The ecclesiastical parish of Fen Drayton with Fenstanton Charity number 1173597
Annual report and financial statements of the PCC for the year ended 31 December 2020
| Incumbent | (Priest-in-charge until March | (Bank) Barclays Bank | (Bank) Barclays Bank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020; Rector from March 2020) | The Pavement | ||
| The Rev Rosie Tallowin | St Ives PE27 5AQ | ||
| The Vicarage | |||
| 16 Church Street | |||
| Fenstanton PE28 9JL | |||
| Inspecting architect | Ashley Courtney, RIBA, AABC | ||
| 36 Roseford Road | |||
| Cambridge CB4 2HD | |||
| Aims and objectives | The PCC has the responsibility, in | co-operation with the | |
| incumbent, of promoting the whole mission of the Church in | |||
| the parish and the administration of the necessary funds of both | |||
| its churches and Fenstanton Church Centre. | |||
| Our mission statement calls us: “To grow and develop our | |||
| Christian faith in our community.” Further, | the Diocese of Ely | ||
| requires us to pray to be generous and visible people of Jesus | |||
| Christ. | |||
| Membership of the PCC | |||
| Rector | Rev Rosie Tallowin (ex officio) | Chairman | |
| Licensed Lay Ministers | Harvey Marshall (_ex officio_until APCM | Deputy chairman | |
| 2021) | until APCM 2020 | ||
| Dr Michael Ingham (ex officio) (until | |||
| APCM September 2020) | |||
| Niki Whitby (ex officio) LLM | |||
| representative | |||
| Churchwardens | Philip Blunt (ex officio) | ||
| Ian Hucklesby (ex officio) | Vice-chair from | ||
| September 2020 | |||
| Deanery Synod | Jane Blunt (ex officio) (until APCM | ||
| representatives (to 2023) | September 2020) | ||
| Philip Blunt (ex officio) | |||
| Sub-warden | Phil Christie (ex officio) (until APCM | ||
| September 2020) | |||
| Elected to 2021 | Stephen Wilson | ||
| Lorraine Orbell | |||
| Gwen Tucker | |||
| Alex Jaggs | |||
| Elected to 2022 | Julia Mitchell | ||
| Keith Page |
Rector: The Rev Rosie Tallowin
| Keith White | ||
|---|---|---|
| Paul Housego | ||
| Elected to 2023 | Katie Hucklesby | |
| Caroline Stevens | ||
| Phil Christie | ||
| Christine Harris | ||
| Appointed | Ian MacKellar (also_ex officio_as | Secretary |
| diocesan synod lay member) | ||
| Christine Harris (co-opted until | Treasurer | |
| September 2020) | ||
| Church officers | Parish electoral roll officer | Anne Groome |
| Organists and choir leader | Keith Page | |
| Alex Jaggs | ||
| Bell captain (Fenstanton) | Keith Page | |
| Parish envelope scheme co-ordinator | Julia Mitchell | |
| Flower arranging (Fenstanton) | Carole Crocker | |
| Sacristan (Fenstanton) | Ian Hucklesby | |
| Vergers (Fenstanton) | Jane Blunt | |
| Philip Blunt | ||
| Barrie Ashworth | ||
| Parish children & families co-ordinator | Katie Hucklesby | |
| Parish safeguarding officer | Caroline Stevens | |
| Parish DBS co-ordinator | Julia Mitchell | |
| Church Centre bookings | Pam Hucklesby | |
| Parish website administrator | Keith Page | |
| Parish health & safety officer | Ian MacKellar | |
| Parish fire officer | Harvey Marshall |
Overview
Rector’s report
Rev Rosie Tallowin
Dear Friends
With the difficult events that took place during PCC year of January to December 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was thought that an overview of the year might be more useful than a booklet of various annual reports. This also takes into account that most committees and groups may not have met as regularly, if at all.
But that does not mean we have not been doing anything as a parish. In fact, we have been just as busy, but differently busy. We have had to explore new ways of gathering together for worship, the day-to-day running of the parish, as well as trying to keep in touch with each other, grow together in faith and service our community.
In January and February 2020, we met in person in our churches. Rather poignantly, our last service together as a parish was for my Institution as Rector on 15th March 2020. This was the last entry in the register until August, when we opened the Parish Church for individual private prayer, following the requirement of providing a Covid-19 mandatory risk assessment for places of worship.
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Although the buildings were closed, the church (body of Christ) were very much alive and a planned service for Mothering Sunday (22nd March) was quickly turned into something in booklet form and sent out by email. Printed copies were available in the church porches. The weekly order of service by email (with printed versions for those without email) continued through the whole of 2020 (and will continue to do so into the foreseeable future). The weekly pew-sheet became a newsletter. Monday evening Night Prayer and Thursday Morning Prayer were available via Zoom. We did what we could and what was permissible with ever-changing restrictions and guidance.
By July, restrictions were being lifted and the PCC agreed that we had a plan to open during August for individual private prayer, on Sunday and Wednesday afternoons, with stewards present. The Parish church was also open for funeral services in church. Sadly, the risk assessment for St Mary’s revealed a leaky roof, which necessitated some urgent minor repairs, so St Mary’s remained closed.
On 6th September 2020, the parish church opened for Sunday services, with a covid-19-secure risk assessment in place. This did mean, sadly, that there was no singing and Holy Communion was received in pews, wafer only. We offered a service of Holy Communion on Wednesday evenings as an alternative to Sundays, so we could safely manage our number for capacity. Our number for capacity was a requirement as a Covid-19-secure venue. For September, the Parish church was open on Sundays after the service for individual private prayer, with our thanks to stewards.
By November, with the numbers of positive Covid cases rising exponentially, the nation faced lockdown 2, the last service in church being 4th November. The planned November wedding was quickly rearranged for the 1st November, at the couple’s request. Fortunately, everything required for the wedding was in place. The Remembrance Sunday service took place on Zoom (from the Vicarage) as did our First Sunday of Advent Sunday morning service and our Christingle service, that afternoon.
On 6th December, we gathered again in the Parish church. All Christmas Services and events had to be planned for either Zoom or in person, according to limitations and restrictions, but we had a good plan which included a parish ‘Giving a Gift’ Service in church, Christmas carols and readings on Zoom, Christmas Eve Crib Service on Zoom, Christmas Eve midnight in person, Christmas Day in person. We produced an Advent pack of activities available for delivery (very popular) and the newsletter included signposting to other services and resources available in the deanery, diocese and nationally. We even managed to produce a Christmas card for both villages (usually just Fenstanton, delivered with the local magazine). N.B. The inclusion of a Christmas card for Fen Drayton was to prove very fruitful.
On Christmas Eve morning it was evident that the virus was present locally in the village, with several cases being reported. It was with sadness we took the decision to offer only services online for the rest of 2020. [It transpired that was exactly the right decision to take as local cases continued to rise with alarming ferocity.]
Our contact with the parish and the wider community during 2020 carried on despite the lockdowns but observing restrictions and limitations. As a parish, we linked into networks and other agencies to offer help where we could. We discovered new ways of serving our community, embraced opportunities to try different things, we shared pastoral joys and sorrows. We were blessed with generosity as our financial position will show. We found creative ways to try to do some of things we would usually do during the year, noting that many of our usual fund-raising ventures had to go on hold.
Looking back in 2020 – committees and groups:
Finance and Fabric reports are covered elsewhere, Restoration and Church Centre reports are below.
Children’s and Family Group continued to meet on Zoom, as did the Parish Pastoral Care Group.
The Howlands Group and the parish website group did not meet; bellringing practice and choir went on hold, as did the Dates Committee and the Churches Together Group. Bible study and prayer groups endeavoured to engage differently, by Zoom and email. The Community Fund had one application,
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which was successful. An emergency fund to help with food for those in need was set up during the pandemic due to the generosity of several kind financial donations specifically for that purpose. All those who received help were then referred to the St Ives foodbank for ongoing support. The Fenstanton Community Café arrived in June 2020 but not in a physical presence. A virtual café was set up and run via Zoom, attracting people from a very wide area, including a hospital bed.
All in all, a challenging year but one that taught us much about ourselves, our churches and our community.
My thanks to all who have helped in large and small ways to keep us encouraged, inspired us and supported us in so many ways. Thank you! This year has truly been a team effort and every person has made a contribution to the life of the churches in our lovely parish of Fen Drayton with Fenstanton, one way or another.
God bless, Rev Rosie
Churchwardens’ commentary
Philip Blunt and Ian Hucklesby, wardens
No doubt every churchwardens’ annual report throughout the country will start with a comment about how challenging a year 2020 has been as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. This one is no exception. Extensive closures of the churches in response to the government's lockdown measures have been regrettable but necessary to protect congregations and clergy alike as we played our part in trying to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and follow diocesan guidelines on Covid safety measures.
We are very fortunate that our rector and PCC have risen magnificently to the occasion and have found ways to mitigate the challenges posed by the pandemic and the consequential limitations on normal church activities. Not only have opportunities for regular worship continued without a break in one form or another but that all-important sense of fellowship has been maintained through the medium of Zoom video-conferencing, at least for those who have access to it. Valiant and imaginative efforts by the Children and Families Group have also contributed to the cohesion of family fellowship.
References to computer applications also reminds us how fortunate we are that younger members of our congregation with their tech-savvy gifts have stepped up to the mark to devise a user-friendly system for accessing virtual worship services and church meetings. We are very grateful to them for the time and effort they have put in to developing and maintaining these systems.
Amazingly, and despite the lack of most of our regular fundraising activities and plate collections, church finances have held up well to the extent that we have been able to maintain all our financial obligations and end the year with a small surplus in the general fund. This is an undoubted tribute to the diligence and hard work put in by our treasurer, assisted by Lorraine Orbell, as well as the loyal members of the congregation who contribute so generously through the Parish Giving Scheme and in other ways. Regular charitable giving has been maintained but, sadly, due to our inability to hold dedicated fund-raising for our charity of the year, we were unable to make donations to it in 2020, but the PCC has agreed to retain The Mission to Seafarers as our charity for 2021. The treasurer’s report below testifies to the time and effort that she has put into the stewardship of the church’s finances and we are very grateful to her.
As far as the fabric of the church property in the benefice is concerned, it is a mixed picture. The parish church of St Peter and St Paul has benefited from being open intermittently during the year and has retained a reasonably lived-in and tidy appearance. However, there has been some seasonal ground movement in the north-west corner of the church which has caused some cracks to open up and some disturbance to the masonry of the vestry window in the north wall, which has required some temporary
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supporting measures and restriction of access to some areas. The DAC [diocesan advisory committee for the care of churches] has recommended detailed monitoring of the situation and it is hoped to implement this, starting next year. There have been no changes to the furniture, fixtures and fittings of the parish church except that a small oak table was acquired for use as a nave altar in early 2020. This acquisition was made as a preliminary step in a more comprehensive re-ordering of the church intended to allow some surplus items of furniture to be removed and to adapt areas of the church to suit the current pattern of worship and fellowship. However, the re-ordering planning process which was started at the end of 2019 was abruptly halted by closure of the church in March 2020 and initial consultation with the DAC has yet to be progressed to the Faculty application stage. The next quinquennial inspection for St Peter and St Paul’s is due in late 2021.
By contrast, St Mary’s at Fen Drayton, closed since the start of the pandemic, has not fared so well. Bats decided to rear their young in the vestry in spring, the consequences of which are not difficult to imagine. A leak occurred in the nave roof gutter in the south-east corner, for which emergency repairs were completed in December 2020 but not before causing further deterioration of the plaster to the clerestory wall in that area. The fall of plaster from the west wall that had occurred late in 2019 putting the children’s area out of use continued to add to St Mary’s woes. By agreement with the DAC, the quinquennial inspection of St Mary’s was brought forward and completed in January 2020. The QI report highlighted the poor condition of the nave roof, among other defects, and resulted in the church being added to the Heritage-at-Risk register.
There has also been some good news for St Mary’s in that the PCC obtained a grant of £17,300 from the Covid-19 Emergency Heritage at Risk Response Fund administered by Historic England. After a protracted application process led by Phil Christie (to whom and the others involved our grateful thanks are due), the award was announced in December 2020 and will enable repairs to the west wall and tower trapdoor to be completed and will also fund the architect’s fees for the design and specifications of a major restoration project on the nave roof (the first step in obtaining funding for roof repairs). The only changes to the contents of St Mary’s have been the acquisition of two heavy-duty cylindrical fan heaters while two older convector heaters were removed.
Review of PCC activity 2020
Secretary: Ian MacKellar
We entered 2020 with nothing more pressing on our collective mind than a possible date for when Rev Rosie, our priest-in-charge, might be collated and inducted as vicar or, as it transpired, Rector, so that marriages might continue to be celebrated at St Mary’s, Fen Drayton. When we mortals make plans, the Good Lord has a quiet chuckle. Although Rev Rosie was installed at a joyful service in March – a week before the first national covid lockdown – there has still not been a marriage service at St Mary’s for almost five years (and counting). There have nonetheless been several ‘firsts’. The few that were not pandemic-driven included the installation of wi-fi in the Church Centre and parish church (aided by a grant from Fenstanton Parish Council) and the introduction to both churches of devices to read credit and debit cards – even if we had scant use of them during the year.
No sooner had Rev Rosie been ‘upgraded’ to Rector – even if her emolument did not qualify for any consequent enhancement (though she surely earned it during the last three quarters of the year, and since) than the world was turned on its head by Covid-19. Since mid-March, it fell to the PCC, so far as church services and alternative worship arrangements were concerned, to defer to the judgment of the Rector and churchwardens and formally to endorse their decisions. Elaborate distancing and sanitary arrangements enabled forms of church worship in Fenstanton during the autumn, but in December, rising rates of local infection compelled the PCC to ask the Bishop of Ely formally to agree that public
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health prudence necessitated keeping both churches closed for all but socially-distanced funerals. He did. (St Mary’s was in any case closed for unrelated structural safety reasons.)
Thirty-five years after first becoming a PCC secretary (when the task was rather less onerous and I had more than enough else to do), this is the last PCC report I expect to write. It could not have come at a more challenging time, and I wish my successor fairer weather in the coming years.
There were 125 names on the parish electoral roll at the start of the year, and 121 at the end. Four names were deleted following moves out of the parish, including one who was ordained, and one person died. One name was added to the roll.
For the record, the PCC has complied with the duty under section 5 of the Safeguarding and Clergy Discipline Measure 2016 (duty to have regard to House of Bishops’ guidance on safeguarding children and vulnerable adults).
The PCC met physically three times during the course of the year (January, February and March), four times by way of video-conference and twice ‘virtually’ by email (a phenomenon now recognised officially by the Church Representation Rules under which we operate). Attendance at PCC meetings has averaged around 86 per cent. With a total of 22 potential members at the start of the year, nearly half of them serving by virtue of some other position in the parish, deanery or diocese, and just 12 of them elected, it would be surprising if everyone managed to attend every meeting. We did, however, achieve 100 per cent attendance on two occasions towards the end of the year by virtue of video-conferencing from our own homes. Notwithstanding the benefits for attendance, the medium is not, in my opinion, a substitute for physical presence in the longer term.
The work of the parish went on, however, in particular compliance with safeguarding and employment legislation, including the appointment of a new safeguarding officer and another PCC member coordinating Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks. Training in safeguarding of young people and vulnerable adults is more or less up to date, but some DBS checking for PCC members remained outstanding at the year-end.
With safeguarding in mind, the PCC started work on a policy for the use of both church for purposes other than worship, but that took second place to measures to enable socially-distanced use of St Peter and St Paul while the risk of infection lasted. (St Mary’s was put out of use because it was not possible to comply with social distancing regulations.)
It became clear before the first lockdown that our pattern of worship across the two churches required amendment to enable the Rev Rosie to give due attention to both congregations. That will be an issue for the future. In the meantime, the Rector, in close collaboration with Katie Hucklesby and others, produced every week from March onwards a form of Worship at Home , which proved extremely popular not just with regular churchgoers who were prevented from attending but with others unable or unwilling to attend but nonetheless seeking spiritual succour. Building on that will be another challenge for the PCC in the future.
In addition, Rev Rosie took the initiative of setting up a ‘Community Café’ in Fenstanton, with some financial help from the parish council, though that had to become ‘virtual’ even before any physical meeting could be achieved. (Fen Drayton already had one, in which a number of parishioners took part.)
Pandemic restrictions prevented much social intercourse after March, but parishioners kept in touch with those in the community who were disadvantaged by enforced isolation, restrictions on movement or for other reasons.
Work on our Development Action Plan was stalled by the pandemic, but development action continued, most notably in the work of Katie Hucklesby and her group with families and children.
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Fenstanton Church Centre closed with the first lockdown in March and remained closed for the rest of the year, though some grants became available to defray the costs of ‘mothballing’ without letting income. When it became clear that the tenancy of the former schoolmaster’s house would become vacant in the autumn, plans were put in place for major modernisation work to be carried out in early 2021. Plans to convert part of the former school gymnasium into a second letting property were also taken forward.
The PCC concluded its November meeting by acknowledging the additional workload placed on the Rector by the pandemic and thanking her for rising so heroically to the challenge of keeping the parish ‘connected’ throughout the period when physical meeting was discouraged, curtailed or prohibited.
Its last (virtual) meeting resolved to ask the Bishop to agree to the parish’s suspending routine worship in church until the risk of infection had subsided.
Huntingdon Deanery Synod did not meet during 2020, thought its standing committee met ‘virtually’ to sustain its business. A new synod was formed in December 2020 following delayed parish annual meetings.
Reports of activities 2020
Finance
Treasurer: Christine Harris
This was a year unlike any other. Despite the fact that both churches were closed for a lot of the year, it was still a very busy year across the accounting function. A lot was achieved during the year in the most difficult of circumstances and we should be very proud that we maintained all of our financial commitments.
The Parish Giving Scheme is now well established. At the end of December there were 35 donors across the parish in the scheme (we lost one member during the year). There are 13 donors still paying by standing order. The total received including Gift Aid was £39,245, which is amazing. Approximately 37 per cent of the donors have index-linked their donations in line with inflation.
Our regular payment of £150 per month to Aquaid continued, as well as the regular commitment of £50 to the Community Fund.
With the help of Owen, (a big thank you, Owen) online giving pages were set up for both churches. These helped support the Virtual Open Gardens for Fenstanton with a total of £371 from 13 donations and £806 for Fen Drayton from 10 donations.
As a result of the pandemic the Finance Committee met only four times during the year. All the meetings were very full, with subjects such as fabric repairs, budgeting, dealing with employment law, merging of the accounts discussed, to name but a few.
The pandemic affected so many things in 2020. Sadly, the Restoration Fund for St Peter & St Paul suffered due to the lack of the house-to-house collection in Fenstanton. This normally raises £2,000plus. Also, the Restoration boxes were counted only twice. St Mary’s still went ahead with its Gift Day: this was quite successful, especially as the online giving platform was available.
Thanks to the incredible work of Phil Christie, a grant was secured from Historic England for Restoration work on St Mary’s Church just before the year end. This will enable some of the urgent repairs to be carried out in 2021.
A payroll system was set up to pay our employee, and this is now running smoothly. This did involve a considerable amount of work. The Treasurer attended a webinar in October to learn more about
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employment law and she followed this up with further questions to the solicitor who did the presentation. All necessary controls regarding our commitment as an employer are in place. As well as the employment seminar, the Treasurer attended webinars on ‘Giving in Grace’ and ‘Communicating a Theology of Giving’. If the ACAT conference is held this year, the Treasurer would hope to attend in person.
The new utilities provider for the parish is EDF. There were some early teething problems, but they are now sorted. We pay monthly by direct debit on a budget plan. The accounts were in credit leading up to the end of the year, but the Treasurer secured refunds in time for year-end.
Lorraine Orbell maintains the accounts for St Mary’s Church. During the year we have made massive progress in combining the accounts for the two churches into one parish. Lorraine and I work well together, and the PCC is now presented with accounts and balances for the parish. The Treasurer produced finance reports and actuals versus budget for the PCC meetings when they were held. Going forward, we shall continue to present reports to the PCC on a quarterly basis. The preparation of the accounts for the year-end have involved many hours of work which we hope to streamline for the yearend of 2021.
Looking forward: Once again, this year will be challenging as we are still not through this terrible pandemic. We should be so proud that we paid our Ministry Share in full in 2020, for which we were thanked by the Deanery Treasurer. The Parish Giving Scheme is going online from March 2021. The Treasurer intends to do a re-launch of the scheme as soon as we are back in our churches.
Finally – the Treasurer would like to thank Julia Mitchell for all her support doing the banking, counting etc, Denise Hayles for organising the Restoration boxes and Owen Hucklesby for all things technical! Lastly, thank you to Lorraine for all her help and advice.
Restoration appeal committee
Restoration Committee organised one event in February before the Covid-19 pandemic prevented others happening at all. We held a ‘Dig for Vengeance’ Murder Mystery evening and supper in Fenstanton Church Centre, which was well supported. The first lockdown meant many people spent time working in their gardens and so, as we were unable to ‘Open Gardens’ in Fenstanton in the usual way, we managed to record 22 gardens and a film was made and shared via YouTube. Viewers were encouraged to give a donation after the film ended. Although donations received were well below the norm for this event, incredibly 12,580 people have now watched the film from around the world.
During the summer an online giving platform was set up for each church enabling donations to be easily received although actual events could not proceed in the usual way. Including the money received from easyfundraising, £2,500 has been raised for St Peter and St Paul, Fenstanton (the previous year had been £7,500).
Similarly, in Fen Drayton, events such as the planned concert had to be cancelled and Gift Day could not proceed in the usual way. However, £1,750 has been received for St Mary’s Restoration Fund throughout the year.
As a committee, we are very grateful to the young people who have helped with all matters digital/technical.
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Church Centre
Chairman: Ian Hucklesby
The Church Centre year began well with the installation of Wi-Fi but a few weeks later the building had to close because of the pandemic. During the first lockdown we managed to use the ‘window of opportunity’ to contract our decorator to repaint the main areas that had begun to show wear and tear.
With the Church Centre closed, we were looking at a £8,000 reduction in rental income (based on the previous year’s figure). We applied to Huntingdonshire District Council for a discretionary grant to offset the lack of income (to cover ongoing costs eg Wi-Fi, insurance, utility bills) and this application was successful, along with a further application later in the year. We are very grateful to HDC for this support of our community building.
The long-standing tenant at The Old School House gave notice in the autumn and a small team of skilled and knowledgeable volunteers began planning a major refurbishment of the property before new tenants would be sourced.
Children and Families Group
Chair: Katie Hucklesby
The Children and Families Group has continued to meet throughout the year both in person and then virtually via Zoom. While we couldn’t always continue with in person children’s activities we have for every single week produced activities and crafts based on our worship theme. If we were able to worship in church, each child had the opportunity of an individual pew pack but, if we had worship via Zoom, activities were included in the Worship at Home booklet. Whether in person or virtual worship, children and young people have been encouraged to take part in our services and share the activities and their news. While not able to meet in person, the few moments of chat with families and our young people after an online service has been much enjoyed.
Throughout the pandemic we have tried to maintain a link with all our children and families through termly emails (those shielding have in addition received a weekly text) including offers to pray for them, home-schooling etc and details of events for special seasons and festivals. While children could not attend events we set up an online booking page to request prepared bags and delivered them to their homes. These bags were either used online over Zoom to celebrate together (eg Christingle) or for individual use at home. Bags included activities, crafts, games and simple food and drink snacks. Our deliveries included to children in Swavesey, Lolworth, St Ives, Hilton and Fenstanton. Christingle and Crib service (usually the best attended services in the year) had to move online too. We have shared some of their home-made crafts by display in Fenstanton Church Porch and through social media. Fenstanton Pre-school children joined in with our Remembrance poppy day project, and their painted plate poppies decorated the church gates while their Advent crafts were displayed on the school hall window. It was encouraging to have new families join our online sessions and also ask to be added to our parish circulation lists. Delivery of bags as well as treats like doughnuts at the start of the summer school holidays enabled socially-distanced chats on doorsteps again to maintain links. Support was also encouraged at Harvest for our local Foodbank inviting donations in previously delivered brown paper bags; some were also collected from those shielding. In Advent we also collected over 70 bags of toys and gifts for Cambridgeshire Social Services to share with those in need.
As a way of reaching out to Fen Drayton parishioners, for the first time a Christmas card was designed, including Christmas greetings, prayer and our worship details for Fen Drayton and delivered to every house in the village. Those that were handed over in person seemed to be appreciated.
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Usually, our Jaffa Club children would make cards at Easter and Christmas to deliver to the housebound or older parishioners. This could not happen in the usual way, but cards were still made and sent and children wrote letters and emailed them to be printed and included enabling Covid-safe delivery.
We have been pleased to see a regular cohort of young teenage people joining our worship throughout 2020 and, although one TC session was held at the start of lockdown 1, further sessions were not possible due to workload of leaders. Two of the young people also accepted donations to put together 12 ‘Love in a Box’ shoeboxes in a safe way.
We have been grateful for all the help received from young people to set up Zoom accounts, put together weekly booking websites, appear in and put together short films to support charity appeals etc.
It has been a very different year that on reflection has not been so much families ‘coming to church for worship and workshops’ but much more our reaching out to them through deliveries of activity packs, token gifts and sharing through social media and worship on Zoom and despite living through pandemic and under restrictions our parish families have still generously given (food, gifts, toys) to others in need, for which we are most grateful.
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