Following Jesus, Serving our Community
Financial Statements and Associated Reports for 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021 presented to the Annual Parochial Church meeting held on 3rd April 2022
Registered Charity No. 1173332
Holy Trinity with St Mark
Index to the Financial Statements Year ended 31[st] December 2021
-
Vicar’s Report
-
Independent Examiners’ Report
-
Financial Accounts
-
PCC Report
-
PCC Secretary’s Report
-
Church Warden’s Report
-
Chair of Governor’s Report – Holy Trinity Rosehill Primary
-
Chair of Governor’s Report – St Mark’s Primary School
-
Boomerang Report
-
Electoral Roll Report
-
Safeguarding Officer’s Report
-
Magazine Report
-
Music Report
-
Fundraising/Social Events and Cafe Generate Report
-
Trinity Tots Report
-
Ignite Youth Club
-
Deanery Synod Report
Holy Trinity with St Mark
1. Vicar’s Report
Rev’d Paul Neville, Vicar’s Report to the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) Sunday 3rd April 2022
Following Jesus, Serving our Community.
Welcome to Holy Trinity with St Mark APCM, and thank you for those joining us here today and those following online.
The Annual Parochial Church Meeting - (APCM) is a legal requirement when the PCC present financial accounts and reports from all departments of our Church, and where we are reminded of our purpose and calling as the Church in this community that is…
The Church is called to be pastoral – to look after the individual people; to be evangelistic – to tell people the Good News and invite them to accept it; to be social – to help the poorer members of society, and those suffering from racial, economic and other forms of injustice; and to be ecumenical – to encourage good relations with other Christian denominations.
January 2021 –December 2021 continued to set its own challenges for us as a church but during the past year began to see things easing with Covid 19 and the restrictions on our lives and church life. At Easter 2021we re-opened under the then current Covid regulations set out by the diocese of Durham. Although the numbers of those in attendance on Easter morning was an encouraging sign, the numbers who followed in the pursuing months was around half of what we had been seeing before Covid19.
The church team and PCC worked very hard in ensuring that we followed the guidelines to ensure that church was as safe as we could possibly make it for those who entered our building.
At the 10.00am morning service we have developed the live streaming of our service to help engage those that are still a little anxious about coming to church in person. It seems that live streaming will continue to be a permanent practice of the church moving forward. In order for us to do this in the best way we could we need to upgrade some of our technology and broadband speed to manage the live video link.
We continued to see so many of our church members tackling the challenges of Online meetings, such as Zoom and Facebook, and What’s App, and the new challenge of online worship and prayer. I must mention at this point my gratitude to both Margaret Blake who has relentlessly provided music each Sunday for church and our online worship, as well as the newcomers to our music group, David Patterson, Anne Daley and Pat Prosser. Thank you to Gemma Robson for putting together the on screen services and music each Sunday and also Millie Ford for operating the screens while Gemma sings in the group. I have been so blessed to see the determination of you all in getting to grips with social media and IT devices. In addition, the clear deepening of faith and of relationships was an unexpected blessing. That continues to be very evident.
Holy Trinity with St Mark
The unity in the Spirit, under restricted movement has somehow enabled our love for one another to deepen. I feel that we have learnt afresh what the church is for and what we mean to each other. Every time I made an appeal for help in the delivery of flowers, cakes, Advent goody bags, notice sheets, leavers Bibles for our Holy Trinity Year 6 leavers or anything else, we had an amazing response. We have truly pulled together, and continue to do so. During the past year we have once again said goodbye to some of our church members, who continue to be greatly missed.
I want to thank our churchwardens – Barbara Porritt, Gemma Robson, supported by Barry Winter and Ivor Cassell, for everything they have done in helping me to adjust and enable the church to function in a new way under Covid regulations. Thank you for your remarkable commitment to serving our church and God’s purpose for us.
Thank you to Doreen Crinson for her role as PCC secretary, and coordinating our baptism ministry which has now been passed to Connie Robinson to enable Doreen to focus on the work of PCC secretary. Thank you to Sue Gordon for the way that she has continued to keep our church administration running under challenging circumstances. My thanks to Kelly Adekunle for her work as Parish Safeguarding Officer.
The Pandemic continues its impact on church finances. I shared this very serious matter in detail with those of you who joined me online and What’s App last year. The annual accounts, which you can see, speak for themselves. The overall annual income of 2021 is down by approximately 60% but improving slightly each month. We had to draw monies from our reserves to pay our financial commitments; those reserves are now no longer available to us. Last year I made a number of appeals to the wider church family for a review of giving, which has improved somewhat but not significantly so. I have had the blessing of working closely with
Mike Blake and Sue Gordon who have almost worked miracles in managing to reduce our outgoings to help ease the pressure. I am and we should be extremely grateful for the relentless work in managing our finances from Mike and Sue, this has been hugely challenging for two years now.
The diocesan board of finance agreed to our parish share pledge for 2021-22 of £37,000 to enable us to make ends meet. I am deeply grateful for the support of the Archdeacon and the deanery clergy. The PCC has fulfilled its pledge in full.
This aspect has been a very heavy burden, one which I have shared with you all as much as I can because this is our church, you’re part of it and I know you cherish all that being the church means. We are a long way from turning the corner financially, even though we may be seeing the corner turning where the Corona virus is concerned. It may take years to get to a less vulnerable place. It is in this regard that I appeal yet again to those who may not have had the chance to review their giving to do so as soon as is practicable, and I include myself in this with you.
I want to thank those of you that responded so quickly and generously to the appeal for more giving, bless you, and I know that God will bless you too.
It was wonderful to see Ignite reopen with a disco enjoyed by one hundred young people from our church schools. We have advertised the vacant post of youth leader twice during the past year with little success so far. We will continue to look for the right person with a love of young people and gift for youth work to come and work with our brilliant team of volunteers.
Holy Trinity with St Mark
The impact of two years of Covid restrictions had a huge impact on Boomerang; like so many organisations the past year continued to be a challenge in every way. 2021 continues to reveal the tenacity, faith and commitment from Jo and our lovely staff that has enabled Boomerang to almost rebuild so much that seemed lost with numerous lockdowns and the changing ways in which children were looked after. Thanks to Jo and staff, with the support from the management team, Barbara Burns, Gemma Robson, Barry Winter, Jo Ford-Leadbeater and myself, have done everything we could to navigate through these unknown waters. It has been both a relief and a blessing to see Boomerang beginning to flourish again. It has been wonderful to hear from parents of just how important Boomerang is to the life of our community.
On reflection I am of the belief that there is a very real correlation between fellowship and well-being, sharing our lives, supporting each other and worshipping together is good for not only the soul but for our mental well-being, spiritual well-being and our physicality. We must continue practising our faith and hope together, reassuring each other and drawing closer to God. Please
Pray for the church to continue to re-emerge with a new sense of purpose in mission, prayer worship and in service.
We have re-discovered a new and real sense of appreciation for each other and a deepened love of God. This is what we must not lose, we have indeed been in a kind of exile, but we must keep hold of all that God has taught us, shown us and enabled in us as we move forward into a new more normal life together.
Thank you to our wonderful church family who have supported each other through a second year of the most difficult time we have ever seen.
As we approach Easter let us remember that Christ is Risen over every circumstances of life.
Thank you all once again for being a blessing to me and to Christine.
Peace and Joy
Rev Paul
Holy Trinity with St Mark
2. Independent Examiner’s Report
Independent Exarniner's Report Inde ndeni Examiner's R rt to the PaThla1 Chur¢h Council pcc Rewrt to the PCC on my examinatton of the accounts of the Church for the year ended 31 D¢¢¢mkr 2021 .h1th ciwnprisc the 5talertKni of Financial Aciivities. the Balance Shccl and the Notes to the ACLEI$ RESPONSIBILITIES AND BASIS OF REPORT As rneTnbers of the PCC vou are reSrmSib1e for the preparation of the COUnts in accordance with ih¢ Charitits Ath 2011 lthc Actl I rep)rt in respeci of my ¢xamInl0 (pcthe Cbur¢h-s ¥c¢out)s earried oui und¢r S¢ciiDn 145 of the Act and in carTrryn8 Out tny eLarninaiion I have followed all rhe applicable direaions ¥iVLT bv thc Chatiiy Cotnmi55ion urLdcr sLrtion 145{5Xbl of the AL#. INDF.PF.NDF_NT F.X.4MlfygR'.S STATEMENT I huic compl¢lLYJ ]lly Cxdtnination. I cotLfJrm thai no material rnattas have come lo my tteniion in conn&xion with tbe ¢x8minaii4M giving m¢ cause 10 believe ih¥i in any material respect. l. A¢¢ovnbthgrewth TLOt kLTrt in of the Churdj as rquired by Section 130 ofthe Act.. or 2. The accounts do accord uilh those record5. I have no concerns 9nd have no matt•s itt eOt)n¢dion with my exaTnÈnation to which attention should be drawn in this rerffi in order to enable a prnper urtd¢rstar)(linbr of awounts lo be readja. Si1.. Dat&l.. Holy Trinity with St Mark
- Financial Accounts l.TaxEtr**iT PLlnrt¢¢kn# SOIO 33J16 .on 103 9?21 9.729 9F19 gm6 1958 IQQrrtuds1terey 211 12.S¢ywSluth(Ib 12 J162 3997 821 34.371 Holy Trinity with St Mark
19 ss Ji 175U g¢• I07ll iy Holy Trinity with St Mark
Notes on Funds funds represeffl fvndr4i5ing for 3 5pgcific PTDie¢t foT Youth Work and the employTneni ora Yourh Ivorkcr r(b 5UPWrt ourcommuniiy. (knyouth W'orker 'aS ployd W4inJe Septujther ?018. The Ckw Fwxl s a0 a de&gJatd fijnd forexpen5es ofthe dK>rr. St MJA"s eapithl Futhl is k*ld tith thtrham DiLxesan Boatd of Fitwce. is unr¢strid¢d )ThJ r¢gord¢d by the Pccas fLY use EO Sup[ the FWi5h. Apwovd byth¢ Paro¢hi•l Churth CowKil IPCCI aTh] SIS] on tknibthlalf. IMu)istw for Ho]y Trirrity with Si Mark) PCC Mcmber) IDaEel Indepetthi Exarnirtr. Mrj Gates 105 Upsall Gro Fairfiejd StLxkion-on-Ttts Holy Trinity with St Mark
4. PCC Report
PCC Report
Minutes of the Vestry Meeting held 25th April 2021
Welcome. Chairman Rev’d Paul Neville welcomed everyone and opened the meeting with prayers. Rev’d Paul thanked Sue Gordon for compiling the Reports for Annual Parochial Booklet.
Minutes of the Vestry Meeting – held 25[th] April 2021 were read approved and signed as a true record.
Election of Church Wardens:
Mrs Barbara Porritt:- (proposed by Barry Winter, seconded by Sue Gordon)
Mrs Gemma Robson :- (proposed by Barry Winter, seconded by Sue Gordon)
They were duly elected at the meeting.
Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) 25th April 2021
Minutes of the Annual Parochial Church Meeting - held on 25[th] April 2021 were read, approved and signed. There were no Matters Arising.
Rev’d Paul mentioned the 3 year rotation programme we usually operate for the PCC was held in abeyance last year which means this will be operated at APCM 2022.
Deanery Synod was mentioned but the current Rep’s were elected in October 2020 which means they will not need to be elected at present. There have been no Deanery Synod Meetings but once they start again, if anyone is interested in becoming a Deanery Synod Representative to represent Holy Trinity with ST. Mark, contact Rev’d Paul.
It is hoped to start the meetings again in June 2021.
Presentation of Accounts:- The PCC ratified the accounts at their PCC meeting for presentation at the APCM. The accounts have been independently assessed. These accounts are significantly improved from 2020 but are still a long way from how they were before Covid. With income being restricted in the present circumstances, we need to be mindful of our commitments and that our giving reflects the running costs of the Church.
If you have any ideas about how we can address our giving and the finances, all ideas are gratefully received. Our Parish Share was reduced, with the Bishop’s agreement, by £2,000 per month due to our limited income. This is only a temporary measure. A question was asked “Do we have to pay any monies back” This does not have to be repaid as it’s due to the current Covid situation which is beyond our control.
Rev’d Paul thanked Michael Blake, our Treasurer, for all his worked involved in preparing the accounts.
Rev’d Paul thanked Sue Gordon for a good job in doing the Gift Aid and re-claiming the Tax back on giving. Rev’d Paul Neville signed the accounts.
Holy Trinity with St Mark
Church Report
The number on the Electoral Role has gone down from 145 to 137. Sadly 4 people have died and 4 have moved.
Rev’d Paul thanked Barbara Porritt and Gemma Robson for all their unending work as Church Wardens and also Ivor Cassell and Barry Winter who are happy to remain as Deputy Church Wardens. Thanks to John Hearn for all his work in helping Rev’d Paul out in assisting and also taking services.
Rev’d Paul had a Ministry Development Meeting with the Bishop and he was asked what he thought the next step was in his ministry. Rev’d Paul said he was not looking to move and felt the best way forward was to stay where he was especially in the current situation with Covid. He felt in the next 2 or 3 years he had a duty to try and pull back and recover from the impact of Covid and he felt it was morally wrong to leave. He hoped the congregation were happy with that decision.
The Bishop said he was happy with Rev’d Paul to stay at Holy Trinity with St. Mark, but suggested he could consider a Sabbatical in 2022.
Retirement for Rev’d Paul will be when he is 68 years of age, he is 60 in 2021.
Rev’d Paul thanked everyone for all that they do and all that has been done.
Holy Trinity with St Mark
Parish Safeguarding Officer. (PSO)
Kelly Adekunle was happy to continue as PSO for Holy Trinity with St. Mark.
Election of Treasurer & Secretary.
Barbara Porritt proposed Mike Blake as Treasurer, seconded by Gemma Robson. All were in Favour.
Sue Gordon proposed Doreen Crinson as Secretary, seconded by Val Robinson. All were in Favour.
The date of the next PCC will be sent to everyone by e-mail.
The meeting closed after prayers.
Holy Trinity with St Mark
5. PCC Secretary’s Report
2021 has been another year with a difference, where masks were the order of the day and coming to terms with a new normality. The PCC met and had lots of interesting discussions regarding all aspects of Church. For anyone considering coming on the PCC we operate a 3 year rolling programme, where you are on for 3 years and then come off for a year and then can rejoin should you wish to. In that way everyone gets a chance to experience being on the PCC and understand the working of the Church. The only difference to that is you are automatically on the PCC if you are on Deanery Synod, the Safeguarding Officer, a Reader, a Church Warden or Deputy Church Warden. Treasurer and Secretary who are elected every year.
Members of the PCC
Rev’d Paul Neville Priest in Charge Eb Adekunle Kelly Adekunle Safeguarding Officer Margaret Blake Mike Blake Treasurer Ivor Cassell Deanery Synod Doreen Crinson PCC Secretary Barbara Darling Kathryn Kennedy Electoral Role Officer Mark Kennedy Bruce Merrick Deanery Synod Barbara Porritt Church Warden Connie Robinson Reader Val Robinson Gemma Robson Church Warden Tony Stewart Barry Winter Deputy Church Warden
Co-Opted Members Barbara Burns Shirley Perkins
Doreen Crinson PCC Secretary.
Holy Trinity with St Mark
6. Church Warden’s Report
Who would have thought we would still be wearing masks and social distancing every Sunday morning since opening again on Easter Sunday. Strange having to book a time and seat for Sunday worship!!
Thankfully Paul kept us all together with weekly Compline and then from Ash Wednesday we held lent discussions on line (or for the more able ones - Zoom) and finally Good Friday reflections. We managed two services on Easter Sunday, finally being able to share communion, listen to hymns and praying together once again with our Church family. Thank you so much to all our "technicians", Paul and Christine who kept us on line each Sunday morning from January to Easter from their kitchen, to Gemma and Millie who keep us right each Sunday and still stream our services on line for those watching and listening from home.
Our WhatsApp group is still keeping us connected and enabling us to support and pray for each other.
Unfortunately we were unable to welcome our American friends from Youth for Christ and therefore unable to have our Camp for Champions in the Summer. Hopefully the lifting of restrictions will allow us to have them back again soon.
A Tuesday morning worship began in September and we were able to have two Carol services in December, one traditional and one Cafe style. We had two Christingle services on Christmas Eve, due to the numbers and was enjoyed by all. Later we had a Midnight service, and a family service on Christmas morning.
The life of our Church has started to get back to some sort of normality, a huge thank you to our talented music group Paul, Margaret, Gemma, Anne, Pat and David, a pleasure to listen to each Sunday.
It has been a privilege to serve another year as Church Warden under the leadership of Paul and the valued support of John, Connie, Gemma, Barry and Ivor. We are so blessed
Barbara Porritt Church Warden
Holy Trinity with St Mark
7 Chair of Governor’s Report – Holy Trinity Rosehill C of E Primary School
We wrote in last year’s report that 2020 was a year like no other, 2021 has been another extraordinary year. We started the year with teachers delivering lessons virtually for children who were at home, and in the classroom for those children still in school. We were able to welcome all children back into school in March. Throughout the year the well-being of our children has been at the heart of our curriculum while they continue to survive and recover as we progress through this pandemic. We have been able to continue daily worship through zoom and welcomed support from Reverend Paul and our friends from Stockton Baptist Church, the Salvation Army, and the Methodist Church.
This year governors, senior leaders, staff and children have worked with Jo Warner from the Diocese to develop our new school vision and values. We feel that our vision reflects what a hidden treasure our school and community is.
Our new vision “let your light shine” is taken from Matthew 5:16
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven”.
Our school values are: Friendship, Endurance, Compassion, Thankfulness and Forgiveness. If you follow our school Facebook page, you will see that a child from each class is rewarded every week for demonstrating one (or more) of our values. We continue to be incredibly proud of all our children who, despite facing incredible challenges this year, continue to shine and bring joy. Visitors to our school and people who welcome our children on school visits always speak passionately about their behaviour and enthusiasm.
The Governing Body would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank staff at all levels for their continued commitment and endurance this year, we pray that this year will prove a little easier. May we also thank our church community for your ongoing support and prayers.
This year we have welcomed new governors to our Governing Body, Andrew McLone, Nicola Butler and Helen Murphy. We would like to thank Gemma Paul for the time that she gave our school as a Parent Governor.
Claire Himsworth Chair of Governors
Andrea Swift Head Teacher
Holy Trinity with St Mark
8. Chair of Governor’s Report – St Mark’s Primary School
Hello, it is always a pleasure to write a short note to keep our community informed of how things are progressing at St Mark’s primary School.
Like everyone the last two years have been very challenging, children’s school and social lives have been turned upside down. There are still lasting challenges for staff and pupils to face as things start to try to get back to some form of normality.
During the pandemic there was a fantastic effort by everyone to engage all children in as much learning time as possible, teachers had to learn new ways of teaching, both recording lessons and live streaming where they could interact with children.
As children returned to school catchup measures have been put in place to great effect, the children have loved been back among friends and back enjoying face to face lessons. The children are thriving and well on the way to making up for lost learning time.
I think everyone’s efforts have paid off as St Mark’s has recently had an Ofsted inspection and received a glowing report, with staff and all children praised for their progress. School has throughout been well advised on covid safety measure, and during a recent Health and safety inspection received praise for how the measures are being managed in school.
Everyone is now ready for the half term break and looking forward to the challenges of a more normal return, where St Mark’s will hopefully be able to welcome the wider community back into school to visit us and see the tremendous work which is ongoing. I am always proud to have an association with St Mark’s school, and thank all staff, children and governors for making it such a lovely place for our children to learn and grow.
Don Allday Chair of St Marks Local Advisory Board
Holy Trinity with St Mark
9. Boomerang Childcare Report
Coronavirus still very much playing a big part in our lives with extra cleaning and hygiene routines and doing all we can to keep the staff and children safe.
It has been another difficult year for Boomerang within both preschool and the church for the smaller children and non walkers. It was decided in November 2021 to extend our service to children from 6 months which meant we had to introduce a new baby area This has been a great success and has brought many new children to be cared for.
Due to the increase in demand for childcare we have employed a new apprentice Holly, and Sophie is working for us on a casual basis to cover holidays and sickness.
Despite the challenges of the year the children have had a great time learning through play. Following our themes and childrens’ interests we have covered, were going on a Bear hunt and The Hungry Caterpillar to name a few. We have sampled Chinese food whilst celebrating Chinese new year.
At Christmas the children made reindeer food to be sold in Sainsbury’s.
In April we will be celebrating 18 years of Boomerang!
Jo Ford Leadbeater Boomerang Childcare Manager
Holy Trinity with St Mark
10. Electoral Roll Report
The number of names presented to the A.G.M. on April 25th 2021 was 137 a decrease of 8 on the previous year.
11. Safeguarding Officer’s Report
1. Report Details
Period of 1 January 2021 – 31 December 2021 Submitted by Kelly Adekunle (Parish Safeguarding Officer) Date: 24 February 2022
2. Disclosures
2 x Disclosures (July 2021 & December 2021)
3. Policy / Procedure The safeguarding policy is displayed on the church notice board. Incident forms are kept in the church office.
4. Contact Information
- Details for Kelly Adekunle PSO (Telephone: 07595 711814) can be found on the church website and notice board.
5. Training
All staff & volunteers should now be up to date with the relevant training for their role.
12. Magazine Report
We did manage to issue one magazine in January/February this year, however, because of Covid regulations it could not be given out to the schools and it was therefore decided to suspend it.
In November/December we produced a newsletter/bulletin delivered to our electoral roll and friends. The reason for this was because not everyone is on WhatsApp or Facebook and we felt the need to reach out to everyone and let them know of events planned for Advent and Christmas.
Most of our advertisers are willing to continue to support us when, and if, we decide to restart our magazine.
Thank you to all who have supported this effort to let people know what events, etc., are being planned.
Anne Daly
Holy Trinity with St Mark
13. Music Report
When the church doors re-opened at Easter 2021, government regulations restricted us from enjoying our ‘normal’ worship. The music group were able to lead singing, remaining socially distanced; after a time, the congregation were able to join in while ‘mumbling behind their masks.’ We are thankful to Gemma and Millie for providing us with the words for our hymns on the screens, due to restrictions on using hymn books. Hymns are chosen to correspond to the gospel, weekly readings and prayers. The joy of singing has helped to bring us back together. It has been a blessing to have Anne, Pat and David join the Music Group.
By September, restrictions had lifted slightly and we enjoyed celebrating the Harvest Festival. In addition an Evening of Harvest Worship was held by candlelight; we enjoyed singing a selection of worshipful hymns together. At Christmas, we enjoyed a traditional service of Nine Lessons and Carols. We also held our popular Cafe Style Carol Evening with songs, readings, mince pies and the joyous Twelve Days of Christmas! We also had a performance from our community choir, led by Gemma, and a solo from Anne. On Christmas Eve, our Christingle Services were enjoyed by all. What a Celebration... not just the chocolate type!
I would like to express my thanks to Val Glasper for her many years of service to our Church.
The Music Group will continue to lead our worship and hope to introduce some new hymns and songs as we move forward into 2022.
Sing to the Lord a new song: sing to the Lord all the earth. Psalm 96.
Margaret Blake
14. Fundraising/Social Events Report and Café Generate Report
2021 has been another challenging year. Our first event after coming back into Church was a Beetle Drive with a Pie and Pea Supper in October. This was well attended and a great time was had by all.
Our Christmas Fair was held in December and was extremely successful with many new stalls including Rev. Paul’s Woodwork Shop.
Gener8 began again in September and has gradually grown in numbers.
Many thanks to the volunteers who continue to give their time shopping, baking, soup making, and waiting on.
So why not come along and enjoy good food and excellent friendly conversation.
Kathryn Kennedy and Barbara Porritt
Holy Trinity with St Mark
15. Trinity Tots Report
Due to lock down we were unable to accommodate Trinity Tots until after the Summer break and we restarted on Thursday mornings only, in September.
We have mostly new mums and grandparents as our earlier tots have moved on to nursery or school but we also welcomed back our childminders who also have new children.
It is an absolute pleasure to be back amongst the young people of our community, making new friends and getting to know them all and encouraging them to stay and have lunch at Generate Luncheon Club.
We did manage a Christmas party and Father Christmas was allowed out of isolation to bring the excited tots a gift.
Thank you so much to Kathryn and Shirley for all their help and support and hopefully we will be able to stay open in 2022, term time only, with no further restrictions.
Barbara Porritt
16. Ignite Youth Club
Ignite reopened on the 22nd October with a disco. We welcomed over 100 children from Year3 to Year8 to join us in a fun filled evening lead by a DJ with music and games. What a successful evening. We charged £2 entrance fee and provided a snack and drink with admission.
We continued with our normal Friday night evening sessions running one group from 6.30pm till 7.30pm during term time only. We charge a £1 entrance fee and have a tuck shop where children can purchase sweets and drinks. New consent forms were filled in by parents/carers and children are registered each week for safeguarding reasons.
We currently have 12 volunteers on a rota and I thank you all for your support and dedication you put into this group.
The numbers have settled to around 50/60 each Friday and the children are thoroughly enjoying themselves.
We look forward to a successful year ahead.
Gemma Robson
Holy Trinity with St Mark
17. Deanery Synod Report
Deanery Synod report 2021
Stockton Deanery Synod met for the first time since the pandemic began in July 2021, and also had meetings in September and November. The Synod is made up from representatives of each parish in Stockton Deanery (stretching from Billingham to Egglescliffe, Sedgefield to central Stockton). Our purpose is to encourage each other in worship and mission, share good practice, hear messages from Durham Diocese and where needed debate topics to pass up to the Diocese.
July’s meeting was held at St Paul’s Newtown and we had an update on the plant from Paul Arnold. We said goodbye and thank you to Sylvia as she retired from St John’s, and welcomed Matt Levinsohn to All Saints’ and St Mary’s. Synod also shared Holy Communion together.
In September we met at Holy Trinity and discussed one of the Diocesan priorities- caring for God’s Creation, and also spent time discussing what synod aims to do over the three year term. Elections for Diocesan Synod were also held.
November’s meeting focussed on the Growth Diocesan priority and we discussed in groups where we are seeing growth in the deanery, and where we have challenges. This will be picked up again in 2022.
Lucy Falcus (Lay Chair)