## Sacred Trinity Church Chapel Street Salford Annual Report 2025 ## SACRED TRINITY CHURCH ## Deanery of Salford, Diocese of Manchester PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL MEMBERS 2025/26 Rector Andy Salmon Lay Vice Chair: Tyran Choy Churchwardens: Lee Earnshaw Keith Banda Church Warden Emeritus Les Kott Deputy Churchwarden Tyran Choy Treasurer: Gloria Wong Gift Aid Secretary: Vacant PCC Secretary: Philip Chandler Deanery Synod Rep Neil Worthington and Keith Banda Safeguarding Co-ordinator Andreia Pereira Sides people Nizara Louro, Sijin Kim, Terry Ip, Andreia Pereira Electoral Roll Officer: Philip Chandler Other Council Members: Tyran Choy (2028) Philip Chandler (2026) Andreia Pereira (2028) Michaela Salmon (2027) Les Kott (2026) Wayne Edwards (2027) The PCC accounts are held at; Co-operative Bank, Delf House, Skelmersdale WN8 6GH ## **Rector’s report** Building friendship and community in which faith, hope and love can transform lives. As usual we have had a year of lots of new people joining and quite a few goodbyes. Two big losses in 2025 were the sudden death of Graham Ashworth who was Churchwarden in April and then in July Peter Hughes who was curate moved on. Both of them are missed. Fortunately over the past year we have gained more people than we have lost but it remains a challenge to welcome new people and to build up our team of volunteers. Building. We remain committed to getting some major improvements done to our building and as I write we are waiting for feedback from the National Lottery on an Expression of Interest that I submitted. Finance. If you look at our accounts you will see that we have continued to eat in to our reserves and there is very little left. We really need to increase our income and we will try to increase the amount coming in from renting our space or doing gigs but a big part of our income comes from regular giving by members of the congregation. We need your help. The bible teaches us to “tithe”, to give away 10% of our income before we do anything else. The Church of England suggests that this should mean 5% to our local church and 5% to other charities. Perhaps you might like to think about whether you can increase your giving, start a regular standing order or start giving regularly through the Parish Giving Scheme. Our ambition is to be a church that builds friendship and community in which faith, hope and love can transform lives. To have a bigger impact in our community, to reach more people, to grow as a community we need more resources and we all need to do what we can. We all have something to offer. Relationship. At our Mission Action Planning meeting in June we identified various priorities but the top two were building relationships and increasing lay leadership. To develop good relationships at church we have tried doing some additional social events and have been talking to one another more. We need to build on this and I’m always open to suggestions of how we might do this. Lay leadership. I have been talking to someone about some leadership training in our church that could be very exciting. I hope that this will come about but whether it is that particular approach or another we need to build a good team to lead this church together. Iona, when she arrives in June will be a great new asset but we must make use of her to build up the wider team. We need to be a church that is led by a good, diverse team with integrity, enthusiasm and a growing relationship with God and each other. I want to finish with some thanks. Thanks to Lee and Keith for their support as churchwardens and to Tyran as a deputy warden. Huge thanks to Gloria and Lorna for all their work on the accounts. Thanks to Neil, Dyfrig and Peter for their help with the services. Thanks to David for all that he does for the church and community musically. Thanks to Philip for keeping PCC on track. Thanks to Les for his faithful service over the years and for his bad jokes at Place of Welcome. Thanks to Marielle and before her, Sijin for their bravery in coming here and their willingness to muck in. And thanks to all of you! I will finish by adapting the prayer that I offered in thanks for the City of Salford at our recent centenary celebration. Prayer of Thanksgiving for Salford Loving God, we give you thanks for our Church and City For the generosity and warmth of the people For creativity and diversity For work and industry For family and community For each other Both oldies and newbies For all that we are For all that we shall be We give thanks Amen. Rev Canon Andy Salmon ## **Churchwarden’s Report** ## **By Keith Banda and Lee Earnshaw** ## **1. Vision and Mission Strategy** Keith and Lee continued to fulfill their legal duties by collaborating closely with Sacred Trinity Church leadership. A primary focus was supporting Andy in implementing the parish vision: **building love and friendship** as a foundation for gifts and ministries to flourish. Our mission is to be a transforming Christian presence at the heart of the community, guided by the **Great Commission** (Matthew 28:20) and the **Great Commandment** of love (Mark 12:30-31). These scriptural foundations drive our diocesan goals of Church Planting, Renewal, and Growing Younger. ## **2. Operational Ministries & Hospitality** ## **Welcoming and Safeguarding** We are grateful to our team of volunteers who ensure members and visitors feel comfortable and safe. We remained vigilant in maintaining the sanctity of worship, successfully managing security and safeguarding concerns following diocesan alerts regarding individuals of concern. ## **Hospitality and Community Presence** Sacred Trinity remains a sought-after City Centre hub for professional choirs, trade unions, and social campaigners. Our hospitality ministry—ranging from Sunday morning tea and coffee to managing the bar for evening gigs—is central to our mission. "My mission as Churchwarden is to be a great representative to Salford and to make the best of what Sacred Trinity offers available to the wider community." **— Lee** ## **Churchyard and Environment** Upholding the principle that "cleanliness is next to godliness," we conducted weekly litter picking every Sunday morning. As an eco-friendly church, we invite more members to join this joyful task of maintaining God’s House. ## **3. Leadership and Governance** ## **The Office of Churchwarden** The Churchwarden role dates to the 13th Century and remains a vital form of lay ministry. Having served as Deputy Churchwarden since May 2024, Lee stepped up into the Warden role this year. This "step up" in co-leadership has been bolstered by professional development: - **Professional Training:** In January, Lee attended Churchwarden training at the Diocese of Manchester’s Bury office, led by Rachel Mann. The training covered faculties, finance, and the specific safeguarding structures of the Diocese. - **PCC Contribution:** Since joining the PCC, Lee has moved from "attendance" to active advocacy, specifically supporting the Treasurer with annual financial reporting and sustainable, "smart" saving choices. ## **Professional Synergy** Both Keith and Lee are Human Resources professionals. While Lee works full-time in HR for Salford City Council, the flexibility of hybrid working allows Sacred Trinity to feel like a "second home" and a community space for work. “Keith and I enjoyed working together, especially as we are both HR Professionals; we easily transfer our skills and knowledge to represent God’s people,” **– Lee** “The Churchwarden job description is wide and varied... but one has to feel called to represent the people of God and support ministry leaders in their specific mission context. We need more volunteers to work with us.” **– Keith** ## PCC Secretary report In the last year there have been 6 PCC meetings, with a seventh scheduled prior to the APCM for final approval of accounts. Attendance has been good from all PCC members, with occasional absences and apologies given. Finance has been a consistent agenda item, as this has been a major concern for the PCC and regular updates have been needed as Gloria has taken on the role of treasurer. Another regular agenda item has been safeguarding, allowing the PCC to discuss any concerns, although there have been no major safeguarding issues that have required further action. The PCC has continued to discuss and help plan the programme for the church, including services and social events. This includes plans for services during festival seasons, alongside possible changes to the regular Sunday evening services. Of particular note this year is a drive for increased Church social events, with the recent trip to Ordsall Hall and the social event at the Rectory both being supported as a result. Building issues have been discussed as required over the year, but this has mostly been related to minor repairs that have been required rather than considerable changes to the building. The PCC has also discussed plans for the church community through two items: the mission action planning, that was held alongside the wider congregation in June, and the possibility of being a resource church. These items resulted in useful discussion for a positive future of the Church community, exploring what else we can do as a Church in addition to current activity. ## Philip Chandler ## Deanery Synod I am one of two of our parish's Deanery Synod representatives, the other being Keith. I've not been able to get to many Synod meetings in the past year, mainly because of clashes with meetings at St Clement's, Urmston, where I am (for now) the Treasurer. I'm hoping that Keith can add to these brief notes. I do remember Synod meetings that focused on Giving and Stewardship, and ways to help individual parishes meet their Parish Share obligations - such as increasing the amount of Gift Aid that we can claim from His Majesty's Revenue & Customs. There has also been significant emphasis on Safeguarding and ways in which we can all help to ensure that our churches and church buildings remain safe spaces for all. We've had presentations and exhortations on Eco-Churches and general care for God's world. This included work on the diocese's “Energy Footprint Tool”, which should ideally be updated every year. In these uncertain and unprecedented times, anything that makes more efficient use of increasingly expensive energy is doubly welcome. Sadly, we lost our Deanery Secretary, Iain Hodcroft, who died unexpectedly in October. He had been a considerable force in organising and galvanising the new and much larger Deanery. May he rest in peace and rise in glory. Iain's death occurred around the same time as our Area Dean, Revd Colin Pearson, retired. We now have a new Dean. This is the Revd Richard Worsfold, previously the Archdeacon of Leicester. Finally, the February Synod was notified of: _“a recent legacy by a Sacred Trinity worshipper - with money set aside for work in the ‘Churches of the Deanery of Salford’. However this entity no longer exists_ [it amalgamated with other Deaneries to form Salford & Leigh Deanery] _._ _To honour the legacy intention the Standing Committee suggest that Mission Community 4 receive the £11K legacy. Revd Peter Bennett will come back to synod with a plan of how they will use the money for the synod to vote upon.”_ [Mission Community 4 includes Sacred Trinity.] The thoughts of our own PCC on how that money might be spent would be most welcome. Neil Worthington ## **Safeguarding** We work in line with the National Church safeguarding policy and procedures. Andreia Pereira is our Parish Safeguarding officer. **Music Director’s report 2025 - 2026** ## **Achievements over the year - Church** Work to repair the damage to the organ took place this year. A hail storm in early 2025 blocked the roof gullies and water flowed into the church and into the organ causing substantial damage. Insurance paid for most of this work but the organ was out of service for an extended period. In addition, the blower motor burned out and had to be replaced with a reconditioned item. The humidifier that maintains a constant humidity in the organ has also passed its useful life and been replaced. This has resulted in a fairly expensive year for the organ, but the organ is now working well and hopefully will not need anything besides regular maintenance in the coming year. ## **Achievements over the year - Choir** The choir has continued to grow during the year and we are continuing to learn new and more complex repertoire while maintaining existing repertoire. Numbers recovered from the January crash of 2025 but we had such an influx at the end of 2025 that the ‘existing repertoire’ actually had to be substantially re-learned in early 2026. Choir numbers remained fairly high as we didn’t experience the usual crash in numbers during January. This bodes well for the future and I hope to build a consistent repertoire of songs we can sing at our regular “DreamSpace” gigs. I am grateful to Keith Banda for his support of the choir running the front of house operation needed to welcome people and ensure that refreshments are available. ## **Challenges for the year - Church** I am videoing music that we use in church and publishing them on social media showcasing my work but also explaining the rôle that the music plays in worship. ## **Challenges for the year - Choir** The marketing campaign for the choir, which takes up a good deal of time and effort, seems to have paid off as the choir returned to numbers in the mid-twenties by Christmas and has not collapsed in the new year. Choir numbers remain above mid teens and into low twenties with 21 people attending the most recent “DreamSpace” gig. There is still work to do, however, as too many choir members are irregular in attendance. I wish to build the choir’s sense of community so that more members feel a strong sense of belonging and wish to attend regularly in order to support their community. As it is, however, the choir is returning at least enough money to church coffers each week to make it self sustaining. As this was one of the early goals for the choir, it must be said that this goal has now been achieved. The Flat Iron Choir will reach its 10th anniversary in September this year and the autumn publicity campaign will focus on this achievement and aim to stimulate further interest. David Hillary ## **Time for God Volunteer** It has been really a joy and pleasure to be this year’s “Time for God” volunteer in Sacred Trinity Church for the past seven months. Since September when I arrived in Manchester everyone has welcomed me into the Sacred Trinity Community and have made this place feel like home. My tasks vary from day to day. On Sundays I help set up for the morning service and occasionally do the Welcome by giving out the Hymnbooks. In the evening service I assist where I can and engage in conversation with the people. On Mondays after the online morning prayer, I start the day by updating the churches Instagram account with upcoming events. Occasionally I also do various Computer tasks like designing flyers or writing this report. In the evening, I make my way to the Flat Iron Choir practice. Sometimes I’m the one who opens the doors and prepares tea and coffee for everyone. On a Tuesday, I start my day with setting up for “Place of Welcome”, where mostly people who live alone, come to meet other people and enjoy the company. We offer small refreshments like toast and of course a cup of tea or coffee. We spend the Morning and Afternoon tending to the needs of the visitors but also doing small tasks around church like changing the altar or counting money. After that I prepare for Bible study in the afternoon, where we usually begin with eating soup. Since October I started working in Friars Primary School on a Wednesday. I help the children with their work or do individual training with them but also help the teacher keeping the class quiet. I started in year one and go through the classes every week to year six before I start in year one again. I learn a lot about teaching methods and interacting with children different age groups. After school I go to church to do some more Office work. My job is to create the weekly Email and the Notice Sheet for the Sunday Morning Service. I also cut and laminate Flyers for the church or upcoming gigs. Then I prepare to set up for “Silence in the City” After a busy Wednesday I start my Thursday with finishing my Admin work. Sometimes I prepare the church when the weekly “Camera Club” is meeting in church. I like attending camera club, it’s a nice group of people and I enjoy exploring new places with them together. All in all, I learned many new things and got to know lots of new people. I gained great experiences whilst working as a volunteer, living abroad and constantly facing new situations and challenges. I learnt a lot of new things which will be of great help to me in the future. I’m very grateful to be able to spend my gap year in this community to grow, learn and help others. Marielle Oberdorfer ## Manchester Universities’ Guild of Change Ringers: Ringing this year has certainly been varied. After the dinner last year we had steady enough numbers reaching until the summer. We had a successful tour this year! Eleanor took us to Grimsby to see the sights and the local culture. (At this point, Clive laughed inappropriately, suggesting that there is no culture to be found in Grimsby). We rang at 7 of the local churches as well as supporting the Sunday morning service ringing. A big thanks to All Saints Waltham for hosting us and rapidly putting up smoke detectors so the fire warden would allow us to stay. This was followed by a toasty quarter peal at Marshchapel which I attempted to fire out in the last lead, thanks to Philip for calling and Eleanors mum for ringing! We haven't had any consistent new students this year although we have had some new old people. Megan and Fiona have both joined in recently. One of the students who visits semi regularly is Chloe, she has taken our eclectic style in her stride, learning several new methods and refreshing previous ones. The attendance of MUGs at the NUA this year was not as many as expected, however the two that did attend did so well. 20 changes of plain bob royal were rang on pints and the boat race was not lost, only second last. We have had 23 quarter peals rang this year, some highlights; a quarter of MUG minor, first major conducted for Philip, first major rang for myself. Quarter peals have been rang on Tuesday for practice night when we haven't had enough for a practice or there has been a desire for method learning. There has been one peal rang for the MUGs, for the dinner weekend yesterday, a first for myself and a first in method for many of the band members. Practices this year as mentioned have varied in number, there was a real dip at the start of the academic year due to the core band being unavailable at times. The past few weeks we have been supported by cathedral ringers which has significantly added to numbers. We hope to continue this in the future. Handbell ringing is going strong, the band support learners when they're around and ring fun things when they're not. Sunday morning ringing has also been held afloat by cathedral ringers attending after the cathedral. A big thanks to those who come on Sunday mornings to support the church. It's been a good year of ringing thank you all for being a part of the MUGs We should probably have a chat about the future way that we’ll be running ringing at Trin, there were some changes discussed at the meeting prior to the dinner. Nothing much to worry about, we’ll still be supporting Trin in much the same way as before, but it looks like I’ll be running the practices instead of Hannah. Will have to think about a few official things on the formal basis for that though. Anna Nash ## **Camera Club Review 2025/26** The Camera Club meets each Thursday from 1.00am to go out into the communities to take photographs. It is a very informal group who like to meet, photograph and then upload to our Facebook page and to also share ideas over coffee/tea and cake in a cafe after. Over the last 12 months we have taken photographs in and around Manchester, been to view Rochdale's Town Hall magnificent ceiling, taken photographs of Sacred Trinity's community groups who meet at the church for an exhibition in church, and even had a trip out to Herne Clough to view the B-29 plane crash site. Visits to Salford Museum to view their 100years exhibition, the Christmas lights, HOME Manchester, around Barton Bridge and surrounding areas. During the winter months we have tried tube light-painting photography, close up photography, portraits and have frequent planning sessions. We also meet for a post Christmas meal together . There is always something to photograph and we enjoy the fellowship that brings us together. Barbara ## **Electoral Roll** Our Electoral Roll has been updated with those who have died or moved away removed but we now stand at 36 names. ## **DreamSpace** The DreamSpace evenings continue to go well at Sacred Trinity and we are gradually seeing more people come along which is really encouraging. At a recent event we had around 60 in attendance. The feedback from both performers and the audience is overwhelmingly positive. The Flat Iron Choir continue to open and close each evening and it's been great to see the choir grow over the past year. Many thanks to David for rehearsing the choir diligently each month and for leading the choir every evening. It's also been good to welcome the Manchester Choral Scholars more regularly, along with a range of new musicians and poets. It's great that people enjoy performing with us. We've also formed great contacts with local charities too. In 2025 we experimented with having a guest host for some of the evenings. These evenings have gone well and been well-received. Having different people hosting from the front definitely adds a further dynamic. We've also had a series of 'Artists of the Month' displaying their artwork around the church, which again adds another dimension to DreamSpace. It's such a joy being surrounded by such creative people - whether musicians, poets and artists - and to be able to encourage people to express themselves. Despite things going well, we have certainly had some challenges in 2025. Due to my illness we had to cancel the September DreamSpace evening. However, thanks to Andy, David and others, the evenings were able to go ahead for October and November which I am very grateful for. We're excited about how DreamSpace might develop going forwards, and I'm keen to further develop our performers list. I'm also keen to invite more people to 'guest host' and to encourage visual artists to share their artwork too. So onwards and upwards! 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