Team Vicar
2023 was a blessed year at St John’s as new families have joined the congregation and we have begun experimenting with new service styles. It has been a delight on the last Sunday of the month to have a music group playing.
Many people stepped-up into new roles, including Vicky Capanna who ran Messy Church on Putney Vale, which was another innovation in 2023. Vicky has also taken on the role of treasurer which was a great deal of work as the books were in a bad state.
This has now been resolved by Vicky with our paid bookkeeper Mel. Ki Moon Kwon has been a great churchwarden, learning the ropes alongside Beverley Morley-Brown.
For the first time on Easter Sunday, we had a play and Easter Eggstravaganza with animals to pet in our garden. This is one of the ways we have experimented sharing the joy of the Christian message with the whole community. We have also enjoyed worshipping with the choir and traditional worship on other Sundays. The 9 lessons and carols service, and crib service were great celebrations.
On a more personal note, as vicar, I took a sabbatical and quite literally walked away. Completing two pilgrimages the Camino Inglés in Spain and Kumano Kodo in Japan. This reminded me of the deep spiritual blessing of prayerful connection to God in the world He created and ancient places of worship. My thanks go to Penny Jivani, John Waddleton, Beverley Morley-Brown, Ki Moon Kwon , Christina Renner-Thomas, Lorna Ailes, Sue Richardson and many others who rose to the challenge and ran things so smoothly with the visiting presidents, especially Carole Bourne.
The relationship between the team churches has continued to grow. Lindiwe Maseko from St John the Evangelist visited Putney Vale regularly at the beginning of the year, and Joe Moffat led services and PCC meetings during my sabbatical. Lindiwe helped at St John’s because I had been asked to take on the role of lead chaplain at Southwest London and St George’s NHS trust (based at Springfield and Tolworth). Many of you may know that I am employed half-time by the diocese as vicar of St John’s and half-time by the NHS as a mental health chaplain. During 2023 my role at the trust was to lead the interfaith team to cover the sick leave of Tuulia Castledene.
The year was not without its challenges, several people within the church have faced personal health struggles and bereavement. Marion Nevill, Pat Moses, Pru Coyne and Pete Hodges, all long-standing members of our congregation, sadly died.
Church members have taken on new roles or continued diligently in old roles, I wish to thank all those who give their skills, time, money and talents to enable our church to serve this community and be a place of worship and fellowship.
I will end on a note of blessing, as we have been blessed at St John’s with wonderful people. Once more, we had many parties and events organised by a great team led by Sue Richardson, probably most notably the Coronation Party which even made it onto Slovenian TV! We found ways to reach out and care for others, including raising thousands of pounds for the Turkish Earthquake appeal.
Rev’d Amanda Beck
Team Ministry
‘Now the green blade riseth’ is a wonderful Eastertide hymn that comes to mind when thinking of the new signs of growth in all three of our churches in the Kingston Team Ministry.
Rev Lindiwe Maseko was licensed as Team Vicar of St John the Evangelist (Spring Grove) in January 2023. The joy shared at that service has continued to spread through her ministry with local schools, the Little Groovers, the Diddy Disciples and a new Sunday afternoon Junior Church. It’s the one church in the team where children sometimes outnumber adults! Meanwhile, a brilliant group of volunteers runs a very successful bar at the regular Banquet Record gigs, engaging warmly with the music fans while ensuring a good income stream for the church.
At St John the Baptist (Kingston Vale) they continue to host a wonderful programme of community events in their orchard. The highlight in 2023 was undoubtedly a fabulous Coronation Garden Party. For much of the year Rev Mandy Beck took on extra leadership responsibility at the Mental Health Trust where she works part-time. Thankfully, Lindiwe was able to offer a day a week to provide some ministerial cover, while Mandy was working an extra day at the hospital. This just shows how helpful it is to have a team ministry. Mandy then took a well-deserved sabbatical in the autumn and is now back to her normal pattern, helping St John’s in the Vale to look at some exciting plans for the future.
At All Saints we went big on the Coronation, broadcasting the national online service on the preceding Sunday and then hosting the Borough’s celebration with an amazing street procession that culminated in a packed-out church service. This was quickly followed by the Ordination Service for priests in the Kingston Episcopal Area – and the arrival of our curate, Rev Sarah Williams. Sarah has since been involved in many of our new initiatives, notably a Youth Café on Sunday afternoons and a Bereavement Café once a fortnight. In September we also started ‘Lifting Young Voices’ which is a project led by our Director of Music, David Condry. It involves him going into two primary schools (St John’s CofE and St Joseph’s RC) every week to teach class singing lessons. At the same time, he runs a Junior Choir for children aged 7-10. We hope to expand this programme to include more schools and to integrate our Junior Choir into the church community.
I’m very grateful to Mandy, Lindiwe and Sarah. It is a blessing to have a team of colleagues who enjoy meeting up with one another every week for prayer and mutual support. We’re also very grateful for the wider ministry team that includes our ordained colleagues, Rev Sandy Cragg and Rev William Allberry, and our licensed lay ministers, Isobel Robinson, Andrea Campanale and Penny Jivani.
Finally, it’s good to have a team outing every so often and I was delighted that a coach full of people from all three churches enjoyed a day out to Salisbury Cathedral in October. New friendships always emerge from days like this, and I look forward to many more.
As a way of summarising our common faith and fellowship, let me finish with the hymn that I started with: ‘Love is come again, like wheat that springeth green’
Rev’d Joe Mof f at t
Church Wardens and Property Report
2023 has been an interesting year for our lovely old village church with its gardens and Orchard and Halls that are such an asset for our Parish community. We had a strange time when Mandy was away on a well-earned sabbatical. There were challenges but she left us very well organised with all services covered by Penny and Carol. Thank you, Penny, it always felt under control.
We had many meetings with a Diocesan researcher who helped sort our priorities and set up groups to address them. So, we had plans to fulfil! We did our best but were very glad to have Mandy back to inspire us again.
Since then, with all her renewed energy and prayers and time to ‘think’ and make plans our services have become more varied and joyful, and our congregation has responded and increased. Thank you, Joseph, for so much music and joy.
The Quinquennial Report pointed out many areas that needed urgent attention and we have, mostly, addressed them except for the asphalt paths. This will be done as soon as possible, finances allowing.
We have lost the hire of the Hall to a nursery but have very high hopes of replacing it with a most exciting project. We hope this will encourage our community to enjoy and use our facilities all the year round, not just events and festivals and to join us in worship. If we succeed we will be able to keep going but if not we are in danger of losing our wonderful legacy left us by generations of hard work, worship and prayers.
My three years as Church Warden have come to an end, as promised.
Now I must thank all you wonderful people who have helped me so much during this time in spite of bossy voluntolding.
Mandy first for inspiration and prayers and patience and poetry and endless, endless energy and enthusiasm. It has been such a pleasure being your Church Warden.
Next Sue for all help and always willing to stop and sort out a problem. For all the extra time you spend organising our events and decorating the Church, so beautifully for the festivals. I always leave the office with a smile or laughter and feel so much happier, thank you so much. Also, to Lorna for help with IT.
To all the willing volunteers that make the services, gardens, halls and the whole of our Church community such a happy and successful place. Now that our gardener Mandi has left us to join the Police there is even more need to help. Bill has stepped in to mow and Matteo has offered but the endless rain hasn’t helped. Now that it is spring/summer we need all help possible to keep the standard up.
Lastly to my fellow Church Warden Moon for taking over the tedious filling in of documents online and for all the immediate and willing help mending and repairing and for all the prayers when things seemed too difficult. He has been such a pleasure to work with and not once said I can’t, or I haven’t time.
I look back on the three years and most of my memories are of prayers and parties and pleasure and I look forward to supporting Moon and the next Church Warden with you all.
Beverly Morley-Brown
Electoral register 2023
Our Electoral Roll is now 65 which includes new members, unfortunately the following members of our church have passed in the last year:
Peter Hodges, Patricia Moses, Marion Nevill and Prunella Coyne
Shirley Price
Parish Safeguarding Officer’s Report
Congratulations to Vicky who has completed her training and is now a Parish Safeguarding Officer. Our role is to ensure that we, as a church, are looking after children and vulnerable adults, to the best of our ability, complying with the requirements of the Diocese. Over the past year, Vicky and I have been completing relevant courses. Our current PCC members have also achieved certificates in safeguarding training. Diocesan training is free and is a requirement for those who have various roles within the church. Some training is now available face-to-face as well as via Zoom. The shorter courses are accessed online through the diocesan website.
Another important part of the PSO’s role is to ensure that DBS checks are done when needed. The church offers a wide range of activities for all ages and DBS checks are necessary for those involved with children’s activities and in some other positions. These are usually straightforward, and the form is completed online.
Information on safeguarding can be found on the Diocese of Southwark website: htps://www.southwark.anglican.org
There is also a poster displayed in the back of the church. If you are interested in training or have any queries or concerns, please feel free to speak to me, Vicky or Mandy.
Ruth Ruocco Brown
Outreach
2023 was another busy
year with the Outreach team putting on lots of events for all in the Community to enjoy. Some of the events which took place were:
A fun filled Quiz Night in March and a second one in October.
A great evening - Olde Tyme Music Hall with a Fish & Chip supper.
Easter services and events including an Easter Eggstravaganza in the Jubilee Garden with animals, a play, an Easter egg hunt, refreshments, music and games.
A Coronation Garden Party to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III, with lunch, music and a suitably themed quiz.
The Summer Fair was held in June and was well attended by many in the community and enjoyed by all. It raised about £1500 for the church. A huge thank you goes to all helpers and stall holders who helped to make this fair such an enjoyable day.
Harvest Bring & Share Lunch - this was well attended and the food was delicious.
In November, we were entertained with Country & Western music by a Dolly Parton Tribute act.
December and the festive season started with our Light in the Dark event held in the Jubilee Garden. The garden was beautifully decorated with lights and there was a fire act, laser tag, make a Christingle, great food and refreshments and Santa's Grotto.
The Christmas Eve Crib service was well attended and a beautiful service.
Thank you to all who have supported us during this year by organising, helping at or attending our events.
The Outreach Committee is a small group of people who plan these events and we are always looking for new events that can be enjoyed by the community and raise funds for the Church, so if you have any ideas or would like to get involved, you would be very welcome.
Look out for our future events and sign up via the link on the front page of our website (www.inthevale.org.uk) to receive emails about these events.
Lorna Ailes
Monday Afternoon Club
We
meet at 1.30pm for tea/coffee and cake, followed by an activity from 2-3pm. We regularly have quizzes and games. Sometimes we get creative and have a go at crafts including making Easter decorations. Among the highlights this year were a song and dance performance from Katie Lewis with “Tap about Town”, Mandy giving a presentation on her Camino pilgrimage and a visit to the Royal Hospital Chelsea. Did you know that the Chelsea
pensioners have an annual ceremony of Christmas cheeses which involves cutting a wheel of cheese with a sword. In the Summer we plan a return to Chelsea, this time to see the Physic Garden.
There are currently about fifteen regular members, however we always look forward to welcoming new faces. If you would like to join us or make enquiries on behalf of someone else, please do get in touch with me. I would also be very interested in hearing from anyone who would like to give a talk or lead an activity for the club.
We are greatly appreciative of the grant from The Kingston Vale Trust to the PCC, which helps to fund our club through the year and would like to thank the trust for their support.
Ruth Ruocco Brown
Coffee Morning
Our group gathers on Wednesday morning between 11 and 12 each week in the Andrews Wing.
We have coffee or tea and a choice of cakes. It's always a good time for a chat. Crosswords are a firm favourite and word puzzles which, as Hercule Poirot would say, keep the little grey cells alive.
Our big thanks to Penny for continuing to organise the coffee mornings which she has done for so many years.
Just pop in if you are passing by on a Wednesday morning and you will be more than welcome.
Jo Hirst
Orchard Church
Orchard church is an outdoor church group for children at St John the Baptist which is now been going for just over 3 years it has a strong ethos of being closer to nature and in turn being closer to God.
Orchard church meets every Sunday for 1 hour from 10.30 till 11.30 am
in the St John’s Jubilee gardens/orchard amongst our beautiful veteran apple trees we also make fantastic use of the log cabin as a central meeting point and when the weather is not so friendly we retreat to the Andrews wing.
We do crafts and activities every week that we try to keep everything as environmentally friendly and natural as possible.
The children are 3 years upwards and we have a small group that attend regularly and a few others that attend when they can. During 2023 the group has grown bigger.
To enhance our outdoor space, we created a secret garden space where we can tell stories and do activities. Thank you to all of you that helped this become real.
We have a wonderful group of 3 regular volunteers all fully DBS checked that take turns in supporting myself to run Orchard church and we hope that a there is a few others that will join us shortly. I would like to thank everyone that has helped and shown support during 2023.
As well as Orchard church we have also started with the help of Rev Lindiwe Maseko an Outreach Messy church at Newlands Hall Putney vale estate and I would also like to say Thank you to all those that have helped and supported this to take place.
We also held a 3-day summer holiday club called Eco Heros that connected looking after our environment with the Bible and was well attended.
Recently we formed a youth council, and we are in the early days of forming a youth groups.
2023 has been a great year hopefully in 2024 Orchard church and other children’s activities will continue to grow we are still in need of volunteers longer periods or even if it’s only occasional short periods your help would be very much appreciated, please get in touch to discuss.
Vicky Capanna
Treasurer’s report for 2023
Just over a year ago I became Treasurer this wasn’t an easy task as I received no handover and church affairs were in some what a muddle.
The treasurer’s role was divided between Mel our accountant and me.
It has probably taken most of the past year to become reasonably comfortable in what I am doing, and I am now able to answer most questions.
Between myself, Mel and Mandy along with the finance committee I believe we have now managed to straighten most things out including unpaid bills and payroll and put budgets back in place.
This coming year and possibly next are going to be challenging with the loss of the nursery in October 2023 weekday mornings this is a huge loss to the churches income and we are exploring ways fill this gap.
I would like to thank all those who have given financially to the church which with the gift aid claimed make up an increasingly significant part of the church’s income.
I would also like to thank all those who volunteer their time, effort, and skills to support the churches running.
Vicky Capanna
You have read what we have been doing. St John’s Church needs it’s members, that’s to serve God and the you community into the future. Please consider joining the PCC to shape the church’s future.
Might you be a churchwarden? We welcome the whole diversity of people. Please speak to Mandy, Bev or Moon about these roles or any other way you could be involved.
Charity number1171550 STJOHN THE BAPTISTCHURCH, KINGSTON AND PUTNEY VALE Financial Statement5 of the Parochial Church Council For the year ended 31" DECEMBER 2023
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Charity number1171550 Independent examiner's report to the PCC of St John the Baptist Church Klngston and Putney Vale I report on the financial statements of the PCC for the year ended 31 December 2023, which are set out on the accompanying pages, in respect of an examination carried out in accordance with the Church Accounting Regulations I'the Regulations'l and the Charities Act 20111'the 2011 Art'l. Respective responsibilities of PCC and the independent examiner The PCC are responsible for the preparation of the f inancial statements. The PCC considers that an audit is not required for this year under section 144121 of the 2011 Act and that an independent examination is needed. It is my responsibility to- examine the financial statements under section 145 of the 2011 Act to follow the procedures laid down in the general Dirertions given by the Charity Commission lunder section 14Sl5bll of the 2011 Act) to state whether particular matters have come to my attention Basis of independent examiners report My examination was carried out in accordance with the general Directions given by the Charf(y Commission and the Church Guidance, 2c6 edition, issued by the Finance Division of the Archbishop's Council. An examination includes a review of the financial records and a comparison of the financial statements presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the financial statements and seeking explanations f rom the PCC concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in a full audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the f inancial statements present a 'true and fair view, and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below. Independent examiner's statement In connection with my examination, no matters have come to my attention: 111 which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements.. To keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act; and To prepare financial statements which accord with the f inancial records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Charities Act have not been met 121 to which attention should be drawn, in my opinion, to enable a proper understanding of the financial statements to be reached. Nigel Waine Independent Examiner