ANNUAL REPORT 2021
PARISH OF SAINT MARY, NORTH ELMHAM.
AIMS AND PURPOSES
St Mary’s Parochial Church Council (“the PCC”) has the responsibility of co-operating with the Rector in promoting within the parish of North Elmham the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical.
The PCC is responsible for making decisions on all matters of general concern and importance to the Church in North Elmham including deciding how funds are to be spent. The PCC is committed to enabling as many people as possible to worship at St Mary’s and to be a part of the parish community. We put our faith into practice through our services and we try to enable people to live out their faith as part of the community through worship and prayer, learning about the Gospel, the provision of pastoral care and outreach work. As part of our work we maintain the fabric of the church building.
BACKGROUND.
St Mary’s is part of the thirteen-parish Heart of Norfolk (HON) Benefice. The Revd Sally Kimmis is Team Rector and works alongside Revd Canon Christopher Davies and Revd Michael Cartwright as team vicars. The clergy have divided the pastoral work of the Benefice so that Revd Sally is primarily focused on North Elmham, Billingford, Worthing Twyford and Guist of which North Elmham is by far the largest parish. Canon Christopher is responsible for the Bawdeswell area and Father Michael for the Foulsham area.
OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES
Coping with Covid
From March 2020 the normal activities of the church were curtailed by Covid restrictions. While these restrictions were gradually lifted, the wearing of masks, social distancing and Communion could only be given in bread, but not wine. This meant that services were in no way back to ‘normal’, and many members of the congregation felt safer continuing to join services by zoom. Normal services were not held at Easter and Christmas 2021
Worship and prayer
With the return of a ‘normal’ service pattern in March 2021, the PCC decided that on one Sunday (the second Sunday), there would be no service in Elmham to encourage the Elmham worshippers to go elsewhere in the Benefice to enable a Benefice community to develop. For much of 2021 therefore there were two Holy Communion and one Morning Prayer services at Elmham each month. In the early part of the year Morning Prayer was taken by Mark Burdon. In March 2021 we welcomed Michael Newey as an Authorised Worship Assistant (AWA) and he has taken many of the lay-led Morning Praise services since then. We are grateful to both of them for the part they have played in leading our worship. In May services returned to a fixed time of 10.30 a.m.
Average attendance at Sunday services (excluding festivals/Group services) was 15 adults. Although during 2021 restrictions on public worship were gradually relaxed, social distancing remained in place and several of our regular worshippers remain cautious and so inevitably our numbers were down. As in previous years the best attended service of the year was the Christingle held a week before Christmas although numbers were down on previous years. Approximately100 people attended one of the Christmas services.
As well as our regular services, we enable our community to celebrate and thank God at the milestones of our journey through life. Six funerals were held at St Mary’s and we were sorry to bid farewell to Jane Smith who had been a stalwart and long-serving member of the PCC as well as ensuring that there were always beautiful flower arrangements in the church. Three baptisms and one wedding were also celebrated in the church.
Lent courses. These were held on line in 2021.
Prayer meetings. The pattern of informal prayer meetings (to which all were welcome) and hosted by Jo Fitzalan Howard at Elmham House was disrupted by Covid restrictions, but should resume later in 2022.
Other activities
These have been much curtailed because of Covid.
Tea at 2. This had to be cancelled, but at Christmas 2021 food boxes were prepared and distributed to about 40 people who had been regular guests at T at 2. Jo Fitzalan and her team hope that his valuable community event can resume soon.
Church larder
As foodbanks became more essential for many people during the pandemic, Jo Fitzallan Howard and Ruth Einarsson took the initiative to set one up within the church. This has been well supported with donations and is proving a great help for many people.
Saturday Concerts
Several Saturday afternoon concerts were held in the summer of 2021 which proved very popular in the village.
Beer & hymns. Only one session in the King’s Head was been held in 2021 and we look forward to being able to resume this popular event. We are particularly grateful to Jenny Cunningham for her enthusiasm and efforts in helping the church reach out to the wider community.
Fete and Festival
There was no fete in 2021, but Janet Woodhouse and her team ran a Flower Festival in September. The proved a very popular community event and raised over £5,000 for the Fabric Fund. We are very grateful to the team for all their hard work. Janet.
Platinum Jubilee Tree
The PCC organised the planting of a beech tree on parish-owned Church Meadow to commemorate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. This was organised by Virginia Edgecombe and Tom Fitzallan Howard and we are grateful for a grant from the Parish Council towards the purchase of the tree and the fencing around it.
Electoral Roll. The Church Electoral Roll is the formal register of members of the Church and contains 25 entries.
Business. The PCC met regularly over the year, sometimes via zoom. Details of the meetings are to be found on the church website and in the Minutes Book which is available for inspection. Relevant Deanery Synod business is reported to the PCC by Deanery Synod representative(s) or the Rector and is recorded in the PCC Minutes. A statement with regarded to the structure of the PCC can be found towards the end of this report.
A new churchwarden
Michael Newey was elected churchwarden at the Annual meeting of 2021 on the resignation of Susanna Wade Martins after over 12 years in post. We are very grateful to him for taking on this demanding position.
Standing committee. The Standing Committee, required by law, consists of the Churchwarden, the Treasurer and the Secretary, and is empowered to transact business on behalf of the PCC between PCC meetings. The Rector and Churchwarden are ex-officio members.
CHURCH FINANCES.
The Church's activities are under-pinned by finances. Until the Annual Meeting of 2021 there was no PCC Treasurer and so the PCC engaged the services of an external bookkeeper and account manager (Yvonne Cathrine of Y’s Bookkeeping Services, Billingford). Yvonne has had the responsibility of ensuring that the finances were dealt with according to the regulations which apply to the Church as a charity. At the Annual Meeting in May 2021 Catherine Newey kindly agreed to take on the role ofTtreasurer for which we are most grateful.
The PCC bankers are Barclays, Dereham, and the independent examiner is Mr. Malcom Woods of Walton House, Wendling Road, Longham, Dereham, NR19 2RE. Independently examined accounts for 2021 are attached to this Report.
A major outgoing for all parish churches is the Parish Share. This is the contribution towards the cost of mission and ministry of the church in the Diocese, which is primarily the cost of the clergy. The Parish Share request for 2021 was £26,864 of which were able to pay £22,400 was paid in full.
We have again been extremely blessed in having our heating oil paid for by a member of the community, meaning that we have been warm during services.
FABRIC REPORT.
During 2021, the much-delayed repair of the vestry and organ chamber roof was completed by G.Attowe and Son. This was paid for by with the help of grants from the Prince of Wales Trust, All Churches Trust, Earl of Leicester’s fund, Norfolk Churches Trust and the Geoffrey Watling Trust. Attention in 2022 will turn to the North Aisle where the damp in the north wall is causing a problem and the pew floor is rotten and needs removing.
Many people have been involved in the life of St Mary’s over the year, some in a formal, public way, with others working more “behind the scenes”. The willingness of each individual to use his/her own talents to promote the mission of the Church, and to support others in so doing, is rewarding and has added greatly to our Church life. The generous contribution of all is very much appreciated.
CHILDREN and VULNERABLE ADULTS OFFICER.
??
STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT.
The PCC is a corporate body established by the Church of England. It operates under the Parochial Church Council Powers Measure. The PCC is a registered charity. The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church Representation Rules. During all or part of 2017, the following served:
Rector (ex officio): Revd Sally Kimmis
Church wardens (ex officio): Michael Newey
Deanery Synod Representatives Mark Burdon
(ex officio): Virginia Edgecombe
Elected members: Hetty Burdon, Mr. David Worship, Susanna Wade-Martins (PCC Secretary), Catherine Newey (Treasurer).
Original signed on behalf of the Parochial Church Council:
Date: 2022 S