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ST MARY MAGDALENE, ENFIELD
ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2009
Background
St Mary Magdalene’s PCC is responsible, with the incumbent, for promoting in the ecclesiastical parish the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. It also has maintenance responsibilities for the Church and Hall of St Mary Magdalene, Enfield.
Membership
Members of the PCC are elected by the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) in accordance with the Church Representation Rules. During the year the following served as members of the
PCC:
Incumbent: The Rev’d Gordon Giles
Curate: The Rev’d Jackie Fish
Churchwardens: Dr Jean McDonald (2007) and Mrs Alison Reeve (2009)
Churchwardens Emeritus: Mrs Sybil Clutton
Representatives on the Deanery Synod: Mrs Joyce Mabey (2008), Mrs Eleanor Pritchard (2008), Mrs Lilian Gibbens (2008), Mr Vic Smith (2008)
Elected Members:
Mrs June Carr (2007) Mr Alan Hintz (2007)
Mr James Horlick (2007) Mrs Alison Reeve (2007)
Mrs Ann Rolland (2007) Mrs Judy Smith (2008)
Mrs Wendy Dollimore (2008) Mrs Rita Barker (2008)
Mrs Melanie Scott (2008) Mr Martin Townsend (2008)
Mr David Bird (2009) Mrs Betty Buck (2009)
Mr Colin Gibbens (2009) Mr Michael Smith (2009)
Mr Terry Wingrove (2009) Mr Ray Barker (co-opted) (2009)
Mr Michael Dixon (co-opted) (2009) Mrs Sally Elphick (co-opted) (2009)
Committees
Fabric Committee: assists the PCC in managing, supervising and financing structural and building maintenance projects pertaining to the Church and Hall, backed up with a Fabric Fund.
Hall Committee: Attends to matters relating to the Church Hall and its use.
Memorial Garden Committee: Administers and arranges the interment of parishioners’ ashes in the Memorial Garden.
Children and Young Persons Committee: Attends to matters relating to children and young people through Sunday School, a music group and a youth club.
Stewardship Committee: Co-ordinates the annual review of the Christian Stewardship of money and other resources through planned giving and other activities.
Social Responsibility Committee: Attends to matters relating to the community and the world, such as ecumenical links, evangelism and the support of mission and relief agencies.
Computer Group: Runs courses in computing for members of the Parish and locality.
Planning Committee: Arranges social and fund raising events.
Review of the Year
There were 178 on the Electoral Roll as at 26 April 2009, the same as 2008. 8683 people attended services in 2009, an increase of 2%. 940 children attended (down 13.9%) and total communicant numbers are 5626 (down 2.6%). Overall, our regular attendance is down 5%, communicant numbers are down 2.5%, and the total number of children is significantly down by 17% (in 2008 it was up by 37%, an unsustainable growth, caused almost entirely by the Scout St George’s Service, which the Scouts have now abandoned). Average Sunday 10am attendance was 93, with 88 communicants and 13 children, which represents a small decrease. Sundays at 8am have 6 attendees receiving communion (no change there), similarly Thursday at 10.30 has an average of 5.3 (attending and communicating). As usual, 4 people attend Monday Matins at 10am. The average for evening services is 10.5 (11 last year) while attendances at ‘special’, one-off services brought 1758 adults and 60 children, a significant increase of 43%. Overall we are seeing small decreases in regular attendance, which may reflect the pattern of attendance rather than the number of people attending, but there is evident growth in that overall numbers of people worshipping in the building is still on the increase. These figures reveal that more and more ‘strangers’ are coming under our roof for various liturgical reasons.
The PCC met six times during the year, committees met and reports were received and discussed by the PCC. St Mary Magdalene became a registered Charity with the Charity Commission during 2009. Our planned giving was rather less than in 2008 by £2500, collections and donations also fell by £3200. Due to the financial situation the interest on deposits we have with The CBF Church of England Funds, were also very much less, the latest rate being 0.60%. We continue to receive rent from our Comreddy Close property. We have started to improve the residence: during the year we replaced all the windows, with some other jobs at the cost of £3,461. The Hall had a good year: with lettings producing a gross income of £22,000, they were able to transfer £19,000 to the General & Fabric accounts. Other income from Church activities brought in a further £13,150. We spent £17,000 on the Fabric and Church grounds. We paid our Common Share £63,000, in full and on time. This was an increase of £3,750 on the previous year; in 2010 we are committed to £65,000. We also paid the Deanery £2,164, an increase on the year before. Organist’s remuneration and music activities were £4,514. Church insurance this year was £8,318 (2008, £7,932). Fuel costs due to the mild weather in the Autumn were £2,500, in the year before they were £2,900, in 2010, due to the long winter, the costs will be considerably higher. Cost of services, Clergy, and general Parish expenses were £6,500. Treasurer’s Honararium £1,200. The Vicar continues to waive his telephone costs, thus saving the Parish £300 a year and also operates a Parish Office in the Vicarage at no cost to the PCC. Our Missionary and Charity giving was £14,030, representing 12% of our disposable income. Finally with our income/payments we finished the year with a deficit of £3,137 on the General and Fabric accounts.
There was no Stewardship campaign in 2009, which is in line with our custom only to have them in alternate years. The Stewardship Committee met once to consider the theme for the 2010 campaign. It was agreed that this should focus on the restoration of the chancel ceiling. As predicted last year, regular giving could not be sustained at the 2008 level and fell to £47,800, a reduction of £2,500. We were nevertheless able to pay our Common Fund contribution in full, at an increased level, but will need an increase in regular giving to meet all commitments in 2010.
The Vicar organised Lent and Bible Study courses and in August a large group spent an enjoyable weekend at Launde Abbey. General maintenance of the church and gardens was carried out during the year, with a major refurbishment of the Hall and vestries completed in the summer. We welcomed students on short and long-term placement from Oak Hill Theological College. We raised money for various charities holding coffee mornings and collecting ‘dinner money’ for Imagine Mozambique and carol singing for the Willow Foundation. The sewing group had a highly successful year raising money for charity and the church. Regular sales of Traidcraft products continue. A varied calendar of social events were organised providing fellowship and raising funds. The Sunday School and Youth Club continue to thrive. Four students studied for the RSCM ‘Voice for Life’ scheme. We maintain links with the Scout Group, who regularly attend parade services. We also maintained links with the North West Group with regular committee meetings and united services at Pentecost, One World Week and Christian Unity. The Computer Club ran one course in the Autumn. The monthly lunchtime concerts provided a varied programme from local musicians and students from two local schools.
It was an eventful 2009 for the Bellringers. In January, we hosted the Middlesex North & East District planning meeting. During the Year we received a number of visitors wishing to ring our bells. There have been 2 full peal attempts (1 failed) and a successful ¼ peal by visiting ringers. September saw our Annual Ringers Outing to other towers which included Bushey (8) Rickmansworth (10) Sarratt (6) and Monken Hadley (8).
In June 2009 the Drama Group performed a dramatised reading of ‘The Mysteries’ an adaptation of the Lincoln Cycle of medieval mystery plays. Members of St. Mary Magdalene’s congregation took part together with members from other local churches. The performances took place at St. Mary Magdalene, Trinity Church, St. Luke’s and Our Lady of Walsingham. Musicians and singers accompanied the production, which was a very rewarding source of ecumenical outreach. A DVD of the production is available with still photographs taken by John Salmon and a soundtrack of the musical accompaniment. The October 2009 production was a murder-mystery ‘Murder before Midnight’ which was the Group’s first production in the newly decorated Church Hall. The seating had been set out in the form of a café which not only looked good, but also ‘mixed’ people up and got them chatting to each other. Tunes from Glen Miller helped to create a very good ambience for audience and cast alike. Modest prizes were given each night to the table who guessed who had committed the murder and why. Members of the Group took part with other members of the congregation in the Palm Sunday gospel reading, the autumn Parish Concert and adult Nativity pageant at the Christingle service.
Musically it was a good year : the choir continue to thrive, not leastly with the introduction of the RSCM Voice for Life Scheme. An orchestral Patronal Festival achieved remarkably high standards and there were two Choral Evensongs during the year as well a couple of Taizé Services.
One of the highlights of the year was surely the production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute staged by young people associated with Southgate Opera. The singers were trained by Jenny Cloake, with husband Neil on the piano and the Vicar playing the ‘magic’ flute. Double cast with performers under the age of 21, it was attended by Bishop Peter and drew a packed church for 4 nights, to great acclaim.
In 2009, there were 7 weddings, 5 funerals in church and 9 baptisms. The Vicar and Curate took 10 services at the local crematoria and cemeteries (a significant drop) and there were 4 interments of ashes in the Memorial Garden and 1 elsewhere.
On behalf of the PCC March 2010
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