BOURNEMOUTH (WINTON) CHRISTADELPHIAN CHURCH
574 Wimborne Road Winton Bournemouth BH9 2ER www.wintonchristadelphians.org Services: SUNDAYS 11.00 am. and 6.00 pm. THURSDAYS 8.00pm
Correspondence to: Contacts : Norman Stock secretary@wintonchristadelphians.org 5 Ashton Road finance@wintonchristadelphians.org BOURNEMOUTH, BH9 2TN youth@wintonchristadelphians.org Tel: 01202 514549 preaching@wintonchristadelphians.org norman.stock@wintonchristadelphians.org welfare@wintonchristadelphians.org
CHARITIES COMMISSION ANNUAL RETURN 2022-2023 (244004)
The church is based in Bournemouth and operates as a Christian organisation, having 160 registered members who are able to attend services. We also have a number of members who are either live to far away or who are no longer well enough to support the services, even though we are able to offer transport in our minibus service. These are, however, kept under the care of the church’s welfare system and, where possible, visited by members of our welfare team.
Since the pandemic and it’s associated lockdown we have experienced a change in the attendance pattern of our members with a number choosing to join us in fellowship and worship remotely rather than at our building. This may be ‘live’ via Zoom or YouTube, or in ‘catch-up’ mode via YouTube. The streaming service that we offer continues to be used not just by our own members but also within the worldwide Christadelphian community. Although the numbers using the service vary from week to week the average attendance of our members is 80 with 25 of those being online. In addition there are a number of people who are not members of our church but choose join us online.
We have a number of Iranian members some of whom have been granted Leave To Remain whilst others still await a decision. The numbers fluctuate as some are moved from Bournemouth to other locations, and others are moved to Bournemouth.
We continue to work with our sister church in Parkstone with the running of the Winton and Parkstone Community Pantry. We run four Open Pantry sessions per week, two at Parkstone and two at Winton with members of the public being invited by posters outside our buildings, by social media and by website such as ‘Help and Kindness’ and the ‘Access to Food Partnership’ run by our local council. These sessions are open to all with no prequalification needed. The ability to run these sessions and to be able to offer a variety of food to the attendees involves undertaking over 100 pickups from local supermarkets and other food outlets and this operation is carried out by a team of around 15 volunteers most of whom are not members of either church. It is an enormous blessing to be able to serve so many of our neighbours in this way with around 50 households attending each session at Parkstone and around 65 attending each session at Winton. The comments that we receive from some of the attendees make us very aware that many are struggling and receive enormous benefit from the food we are able to provide and from the friendship we foster.
We also continue to offer a Welcome Space every Saturday morning at Winton where we offer tea, coffee, toast, cereal, bacon rolls as well as puzzles and conversation. We welcome between 30 and 45 of our ‘neighbours’ to these sessions every week.
Our Sunday School continues, but the numbers have declined simply because of the decreasing number of Sunday School aged children amongst our members’ families. Around 20 children meet on a weekly basis during term time. Our Youth Club also continues, albeit that it too has suffered from the fewer children but is enjoyed by all who attend – including the leaders.
Registered Charity Number 244004
The administration throughout this year has, as usual, been in the hands of elected trustees, together with three affiliated (also elected) members of this committee with special responsibilities for Preaching, Youth and Welfare.
The committee also includes the three Secretaries, and the Treasurer.
Norman J Stock, Secretary
Registered Charity Number 244004
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