lessons and Carols service and a Christingle service in Advent; and well-attended Christmas celebrations at the Crib service and Midnight Mass.
The ministry team, augmented by members of the laity including Margaret Brown, Lesley Hazel, Doreen Hewitt, Gill Thompson and Terry Woolgar, continue to welcome St Cecilia’s school on a termly basis for
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‘Worship in the Community’ and occasional sessions of Junior Church have been offered by our Children and Young People’s (CYP) ministry team on Sunday mornings. We continue to actively seek solutions to grow our CYP ministry and we expect to see further developments in this important area in the coming year.
Another important area of ministry to the church and wider community has traditionally been funeral ministry. In 2023, the number of funerals significantly declined at St Paul’s, which reflects a national trend away from traditional funerals and particularly church funerals. Nevertheless, there were some significant funerals in church in 2023 as we celebrated the lives of three much-loved members of St Paul’s, including a longtime Sacristan who had served St Paul’s with great dedication.
Quiet days have been an important feature of St Paul’s in the past and in 2023 we were able to renew our offering of semi-annual quiet days with a Pre-Advent Quiet Morning held in November.
Other nurture/teaching events took place throughout the year and included Lent and Advent courses, joint study courses with the Wimbledon Synagogue as well as baptism and wedding preparation courses.
We owe special thanks to the many people who make St Paul’s the warm and welcoming church that it is, including St Paul’s music director, Kevin Jones and members of the choir, who made great efforts to provide beautiful and moving music that greatly enhanced our worship at special services and every Sunday Eucharist. We give thanks for our welcomers as well as our flower arranging team organized by Doreen Hewitt; our readers and intercessors organized by Eve Speare; our hospitality team organized by Juliet Childs and our housekeeping team which includes the Woolgars, the Hewitts and the Thompsons, who faithfully spend their Tuesday mornings putting the church right.
As ever, the most important thing to be said about the ministry and mission of St Paul ’ s is that many people are involved in carrying it out, far beyond the ministry team. At St Paul ’ s we are blessed with many highly talented and generous individuals who wholeheartedly engage in sharing the love of God in daily life and through the work of the church and Community Centre. I am enormously grateful for a fantastic Staff team, including Revd Jack Belloli, Norman Allen, Gill Thompson, Terry Woolgar, Guy Booth and Sam Egan. A special mention goes to Mark
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Gilbert, who has continued to offer extraordinary support to the newly formed Finance team who are a wonderful support in their own right and include Sylvia Mpawulo, Craig Campbell, Gillian Jago, Mike Lowe and Gill Thompson. The PCC and I are enormously grateful. Thanks also go to the many other members of our congregation and community who offer their time and talent for the ministry and mission of St Paul’s. I offer my heartfelt appreciation and deepest thanks to you all!
Revd Susan Bolen, Vicar
Churchwardens’ Report (including Fabric Report)
The number of people attending church services has increased during the year and live streaming continues to be an important part of our worship. The average attendance at the Sunday morning Eucharist service is 59, which is an increase on last year. The church continues to be open during the week for visitors and for private reflection and prayer which, although the numbers are modest, is appreciated by those who come in. There continues to be a midday Eucharist service on Wednesday each week attended by a small number of regular members.
In April we held a service of Choral Evensong for the Deanery to welcome the new Bishop of Kingston. This was well attended by members of St Paul’s, as well as from other churches.
In May we celebrated the coronation of King Charles III by opening the church to enable residents and members to come together and watch the ceremony on the big screen. Light refreshments were provided. This was appreciated by all who attended.
In June we welcomed The Revd Jack Belloli as our Curate. We were lucky enough to be able to attend the ordination service at Southwark Cathedral and we welcomed Jack to the parish on Sunday 25[th] June. We were also charged by the Diocese with finding him accommodation and with the help of staff at John D. Wood & Co we managed to find a suitable flat in the parish and within walking distance to the church.
July provided us with the opportunity to hold a Summer Fair. Organised by the Community Centre Manager and with the help of many members of St Paul’s congregation, it proved to be a very successful event. We hope to organise a similar event in 2025. A huge thankyou to all who took part.
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St Paul’s also agreed to take part in the Faith Trails for schools organised by the Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE). St Paul’s became part of the Wimbledon Faith Trail which includes the Wimbledon Synagogue and the Buddhist Temple. It has been a pleasure to be involved with this initiative and to see how the children enjoy the visits.
We once again celebrated ‘Creationtide’ in church with the display board showing a variety of art and interpretations by members of the congregation.
Anne Minors organised a very successful concert to raise the final funds needed to complete the reredos project. It was a very enjoyable evening of entertainment, followed by refreshments. Well done, Anne for the vision and tenacity to see this through.
Our Christmas Fair in November was attended by members of the community and managed to raise £2,165 towards church funds. Our sincere thanks to all those members of the congregation who willingly turned up and helped on the day. We met with the Area Dean for the annual inspection of the church and were pleased that all continues to be positive. St Paul’s also continues to work within the local community, running Tea and Toys on a Tuesday morning and All-Age Messy Church on the first Sunday of the month at 4.00 pm. Both offer different activities: play at Tea and Toys , and more organized activities for Messy Church . There are also occasional meetings between the local synagogue and mosque. St Cecelia’s Secondary School holds termly visits to the church by House Groups. St Paul’s Pantry continues to serve those in need on the 1[st] and 3[rd] Thursday of every month. Students from St Cecelia’s also help with St Paul’s Pantry on a regular basis.
Fabric Report
Last year we reported that one or two wooden blocks in the floor had risen. Following further investigation, it was discovered that the surface beneath the blocks had cracked and a small amount of damp had caused the problem. This surface beneath the blocks has been repaired and the blocks re-laid. To date all is well. Our thanks to Mike Lowe for doing this work for us.
The restoration of the reredos, roodscreen and cross was completed in June. Our thanks to Elizabeth Simon who managed the project P a g e 6 | 31
throughout. The craftsmen/women were a joy to watch and always had time to explain and show what they were doing; it was a real insight into real craftsmanship.
The restorers also cleaned and repainted the damp patch on the north wall of the church and again our thanks to Elizabeth for organising this. The work on the wall was completed at no cost to the church.
For many years we have had a problem with one of the downpipes from the church that is located at the back of one of the hall cupboards, causing water ingress and dampness. The company who carried out the latest repair also noted a few other items of repair needed, including gutter clearance. We had our Quinquennial inspection and will await the report before taking any further action on the roof. It has also been recorded that there is a raised stone on the steps going up to the high altar and a damp corner in the wayside chapel.
Cameras for live streaming/recording have been installed in the Lady Chapel and behind the screen in the chancel. Our thanks to Sebastiaan Bolen, Mike Lowe and Alan and Jenny Bryant for all their work in completing this work.
Terry will be standing down at the APCM after serving three years as churchwarden. I would like to pass on my thanks to him for his work and support.
Gill Thompson and Terry Woolgar
Special Report: Restoration of Reredos and Roodscreen
2023 saw the long-awaited completion of our project to restore the 1908 reredos and the 1896 roodscreen, both the work of the eminent designer Charles Eamer Kempe. This was a project intended originally to be included in our 1995 Centenary Works. We could not afford to undertake it then but were finally able to realise it this year, after many years of preparation, with the key initial financial support of a legacy from our late much loved organist, David Leyland, and a grant from The Kempe Trust, together with a legacy from a dear member and former Churchwarden, Andrew Keat.
Faculty permission was received in October 2022 and the restoration team of Stephen Bellion, with Ricky Green and Ann Reed, started work
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in late January 2023 and completed the restoration in June. Although some small elements of damaged or missing carving were replaced, especially in the reredos, the main work consisted of restoring the faded painting and gilding on the reredos and the roodscreen and introducing selective gilding on the cross, including gilding its inscription ‘So God loved the world’. On the reredos, restoration was undertaken both to the original Kempe painting and gilding and the new work, mainly painting, overseen in 1938 by Martin Travers. (On the latter, the Travers blues and reds were restored to the more intense 1908 Kempe palette.) On the screen, the 1957 colours were restored, using the Kempe shades, and the gold painting was gilded to provide more long-lasting lustre. As an added bonus the team repaired, cleaned and polished our pulpit and sounding board statue of St John the Baptist with his gilded halo and cross.
A funding appeal to raise the balance of the estimated cost of the restoration was launched in November 2022 to church members and friends and to our local community. When the appeal closed at the end of October 2023 it had raised £31,000 in donations with a further £1,000 raised by the very successful concert, organised by Anne Minors and held in October. Including the initial legacies and grant, and adding in the Gift Aid which many donors included, the total sum raised to pay for the restoration was nearly £84,000 which almost exactly matched the net cost of the restoration project. This means that the restoration was realised as intended at no direct cost to the PCC General Funds; in fact the Annual Accounts show a small surplus which will help fund the plaque recording the restoration, which will be installed on the reredos, opposite the 1908 plaque.
We give huge thanks to everyone who helped bring this restoration project to fruition. DEO GRATIAS.
Elizabeth Simon
Reader’s Report
I am grateful to receive Diocesan Permission to Officiate (PTO), with encouragement from the Vicar and the congregation. 2023 was another busy year: twenty sermons, delivered at various services, plus some pastoral support. I have also attended events hosted by the Ahmadiyya Community, the Wimbledon Synagogue, and the International Liberty
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Association, supporting the people of Iran. I hope to be able to continue to serve St Paul’s, albeit at the slower pace of advancing years. Norman Allen, Reader
Southwark Pastoral Auxiliary (SPA)
I retired from being a Southwark Pastoral Auxiliary (SPA) on October 8[th] 2023 after 22 and a half years of being a SPA and part of the staff team at St. Paul’s. I have learned a lot during this time and met and supported many lovely people, some of whom are no longer with us.
The most valued time for me was at the start of the Covid pandemic where I worked with Revd Susan to set up church support groups and also set up and administered the Angels Project, which put people in need in touch with those offering help. We needed to ensure that vulnerable people and those offering them support had guidelines to protect themselves. This led to setting up St Paul’s Pantry in which I helped support Helen with paperwork during the first year.
The Bishop of Southwark has sent me a letter of thanks and a certificate, and has given me the title of SPA Emeritus. I am sad not to be a ‘full’ SPA. Age and health plays a part, plus family commitments, but I hope to continue to help and support where I can, and I know that St. Paul’s Church will continue to grow in the capable hands of Revd
Joan Endean
Electoral Roll Officer Report
The Electoral Roll of St Paul’s Church now stands at 101.
Very sadly, we have lost some of our faithful members this year, but some new people have joined. If you consider yourself a part of St. Paul’s Church and have been worshipping with us for three months, and are not yet on the Electoral Roll, please do fill in a yellow form at the back of the church and give it to a Churchwarden or me. When you are on the Church Electoral Roll it allows you to vote in the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM), and also to be on the Parochial Church Council (PCC) to have a say in the running of our church. Do please consider it.
Joan Endean
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Parish Safeguarding
St Paul’s church continues to follow the Safeguarding polices for children and vulnerable adults established by the Diocese of Southwark. In January 2023 I completed a Parish Safeguarding course at Trinity House Southwark, which adds to the leadership course I had previously attended. Southwark Diocese provides online courses covering basic and foundation in Safeguarding and training to raise awareness of domestic abuse.
In September 2023 we organised with Southwark Diocese for Revd Hannah Thomson from Christ Church & St Philip, Worcester Park to kindly come along to St Paul’s to deliver Safeguarding training at foundation level. Over 20 of our staff and volunteers attended. I am pleased to say the day was a huge success and feedback was very positive. A huge ‘thank you’ to everyone who attended.
Face to face proof of identity checks are being carried out as part of Disclosure and Barring service (DBS). DBS is renewable after 3 years.
I continue to arrange for people to complete Safeguarding training online. Ann parkin is on standby for whenever I need her assistance.
Claire Neate, St Paul's Safeguarding Officer
------------------- NURTURE -------------------
Friday Group
We meet fortnightly, except in Lent and Advent when it’s weekly. It’s a supportive group where we spend time together over coffee talking about concerns we have and praying for those situations. We then read either a part of the Bible or a book on faith/beliefs. It’s a relaxed and safe space where we can express our ideas, doubts and joys. The books we read aren’t always easy, but they invariably give us food for discussion and ideas for our onward journey in life, with support from each other.
Sue Chick
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Prayer Chain
We are a group of people who pray for anyone in need. There is a list we all hold and anyone can add people to that list. Just contact Sue Chick, Daphne Foster or any of the clergy team and we will pray for those in need. It would also be helpful to know of any changes or if the
Daphne Foster/Sue Chick
Church Birthday Card Scheme
We give a birthday card to anyone from St Paul’ s who would like their birthday celebrated in this way. Their name also appears on the pew sheet in the relevant month. If you wish to receive a card for yourself or your family members, please contact Daphne Foster or Sue Chick. We don’t need to know ages, but if we have the age of children we can try to find an appropriate card.
Daphne Foster/Sue Chick
Jean Garling Fund
This fund was set up in memory of Jean with a bequest from her estate and is available to lay members of the congregation for training to support their spiritual development. Once again, this year no one has approached us for support, which means the fund is in a good position to help going forward. With expanding work with children and young people, and the opportunities for more ‘Quiet’ and /or Study Days now that Covid lockdowns are over, we are hopeful that the fund will be used again in the near future.
Doreen Hewitt
------------------- WELCOME -------------------
Music
The choir continue to lead the hymn singing at the front of the church with most singers sitting facing the congregation in front of the
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roodscreen. Most of the choir and members of the congregation feel that this arrangement provides a better lead, helps singers to sing more confidently and looks better on live-stream. However others prefer the choir to be seated in the choir stalls which is our usual arrangement for special services. This presents significant challenges with respect to confidence, ensemble and coordination when numbers are low, but works well with a healthy turn-out.
Choir numbers each week tend to be very variable – on occasions up to 24 singers, other times as low as 5 or 6 - but this year we have been delighted to welcome some new voices whose contributions have been greatly appreciated.
To avoid making services too long (by request) the choir will rarely sing a stand-alone anthem but now will frequently sing a Communion anthem before the Communion hymn – a pattern which seems to work well. We continue to sing settings from a variety of periods, ancient and modern, including arrangements of music from other world music traditions as appropriate.
The organ has generally been working well, but the lowest ‘Positive’ manual continues to present challenges with additional stops joining the ‘failing list’ this year. When the more important ‘Great’ and ‘Swell’ were upgraded a few years ago it was thought that the ‘Positive’ could wait, but with more parts wearing out it would now benefit from the same upgrading.
Many thanks to Sue, Julia, Morgan and other visiting organists for standing in when Kevin has been away.
Once again, many thanks to all choir members for their loyal support, and especially to John for his tireless commitment helping to copy music and organise the choir music library, to Ann for dealing with music licence reporting and copyright, to Susan, Norman and Churchwardens for their support, and to members of the congregation and visitors who have made a point of thanking and complimenting St Paul’s musicians for our contribution to services.
Kevin Jones
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Flower Group
This year has been another busy one for the team with a wedding and a number of funerals/memorial services to decorate for as well as the regular festivals. As usual we have continued to ensure suitable arrangements are in place week by week for the Sunday service with materials generously donated by the team, who see this as part of their regular giving and preparation for Sunday worship.
This year we have been supported by a small number of the congregation who have been happy to regularly plunder their gardens for greenery. We are very grateful for their generosity, however this last year we have had to buy foliage outside of the usual festivals or special occasions. Going forward this looks like becoming a regular occurrence, which means if we are to continue with fresh flowers in church on a weekly basis we are likely to be looking for more regular contributions to the flower fund. For the moment we will continue as usual and provide examples of God’s wonderful creation for all to enjoy.
Doreen Hewitt
IT and Technical Developments
Several improvements to the church’s technical infrastructure were made during the year.
Two more cameras were installed: one is in the choir area behind the roodscreen and can be controlled from the sound desk to look through the screen into the church and also in the other direction to the altar; the other is at the back of the Lady Chapel, looking forward. Both are integrated into the AV system for broadcasts of services.
A HIVE control system was installed to control the heating in the church. This allows a much more flexible and responsive approach to managing the heating, which can now be done from the church office and remotely by smartphone. This will also enable reduction in energy usage.
The enhancements to the sound system in church, delivered in 2022, were completed with the purchase of a second radio microphone in 2023 for clergy use.
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A large projector screen, with stand, was purchased to support screenings of film, video and TV broadcasts to audiences.
Sebastiaan Boelen / Mike Lowe
------------------- ------------------- OUTREACH
Outreach is an area that has continued to grow in 2023. Outreach specifically aimed at youth and children – Tea & Toys , Tea & Toast and Wednesday Club – is covered in the section below.
St Paul’s Pantry has continued to provide support for 40+ families in our community at least twice a month. We had the great fortune of receiving £10,000 from the Community Lottery Fund, thanks to the effective work of Helen Lowe. We are grateful for the leadership of Juliet Childs, Michellie Brown and Angela Ireland and for the many capable volunteers for this important part of our outreach to the community.
St Paul’s Community Centre continues to play a vital role in our service to the wider community as a venue to gather, learn and support one another. We continue to support the Tuesday Lunch Club : the full twocourse meal is now prepared by volunteers fortnightly, and a lighter meal is normally arranged in the intervening weeks to ensure that a regular weekly pattern is maintained. The Club has hosted a range of occasional entertainers and visitors offering community support this year, and welcomed children and carers from Tea & Toys and Tea & Toast to celebrate Pancake Day.
The lounge is reserved on Thursday mornings for a Warm Space : this is currently on hiatus, and we hope it will be relaunched with a broader volunteer team in 2024.
We are grateful for the efforts our Community Centre manager, Sam Egan, in all that happens at the centre.
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Annual Outreach Events
St Paul’s Community Fete in June showcased many of the activities of the church and community centre. It was well attended and much appreciation was voiced by those who came.
The Christmas Fair in November saw a good number of people from the wider community. It was a successful fundraiser for St Paul’s and offered the community a positive experience of the church and Community Centre.
Lighting of the Community Christmas Tree took place in the Memorial Garden, with carols by candlelight and many staying to enjoy refreshments afterwards.
Our annual Christmas carolling once again raised significant funds for Glass Door while bringing the Christmas message of hope and good cheer to people at Southfields station and local residents.
A family film night was hosted shortly before Christmas, gathering families from our Youth and Children’s outreach activities.
School Work Development
We welcomed Albemarle, Prospect House, Putney High School and the Study Prep school for concerts or assemblies in the last year.
House groups from St Cecilia’s visited church for their ‘Worship in the Community’ every Advent and Lent. Thank you to Norman Allen, Margaret Brown, Lesley Hazel and Doreen Hewitt for supporting these sessions.
A number of primary schools also visited us as part of Wandsworth SACRE’s new programme of faith trails: the children spend an hour being introduced to features of our church, visiting Wimbledon Synagogue and the Buddha Adipa Temple on the same day. Thanks to Norman Allen, Lesley Hazel, Doreen Hewitt, Gill Thompson and Terry Woolgar for offering welcome and leading groups on these trails.
Open Church
St Paul’s has continued to maintain an Open Church for private prayer, access to listeners and for pastoral support. With the generous help of several volunteers, including Doreen and John Hewitt, Terry and Kay Woolgar, Gill and Shirley Thompson, Margaret Brown, Norman and Lois
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Allen, and Julia and Stuart Raeburn, the doors of the church have continued to be open four mornings and one afternoon during the week, and a warm atmosphere of welcome has been acknowledged and appreciated by members of the congregation and passers-by.
Revd Jack Belloli and Revd Susan Bolen
Youth and Children
It has been the stated aim of the PCC at St Paul’s since 2018 to build up our outreach to children and young people in the Parish. We were lucky to have Katie Gilbert, who was willing in 2019 to help start Tea and Toys , for pre-school children and their parents/carers on Tuesday mornings from 9.30-10.30am.
This continues to meet weekly in term-time, now with an average attendance of at least 15 adults and children combined. For some families, this is now a firm weekly part of their schedule; others drop in more occasionally, or even as a one-off when visiting the area; all are warmly welcomed, and enjoy the chance for mutual support in a relaxed environment.
We were also lucky to have a group of people led by Marc Stoneham, who successfully started monthly All-Age Messy Church on Sunday afternoons. This continues to meet on the first Sunday of the month: while numbers each month can vary significantly, it is now common for attendance to reach 40-50 adults and children combined, and thus sometimes equal to or greater than the numbers at the Sunday morning service.
Since last autumn, the team have benefitted from ordering in ‘Sunday Boxes’ from the Red Balloon Foundation (see below), which provide ready-to-use materials and instructions for craft activities on our chosen theme. We spend the first 40 minutes of the session taking part in these activities and other games, and then we gather for a Bible story or talk, songs led on the piano by Kana, and prayers – before ending with pizza!
We are continuing to explore ways in which All-Age Messy Church families and the Sunday morning congregation can be more integrated: P a g e 16 | 31
groups from both participated, and in many cases got a first chance to meet each other, in welcoming Mary and Joseph into their homes during our inaugural Advent Posada in 2023; an Epiphany chalk blessing activity was also introduced to both congregations. The Messy Church team also put together our annual Christmas Eve crib service and Children’s Stations of the Cross on Good Friday, as well as arranging activities for children during the Sunday morning Harvest Festival and Easter Day Communion. We hope that one-off events like these, and the sustainable relationships that have built up through Messy Church , will serve as the foundation on which we can restore regular Junior Church provision on Sunday mornings in the near future.
A huge thank you to Marc, Caroline Wehrle and Kana Jones (and their families) for their dedication and good humour in continuing to make Messy Church a success – as well as to Deirdre Gooderson and Arani Nirmalaraj, who have stepped back from regular involvement in the last year but continue to offer support and encouragement! Our thanks also to Candice Andrade, Mike Bower, Sylvia Mpawulo, Claire Neate and Joan Endean for their support and participation at a range of events.
In 2019, we recognised we didn’t really have anyone with any experience of youth work to enable outreach or ministry to older children, so in 2022 the PCC decided to apply to the Wimbledon Foundation Community Fund (WFCF) to support the appointment of a part-time youth and children’s worker on a 2-year contract. The balance of funding was to be met out of a generous legacy from Elizabeth Burgess. The bid for £10 000, which also included some equipment, was successful, but we were not initially able to find any suitable applicants for the post. After consulting with other local schools and youth groups, we found an agency, the Red Balloon Foundation, which was able to supply qualified youth workers to support church activities, and signed a contract with them to launch a weekly Wednesday Club for ages 10-14 years in July 2023. As a result of discussions with them and others, we changed our original plan for a homework club to instead include a wide range of leisure activities, including card and board games, crafts, video games and indoor sports. At the end of each week’s session, the young people share a discussion about a topical issue, facilitated by their youth worker, over pizza: we are beginning to reflect on possibilities for them to engage in group
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projects or forms of community engagement together. This arrangement has worked well, and though the numbers attending (usually around 8-10) are smaller than we expected, we hope to build this up to around 20 during 2024.
Meanwhile, we discovered that some of the parents/carers also brought younger children along and wanted to stay to socialise, so in November 2023 we started to run a Tea and Toast group in the church for ages 4-9 years and their parents/carers between 3.30 and 5.30 pm, in parallel with Wednesday Club in the Community Centre. This has quickly become a source of community and deep mutual support, similar to (and overlapping with the members of) Tea and Toys . The funds from WFCF have covered the cost of a second youth worker from Red Balloon, who is also helping to run Tea and Toys on Tuesdays, as well as of additional games and equipment.
Huge thanks to Eyrusalem and Renee from Red Balloon, and to Shanta Chellappoo, Anne Minors, and Bob Essert who have provided enthusiastic and valiant help in starting and continuing to support Wednesday Club and Tea and Toast .
Margaret Brown, Revd Jack Belloli and Revd Susan Bolen
Community Centre
The Community Centre continues to be a warm and welcoming place for all those who use it, either for hiring or visiting, and we continue to get great feedback especially on Google maps. We remain a very popular venue for children’s parties, especially with our accessible outdoor space which is always a plus point for many customers.
The Girl Guides joined us in April. In the short time they have been here, the Guides have contributed to the Summer Fete and Christmas Fair. It’s great to have them at St Paul’s.
Summer Fete was a great success and was encouraging to see so many local families attending and taking part in the activities.
In October we were successful for the third successive year in securing funding as part of the Wellbeing Brighter Living week in Wandsworth, receiving £250.00. Sam organised an afternoon with refreshments and table tennis, Pilates, Zumba Gold and line dance, which was enjoyed by
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all. Stephanie Norris’ photo appeared in the Brighter Living Magazine, playing Table tennis at 97 years old!
The numbers for the Thursday morning coffee have declined despite trying to boost attendance by holding a monthly tabletop sale. New ideas of how to use the space more effectively are in discussion.
Our main maintenance items this year were the scrub and seal of the main hall floor and purchase of new blinds for all three offices. We have also managed to start a rolling programme of painting projects with the coffee lounge tables, toilet doors and conservatory all having been redecorated.
The Community Centre management committee meets quarterly and attendance has been good. We have discussed the new committee terms of reference. We have been unable to find a weekend cleaner and so currently this work is being covered as extra time by Sam and Siobhan.
Would like to say thank you to Alan and Jenny who continue to help and support us with our maintenance. It really is appreciated.
Sam Egan and Gill Thompson
Lunch Club
The Lunch Club was started as a Millenium Project in 2000, and for 23 years we have managed to operate once a week on Tuesdays. Sadly, due to a lack of volunteer leaders (there are now only two), we have had to scale back the operations and this year we are only open on the first and third Tuesday of each month. On the alternate Tuesdays, Sam Egan (Centre Manager) has volunteered to offer sandwiches, soup and occasionally a ‘ready meal’ kindly donated by ‘Cook’ in Southfields.
We continue to provide a service to the members; our oldest is 98 years old. An interesting project this year started with a request from students attending the London College of Communication to film in the Community Centre. Sam was able to arrange for some of the members to take part in the short film the students produced, which they all enjoyed. The Lunch Club was also invited to see a screening of the finished film, which was arranged in the church. Thanks to Sebastiaan Boelen for setting everything up for us.
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Our two cooks Janice O’Connor and Mary Novis continue to work with us, assisted by Eve Speare, Margaret McManus, and Jan Sharp. We would like to thank Chris Ward, who has retired, for his help and commitment to the Lunch Club over several years.
Thank you to Sam Egan for taking the bookings, collecting the money, being at the end of the phone, and on occasions delivering meals to those who are unable to attend in person. Sam voluntarily runs a bingo session after the Lunch Club each week. All of this is very much appreciated by the members. Our thanks also go to Chris Wright for organizing carol singing with a pianist for after lunch at Christmas.
We very much hope that Lunch Club will survive for many more years, but we really need at least two more volunteers to lead a team. This involves a commitment to coming along once every four weeks, choosing a two-course menu (main and dessert), shopping for the ingredients (money refunded on the production of bills), supervising the cooks and at least one volunteer.
This is a very worthwhile outreach project and is very much appreciated
Shirley Thompson
Church Bookings: Concerts & Recitals
Church hire bookings were steady throughout 2023: 7 concerts / recitals by amateur choirs and orchestras (plus 2 rehearsals); 8 schools concerts, a summer piano students’ recital, and our ‘Songs by Candlelight’ reredos appeal fundraiser on 21[st] October (at no charge).
Owing to rising inflation and the need to hedge against higher costs for heating and lighting, we reluctantly increased our church hire charges by 20% in January 2023. This was the first price rise since the 2020 review and was received with understanding by our loyal customers.
Among our regular hirers and friends, Wimbledon Symphony Orchestra (WSO) put on three concerts: a ‘Scandinavian Winter Concert’ with a performance of Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 and Ruth Gipps’ Seascape conducted by Marc Dooley in February; a ‘Summer Concert’ in June conducted by Thomas Payne with works by Brahms, Prokofiev and Shostakovich; and an ‘Autumn Concert’ in early November led by
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Andrew Morley, featuring Weber’s Overture from Der Freischutz, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.23 and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8.
Putney Choral Society (PCS), under musical director Jamie Powe, performed a moving rendition of Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor on 13[th] May; and on 2[nd] December the choir returned to deliver an accomplished recital of Henry Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas.
We welcomed new hirers Thames Youth Orchestra, based in Kingstonupon-Thames, performing in March, and Prospect House School from Putney on 4[th] July. It is pleasing to note that Thames Youth Orchestra will be returning in summer 2024.
The busy Advent season saw two carol concerts by Putney High School Juniors on 7[th] December, led for the last time before her well-earned retirement by Ena Burgess, Head of Music. It was both heartwarming and poignant to welcome the staff and children from The Study Wimbledon Preparatory School for their nativity concert the following day, coming at the end of a year when their community has never been far from mind. We also hosted our local primary Albemarle for their Christmas Concerts, which followed earlier visits in the spring.
On 16[th] December, Wimbledon Choral Society’s (WCS) ever-popular Christmas Concerts (matinee and evening performances) were enjoyed by large audiences, bringing many new faces to St Paul’s.
Total revenue from church bookings made during 2023 was £6,848. This represents a 38% increase in revenue over 2022.
Guy Booth, Parish Administrator
Communications Group
Three editions of Parkside Post were produced in 2023, for Easter, Creationtide and Advent/Christmas. We now have a consistent format including a masthead which shows the St Paul’s logo. The magazine is one of the main ways in which the activities of St Paul’s are promoted throughout the Parish and features colourful posters for most of our worship and outreach activities (e.g. Wednesday Club , Tea & Toys , AllAge Messy Church , the Pantry ).
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Printing costs remain high and we are pleased to have some regular advertisers who help to defray these (Putney Choral Society, Wimbledon Symphony Orchestra and The Seasons Art Classes).
3,000 copies are printed and most of these are distributed to households in the parish by our faithful band of volunteers, to whom we are very grateful. Young people working towards their Duke of Edinburgh awards occasionally help as well. Other copies are placed in locations such as Southfields Library, coffee shops, surgeries etc. Any other ideas of places where copies could be placed would be gratefully received.
Posters and banners are produced for display outside the church, also helping to advertise St Paul’s worship and activities to the community, and hopefully, encouraging people through our doors. Juliet Childs
e-Newsletters
There were 7 e-Newsletters broadcast to our contacts during 2023 using ChurchDesk email management software. The subjects were: ‘Please help us to restore our reredos’ (30[th] April); ‘Coronation Weekend at St Paul’s’ (4[th] May); ‘Annual Parochial Church Meeting This Sunday 12:00 noon’ (20[th] May); ‘Songs by Candlelight’ in aid of the Reredos Appeal, Saturday 21[st] October 7:00 pm’ (22[nd] September); ‘Songs by Candlelight’ this Saturday 21[st] October, 7:00 pm – tickets still available’ (20[th] October); ‘St Paul’s Christmas Fair, Saturday 25[th] November’ (23[rd] November); ‘Wishing you a very special Christmas’ (22[nd] December 2023). We sent one text message: a reminder about the Service of Lessons & Carols by candlelight.
Open rates for all e-Newsletters in 2023 averaged 65%, click through rates 8% and unsubscribes 1%; broadly similar to 2022 performance with the same number of email campaigns broadcast (7). Our open rate is good for a relatively small database, and often the message content is sufficient to inform the reader without clicking through to the linked pages. Our most opened e-Newsletter was the first reredos appeal (78%), followed closely by Revd Susan’s Christmas message (73%), which latter achieved the highest number of click throughs (12%), proving that an engaging message really cuts through.
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Our total contacts subscribed to the e-Newsletter at the end of 2023 were 274. Our contact database is 374 (including those not subscribed).
Guy Booth, Parish Administrator
St Paul’s Website
St Paul’s website, hosted on the ChurchDesk online church management platform, is the main digital resource for marketing the church and Community Centre to audiences in the parish and beyond. The website was kept up-to-date with a regular rotation of content to promote our services of worship and events at St Paul’s, and to communicate community, parish and Diocese news.
The coronation of King Charles III in May 2023 was commemorated with a homepage banner image of the King and Queen with the coronation logo and linked to information on our coronation weekend events: live screening in church of the service at Westminster Abbey, the Coronation Picnic on Wimbledon Common, and our service of celebration.
Recitals and concerts in church by choral societies and orchestras were promoted on the homepage and in the ‘What’s On’ section, with links to further details and booking sites. Organisers’ promotional material was often reformatted and re-sized using ‘Canva’ design software, which was also used for creating digital artwork for banners and posters.
The welcome service of Choral Evensong for our new Kingston Area Bishop in April, and community events such as the St Paul’s Summer Fete and the Christmas Fair, as well as the launch of the new St Paul’s youth initiatives Tea & Toast and Wednesday Club , were all given a high profile. Easter and Christmas service times were displayed prominently on the homepage with dedicated pages carrying links to Orders of Service and links to the YouTube channel for those worshipping online.
The Reredos Restoration Appeal was featured on the website from April to October and a dedicated fundraising page was set up which collected £1,340 towards the project. A further £1,050 was raised towards general church funds during 2023 through the website ‘Giving’ page.
News blogs on the website carried many stories of interest including ‘St Paul’s Joins Wandsworth SACRE Faith Trails initiative’; ‘Bishop of Kingston Leads Holy Communion at St Paul’s’; ‘Celebrating our own “Millennium Babe” at Southwark Cathedral’ (commemorating Joan
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Endean’s retirement as SPA); and ‘St Paul’s Carol Singers Raise Over £600 for Glass Door Homeless Charity’.
Parkside Post was made available to download, and the pew sheet was posted in the ‘Pew Sheets’ section every week. The ‘Orders of Service’ section was updated with new liturgies. Norman Allen’s sermons were regularly uploaded to the ‘Sermons’ section.
Many existing images of the church were replaced with new photography following the restoration of the reredos and roodscreen.
Following a poorly managed migration of client websites to a new operating platform by ChurchDesk, the website has been out of service and requires a complete rebuild of the content. We aim to complete the work in summer 2024.
Guy Booth, Parish Administrator
Charity Collections
We now limit our Christian Aid Week effort to distributing envelopes to about 20 of the Parkside Post rounds, acting as a collection point, and collecting among our own congregation. We were able to bank £710; less than previously, but we know many people contributed online.
In December, our Carol Singers had a very positive reception on two nights, at the tube station and in the Gardens area, collecting £633.34 for Glass Door , supporting church hospitality for London’s homeless.
Margaret Brown
Interfaith Relations
St Paul’s enjoys warm relations with its many interfaith neighbours, including Jewish (both Orthodox and Reformed), Ahmadiyya Muslim and Baha’i friends who variously support our mission including St Paul’s Pantry and Wednesday Club. In 2023, we were warmly welcomed to Interfaith services, including a celebration of Shavuot and a talk on Revelation in the Jewish tradition: God is still talking, at the Wimbledon Synagogue; the annual Peace Symposium held at the Ahmadiyya Mosque in Morden; and we participated in the Baha’i community organised
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event entitled Our Story is One - Music in praise of Women. St Paul’s invited both Jewish and Muslim friends to our annual Remembrance Day service in church and an Act of Remembrance at the War Memorial.
St Paul’s hosted the Wandsworth Deanery Synod in February and organised guest speakers from the Council of Christians and Jews. The event had been planned for many months, so was not initially intended to address the current situation in the Middle East. However, in light of the events of October 7[th] in Israel, the national CCJ Christian co-chair, the Revd Dr Nathan Eddy and the local Jewish co-chair, Rabbi Adrian Schell, engaged in a listening exercise to model how we might address in a helpful way the tensions expressed in this country. The listening exercise enabled Deanery Synod members and other guests to hear of the experience of Rabbi Adrian and the local Jewish community, on the day and subsequently. Many people expressed appreciation for this meaningful experience of listening. It is our hope to enable broader listening opportunities in our community in 2024.
St Paul’s took part in Faith Trails, a programme organised by Wandsworth SACRE, which enables schoolchildren to visit places of faith in the area, with Wimbledon Synagogue and the Buddha Adipa Temple on Calonne Road. This takes place a few times per year as area schools are invited in turn. We hope this might provide a basis for further multifaith cooperation, which seems especially important at this time.
Joint Study Sessions were also held with both the Wimbledon Synagogue and the local Ahmadiyya congregation. Sessions with our Jewish friends were alternatively hosted and included such topics as: Faith traditions at home; Jerusalem: the holy city; Healing and cure in the Jewish and Christian traditions; Creation and stewardship of the environment; The Open Door: Welcoming the stranger; and Finding Light in dark times. The Ahmadiyya women were also invited to St Paul’s for talks on aspects of the Christian faith. Similar opportunities are planned for 2024.
Revd Susan Bolen
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------------------- ------------------- ENVIRONMENT
Eco Church
Mike Lowe agreed to succeed Norman Allen as Chair of the Eco Church sub-committee. Many thanks to Norman for his contributions to running the committee, including writing the terms of reference which had been accepted by the PCC in November 2022.
Mike Lowe
ST Paul’s PCC – Treasurer’s Report 2023
2023's finances were dominated by the renovation works at 90 Augustus Road (costing around £24,000) as well as general inflation-driven increases in costs.
Income from the hire of the church and Community Centre increased substantially (by £15,000) on 2022, with regular donations also increasing between 2022 and 2023.
Overall this left us with a deficit of £27,600 in 2023, largely driven by the renovation works on 90 Augustus Road. This leaves us with a weaker cash position (£91,250 at the end of 2023), but we are confident that this investment is necessary to provide rental income in the future.
Fundraising for the reredos restoration covered all costs. Donations and grants for the reredos were classified as restricted ("R - Reredos" on the accounts), and legacies were classified as designated ("D - Reredos").
The pantry continues to attract generous donations and a £7,900 grant from the National Lottery. The pantry had £16K in funds at the end of 2023.
We gratefully acknowledge Andrew Keat's generous £10,000 legacy, which has been designated towards the restoration of the reredos (£5000) and the organ fund (£5000).
The Finance Committee
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APPENDIX: ST PAUL’S PCC ACCOUNTS 2023
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Ilot• 1. olkncorne Forthe ye4rendEd JI Oeopmber2123 uuuuuuu 1.151 20.784 3224 3274 P.192 .010 5.134 7n75 17.Q79 33.810 17.979 3181 129 9.ee8 61.7 61.7 14n 1.120 3,Ng 1705 1328 7.e31 7.631 72 1,79) WAT 7D) o os811 115811 T(aal lDe 27*114 217.732 Page 29131
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Notes to the Accounts Note 3 The PCC gralefulty ackrvledges Andr1 Keafs generws £10,{ iegacy. ich has been designated to4vards the re5toFaIL d the tere(kns1£50001 arml the ¢xgan lund1£5000) Mote 4 An apwopria1eqUffied memLw ofts PCC mIertl the management d the Parish's inve5trnent propety durirrtj ar, incluOir4J negotsathj a new lease the tenants, aTrJ managng gnificant reftwtmshment 5, at a d15cjnt to stsThlard cL¥nMerci tates, fLY Nch they wEre paKI a total of £1363. Notes on the Rereilos Restoralion Project: Note 5 The £20K deficrt on the reredos funds ID- Rerekn, R- Rerethjsl refets onty kn 2023. the sPKrttal covere(I by fuThJs recw¥ed m [ffe¥S year5 Note 6 The £91,681 stnt rests1 the [erjOS was oifset by a VATqeclaim l LPWS gt of £9,084 Note 7 The funthaising concert held in October 2023 raised £1K in lotal. desptte Ihe inccme and expendrtt being spread on several Ilote 8 Nel Cunent Assets. Resems The PCC has a tN)l* to maintsin Free Reserves of at least 3 months nonnal eXndrture. Weeks sp 52 13 nal ExpwOibJre 3 months eXPrIUre Free Reserves requirement 214.IKIO 54000 The totsl General Fund curTent reser¥es #tand at Remaining Fr80 reserdes 37 Page 31 131
Independent examlnerfs rel to the trustees of the Parothial Churth Cwicil ol the Eccle5ia5tical Parfsh of St Pauys WimlAedon Park {charity no: 1142917). I report to the trustees on my examination of the accourts of the tharity for the year ended 31 December 2023. Ros$1b11ltl¢l and basts of report As the charity trustees of the Parish you •re responsible for the patIon of the accounts In accordance wlth the requlrements of the CharStles Art 2011 Ilhe ACVI. I report In respect of my examlnalion of the Parish's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and In carrying Out my examination I have followed all the applicable DI¢t10ft5 glven bythe Charity Commission under section 14515llbl of the ACL Indepondent examlnefs st•twwnt I have completed my examlnatlon. I confimi that no materlal matters hwe come to my attentlon In connection wlth the examinatlon 8l¥in8 me cause to belleve that In any materlal respect: l. accountlng records were not kept In respect of the Parlsh as qUIred by sertlon 130 of the Act: or 2. the accounts do not accord wh those records. or 3. the accounts do not comply wlth the applicable requlrements concernln8 the fom) and content of accounts setout in the Charities IAccounts and Report51 Re8ulath)ns 2008 otherthèn any requlrement that the accounts glve a'true and falr vievl whlch Is nota matter consldered as part of an Independent examlnation. I have no concems and have tome across rto other matters In connertlon wh the examlnatlon to whlch attentlon should be drawn in this report in order to efiable a proper understandlng of the accounts to be a£he¢l. Sl8ned: Name: Rlchard Hoknan FCA Relevant professlonal qualfftcatlon I membershlp of professlonal bodle5: Charted Accountant Address.. 11 Genoa A¥enue. Putney, London SW15 6DY Date 12 2d*