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2020-12-31-accounts

St Luke’s Church – Hedge End Annual Parochial Church Meeting Incorporating the Annual Meeting of the Parishioners Sunday 25 April 2021

12 noon

THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL (ALSO KNOWN AS TRUSTEES) OF THE PARISH OF HEDGE END, ST LUKE

C O N T E N T S
Page
Number
1. INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Churchwarden xxxxx Introductory Remarks 1
1.2 Administrative Information 1
1.3 Income and Reserves 2
1.4 Structure, Governance and Management 2
1.5 Membership of PCC 2
1.6 PCC’s Objectives and Activities 3
2. REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2020 3
2.1 PCC Sub-Committee Reports 3
(a) Parish Mission Action Plan (pMAP) 3
(b) Ministry Leadership Team (MLT) 4
(c) Mission and Outreach Sub-Committee 7
(i)
Christian Aid		 7
(ii)
Hedge End, West End and Botley Churches Together		 8
(iii)
Open the Book		 8
(iv)
Music Bugs		 9
(v)
Encoun†er Afternoon Tea		 9
(vi)
Youth Café		 9
(vii) Minnows Playgroup 10
(viii) Women’s Meetings 10
(ix)
Book Club		 10
(x)
St Luke’s Walkers		 10
(xi)
Israeli Dancing		 11
(d) Children and Youth Sub-Committee 11
(i)
Children’s Church Groups for 0-11 Year Olds		 11
(ii)
Youth Groups		 12
(e) Buildings Sub-Committee 13
(f) Eco Church Sub-Committee 14
(g) Finance Sub-Committee 15
(h) Publicity Sub-Committee 16
(i) Social Sub-Committee 17
2.2 Standing Committee 17
2.3 Churchwardens and Assistant Churchwarden’s Report 18
2.4 Eastleigh Deanery Synod Representatives’ Report 20
2.5 Electoral Roll/Church Attendance 20
2.6 Safeguarding 21
3. Church Engagement During 2020 22

Annual Report for Year Ending 31 December 2020

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Churchwarden xxxxx Introductory Remarks

As we look back on the life of St Luke’s over the course of 2020, we were faced with an unprecedented situation of almost constant change and disruption caused by the Covid pandemic and with it many challenges. There were severe constraints imposed on our movements and social contact leading to multiple closures of the church building and postponement of church activities. Yet despite all of this, we saw impressive and inspiring efforts to find and create new ways of worshipping and connecting with one another. We greatly missed the ability to come together in fellowship face-to-face through most of the year but have supported and shown one another the power of God’s love during these testing times.

During 2020, we said goodbye to Rev Fiona Gibbs and made the transition to an interregnum period. We express our gratitude for Fiona’s ministry and service to St Luke’s over the last seven years. We are very appreciative of the gifts she gave. Through the interregnum period, the leadership team worked tirelessly, and their collective efforts enabled us to continue ministering and serving the congregation and our community. We take comfort in knowing that God has a plan for us at St Luke’s and look forward to progressing through the process of filling the vacancy and welcoming a new incumbent in the future.

Thank you, on behalf of the Churchwardens and the PCC, to everyone who worked in support of the life of St Luke’s during 2020, both those visible in our in-church and online services and those behind the scenes. I am grateful for the way you all brought your skills and gifts to God’s work here.

God bless you all and take care.

1.2 Administrative Information

This Annual Report was approved by PCC (Trustees) on 15 March 2021. The Parish of Hedge End, St Luke, is part of the Diocese of Winchester within the Church of England and is in the Eastleigh Deanery.

Bank: Co-operative Bank, Kings Valley, Yew Street, Stockport. Independent Auditor: Russell Lee

1.3 Income and Reserves

The Parochial Church Council’s income was below the threshold of £100,000 in 2020 but, due to the pandemic this was an unusual year. Charity Commission registration has been maintained during the reporting period

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as we expect to return to an income in excess of the threshold figure. St Luke’s has the Charity Registration Number 1142990.

It is the policy of this Church to hold in £10,000. This figure is deemed to be appropriate taking into account (a) the size of St Luke’s church and (b) the considerations stipulated by the Charity Commission which include: forecasting for levels of income and expenditure in the current and future years; analysis of future needs, opportunities, commitments and risks; and an assessment on the likelihood of a shortfall arising.

1.4 Structure, Governance and Management

The method of appointment of Parochial Church Council members is set out in the Church Representation Rules. All Church attendees are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and stand for election to PCC. Guidelines on the role and responsibilities of PCC and Deanery Synod Representatives are available from the Churchwardens.

1.5 Membership of PCC (also known as Trustees)

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

* = until 18 October 2020 + = since 18 October 2020

Ex-ofcio: (where these members have held other roles, during 2020, these are documented below for information)

The Revd Canon Fiona Gibbs (Chair) Incumbent (until 31 August 2020) Jacob Blamey (Lay Vice Chair+) Churchwarden Karen Cotton Churchwarden+ Michael Crutchley (Lay Vice Chair) Churchwarden The Revd Hayley Richens Curate Martin Phillips Licensed Lay Minister

Elected Members of PCC: (where elected members of PCC have held other roles, during 2020, these are documented below for information) Siân Andrews Chris Duff Deanery Synod Representative+ Jenny Little+ Joyce Lynas+ Sue Phillips, Lay Pastoral Assistant Sandra Plaw+ Roger Spink Rose Spink, Deanery Synod Representative Liz Williams, Assistant Churchwarden, Deanery Synod Representative

Co-opted Members of PCC: None

xxxxxxx, Vicar’s PA/Parish Administrator has served as Secretary to PCC.

Notes

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1.6 PCC’s Objectives and Activities

St Luke’s PCC has the responsibility of co-operating with the Vicar in promoting, in the ecclesiastical parish, the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. The PCC operates through several sub-committees that meet in between PCC meetings. These subcommittees are:

2 Review of the Year 2020

2.1 PCC Sub-Committees Reports

There have been no specific meetings regarding the new pMAP but we have tried to reflect the priorities throughout our work, and this will be seen in the reports that follow.

(b) Ministry Leadership Team (MLT)

Membership: Rev Fiona Gibbs (Incumbent Vicar until August 2020), xxxxx (Curate), xxxxx (LLM), xxxxx (Ordinand), and xxxxx (Ordinand).

The MLT, consisting of licenced ministers, ordinands, and those seeking a vocation in licenced ministries, have oversight of the spiritual life and worship services of St Luke's. Meeting between PCC meetings the MLT report back items for further discussion and/or approval. Good news from the team to report this year is that xxxxx successfully completed her curacy portfolio and has been signed off and confirmation that xxxxx will serve St Luke's as curate from July 2021.

Services: The MLT is very grateful for the continued support of Rev xxxxx whose Permission to Officiate (PTO) ministry in retirement is most generously and joyfully given to the benefit of St Luke's. Services have also been ably led and supported each month by the

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All-in Services Team and occasional services by the Eco Church Group and xxxxx for Christian Aid. These special topics passionately led by inspiring leaders help us all see how ecology, climate change and social justice directly connect with our discipleship growth. Guest preachers through the year include a friend of St Luke's on behalf of Release International and Methodist Minister Rev xxxxxx.

The usual pattern for Sunday worship was interrupted by the Covid pandemic in March 2020. Since the start of the pandemic the MLT have ensured a pre-recorded service is uploaded to the website each week and a hand-delivered version of the same service dispatched to those in the Church family who are not on-line. Since November 2020, a new extended All-in Services Team have self-organised, prepared and delivered thought provoking and unique services once a month. More volunteers have also come forward to organise rotas and help with technical delivery. The MLT appreciate each and every one of those who support services in various ways.

Between lock-downs short and simple evening services of Holy Communion were also held in Church and the MLT thank all who selflessly assisted with AV and sides-persons duties, which now included Covid cleaning. xxxxx is thanked for ten years organising and supporting the AV team as he steps down at the end of 2019. Christmas services were reduced to two services in Church, Midnight Communion and Christmas Morning Communion, and an on-line Nativity and Christmas morning service.

Our musical worship continues to be expertly led by xxxxx who plan and choose music and organise our wonderful musicians. From March xxxxx also chose and sourced music, sometimes pre-recording their own - which was very welcome - for use in the on-line services. The MLT are ever grateful for their participation, advice, and co-operation, and those other musicians who bring their gifts to the glory of God and edification of the Church. We thank xxxxx for her many years of faithful and sensitive piano accompaniment as she retires.

During the year, the Open the Book team continued to support our Church services. Prior to lock-down bible stories were brought to life in our All-in services. Recording on Zoom from their homes allowed Open the Book to bring dramatic bible storytelling into the On-Line services joining the All-in Services Team from November.

Many more people have contributed during the year to the on-line services. Our thanks to Children's Church for delivering posies to many of the Church family on Mothering Sunday and putting together the on-line Nativity Service. Thanks also to all those who recorded sketches and acted out bible stories; those who pre-record and lead intercessions and read the bible; and of course, the whole worshipping community of St Luke's who are patient in our learning, encouraging in feedback, and faithful in participation.

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Messy Church (MC): An open meeting with any interested volunteers was held just before lockdown to discern the possibility of re-launching MC. Although there were sufficient helper volunteers and people to organise there were not enough people prepared to lead, cater, or run the AV. The MLT were considering the possibility of combining MC with All-In services but further work on this did not continue with lockdown and then vacancy. It is an area for further discernment in the future.

Tuesday Evening Prayer Meeting: The meetings continued to meet in Church until the first lockdown and now meet on Zoom. A small but faithful group meet each week to pray for the life of the Church, the community of Hedge End and the wider world.

Zoom Chat: Fellowship on-line was trialled during the early part of lockdown. It did not continue as hosts to support each session were not available. The MLT continue to reflect upon ways of offering social interaction on-line during lockdown.

Small Groups: Most of the Small Groups have continued to support each other during Covid. Some regularly meet on Zoom while others maintain contact on a group WhatsApp depending on their circumstances.

Lay Pastoral Assistant: xxxxxx has magnificently co-ordinated the pastoral response to Covid through keeping in contact with our Church family, co-ordinating the prayer tree, and organising bags to go out to everyone on the Church electoral roll at Christmas to unite us all in fellowship. Pastoral visits and home communions are necessarily suspended during the pandemic, but many fruitful conversations have continued on doorsteps and street corners. Thank you to all who are looking out for others in the community and through giving lifts and collecting shopping and medication.

Bishops Commission for Mission (BCM): xxxxx completed the Pioneering BCM, but the authorising service is delayed due to Covid.

Boorley Park Development: xxxxx and xxxxx continue to support the prayer initiative for Boorley Park now on monthly Zoom sessions and a prayer walk in the summer. The delivery of welcome packs has been suspended due to Covid.

Prayer Spaces in Schools Week was cancelled in May due to Covid. We hope to be able to run this again in the future.

Wellstead School: Rev Fiona has built very strong relationships with Wellstead School delivering assemblies and RE lessons when requested as well as being a school governor. Since vacancy xxxxx has become the contact point for Wellstead building on her relationship with the school through Open the Book. Diana has delivered RE lessons and assemblies with very positive feedback.

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The MLT have discussed encouraging Church members to volunteer as school governors.

During this Covid year the MLT have been blessed by a united sense of purpose and since the vacancy have worked collegiately supporting the Churchwardens and PCC in worship and the spiritual care of the Church. A reduced team we are aware of our shortfalls but by God's grace our efforts are blessed. Our on-line services have been viewed by those unknown to us, even in foreign countries and a challenge for us in the future will be to consider how we continue to reach out to those for whom coming into a Church building on a Sunday morning is not possible. We are grateful to the patience of those groups who are not receiving the support and resourcing we would wish to give. Especially how we develop our resourcing of younger people requires more reflection.

We look forward to welcoming a new vicar to serve alongside during 2021 and will continue to love and serve you all as best we can during vacancy. God Bless You.

xxxxx

(c) Mission and Outreach

In March, xxxxx shared some information about the Christian Aid Climate Justice Campaign with the Churches Together group, although due to the lockdown occurring immediately afterwards it was not clear if any of this was taken forward by any of the other Churches.

For Christian Aid week in May, St Luke’s held an online service exploring how the work of Christian Aid is helping with the Coronavirus outbreak and the Climate Emergency, and how we are all called to ‘Do Justice, Love Mercy and Walk Humbly with God’. The congregation were invited to join in with prayer for climate justice, to act by signing the Christian Aid New Deal for Climate Justice petition and to donate through a JustGiving page. A very generous £1,940 was raised.

In July, xxxxx talked to the PCC about St Luke’s supporting the Christian Aid New Deal for Climate Justice, encouraging the PCC to promote and share the petition and support the Eco Church group in lobbying the MP on environmental matters.

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Members of the Eco Church group requested to meet with Paul Holmes, MP for Eastleigh, for ‘The Time is Now’ mass lobby of Parliament. We were eventually able to arrange a face-to-face meeting in the Church in September where alongside raising other environmental concerns, we asked the MP to champion debt cancellation to help the world’s poorest communities tackle both Covid and the Climate Crisis, and to support ending UK financing of fossil fuel overseas. A Christian Aid parliamentary briefing was given to him and followed up by email.

St Luke’s supported the Christmas Appeal with another Christian Aid online service in December, hearing some stories of the people Christian Aid are working with and looking at God’s good news of deliverance and how we at St Luke’s can stand in solidarity with our sisters and brothers facing the climate crisis and build hope in Ethiopia. The Christmas Appeal JustGiving page raised £344, which included £114 from the sale of Christmas cakes.

Thanks to the generosity of the congregation during this difficult year, the total raised by St Luke’s for 2020 added up to £2,284, with some gift aid claimed by Christian Aid in addition to this.

xxxxx

(ii) Hedge End, West End and Botley Churches Together (HEWEB):

Representatives from the local Churches have continued to meet during 2020, mostly through Zoom. The three projects: Street pastors, healing on the streets and visiting new homes in the area continued until lockdown. For a brief period, street pastors were able to go out on patrol in the summer months, on a Friday afternoon, reaching local young people who gathered together in the parks. Prayer for the new homes initiative continued on Zoom.

xxxxx

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so we have had to let them go, very reluctantly, but with many thanks for all the time and effort they put into it over the years. We hope very much that we will soon be able to go into the schools again. We miss seeing the children and staff and nurturing the contact we have with this important section of our community. We also miss one another as a team and the joy, stimulus and satisfaction we gain from this shared ministry.

xxxxx

xxxxx and xxxxx

xxxxx

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would be restarting the café, to which I replied, “whenever we are allowed to start up safely, we will”. I had several in-depth conversations with a few of them about God and one girl asked me how to become a Christian. Of course, I had a long chat with her and encouraged her to read her Bible. We are all eager to start the café again and to offer fellowship and food to the youth in our community. We hope that will be soon.

xxxxx

(v) Minnows Playgroup

Minnows playgroup meets Fridays 10 to 11.30 am for parents, carers and under 5’s for free play, craft activity and a snack of cheese, fruit, bread and coffee for the Mums with left over Encoun † er cake most weeks. We make a small charge of £1 per family which covers the cost of refreshments and allows us to buy craft items when needed. We had a good number attend each week and with great joy have been building good relationships. The team are xxxxx and xxxxx who do kitchen duty, xxxxx, xxxxx, and me who put out toys and interact with everyone during the sessions. xxxxx and I organise the craft. The group was thriving but due to Covid we had to close in March and sadly did not return during 2020. We pray and look forward to an exciting return in 2021.

xxxxx

(vi) Women’s Meetings: Women’s meetings are held monthly to provide a space for women to have fellowship with other women and hopefully be encouraged in their walk with God. Meetings have sometimes had outside speakers or someone from St Luke’s has shared how God has helped them in their work or life circumstances. There were only two meetings held in 2020 before lockdown and we have not felt it necessary to continue meeting remotely.

xxxxx

xxxxx

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the Government restricted the numbers even further. We look forward to the release from the lockdown restrictions and to continuing our regular walks. Numbers joining us on each walk range from 10 to 18 plus an occasional dog; please feel free to join us. The walks take place around the Southampton area, in the New Forest and Meon Valley and are on average six miles in length. We look forward to the 2021 walks with interest.

xxxxx

xxxxx

(d) Children and Youth Sub-Committee

(i) Children’s Church groups for 0-11-year olds

This report is for the year 2020 and is about groups offered on a Sunday morning for children aged 0-11 years old. Excluding the first Sunday of each month, when there is the All-In service.

This year saw the Church building being closed due to lockdown with Covid. When the Church was able to open, services were in the evening with limited numbers being able to attend with social distancing and facemasks being mandatory. As a result, there has been no Children’s Church since 15 March 2020.

During the spring term of 2020, which consisted of eight weeks, there were on (mean) average 5.75 children attending weekly.

For this term, we ran a joint group for children ranging from 0-11 years of age. The register indicates that there was only one child of creche age.

Of the regular families whose children have attended Children’s Church, approximately six children would have moved to J7 this Autumn, leaving Children’s Church with approximately four regular attendees.

We had nine volunteers helping with Children’s Church.

Consent forms: Regular attendees had completed forms in the register which was locked in a box in the office. However, work

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still needed to be done to ensure these were completed for new children, prior to them attending the group.

Resources: When the children were in Church, we were using resources from Scripture Union Red Compendium. Topics covered had been from the Old and New Testament. During lockdown, online resources were sent out to families via xxxxx and xxxxx. Online resources from Messy Church’s website were also made available to children at St Luke’s.

Displays: Display boards in room 3, upstairs, had been used to display work plus explanations of special events throughout the Christian year. These were maintained and changed by xxxxx.

Nativity: This year because of lockdown and restricts to the Church building, the nativity was shown online. The children were asked if they wanted to be part of the Nativity. Eight children took part and shared their thoughts/read bible passages of the different characters which involved having the Church’s nativity figurines as props/visual aids. These were returned to the Church for display at the evening services.

Online services: The children have been involved in the online services, which has included, introducing the services, leading prayer and reading. This has been organised via the Ministry and Leadership Team and other Church members.

Looking forward: I look forward to being able to meet with all the Church family, hopefully in the near future, to have fun and be able to talk to the children about their experiences and consider as a team how children’s groups should run in the future.

xxxxx

(ii) Youth Groups

Along with many groups it was a year like no other. At the end of 2019 and after giving lots of notice xxxxx sadly left the leadership of Junction 7; that left xxxxx as the sole leader. At the time of lockdown and after requests from the front of Church a replacement was not found. As a result, there was no face-toface Junction 7 this year.

Along with children, young people are key parts of the life of St Luke’s and despite the changes in our worship the whole committee were aware of the need to offer fellowship at some level for those people that could not naturally get together. Similar to the Children’s Church report during lockdown, online resources were sent out to families in the electronic service sheet. The resources were sourced from youth organisations such as Scripture Union, New Wine and Youth for Christ, others more local such as St Mary’s Andover and xxxxx offered occasional and valuable activities for the family. We also decided

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to involve families and carers in the wider well-being of young people and shared resources from Parenting for Faith and local services providing support for wellbeing. Thank you, xxxxx for doing this frequently at short notice.

There were discussions in the sub-committee as to what type of resources and activities to produce to support the young people. There were two main approaches – both with merits. The first, we tended to call ‘transactional’, that is creating, collecting, collating and sending useful pre-existing activities to parents and carers to allow flexibility as to how they choose to use the materials and at a time that best suits. The second is generally considered ‘relational’, and this largely takes materials and activities and adapts them before sending them out making them accessible to children and young people in the best forms possible. This would include the inclusion of virtual online meetings. To support this a draft addition to the Social Media policy to include ‘Zoom’ meetings was drafted by xxxxx and submitted to the sub-committee and MLT in April with a view of continuing Junction 7 online.

As is the culture of Junction 7 as being outward looking information was also shared with parents and carers of additional opportunities beyond the Church building including a monthly Sunday evening service hosted by Thornhill Baptist Church called ‘Encounter’.

xxxxx

(e) Buildings Sub-Committee

The general day to day maintenance and upkeep of the building is carried out/ managed by our in-house team as and when required. The works have included:

Internal Attending reactively to any situations which have occurred. External Attending reactively to any situations which have occurred.

Future Works to be carried out: Whenever possible when changing light bulbs, the electrical components are being changed to use LED light fittings, which will result in lower electrical running costs and contribute to the Eco Church initiative start by the Diocese. This is on hold at present until full access to the building is available.

Urgent Works:

Works need to be carried out to the water damaged soffits of the Worship Area roof, to prevent the ingress of nesting birds and protect the structure. This work will also have to include repairs to the gutters which are leaking and the source of the water ingress. Also, inspection and remedial works to rooflight flashing. Because of the access required to carry out the work to the gutters, soffits and

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rooflight, it would be cost effective to carry out the redecoration to the high-level steel work to this roof, together with the external steel frame to the rear of the Church. The works to the roof and gutters have been put on hold until we can finalise the fine detail of weather proofing at the perimeter gutter.

On behalf of the Buildings Team xxxxxx

(f) Eco Church Sub-Committee

The Eco Church sub-committee at St Luke’s has been very active and met regularly over the last year. When the Covid pandemic prevented meetings in person, we organized Zoom meetings instead.

The Eco Church group has been striving to improve on the progress made in subsequent years. We have taken actions to reduce our impact on the environment and encourage good stewardship, thereby taking better care of God’s creation.

Notable actions during 2020 include:

The meeting with the MP was publicized in a local magazine and website.

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(vi) Calculation of St Luke’s annual carbon footprint.

St Luke’s dedicated Eco Church webpage has been updated to reflect the ongoing work .

Through the culmination of all this work, St Luke’s has almost achieved a Silver Award, with a few actions planned in the next year to achieve that milestone.

xxxxx

(g) Finance Sub-Committee

Members: xxxxx, xxxxx, xxxxx, xxxxx

The committee met every two months before the PCC meeting to review the accounts and agree actions that needed to be taken to the PCC. xxxxx, as Church Treasurer, presented the accounts for review of income and expenditure, demonstrating due diligence as Stewards and Trustees of the Churches’ finances.

xxxxx moved to using Sage Account system, a purpose-built accounts software package, to improve usability, manage the increasing number of invoices from hire of building and for clear presentation to the PCC to ensure effective governance. The accounts are now split into two income streams: worship and rental. Gift Aid is presented as another income. We continue to be grateful for xxxxx’s management of the Gift Aid for the Church.

A key discussion was around the repair to the roof, a recommendation to the PCC to proceed with the roof was agreed.

A card machine was introduced in the Church, allowing another method for donations and hirers to use to pay invoices, reducing the need to deposit cheques at the Post Office. Through the joint effort of xxxxx and xxxxx, the Church Website Administrator, an online donations platform was set up so donations could be processed directly through St Luke’s Church website.

A financial reserve policy, advised by the Diocese, was ratified by the PCC at a total of £10k.

An agreed reduction in Common Mission Fund (CMF) payments due to the pandemic and subsequent closure of Church to hirers was agreed with the Diocese. The reduction was correlation with decreased income. An increase in CMF will proceed with increases in income from both worship and hire.

xxxxx and xxxxx

(h) Publicity Sub-Committee

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The publicity group at the beginning of the year worked on putting together a new logo which was designed by Jacob to bring uniformity and a simple recognisable up-to-date look to our written and media outlets. In our more media focused world we wanted to achieve a uniform look. The PCC gave their approval and it was planned to launch at the April Annual Meeting but due to Covid was delayed until our Annual Meeting in October. It is now on all our platforms; the last bit is the outside noticeboard which we have had since the end of last year but, because of the weather and the need to paint the surrounds of the existing boards, has not happened yet. The whole project has cost very little as we were able to produce it ourselves. The outside noticeboards were the only cost of £120 for the two. xxxxx has also, continued to update the website and has been instrumental in adding our weekly services which are being viewed by a good number of people including some from abroad. Our Facebook page also has the weekly service added as well as our Messy Church page. We have also had new likes to our Facebook page, people who wish to see our posts, we have not met very much this year but have communicated through email. Christmas this year we did not do a card for delivery due to Covid and the dangers, we set up a QR code which we printed as well as written posters that were displayed outside Church and on every parish notice board. I would like to thank xxxxx, xxxxx and xxxxx for their contributions.

xxxxx

(i) Social Sub-Committee

In 2020, three Fellowship lunches were held before Coronavirus restrictions meant that we were unable to continue. The three lunches (held in January, February and early March) were attended by an average of 44 people at each lunch and raised £310 in total for the work of St Luke’s. Many thanks to the dedicated lunch team for all the cooking, washing up and setting up of the tables. In January, we held a Curry and Quiz evening to raise funds for the work of the Church. About 70 people enjoyed a fun evening of food and entertainment and £521.26 was raised. During lockdown, a ‘St Luke’s Encouragement Group’ Facebook page was created for the Church community to share news and information.

xxxxx

2.2 Standing Committee

The Standing Committee met on three occasions in 2020. The Standing Committee met at the beginning of the first lockdown and between each PCC over the Spring/Summer, to ensure there were adequate PCC forums to agree actions in response to issues emerging from the Covid pandemic.

On 16 March 2020, the meeting focused on the Parish Covid Business Continuity Plan, preparing a response for how the Church would adapt to the lockdown. There was also an agreement on the electoral roll and subsequent Common Mission Fund contribution.

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On 1 June 2020, the meeting focused on the standing PCC agenda items. The wider PCC were invited to attend if they wished. Outside the rolling agenda items, a focus on a grant application to repair the roof was considered.

On 27 July 2020, the meeting focused on the decision to reopen the Church for worship and community groups after the first lockdown. The decision to progress with the repair of the roof and how this will be financed was agreed.

xxxxx and xxxxx

2.2 Churchwardens and Assistant Churchwardens Report

The Churchwardens and Assistant Churchwardens spent most of the year focused on the Church’s response to the Covid pandemic and the interregnum that started in August 2020. While the Church building has been closed for the majority of the year, the work of the Churchwardens and Assistant Churchwardens has only increased in response to managing the dynamic requirements from the Government, Diocese and local community. We are thankful for every member of the St Luke’s congregation that supports the life of the Church in 2020, growing God’s Kingdom in Grange Park and the surrounding areas.

xxxxx came to the end of his third year tenure as Churchwarden, although he extended it by a further six months in light of the pandemic and the postponement of the APCM until October 2020. During those six months, a gradual handover took place as xxxxx, who we are delighted has agreed to stand as Churchwarden, was inducted into the role. xxxxx was formally appointed at the APCM and has already made a fantastic contribution under highly unusual and testing circumstances. xxxxxx, who in the second year of his tenure, took on the lead Churchwarden role during this year, ensuring a smooth transition. Both xxxxx and xxxxx attended a virtual Visitation Service in November.

xxxxxx continued with his invaluable contributions as Assistant Churchwarden, from fire regulations to practical repairs to rota management. xxxxxx stepped down as Assistant after a number of years’ service, giving her more time and focus on her ministry training. We welcomed xxxxxx as the new Assistant Churchwarden.

Prior to the first lockdown in March 2020, the Churchwardens were implementing infection control procedures in the Church. During the two national lockdowns in 2020, in adherence to the Covid guidance at the times, the Church building was closed, not just for the worshipping community, but also for all the community groups that use the Church. There was a significant effort on the part of the Churchwardens and our diligent Church Administrator, xxxxx, to ensure timely communication with the congregation and the Church hirers. This meant all were kept informed about the changes to services and bookings following the many alterations to the Government, Church of England and Diocesan guidance throughout

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the year. Following the first lockdown, with the support of xxxxxx, and in collaboration with Rev Fiona Gibbs, we developed risk assessments and management plans for reopening the Church, ensuring we put in place all the measures necessary to abide by the Covid-secure rules. This included: marking out a one-way system, sanitiser stations, safely distanced chair layouts, an online booking form for in-Church services and more, as well as introducing accompanying processes. Our risk assessments and plans were continually revisited and revised throughout the year as the situation changed. During the latter part of 2020, there were several incidents of people attending the Church and then subsequently coming down with symptoms and testing positive for Covid. These were reported to the Churchwardens who coordinated the response including appropriate quarantining and additional cleaning of the building and communications to the relevant people who had been in the Church shortly after them.

We hope and pray that 2021 will see an improvement to the Covid situation, an accompanying easing of the restrictions, and the ability to safely reopen the Church once more, for worship, groups and our hirers.

Rev Fiona Gibbs was the incumbent of St Luke’s until the end of August 2020. Due to the unprecedented circumstances with the Covid restrictions in place at the time, it was not possible to have a gathering of the church community to mark Fiona’s leaving. Instead, the Churchwardens at the time (xxxxxx) met with her and produced a farewell video for her final service in which we thanked her on behalf of the church for all she has given to St Luke’s during her time as our Vicar. In late December, once the leaving gift - a memory book kindly organised and put together by xxxxx with contributions from many in the congregation - had been prepared, the Churchwardens at the time (xxxxx and xxxxx) produced a video with Fiona which in which we presented the gift and expressed our gratitude for her ministry and service to the church.

After Fiona left in August, the Churchwardens and Assistant Churchwardens established regular bi-weekly meetings with xxxxx to ensure good coordination between us. We would like to thank xxxxxx for her valuable time and commitment to the Church, ensuring that administration functions and liaison with external hirers have been maintained to a high standard.

During the interregnum, the Churchwardens also had regular dialogue with the MLT to respond quickly to any matters arising and ensure any actions that fell outside our respective roles could be delegated accordingly.

From September 2020, the Churchwardens were in dialogue with the Bishop of Southampton, the Archdeacons and other Diocesan staff on the process to be followed during the interregnum.

Estimates have been gathered to repair the roof which is planned for 2021. The Churchwardens have been in discussion with the Head of Operations in the

Diocese regarding financial options for repairs.

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We continued to hire cleaners most weeks of the year in line with the Covid risk assessment.

xxxxx, xxxxx, xxxxx, xxxxx, and xxxxx

2.4 Eastleigh Deanery Synod Representative’s Report

Members: Fi Gibbs (until 31 August 2020), xxxxx, xxxxx, xxxxx (until 18 October 2020), xxxxx (since 18 October 2020)

There have been two meetings in 2020 on 10 February and 23 November

Items discussed included:

xxxxx

2.5 Electoral Roll and Church Attendance

As required a new electoral roll was prepared and displayed prior to the 2020 Annual Parochial Church Meeting. As of 31 December 2020, there were 105 people on St Luke’s Electoral Roll. A revision of the roll will take place before the APCM 2021.

xxxxx

A service of Holy Communion was held on some Sunday evenings during the year, as lockdown permitted, with an average weekly attendance of 17 adults. There was an average of 102 ‘users’ per online Sunday service. A ‘user' may represent an individual, or a group of people (e.g. a couple or a family).

2.6 Safeguarding

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I would like to put forward that when we are back in the Church building that a member of the Diocese Safeguarding team come along to the PCC to share best practice in safeguarding. They are more than happy to come along to any Church.

Thank you for your continued support in what is an important role in the Church.

xxxxx

3 Church Engagement During 2020

2020 presented challenges that we could not have dreamed of with the Church closing for most of the year and then only opening for a few who felt able to

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attend. We very quickly realised that doing online services did exclude some of our members who do not have access to technology or who are unable to use it. Throughout we have delivered a copy of the service to four people, thanks to MLT and those who have done services, thanks to xxxxx, xxxxx, xxxxx and xxxxx. xxxxx has also played a big part in keeping us all informed and sending the services out each week and also notices, our thanks to xxxxx too.

xxxxx, our Lay Pastoral Assistant, has where possible rang, emailed, or texted those that did not belong to a small group, particularly focusing on the more mature members or single people of the Church who do not have a support network, and this also included members of Encoun † er who do not come to Church. The small groups have played an important part in supporting their members. The MLT encouraged people during services to ring and look out for each other. Members of the pastoral team have been aiming to keep in touch with those that are on their own. I would like to thank xxxxx especially as she has also been taking two people to regular doctor’s appointments.

During the Covid period, nearly everyone has had some form of contact and those that we missed were included where possible in our Christmas Gift which was hand delivered to every home with a knock on the door. Many conversations were had and the feedback from the bags has been brilliant. I would like to thank all those who caught the vision and who contributed to over 70 bags. The bags were handmade by xxxxx and xxxxx, Christmas cards handwritten and drawn by xxxxx – such a gift to us all, we will miss xxxxx – words of encouragement from xxxxx, candles to light Christmas day, prayer stars to write on and hang on the tree, a quiz, a recipe for truffles, chocolates provided by xxxxx and a contact card for xxxxx. I am sure we have missed contacting some, but it has highlighted that we need to do a new directory as soon as we can! Thank you to everyone who rang, texted, emailed, or social distance visited anyone this year – it is very much a team effort and we all have a role to play.

xxxxx

xxxxx (Lay Vice Chair, PCC) On behalf of the PCC (Trustees)

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