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2024-12-31-accounts

Holy Trinity Church without-the-walls Blacon

Norris Road, Blacon, Chester. CH1 5DZ

www.holytrinityblacon.org Registered charity number 1180853

ANNUAL REPORT 2024

CONTENTS Administrative details 3 Ministry report 4 Electoral Roll report 5 Reader’s Report 5 Outreach Project Reports 7-13 Café Manager 7 Gardening Group 8 Bouncing Back, 9 Dementia Support Group Playtots 9 Baby Buddies 11 Holiday Activities 13

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Wednesday Fellowship 14
Safeguarding report 16
General Synod 16
Finance 17
Art Exhibition 19

ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Name of the charity: The Parochial Church Council of The Ecclesiastical Parish of Holy Trinity, (Without the Walls), Blacon. Known as Holy Trinity, Blacon

Charity number: 1180853

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MINISTRY REPORT

As we look at the work of Holy Trinity PCC in 2024, there are Sunday activities, activities on other days of the week, and our relationship with the Diocese of Chester of which we are part. Please look at the reports later in this document for information about our Outreach Project (pages 7-13) and also our connections with Blacon Beacon (page 18), which will give you an idea of what we do during the week.

On Sundays, worship happens at 9.30 and 11.30 each week, thanks to our wonderful ministry team. It was just before Christmas that our Associate

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Bishop Mark came for
confirmations in October
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Minister Revd Anina Thomas indicated to me that she would be leaving us for pastures new (even now she is not certain what that will look like) and on 9[th] February 2025 we said a fond farewell to

her. Nevertheless the rest of the ministry team (Revd Canon Christopher Burkett, and Readers Lindsay Tanner and Sarah Dutton) continue to provide faithful service week by week, and I am very grateful to them for this.

But Sundays would not happen were it not also for many others making things to run smoothly – our sides-people at the 9.30 service, June and Jim Middleton, Joan Duckers and Colin Jones. Clive Upton who has helped in so many ways week by week with the 11.30 service. And the musicians who have at times assisted our worship: John Williams at 9.30, and Mirkku Ridanpaa at 11.30am. In addition, Sarah Mason, Sarah Clarke, Anina Thomas, Linda Tudor and Clare Smith have at different times helped with worship at Messy Church.

The experience on a Sunday would not be the same without refreshments after the 9.30 service (for which thank you to everyone on the ‘coffee rota’) or without the light lunch we serve each week after the 11.30 service.

One highlight of last year’s Sunday worship was in October when Bishop Mark came to confirm Bill Bilson and Jay Chatfield. For that one Sunday, we

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combined the two morning services at 10.30am, and a great sense of fellowship and celebration prevailed. Bishop Mark was also able to bless our Art Exhibition, which had only just opened (more about that on page 19).

Finally, to outline the parish’s relationship with the Diocese – this is visible every time we consult Church House for advice about accounts, or about building matters, about Safeguarding, or about licensed ministers working in this parish. All of these support services, and the Rector’s stipend, come as a result of the Parish Share that we pay – or rather, that we could not afford to pay last year. As I explained to the PCC at the time, the Archdeacon was very understanding of our plight.

At the start of 2025, PCC took the decision to restart paying half of the Parish Share that was due – an improvement on last year, but still not ideal. You need to understand that if as a parish we do not ‘pay our way’ for a significant length of time, when you are next needing to look for a new Rector, the Diocese may consider Holy Trinity Blacon would not have a full time cleric.

Revd Tina Upton

ELECTORAL ROLL REPORT

Last year's electoral roll stood at 94. With the complete renewal of the roll, the new total stands at 56. The number

always reduces when the roll is revised, even though many new people have been added to the roll. If you know anyone who would like to go on the roll please point them in my direction or they can speak to the Rector.

Jason Clarke

Electoral Roll Officer

READER’S REPORT

This has been a somewhat varied year for me, as I continue in my ministry as Reader at Holy Trinity, Blacon.

My role in church includes preaching, leading intercessions and offering the chalice on an average of once a month, based upon my work rota of alternate weekends. I often attend both the 9.30am and 11.30am services, each decidedly different from the other. I do miss conducting Home Communions, but with so little free time from work, it is impracticable. However, when I attend church (on duty or not), I feel blessed to be involved with such a dedicated and loving church family.

I have also been invited to join a group of lay ministers and priests who visit the care home where I work. I have been asked to lead a little service (similar to those we used to do with our local care homes in Blacon, pre-Covid). This will take place once every three months. It is something my residents enjoy greatly, even if they are unable to speak or sing.

Of course, no report of mine would be

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complete without mentioning my Chaplaincy of 610 (City of Chester) Squadron, RAF Air Cadets. To be able to help guide and encourage these young people as they gain confidence in themselves is a wonderful privilege.

I take them over for a Padre’s Hour once a month, when my son joins me in discussions about issues which may affect them – for example, the problems which may occur with social media; where you draw the line; what do you take with you

when you go out (good or bad); and we have even discussed where our food comes from. We are known as a duo – Double Dutts.

As their Chaplain, it gives me the greatest pleasure to host enrolment services at Holy Trinity, where they have become firm favourites among our congregation. Their dress, manners, willingness to answer bombardments of questions, have won them several admirers and ardent supporters at church. The next enrolment service, will be held at church on 10[th] June (6.30pm for 7.00pm). Members of our congregation will be welcome to attend.

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OUTREACH PROJECT

CAFÉ MANAGER’s REPORT

Our Place of Welcome cafes ran on a Tuesday and Wednesday are still a great success. We have a great number of regular customers who enjoy coming in for a catch up with friends or to use available services. We offer drinks, toast and, often, cakes and pastries. With the services available on a Tuesday, the Tuesday remains the more popular cafe but customers who come on Wednesday enjoy coming in at a quieter time and having a chat to staff and volunteers. We also run the chatty table on a Wednesday where customers either sit together to have a chat or staff or volunteers sit with a customer who would like some conversation.

On a Thursday we have our very successful café in the church, which is still loved by many customers, with

some customers still travelling from out of Chester. Recently, we have introduced sausage to the menu, which the customers have been very happy with. This will now be a weekly offering, with us still priding ourselves on very good prices for very tasty food. We have upcoming plans for the café which we are hoping will reach a wider customer base.

There have been several events we have organized this year, our first being the table top sale back in March, which had a good turnout with all stalls booked out. This is something we will look to do again in the future as it has great feedback. Then we held our summer fair, which was a fun day for everyone involved. We raised a good amount of funds from the day and also stall bookings.

The summer fair is always a highlight on the summer calendar and the regular customers look forward to the event to mark the start of summer. In July, we held our second mental health awareness event. We had a fantastic number of organizations and businesses turn up on the day and despite the bad weather, the general feedback was that the event was really helpful for service users, plus a great chance for networking between the organizations. Then in December came our Christmas Fair which is always something to look

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gardening or even experienced gardeners can shy away from a gardening club. Hopefully, we can help you take steps to go along because clubs can be so helpful.

forward to. We had a variety of stalls booked in and again we had our Santas Grotto which was enjoyed by many. The help we received during the organizing of this event, from donating, helping to set up, facepainting and much more, was fantastic and very much appreciated. We made a good amount of funds for the church and look forward to next years Christmas event.

We know there are not many gardening clubs that don’t offer tea and cake. They know how much gardeners need it! Here, at Holy Trinity, we have a wonderful free cafe in the Church Hall So you can sip on a cup of tea and eat some cake or biscuits while chatting to friendly members and others.

Ashley Marshall

It has always been good to pause for refreshments mid-morning and have some interesting, meaningful and humorous chats.

GARDENING GROUP

We have has been meeting on a Tuesday morning for a number years and we appreciate all who have joined us in keeping the grounds in good order and providing a number of small but lovely garden plots. It was our great friend, Sue Mountford, who started the group and invited many to join us.

At this time we are looking forward to attracting others to this event and will look forward to welcoming them.

Jim Middleton

A person who has been with us for a number of years is Pauline, who we must also thank for her knowledge, her hard work and expertise and activities.

Also, Helen, who is a great supporter from Asda works weekly with us and joins in our interesting conversations.

James, on occasions, when he can, works with us too.

We are always pleased to meet and work with like-minded people - to share tips on growing, planting, composting and learning how to live with those garden pests. The benefits of joining a local gardening is that we love to talk about gardening, and many people feel embarrassed to join a club if they have no knowledge of

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BOUNCING BACK

DEMENTIA SUPPORT GROUP

Firstly I would like to thank Tina for letting me start Bouncing Back from Dementia on the first of September 2022. Without your help we wouldn't be where we are now: we hold 3 groups a week. We have approximately 55 members which are all affected by Dementia, this is a self-funding group that relies on donations and fundraising events to help support people living with Dementia.

It's surprising how when most are diagnosed they will withdraw into themselves, what we do is help them start to get their lives together start mixing and talking to each other it's just a way of living. We know how Holy Trinity Church helps so many people different groups of all ages from babies to people in their nineties. I really don't know what the community would do without it.

My name is Jim Ibell and I run Bouncing Back with Dementia, so if you are affected by Dementia in any way pop into the church on a Thursday. I am there

from 10am to 12.00 and have a chat Thursday's is a smaller group so we can just talk so hope to meet you there .

Jim Ibell

PLAYTOTS REPORT

Since I started in late 2023, my “mission” was to add Jesus back into the group, and introduce more opportunities for both the kids and parents/carers to hear about God. I had a few ideas from other Christian playgroups I had been to. Each session starts with a time of free play, and also an opportunity to do crafts, dress up and use all kinds of toys. Then at about 12.30 we serve lunch for the children. After this, we have songs and often the ‘prayer parachute’.

At the end of every half term, we mix it up and we have a “soft play party” so we have the big soft shapes, ball pit and tunnels, slide, balance beams, leap frog,

other movement based toys, plus usually a simple craft like colouring. Then we have bubbles afterwards and trying to regularly have a story from the Rector. We’ve also had monthly input from other churches: Ed Green comes to lead music, and Hannah Clements from Hoole Baptist does biscuit decorating, and also provide Playdough for us.

The song time at the end has changed the most. I don’t usually bother with stories as you have to shout and only a few engage, I think doing a special once end of term story with the vicar works well though. Using a speaker, we play a mix of well known nursery rhymes and then mixing in songs like “Our God is a

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Great Big God” “Our God is so Big” “If I were a Butterfly” and “Reach up High”. Since a year ago I also noticed more engagement with the tidy up time. Where as at first I was doing

doing and I know I could leave her to run the group if for some reason I couldn’t be there. We also have some great engaging parents like Helen Carr who are great at talking with new Mums and joining in enthusiastically at the end.

We could always have more volunteers, it helps to have someone cover the Playdough table and for people to be “floaters” and talk to Mums and carers and engage with the children. With help from Kenny, Sam and Ashley with the chairs and altar moving it does really help with the rest of the set up time and energy expended!

Overall it has been a great year! Most weeks we have about 17 children attending. Many invite friends, but equally kids move on and go to nursery

most of it myself and I also created an easier to tidy up system, with clearly labelled boxes and places for things to go which has helped a lot. Having an extremely consistent volunteer in Rachel has been a HUGE help and I’d struggle without her! She knows what she’s

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or preschool so we lose them in the next terms when Mums need to go back to work. We had an influx of babies this last term, after mostly having an empty baby corner so we had to expand that a bit! But it’s ever changing from week to week so have to stay flexible! One week we suddenly had 28 children! and ran out of places to sit for lunch! But this is fairly rare.

Cat Davis

BABY BUDDIES

April 2025 marks our 4th year of welcoming new mums and their babies into Holy Trinity Church. At its very core the group aims to create a safe, relaxed, friendly and caring environment for new parents and their babies to meet other

new parents and their little ones and to support their emotional and social wellbeing and mental health. It has been a privileged to see a new group of babies develop and grow this year and they have seemingly enjoyed the sensory experiences of bubbles, our sensory visual blanket, stories and singing during our time together. This has also allowed opportunities for new parents to continue to develop positive emotional attachments and bonds with their children.

Baby Buddies has created another year of opportunity for new parents/carers to share their thoughts, feelings and experiences surrounding being a new parent/carer and to develop friendships whilst also enjoying a cup of tea and a

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parents/carers and their little ones and how this has helped to get them out of the house and develop friendships, reducing social isolation. This year we have welcomed back five mums who have given birth to their second baby, which has been a real joy and blessing.

Throughout the year we have also enjoyed fun themed sessions, including the Teddy Bears’ Picnic, Christmas and Easter parties, Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. We have developed our community links and a member from the Early Help Navigators Team at Cheshire West and Chester attends fortnightly, creating opportunities for them to share their services and support parents/carers as and when needed. We continue to stay in regular communication with Blacon Children’s Centre as and when possible, with Beth Edwards joining our sessions.

piece of cake! Throughout our sessions a plethora of themes have arisen that create supportive dialogues between the mums and carers, including sleep deprivation and sleep routines, feeding, weaning, baby play, communicating with babies, feelings of isolation and loneliness, support systems, self-care, hormones and expectations around being a new parent.

Babybuddies offers a therapeutic safe space to share and be heard. As a result, friendships have developed through the group and these have continued after attending Babybuddies, creating positive support networks. One mum shared that her friend came to the very first group and after four years, they still meet up with the mums and babies (now children!) she got to know during her time at Babybuddies. Evaluations obtained also suggest that parents/ carers have valued meeting other

We welcomed KidsBank this month at our Easter party and it was fantastic to work together and support families in gifting them clothes and baby essentials.

As we share God’s love through our ongoing work supporting the emotional wellbeing of new parents/carers and their babies during their time at Babybuddies, we pray that we will be able to continue to make a difference.

Ellie Knight

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HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES

Holiday Activities have taken place every school holiday over the past year and a good number of families have attended, some familiar and some new. The regular format continues with families arriving midday for a healthy cooked meal provided by Blacon Beacon in the church hall followed by a variety of activities and crafts in the church and church gardens when the weather has allowed.

The families are always very appreciative of the meals and activities and it is a joy to see them all having fun together in church.

We've had a variety of themes and during the summer we held our own Holy Trinity Olympics as well as Jungle, Garden and Seaside Fun.

We had a Light theme during October half term and made lanterns and light mobiles and at Christmas we had a variety of reindeer activities followed by a Christmas film. We had fun during February making wooden birds and puppets and in the Easter holidays we painted eggs, crosses, made Easter hats, baskets and rice krispie cakes decorated with easter eggs which was rather messy but very popular and thoroughly enjoyed!

Chester Zoo and Blacon Children's Centre have provided some lovely activities for the children and we are very grateful for their support along with a band of very faithful volunteers who not only help the children with crafts and activities but engage in listening and lovely conversations with the children, parents and carers...thank you to all!

Sue Mountford

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Temple as the pattern of our time together – moving from entering the gates with thanksgiving to entering the

most holy place with adoration. This includes sharing our lives together – things for thanks and things for prayer, so supporting one another week by week as we seek to follow Jesus One particular feature of this journey is taking time to listen for anything that Jesus may give to us by his Spirit to share with one

another to build us up in faith, in hope, in love …

WEDNESDAY FELLOWSHIP

Our overall aim is to see Jesus more clearly, to love him more dearly and to follow him more nearly – entering together into his relationship with his Father.

The Temple in Jerusalem was built according to God’s instructions given to Moses as recorded in the book of Exodus. Each Wednesday, for up to five hours, starting with lunch together, up to nine of us use the structure of the

Clive Upton

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including, Legislative business (which is often more interesting than it sounds!), Code of Conduct for PCC’s, Safeguarding, Land and Nature, Code of Conduct, Future of Work, Bullying by Lay Officers, Archbishops’ Commission on Families and Households, Church Commissioners’ Response to Links to Transatlantic Chattel Slavery, Living in Love and Faith, Clergy Pensions, Estates Evangelism, War in Ukraine and the Challenge to International Order, Ordination after divorce, Clergy Conduct Measure – Revision Stage, Rest Periods for Office Holders, Human Dignity of Disabled Children, Foodbanks and Inadequacies in Social Security and many others, so a varied agenda indeed. 2024 has also been a difficult year with all the revelations in the Makin Report and the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

SAFEGUARDING

Safeguarding is a very important part of society in this day and age and here at Holy Trinity we recognise this and strongly believe that it is our duty and responsibility that everyone should feel safe and protected.

A key part of protecting children, young people and vulnerable adults is to have a policy of safer recruitment in place and I am happy to say that this happens at Holy Trinity. We have also benefitted from much valued confidential support from the Diocesan Safeguarding Team.

To accomplish this all staff, PCC members and volunteers are DBS checked and are required to undertake Safeguarding training which takes place online and needs renewing every three years. This checking and training has continued through the year. A new initiative the diocese has introduced in recent months, to help us keep on top of what checks and improvements are needed, is the Parish Safeguarding Dashboard which we have started to use.

All that said, it is a real privilege to serve on General Synod. Please keep us in your prayers as 2025 has also been a difficult year so far.

Jason Clarke

Chester General Synod Representive

We all have a responsibility to be aware of any issues of concern and report them either to me or Tina in confidence.

With my very best wishes and thanks.

J une Middleton. Parish Safeguarding Officer

GENERAL SYNOD

General Synod met twice in 2024 in February and July in Westminster and York.

Many things were discussed

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FINANCE REPORT

With no Treasurer to keep a close eye on things, we found at the start of 2024 that the funds in the bank account were running dangerously low, so in January PCC decided to appeal to the congregation for more income, and also to ask the diocese if we could have a pause from paying the Parish Share (which would have been about £37,000 for the year). Thanks to the generosity of the congregation, our regular giving has increased and Blacon Beacon have also increased what they pay us for use of their premises in the hall; also we were able to rectify the hole in the finances by pausing our Parish Share payments.

In recent weeks, we have had input from a members of St Michaels Church Newton, Phil Roberts, who has looked at our accounts. He writes the following in summary of our 2024 accounts:

General and Designated Income

shows a significant improvement (+£31,770.83) largely due to an increase in rent of £24,000 for Blacon Beacon and almost £5,500 (56% increase) in regular

giving by the congregation.

2024 2023
Income 77,220.73 45,449.90
Expenditure 43,396.22 75,491.70
Surplus/(Defcit) 33,824.51 (30,041.80)

Due to the financial difficulties in 2023, the diocese agreed to suspend the Parish Share charge to the church in 2024. The lower contribution of £37,500 is the reason for the reduction in Expenditure (-£32,095.50), offset by higher costs for Gas and Electricity due to a lack of meter readings in the 2[nd] half of 2023 resulting in large bills in 2024.

Restricted Income was boosted by grants to pay for the Outreach Worker salary (£23,500) and was the main cause of the increased income while there was a reduction in costs of outreach expenses of £6,000.

Cash at Bank and Church Of England Capital Reserve.

The improved financial results of 2024 has enabled the amount held in the bank to increase from £30,600.73 to £82,341.33.

The full accounts for 2024 are shown on the following pages

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The Parochlal Clwrch C￿nCl101TheE¢CLeSI4SlCal Parfsh of HolyTrlnltylWtthoultheWalisl. Blacon Aecelptsand PawnentsAc¢ountforthe y¢arended 31 December2024 iknt¢thcted De￿¢￿ted Restrl¢ted Fund$ 2024 TOTAL Unreslrtcted Destgpated Restri¢ted Funds Fuftdi Funds 2023 TOTAL ng&DonaOons GIftAld PC¢Fee$ Hall RÈnt SouthwayRenr Parish Martazine& Printing Otherlncome OuveachProjectincGrants 27,053.74 466.23 27.527.97 17.&36.57 3,467.34 2,477.62 8.047.95 6,973.20 8.10 427.00 18,281.67 3.467.34 2,477.62 8,964.08 6,973.20 569.60 I.￿.1? 1.038.17 &).38 ILW.84 1&541A4 18.664.66 602.00 32,834AO 7.186.00 572.50 2.818.46 4&00 32.834.40 7,186.fy1 572.50 32.80 2.851.26 la￿40 4899.43 39,778.83 916.13 TotslRecelpts n,iio.io 3,300.63 3&940.23 IIL35Q95 40A70.83 1ga7.07 16m8.44 6V36.34 Parishshare MlnlsiryExpenses Orga￿lSt,Ch0lrandW￿rsh1p Chuich Costs Pari5hAdmin H311 Cost5 44SotrthwayCosts Outreach Project 60.00 2,806.81 1,722.66 16,983.33 6.531.84 10,55& 37.506.76 2,38OA9 3,022.20 7.907.08 8,940.47 7,073.39 37,586.76 2.380.49 3.022aO 8,0378B 8.940A7 7.827.40 14.900.79 2.￿.81 l.TJ2.68 120.CQ 17.103.33 6,531.84 22.80 10,576.67 130.80 404.97 1.894.6D IB.403.94 20,703.51 3,865.83 177&62 20.769.98 27,409.43 Tota1pa￿￿￿S 39,073A8 1.894.60 18.516.74 5*51482 70.776.22 2.77&82 28.728.18 102274.02 SuWts￿IDert¢rt1 F¢rTh¢YÈor 32.036.62 1.4I6.03 1139149 51W&14 13OJ05J91 213A5 IIL74&741 141W.681 F￿d Oalanc8sBroWForn3rd 7.515 113.45 2L391.75 >.170.TJ 37I2D.92 31141.49 N96141 Tfansfws 13M331 IWX461 Fund BalaK85Carrfed Forwar 39,222.82 16,81&26 24.920.79 SO￿58.87 7￿25.5? 213.45 21.391.75 29.120.TJ Anatysls olF¢tnds Church GeneralAccoum L)JtrFach Projfcts Church BO1￿[S Fund Blacon BabyBuddlesFund WarmWelcDmeFun(J Church Cholr Fund Hailalterabon5 TOYS Houday 39,222.82 39.22182 3,244.99 18,924.13 1.134.12 7.5t5.53 7,515.53 4,94B.57 4,962.02 702.12 702.12 1,071.$3 1,071.$1 9.299.66 9.293.66 421.59 421.59 2,80D.00 2,800.00 600.00 1,748.48 15,679.14 1,134.12 1&45 12,513.66 12.51&66 458.20 458.20 1800.00 2,800.00 304.66 S￿66 5,599.28 5.$99.2B 200.crfj 1,548.48 39,22182 16.813.26 24020.79 ￿,956.87 7,SlS.53 213AS 2L39L75 29.ts0.n siateiiiènt olAs$otsa#d LiiblUU•S Royal Uankof Scotland Currenr Account Church of En8lènd Deposlt Fund Ca5hheldwhicb isrepayable 113,653.821 53,780.04 190&401 16,81326 25.401.85 28,561.29 458.20 54,238.24 1939.261 11,842.661 119,918.011 28,354.54 i￿1.007 213AS 22.336.42 2,631.86 421.59 28,776.13 11,366.261 12287.261 3922182 16.813.26 24.920.79 80,89fj. 7.51&53 213.45 21,39L75 25.uo.n Approved by8oard offustee5= Dats.. I¥F/ar

Independent Examiner's Report Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of The Parochial Church Council of The Ecclesiastical Parish of Holy Trinity (Without The Wa1151, Blacon. I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity for the year ended 31 December 2024. Responslbilities and Basis of Report As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 20111"the Act"l- I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under Section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the appllcable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 14515llbl of the Act. Independent Examiner's Statement I have completed my examination. I confirm that no m3terial matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in any material respect.. l. The atcounting records were not kept in accordance with setion 130 of the Charities Act; or 2. The accounts did not accord with the accounting records- or 3. The accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts ènd Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a 'true and fair, view which is not a matter considered a5 part of the independent examination. I have no concern5 and have corne across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understandin8 of the accounts to be reached, James Denton FCCA Mike Griffiths & Partners, The YewTree Inn, High Street, Gresford, Wrexham, LL12 8RF Date-.

NATURAL WORLD ART EXHIBITION

From 11[th] October to 24[th] November 2024 we held an art exhibition in church, funded by Cheshire West and Chester Diversity Events Funding. The exhibition focussed on work by women artists. We had works from four local artists who had their original works for sale, and also a variety of works by the Monday Art group, various artists from HMP Styal, and also a work by Fallen Angels. This was timed to coincide with an exhibition at the cathedral about Trena Cox, examples of whose work we have here at Holy Trinity. There was much interest in

the exhibition, and dozens of people came to the church to view it. In addition, we organised art workshops in the Arches Primary and JH Godwin Primary Schools, and an art competition was held at Blacon High School.

The winners of that competition were announced at our opening event on 11[th] October, which was attended by the High Sheriff of Cheshire, Clare Hayward MBE DL, the Lord Mayor of Chester, Councillor Razia Daniels, and our MP Samantha Dixon MBE. Around 200 people attended this popular event, which also included performances by St Theresa’s School Choir, the Blacon Fallen Angels dance group, and Cat Davies.

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