2012 Report Page 8
Lymm amp
District
Churches
Together
Deanery
Synod
St Mary`s has taken part in several
activities for this ecumenical group
The Prayer Breakfast Easter Day
Sunrise Service at the Dam Dick-
ensian Day Christian Aid collec-
tions and the High School Annual
Service
LDCT have appointed a Youth for
Christ worker who is organising an after school service at the High
School and Darren will visit Year 6
pupils about to enter High School
in September Darren also has
been instrumental in setting up the
Youth meeting ldquoThe Hubrdquo each
Friday at the Sanctuary Cafe
We continue to need at least one
other representative to attend
meetings and any person willing to
help should contact the Rector or
Heather Warren
Great Budworth Deanery Synod has met four times in Moore Sutton Weaver Ap-pleton and Grappenhall and reviewed and discussed a variety of topics A group of non-church-going students of Chester University Padgate gave a presentation on funerals in particular the increasing use of secular and human-ist officiants at funerals Their four main recommendations have been passed on to the Diocese for further consideration Bishop John Hayden gave a fascinating talk on his experiences working as a mis-sionary bishop in Africa and the Middle East with insights into the reasons for church growth in some areas despite the overwhelming presence of other faiths as well as dangers from other disasters Canon David Felix gave regular reports on General Synod particularly concentrating on the Women Bishops measure and where the C of E is going now The Autumn Synod was mainly financial when Diocesan Secretary George Colville spoke of the economies employed in Chester and the need to raise 85 of the required income through Parish Share as nothing is received from the Church Com-missioners He told us that giving in our diocese is one of the worst in the country Finance remains a constant problem for many parishes and the Deanerys accumu-lated debt to the Diocese for Parish Share was one quarter of the years total with two parishes being seriously in arrears but with Lymm being the third biggest debtor It is intended that a review is made of the most recent GAP returns so that parishes may be able to share with each other any beneficial ideas and schemes as is al-ready happening eg In training and dif-ferent kinds of services A Deanery Choral Evensong is being planned plus possibly a Deanery Walk or Quiet Day Finally subject to the Church Commis-sioners approval the four parishes will be changed around with Antrobus joining Great Budworth (two parishes one incum-bent) while Aston Little Leigh and Lower Whitley will become one parish (possibly called Weaver Valley) with one part-time priest There is plenty going on at Deanery Syn-od - visitors are always welcome
Church W
atch
Church Watch The Church Watch team has had
another interesting year with an
unannounced visit from Bishop
Keith who was delighted to find the
church open
A visitor from New York was hop-
ing to find references to her family
Rev Hatton was a former Rector of
Lymm and the visitor was also inter-
ested in the Domville family Fortu-
nately Janet was on duty and knew
of the family and was able to give the visitor details previously un-
known to her
We have had visitors from all over
the world and throughout the Unit-
ed Kingdom many of whom have
commented on how beautiful the
church looks and how well we look
after the building
If anybody would like to join our
team it is not an arduous task
please contact Heather Warren
Welcome to the annual St Mary`s Newslet-
ter St Mary`s is the Parish Church of Lymm
We exist primarily to remind the people of
Lymm and beyond of the reality of God in
our world and the grace that comes to us
through Jesus Christ enabling us to model
our lives and help model our wider society
on what he has shown us
Focused on worship as our life-blood we are
an inclusive community which aims to offer
space to those exploring what life means as
well as those already committed to Chris-
tian faith Our activities range widely and
take in a good social life and service to
those beyond as well as within the Church
You will find a warm welcome among us
Why not come along
Rectorrsquos welcome
Sunday Club
and Choir
member
Fisayo wins
Young
Composer of
the Year
Award
St Maryrsquos 2012 Annual report
The Parish Church of Lymm April 2013
The Churchrsquos
year in words
and pictures
Welcome 1
Secretary and
Treasurer
report to AGM
2
Tower Captainrsquos
report
Wardens face
water damage
3
Getting together 4
Pudding Mice
and Chips
5
Growing in faith 6
Worship and
Music
7
Beyond St Maryrsquos 8
wwwstmaryslymmorg
2
The Parochial Church Council
meets on a regular basis We
have submitted our Gap Year
Three analysis to the Dio-
cese There are three Goals we
are now concentrating on Look-
ing Out - Looking In and Looking
Up New task groups have now
been formed and you will be
hearing about their progress through the Church Magazine
George Bainton attended a
course on Growing Leaders -
Growing Churches and we have
been at various PCC Meetings
discussing Church Community -
Health Section - Health Check
Party Time
Again this year we participated in
the Historic Churches Preserva-
tion Trust Annual Ride and Stride
led by our Youth Group members
and had an excellent turnout and sponsorship
Carol Roberts
PCC Secretary
Finance report
Tower Report
Our band of ringers has not changed this year 9 members are registered
with the Chester Diocesan Guild of Church Bellringers and helped by visitors who join us on Sundays and
on practice nights we have continued to progress
4 quarter peals were rung One by a home band and three by visiting bands (though one of those did invite Ryder Dines to ring with them)
We also joined in the national cele-brations by ringing on 5 June for the
Queens Diamond Jubilee
Visiting ringers have again come from
all parts of the country we were particularly pleased to welcome those who called in on their way to the
annual meeting of the Central Council in Chester on 2 June Liz France
For the second year in succes-sion the Church managed to break even This follows a number of years where we made substantial deficits We managed to make all our pay-ments to the Diocese and were able to proceed with a number of badly needed repairs to the Church Hall However there will be many challenges and difficulties to overcome in the next year The parish share will this year in-crease by 3 and we still owe pound21000 to the Diocese from previous years The Church Hall although in a better con-dition than for a number of years still needs a considera-ble amount of money spending on it A successful Stewardship Re-newal this year is very im-portant so that these challeng-es can be met and the Church continues to move forward to continue moving forward
David Critchley Treasurer to the PCC
Page 2 2012 Report
ST MARYrsquoS
LOOKS IN
OUT AND
UP
Secretaryrsquos
Annual
Report
Page 7
Worship and Spirituality
The centre of our worshipping life is the Parish Communion which brings together the best of tradi-tional and contemporary Anglican-ism Music (led by our able choir and organist) and drama (we have a small drama group) play an im-portant part Special all-age services through the year (such as Mothering Sun-day Harvest Christingle) aim to ensure our worship is accessible to all Lay participation is a key element at every level - reading lessons leading prayers the work done by our baptism visiting team
In the past year Godly Play and storytelling have become new additions to what we do During Lent we have also had a home-based retreat and a medi-tation group The candlelit Christ-mas Carol Service continues to
be a highlight for many
Ru
shb
eari
ng
A
ugu
st 2
012
Choir Notes
I am delighted you are able to spend a few minutes reading about our choir here at St Maryrsquos In the past year we have welcomed 5 new members Dorothy Nick Tom Jacky and Tom We are quite a mixed bunch of ages sizes and voices Much church music is written as SATB where S stands for sopranos (we have 8) A stands for altos (we have 2) T stands for tenors (we have 2) and B stands for bass (we have 4) We practice every Thursday from 630pm to 745pm (except October to December when we change to Fridays due to my other com-mitments) On the fourth Sunday of the month and at some other major festivals we sing an an-them Over the past 18 months we have sung a different anthem each time so our repertoire is growing
If you take our parish magazine you will have noticed not only details of the hymns for the next month but also the anthem and some notes on the composer I have recent-ly started to add the recessional organ music for each Sunday (stops members of the con-gregation trying to guess what I have played) Last Christmas for the Lessons and Carols service the choir sang 14 carols
Every member of the congregation has the
chance to choose their own hymns
Roy Sutton
Organist and Choirmaster
2012 Report Page 6
GROWING
IN FAITH
Ministry to
Children
Young Adults
and Young
Families
Sunday School meets every Sunday at 1000am and Praise and Play at
1030am every Friday in term time Both groups are well attended
In Sunday School we use games craft activities and stories to help
teach the younger children about the Christian faith The children
helped the congregation celebrate Pentecost by making a large felt
hanging which everyone added flames to We learned about parables
including the Prodigal Son and the Parable of the Two Houses The
children also enjoyed finding out about some of the Old Testament
Stories with the themes of rsquoBread from Heavenrsquo and Abram and
Sarai Godly Play is used once a month with children of all ages hear-
ing and responding to the storytelling Stories this year have been
The story of Baptism which we had when one of our newest arrivals
was baptised The children have also responded to the story of The
Great Family How the Church Tells the Time and The Good Samari-
tan Our older Sunday Club members have followed broadly the same
themes of the lessons studying some them in more detail and learn-
ing to use their Bibles in extension challenges such as word searches
and crosswords as well as enjoying craft and artistic activities
The Theme of the Prizegiving service
in July was lsquoWho is my neighbourrsquo
when we learned about our new Action-
aid sponsorship child Sipitei a Kenyan
boy The Prizegiving was followed by a
BBQ and games
At Praise and Play we have a good
nucleus of people who attend regu-
larly and we have mums who help each term with programme
planning and leading activities Our work lately has had to be
very simple as the children are so young although
the adults have on occasion been very inventive
The group has supported the churchrsquos Building Fund
through social activities in a number of ways We
are very grateful to other church members who
help regularly on the coffee rota New faces are
always welcome to join us on Friday mornings during
term time
We continue to support our ministry to Baptism families Baptism
follow-up works well with the new personalised Baptism certifi-
cate proving popular with the families Some children who have
been baptised recently and their families have begun to become
regular members of our church family and they are very welcome
Sunday School
Presents Africa
Souper Soup
Lunch
Churchwardens Jill Wasey and Liz France review the year
In time for Easter the new
Sanctuary furniture arrived
and is very attractive and
suitable to its purpose
The election of Wardens
and AGM was postponed
for another Warden to be
found and Liz France came
to the rescue
In no time at all disaster
struck when on 7th
June
the Rector phoned to say
the vestry was very wet By
the time we went in the af-
ternoon it was an inunda-
tion Buckets appeared
from all sides An inspec-
tion of the roof revealed
that the lead had been sto-
len Tarpaulins were laid
across it But the rain
poured in and buckets had
to be emptied at regular
intervals
Permission was required
from the Archdeacon on
Friday night and we are in-
debted to the Rural Dean
for facil itat ing this
Goughs builders managed
to stem the flow until Rich-
ard Williams our new ar-
chitect was able to effect a
more permanent but tem-
porary repair until we can
afford a replacement which
will NOT be lead
During the year the light-
ning conductor was vandal-
ised but was repaired by Peter Clark
and there was a blocked spouthead
over the rear vestry door but that
has been assessed as due for renew-
al
For a short time we thought we were
going to have to live with bats but
they seem to have left
Recently Richard has carried out the
Quinquennial Inspection He has
not indicated any major problems
but we should receive his report
soon
WARDENS
KEEP
GODrsquoS
HOUSE IN
ORDER
despite
theft and
vandalism
Page 3
2012 was a very eventful year for the UK with the Queenrsquos Diamond Jubilee followed by the Olympics St Maryrsquos Mothersrsquo Union members celebrated these events in their own style In June an Evening of Royal Memories was held to celebrate the Royal Jubilee Everyone came suitably attired in lsquoposh hatsrsquo and raised a glass in toast to the Queen To prepare for the Olympics in a warm up to the main event there was a Pancake Tossing competition on Shrove Tuesday and in May members of St Peterrsquos Mothersrsquo Union joined us in a Mosquito Drive The competitiveness shown on both these occasions was no less than that shown by any Olympian During the rest of the year there have been a variety of guest speakers and an outing to Warburton Old Church together with the Annual Dinner and Pre-Christmas Jollification with Church Womenrsquos Fellowship members
2012 Report Page 4
MOTHERSrsquo
UNION
A Celebratory
and Athletic
year for the
Mothersrsquo Union
THE FELLOWSHIP WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS
The Fellowship was pleased to welcome several new members in 2012
They along with the existing members enjoyed a wide ranging pro-
gramme of events including talks on the CAB the work of a Communi-
ty Policemen a virtual tour of Nova Scotia and life as an organist with
a demonstration of the skills needed to play this instrument
There were celebrations held on St Valentinersquos Day with chocolates
and love poems and on the Queenrsquos Jubilee when memories of the
day 60 years ago were shared memorabilia shown and crowns worn
There were also the regular events the Beetle Drive the Annual Din-
ner the Christmas Social with Mothersrsquo Union members and the
evening outing which in 2012 was to St Roccorsquos Hospice in Warring-
ton to see the recently completed new additions to the Day Care Cen-
tre
During the year the Church Reading Group has continued to be very well attended Books discussed included Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton Perfect People by Peter James Oth-
er Peoplersquos Money by Justin Cartwright and The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon To mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of
Charles Dickens we read The Tale of Two Cities Our avid readers enjoyed lively discussions and enjoyed sharing their views about the very varied choices of books which they had enjoyed During Lent 2012 two adult groups met to follow the York Course for 2012 lsquoHanding on the Torchrsquo Another adult group followed Peter Privettrsquos Living in a Fragile World a meditation in the Godly Play style reflecting on the fragility of the earth the vision of God and finishing with the Easter message of hope
Discussi
on and
Study
Social Events
Page 5
Puddings
Concerts
and
Church
Mice
A BIG THANK YOU helliphellip hellip to all those who have supported the many and varied fund raising events throughout 2012 The Pudding Club continues to be a popular attraction In May the theme was lsquoRoyal Jubileersquo with traditional English Puddings being served and in December there were the usual and unusual seasonal puddings
Still on the theme of food in April a Spring Walk was arranged when many energetic walkers and assorted dogs started the morning with coffee and croissants before heading off
round Spud Wood returning to enjoy bacon butties At Easter many attended the break-fast held on Easter Sunday which was served between the two morning services Two of our more energetic walkers Maggie and Chris Maudsley under-took the 15 mile Wirral Sponsored Walk in May
During the Lymm Festival a lsquoFestive Funrsquo afternoon was held in church providing fun for all the family This included a lsquoFind the Church Mousersquo trail quizzes for the adults plants to buy the tower was open for those with heads for heights and a deli-cious selection of cakes were served In September we were pleased to play host to the massed choirs of the Cantorum Choir and Gothenburg Police Male Voice Choir from Sweden and the Greater Manchester Police Male Voice Choir In all 100 voices entertained a very appreciative audi-ence In October we went to visit the Black-pool Illuminations enjoying a fish and chip supper And the year closed with a concert by Julie Ann Carr a professional concert organist who demonstrated her skill and the power of our organ in lsquoAn Evening with Juliersquo
A total of over pound2500 was raised towards the General Church Fund and the Building Fund
The Parochial Church Council
meets on a regular basis We
have submitted our Gap Year
Three analysis to the Dio-
cese There are three Goals we
are now concentrating on Look-
ing Out - Looking In and Looking
Up New task groups have now
been formed and you will be
hearing about their progress through the Church Magazine
George Bainton attended a
course on Growing Leaders -
Growing Churches and we have
been at various PCC Meetings
discussing Church Community -
Health Section - Health Check
Party Time
Again this year we participated in
the Historic Churches Preserva-
tion Trust Annual Ride and Stride
led by our Youth Group members
and had an excellent turnout and sponsorship
Carol Roberts
PCC Secretary
Finance report
Tower Report
Our band of ringers has not changed this year 9 members are registered
with the Chester Diocesan Guild of Church Bellringers and helped by visitors who join us on Sundays and
on practice nights we have continued to progress
4 quarter peals were rung One by a home band and three by visiting bands (though one of those did invite Ryder Dines to ring with them)
We also joined in the national cele-brations by ringing on 5 June for the
Queens Diamond Jubilee
Visiting ringers have again come from
all parts of the country we were particularly pleased to welcome those who called in on their way to the
annual meeting of the Central Council in Chester on 2 June Liz France
For the second year in succes-sion the Church managed to break even This follows a number of years where we made substantial deficits We managed to make all our pay-ments to the Diocese and were able to proceed with a number of badly needed repairs to the Church Hall However there will be many challenges and difficulties to overcome in the next year The parish share will this year in-crease by 3 and we still owe pound21000 to the Diocese from previous years The Church Hall although in a better con-dition than for a number of years still needs a considera-ble amount of money spending on it A successful Stewardship Re-newal this year is very im-portant so that these challeng-es can be met and the Church continues to move forward to continue moving forward
David Critchley Treasurer to the PCC
Page 2 2012 Report
ST MARYrsquoS
LOOKS IN
OUT AND
UP
Secretaryrsquos
Annual
Report
Page 7
Worship and Spirituality
The centre of our worshipping life is the Parish Communion which brings together the best of tradi-tional and contemporary Anglican-ism Music (led by our able choir and organist) and drama (we have a small drama group) play an im-portant part Special all-age services through the year (such as Mothering Sun-day Harvest Christingle) aim to ensure our worship is accessible to all Lay participation is a key element at every level - reading lessons leading prayers the work done by our baptism visiting team
In the past year Godly Play and storytelling have become new additions to what we do During Lent we have also had a home-based retreat and a medi-tation group The candlelit Christ-mas Carol Service continues to
be a highlight for many
Ru
shb
eari
ng
A
ugu
st 2
012
Choir Notes
I am delighted you are able to spend a few minutes reading about our choir here at St Maryrsquos In the past year we have welcomed 5 new members Dorothy Nick Tom Jacky and Tom We are quite a mixed bunch of ages sizes and voices Much church music is written as SATB where S stands for sopranos (we have 8) A stands for altos (we have 2) T stands for tenors (we have 2) and B stands for bass (we have 4) We practice every Thursday from 630pm to 745pm (except October to December when we change to Fridays due to my other com-mitments) On the fourth Sunday of the month and at some other major festivals we sing an an-them Over the past 18 months we have sung a different anthem each time so our repertoire is growing
If you take our parish magazine you will have noticed not only details of the hymns for the next month but also the anthem and some notes on the composer I have recent-ly started to add the recessional organ music for each Sunday (stops members of the con-gregation trying to guess what I have played) Last Christmas for the Lessons and Carols service the choir sang 14 carols
Every member of the congregation has the
chance to choose their own hymns
Roy Sutton
Organist and Choirmaster
2012 Report Page 6
GROWING
IN FAITH
Ministry to
Children
Young Adults
and Young
Families
Sunday School meets every Sunday at 1000am and Praise and Play at
1030am every Friday in term time Both groups are well attended
In Sunday School we use games craft activities and stories to help
teach the younger children about the Christian faith The children
helped the congregation celebrate Pentecost by making a large felt
hanging which everyone added flames to We learned about parables
including the Prodigal Son and the Parable of the Two Houses The
children also enjoyed finding out about some of the Old Testament
Stories with the themes of rsquoBread from Heavenrsquo and Abram and
Sarai Godly Play is used once a month with children of all ages hear-
ing and responding to the storytelling Stories this year have been
The story of Baptism which we had when one of our newest arrivals
was baptised The children have also responded to the story of The
Great Family How the Church Tells the Time and The Good Samari-
tan Our older Sunday Club members have followed broadly the same
themes of the lessons studying some them in more detail and learn-
ing to use their Bibles in extension challenges such as word searches
and crosswords as well as enjoying craft and artistic activities
The Theme of the Prizegiving service
in July was lsquoWho is my neighbourrsquo
when we learned about our new Action-
aid sponsorship child Sipitei a Kenyan
boy The Prizegiving was followed by a
BBQ and games
At Praise and Play we have a good
nucleus of people who attend regu-
larly and we have mums who help each term with programme
planning and leading activities Our work lately has had to be
very simple as the children are so young although
the adults have on occasion been very inventive
The group has supported the churchrsquos Building Fund
through social activities in a number of ways We
are very grateful to other church members who
help regularly on the coffee rota New faces are
always welcome to join us on Friday mornings during
term time
We continue to support our ministry to Baptism families Baptism
follow-up works well with the new personalised Baptism certifi-
cate proving popular with the families Some children who have
been baptised recently and their families have begun to become
regular members of our church family and they are very welcome
Sunday School
Presents Africa
Souper Soup
Lunch
Churchwardens Jill Wasey and Liz France review the year
In time for Easter the new
Sanctuary furniture arrived
and is very attractive and
suitable to its purpose
The election of Wardens
and AGM was postponed
for another Warden to be
found and Liz France came
to the rescue
In no time at all disaster
struck when on 7th
June
the Rector phoned to say
the vestry was very wet By
the time we went in the af-
ternoon it was an inunda-
tion Buckets appeared
from all sides An inspec-
tion of the roof revealed
that the lead had been sto-
len Tarpaulins were laid
across it But the rain
poured in and buckets had
to be emptied at regular
intervals
Permission was required
from the Archdeacon on
Friday night and we are in-
debted to the Rural Dean
for facil itat ing this
Goughs builders managed
to stem the flow until Rich-
ard Williams our new ar-
chitect was able to effect a
more permanent but tem-
porary repair until we can
afford a replacement which
will NOT be lead
During the year the light-
ning conductor was vandal-
ised but was repaired by Peter Clark
and there was a blocked spouthead
over the rear vestry door but that
has been assessed as due for renew-
al
For a short time we thought we were
going to have to live with bats but
they seem to have left
Recently Richard has carried out the
Quinquennial Inspection He has
not indicated any major problems
but we should receive his report
soon
WARDENS
KEEP
GODrsquoS
HOUSE IN
ORDER
despite
theft and
vandalism
Page 3
2012 was a very eventful year for the UK with the Queenrsquos Diamond Jubilee followed by the Olympics St Maryrsquos Mothersrsquo Union members celebrated these events in their own style In June an Evening of Royal Memories was held to celebrate the Royal Jubilee Everyone came suitably attired in lsquoposh hatsrsquo and raised a glass in toast to the Queen To prepare for the Olympics in a warm up to the main event there was a Pancake Tossing competition on Shrove Tuesday and in May members of St Peterrsquos Mothersrsquo Union joined us in a Mosquito Drive The competitiveness shown on both these occasions was no less than that shown by any Olympian During the rest of the year there have been a variety of guest speakers and an outing to Warburton Old Church together with the Annual Dinner and Pre-Christmas Jollification with Church Womenrsquos Fellowship members
2012 Report Page 4
MOTHERSrsquo
UNION
A Celebratory
and Athletic
year for the
Mothersrsquo Union
THE FELLOWSHIP WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS
The Fellowship was pleased to welcome several new members in 2012
They along with the existing members enjoyed a wide ranging pro-
gramme of events including talks on the CAB the work of a Communi-
ty Policemen a virtual tour of Nova Scotia and life as an organist with
a demonstration of the skills needed to play this instrument
There were celebrations held on St Valentinersquos Day with chocolates
and love poems and on the Queenrsquos Jubilee when memories of the
day 60 years ago were shared memorabilia shown and crowns worn
There were also the regular events the Beetle Drive the Annual Din-
ner the Christmas Social with Mothersrsquo Union members and the
evening outing which in 2012 was to St Roccorsquos Hospice in Warring-
ton to see the recently completed new additions to the Day Care Cen-
tre
During the year the Church Reading Group has continued to be very well attended Books discussed included Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton Perfect People by Peter James Oth-
er Peoplersquos Money by Justin Cartwright and The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon To mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of
Charles Dickens we read The Tale of Two Cities Our avid readers enjoyed lively discussions and enjoyed sharing their views about the very varied choices of books which they had enjoyed During Lent 2012 two adult groups met to follow the York Course for 2012 lsquoHanding on the Torchrsquo Another adult group followed Peter Privettrsquos Living in a Fragile World a meditation in the Godly Play style reflecting on the fragility of the earth the vision of God and finishing with the Easter message of hope
Discussi
on and
Study
Social Events
Page 5
Puddings
Concerts
and
Church
Mice
A BIG THANK YOU helliphellip hellip to all those who have supported the many and varied fund raising events throughout 2012 The Pudding Club continues to be a popular attraction In May the theme was lsquoRoyal Jubileersquo with traditional English Puddings being served and in December there were the usual and unusual seasonal puddings
Still on the theme of food in April a Spring Walk was arranged when many energetic walkers and assorted dogs started the morning with coffee and croissants before heading off
round Spud Wood returning to enjoy bacon butties At Easter many attended the break-fast held on Easter Sunday which was served between the two morning services Two of our more energetic walkers Maggie and Chris Maudsley under-took the 15 mile Wirral Sponsored Walk in May
During the Lymm Festival a lsquoFestive Funrsquo afternoon was held in church providing fun for all the family This included a lsquoFind the Church Mousersquo trail quizzes for the adults plants to buy the tower was open for those with heads for heights and a deli-cious selection of cakes were served In September we were pleased to play host to the massed choirs of the Cantorum Choir and Gothenburg Police Male Voice Choir from Sweden and the Greater Manchester Police Male Voice Choir In all 100 voices entertained a very appreciative audi-ence In October we went to visit the Black-pool Illuminations enjoying a fish and chip supper And the year closed with a concert by Julie Ann Carr a professional concert organist who demonstrated her skill and the power of our organ in lsquoAn Evening with Juliersquo
A total of over pound2500 was raised towards the General Church Fund and the Building Fund
2012 Report Page 6
GROWING
IN FAITH
Ministry to
Children
Young Adults
and Young
Families
Sunday School meets every Sunday at 1000am and Praise and Play at
1030am every Friday in term time Both groups are well attended
In Sunday School we use games craft activities and stories to help
teach the younger children about the Christian faith The children
helped the congregation celebrate Pentecost by making a large felt
hanging which everyone added flames to We learned about parables
including the Prodigal Son and the Parable of the Two Houses The
children also enjoyed finding out about some of the Old Testament
Stories with the themes of rsquoBread from Heavenrsquo and Abram and
Sarai Godly Play is used once a month with children of all ages hear-
ing and responding to the storytelling Stories this year have been
The story of Baptism which we had when one of our newest arrivals
was baptised The children have also responded to the story of The
Great Family How the Church Tells the Time and The Good Samari-
tan Our older Sunday Club members have followed broadly the same
themes of the lessons studying some them in more detail and learn-
ing to use their Bibles in extension challenges such as word searches
and crosswords as well as enjoying craft and artistic activities
The Theme of the Prizegiving service
in July was lsquoWho is my neighbourrsquo
when we learned about our new Action-
aid sponsorship child Sipitei a Kenyan
boy The Prizegiving was followed by a
BBQ and games
At Praise and Play we have a good
nucleus of people who attend regu-
larly and we have mums who help each term with programme
planning and leading activities Our work lately has had to be
very simple as the children are so young although
the adults have on occasion been very inventive
The group has supported the churchrsquos Building Fund
through social activities in a number of ways We
are very grateful to other church members who
help regularly on the coffee rota New faces are
always welcome to join us on Friday mornings during
term time
We continue to support our ministry to Baptism families Baptism
follow-up works well with the new personalised Baptism certifi-
cate proving popular with the families Some children who have
been baptised recently and their families have begun to become
regular members of our church family and they are very welcome
Sunday School
Presents Africa
Souper Soup
Lunch
Churchwardens Jill Wasey and Liz France review the year
In time for Easter the new
Sanctuary furniture arrived
and is very attractive and
suitable to its purpose
The election of Wardens
and AGM was postponed
for another Warden to be
found and Liz France came
to the rescue
In no time at all disaster
struck when on 7th
June
the Rector phoned to say
the vestry was very wet By
the time we went in the af-
ternoon it was an inunda-
tion Buckets appeared
from all sides An inspec-
tion of the roof revealed
that the lead had been sto-
len Tarpaulins were laid
across it But the rain
poured in and buckets had
to be emptied at regular
intervals
Permission was required
from the Archdeacon on
Friday night and we are in-
debted to the Rural Dean
for facil itat ing this
Goughs builders managed
to stem the flow until Rich-
ard Williams our new ar-
chitect was able to effect a
more permanent but tem-
porary repair until we can
afford a replacement which
will NOT be lead
During the year the light-
ning conductor was vandal-
ised but was repaired by Peter Clark
and there was a blocked spouthead
over the rear vestry door but that
has been assessed as due for renew-
al
For a short time we thought we were
going to have to live with bats but
they seem to have left
Recently Richard has carried out the
Quinquennial Inspection He has
not indicated any major problems
but we should receive his report
soon
WARDENS
KEEP
GODrsquoS
HOUSE IN
ORDER
despite
theft and
vandalism
Page 3
2012 was a very eventful year for the UK with the Queenrsquos Diamond Jubilee followed by the Olympics St Maryrsquos Mothersrsquo Union members celebrated these events in their own style In June an Evening of Royal Memories was held to celebrate the Royal Jubilee Everyone came suitably attired in lsquoposh hatsrsquo and raised a glass in toast to the Queen To prepare for the Olympics in a warm up to the main event there was a Pancake Tossing competition on Shrove Tuesday and in May members of St Peterrsquos Mothersrsquo Union joined us in a Mosquito Drive The competitiveness shown on both these occasions was no less than that shown by any Olympian During the rest of the year there have been a variety of guest speakers and an outing to Warburton Old Church together with the Annual Dinner and Pre-Christmas Jollification with Church Womenrsquos Fellowship members
2012 Report Page 4
MOTHERSrsquo
UNION
A Celebratory
and Athletic
year for the
Mothersrsquo Union
THE FELLOWSHIP WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS
The Fellowship was pleased to welcome several new members in 2012
They along with the existing members enjoyed a wide ranging pro-
gramme of events including talks on the CAB the work of a Communi-
ty Policemen a virtual tour of Nova Scotia and life as an organist with
a demonstration of the skills needed to play this instrument
There were celebrations held on St Valentinersquos Day with chocolates
and love poems and on the Queenrsquos Jubilee when memories of the
day 60 years ago were shared memorabilia shown and crowns worn
There were also the regular events the Beetle Drive the Annual Din-
ner the Christmas Social with Mothersrsquo Union members and the
evening outing which in 2012 was to St Roccorsquos Hospice in Warring-
ton to see the recently completed new additions to the Day Care Cen-
tre
During the year the Church Reading Group has continued to be very well attended Books discussed included Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton Perfect People by Peter James Oth-
er Peoplersquos Money by Justin Cartwright and The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon To mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of
Charles Dickens we read The Tale of Two Cities Our avid readers enjoyed lively discussions and enjoyed sharing their views about the very varied choices of books which they had enjoyed During Lent 2012 two adult groups met to follow the York Course for 2012 lsquoHanding on the Torchrsquo Another adult group followed Peter Privettrsquos Living in a Fragile World a meditation in the Godly Play style reflecting on the fragility of the earth the vision of God and finishing with the Easter message of hope
Discussi
on and
Study
Social Events
Page 5
Puddings
Concerts
and
Church
Mice
A BIG THANK YOU helliphellip hellip to all those who have supported the many and varied fund raising events throughout 2012 The Pudding Club continues to be a popular attraction In May the theme was lsquoRoyal Jubileersquo with traditional English Puddings being served and in December there were the usual and unusual seasonal puddings
Still on the theme of food in April a Spring Walk was arranged when many energetic walkers and assorted dogs started the morning with coffee and croissants before heading off
round Spud Wood returning to enjoy bacon butties At Easter many attended the break-fast held on Easter Sunday which was served between the two morning services Two of our more energetic walkers Maggie and Chris Maudsley under-took the 15 mile Wirral Sponsored Walk in May
During the Lymm Festival a lsquoFestive Funrsquo afternoon was held in church providing fun for all the family This included a lsquoFind the Church Mousersquo trail quizzes for the adults plants to buy the tower was open for those with heads for heights and a deli-cious selection of cakes were served In September we were pleased to play host to the massed choirs of the Cantorum Choir and Gothenburg Police Male Voice Choir from Sweden and the Greater Manchester Police Male Voice Choir In all 100 voices entertained a very appreciative audi-ence In October we went to visit the Black-pool Illuminations enjoying a fish and chip supper And the year closed with a concert by Julie Ann Carr a professional concert organist who demonstrated her skill and the power of our organ in lsquoAn Evening with Juliersquo
A total of over pound2500 was raised towards the General Church Fund and the Building Fund
2012 was a very eventful year for the UK with the Queenrsquos Diamond Jubilee followed by the Olympics St Maryrsquos Mothersrsquo Union members celebrated these events in their own style In June an Evening of Royal Memories was held to celebrate the Royal Jubilee Everyone came suitably attired in lsquoposh hatsrsquo and raised a glass in toast to the Queen To prepare for the Olympics in a warm up to the main event there was a Pancake Tossing competition on Shrove Tuesday and in May members of St Peterrsquos Mothersrsquo Union joined us in a Mosquito Drive The competitiveness shown on both these occasions was no less than that shown by any Olympian During the rest of the year there have been a variety of guest speakers and an outing to Warburton Old Church together with the Annual Dinner and Pre-Christmas Jollification with Church Womenrsquos Fellowship members
2012 Report Page 4
MOTHERSrsquo
UNION
A Celebratory
and Athletic
year for the
Mothersrsquo Union
THE FELLOWSHIP WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS
The Fellowship was pleased to welcome several new members in 2012
They along with the existing members enjoyed a wide ranging pro-
gramme of events including talks on the CAB the work of a Communi-
ty Policemen a virtual tour of Nova Scotia and life as an organist with
a demonstration of the skills needed to play this instrument
There were celebrations held on St Valentinersquos Day with chocolates
and love poems and on the Queenrsquos Jubilee when memories of the
day 60 years ago were shared memorabilia shown and crowns worn
There were also the regular events the Beetle Drive the Annual Din-
ner the Christmas Social with Mothersrsquo Union members and the
evening outing which in 2012 was to St Roccorsquos Hospice in Warring-
ton to see the recently completed new additions to the Day Care Cen-
tre
During the year the Church Reading Group has continued to be very well attended Books discussed included Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton Perfect People by Peter James Oth-
er Peoplersquos Money by Justin Cartwright and The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon To mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of
Charles Dickens we read The Tale of Two Cities Our avid readers enjoyed lively discussions and enjoyed sharing their views about the very varied choices of books which they had enjoyed During Lent 2012 two adult groups met to follow the York Course for 2012 lsquoHanding on the Torchrsquo Another adult group followed Peter Privettrsquos Living in a Fragile World a meditation in the Godly Play style reflecting on the fragility of the earth the vision of God and finishing with the Easter message of hope
Discussi
on and
Study
Social Events
Page 5
Puddings
Concerts
and
Church
Mice
A BIG THANK YOU helliphellip hellip to all those who have supported the many and varied fund raising events throughout 2012 The Pudding Club continues to be a popular attraction In May the theme was lsquoRoyal Jubileersquo with traditional English Puddings being served and in December there were the usual and unusual seasonal puddings
Still on the theme of food in April a Spring Walk was arranged when many energetic walkers and assorted dogs started the morning with coffee and croissants before heading off
round Spud Wood returning to enjoy bacon butties At Easter many attended the break-fast held on Easter Sunday which was served between the two morning services Two of our more energetic walkers Maggie and Chris Maudsley under-took the 15 mile Wirral Sponsored Walk in May
During the Lymm Festival a lsquoFestive Funrsquo afternoon was held in church providing fun for all the family This included a lsquoFind the Church Mousersquo trail quizzes for the adults plants to buy the tower was open for those with heads for heights and a deli-cious selection of cakes were served In September we were pleased to play host to the massed choirs of the Cantorum Choir and Gothenburg Police Male Voice Choir from Sweden and the Greater Manchester Police Male Voice Choir In all 100 voices entertained a very appreciative audi-ence In October we went to visit the Black-pool Illuminations enjoying a fish and chip supper And the year closed with a concert by Julie Ann Carr a professional concert organist who demonstrated her skill and the power of our organ in lsquoAn Evening with Juliersquo
A total of over pound2500 was raised towards the General Church Fund and the Building Fund