Transcript
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THE PARISH OF PORTLAND

APCM

WEDNESDAY 5th APRIL 2017 AT ST. ANDREW’S HALL AT 7.30 PM.

Prior to the APCM the Rector will ask the relevant person/people if they are willing to continue/take up their posts as Churchwardens.

ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING

1. Prayers.

2. To inform the meeting of the person/persons willing to continue/take up their posts as Churchwardens. A vote then taken confirming the acceptance by the meeting and inviting them to join the Chair.

3. Apologies.

4. To agree the Minutes of the APCM 2016

5. Matters arising from the Minutes.

6. The reports. (Copies have been available in all three Churches)

7. Treasurer.

8. Responses to the reports and to the Treasurer’s report.

9. PCC members – 2 members needed for St. Johns Church.

10. To elect sidespeople for each Church.

11. To elect one person to join the Deanery Synod.

12. To elect one person for the post of Child Protection

13. Electoral Roll.

14. Presentation for the future of the Parish – Rev T Gomm & Rev J Menzies.

15. Any other business – to be notified 24 hours prior to the meeting either to the Secretary, Mrs. J Camp or the Chair, Rev T Gomm.

16. Closing prayers.

Date of next PCC meeting. – 7th June 2017 : 19:30 – St Andrews hall.

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THE PARISH OF PORTLAND 2016 APCM Minutes.

HELD AT ST. JOHNS HALL ON WEDNESDAY APRIL 20TH 2016

Churchwardens. – Prior to the meeting Rev Gomm had asked the relevant Churchwardens if they wished to continue in their roles. Mrs J Butcher and Mr.R McColm both stated that they would continue in their roles. Mr. G Hayward has come to the end of his years of service.

There were 23 present at this meeting.

1. Prayers.

Rev Gomm started the APCM in prayer.

2.Churchwardens

Rev Gomm informed the meeting that Mrs. J Butcher was willing to continue in her role as Churchwarden of All Saints. Mr R McColm has been given special permission by the Archdeacon to stand as Churchwarden for St. Johns for another year. Mr. G Hayward is standing down after his allotted years of service.

A vote was taken confirming the acceptance which was unanimous and Mr. G Hayward was thanked for his years of service. He is going to continue with the task of making safe the wall and steps at St. Andrews. At present there is no Churchwarden for St. Andrews Church.

3. Apologies

An apology was received from Mrs. Terry Shakespeare who is unwell.

4. To agree the Minutes of the APCM 2015

It was proposed by Mr. McColm, seconded by Mrs. Fenlon and carried unanimously that these were a true record.

5. Matters arising from the Minutes.

There were no matters arising.

6. The reports

Copies of the reports have been available in all three Churches.

7. Responses to the reports

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a) Regarding his report, Rev Gomm, re-iterated his pleasure at the very positive reactions received after members of the Parish went Carol singing around local pubs and that it was the intention to continue with this.

b) Rev J Menzies commenting on his report where it informs of him being accepted on the Church Pastoral Aid Society’s Arrow Leadership course. It is an 18 month course and will mean some time away from the Parish. He thanked people for their patience and understanding.

c) Re Rev Mark Phillips report. Mrs. Fenlon passed on thanks from the congregation at St. Andrews Church. The services will remain at 9.30 as was their wish.

d) St. Johns Churchwarden – there is an error in the time of the Praise group, they meet at 6.30 and not 7.30 as indicated,

e) All Saints Churchwarden – Mrs. Butcher had nothing to add. It was generally agreed that she has excelled in obtaining the many Faculties that All Saints needed.

f) St. Andrews Churchwarden. – even though Mr. Hayward is no longer Churchwarden, as indicated previously, he is going to continue with “the wall/steps issue”. Mr. Niall Laming has said that, understanding our financial position, he is willing to carry out work using the money available and should more work be necessary to make both wall and steps safe then he would carry that out but would extend the time of payment. It was agreed that we would need to know what he intended to do before commencing with this.

Mrs C Lock pointed out that this has been ongoing for many years and while our available money remains the same the costs are going up.

Rev Gomm replied by saying that he agreed with all Mrs. Lock said but we now had permission from the Council and planning permission from the Diocese so

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things are moving forward albeit slowly.

At this time Rev Gomm thanked Mr Hayward for doing a sterling job as Churchwarden for St. Andrews.

g) Both the social committee and Mrs. C Callis, C2000 Co-ordinator, were thanked for the work put in by them during the year.

h) The charitable giving was also commended. Mrs. Fenlon pointed out that the sum of £573 was given to the Children’s Society and that had been omitted. Also Mrs A Aldridge-Goult collected for the Sea Farers.

8. Treasurer.

The audited financial report had been made available for all to see and there were no questions arising from this. Mrs. A Hoskins, Treasurer, wished to thank, in particular, Mr. I McPheat for his immense help also the Churchwardens, Cashiers and the Clergy for their support.

Mrs Hoskins was then thanked for all the many hours she puts in as Treasurer. Mrs. Hoskins also indicated that she would like to stand down at the end of this year and that if anyone, with some accountancy experience, would like to take on this post she would be willing to show them the ropes.

9. To elect new PCC members,

Two members are needed for both All Saints and St. Andrews and three for St Johns.

All Saints

Ms Charlotte Troubridge was proposed by Mrs. J Butcher and seconded by Rev J Menzies.

Mrs. Vicki Louch was proposed by Rev J Menzies and seconded by Mrs J Butcher.

St. Andrews

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Mrs. Norma Milverton was proposed by Mrs A Fenlon and seconded by Mrs. J Camp.

Mrs. C Lock was proposed by Mrs. M Cade and seconded by Mr. G Hayward.

St. Johns

Mrs. Sue King was proposed by Mr. R McColm and seconded by Mrs. J Camp.

It was proposed by Rev M Phillips and seconded by Mrs. J Camp that the above people be duly elected to serve on the PCC.

10. To elect sidespeople for each Church.

All Saints

Mrs. C Troubridge, Mrs. B Hamilton, Mrs. V Louch, Mrs. J Astley and Mrs G Smith.

St. Andrews

Mr. G Hayward, Mrs. L Hayward, Mrs. C Lock, Mrs. A Fenlon, Mrs. J Sutton, Mrs. A Hoskins, Mrs T Shakespeare, Mr. S Day, Mrs. L Hornby and Mrs. J Camp.

St. Johns

Mrs. M Olsson, Mrs. K Gomm and Mrs. S King.

It was proposed by Rev M Phillips, seconded by Mrs. C Callis and carried unanimously that the above people be eledced en bloc.

11. Electoral Roll

The meeting was informed that, at present, there were 77 on the Electoral Roll. In the past year 3 had passed away, 9 people have left and 3 have joined the Parish. Rev Gomm felt that there were several who regularly attend

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Church but who were not on the Roll and encouraged this to happen.

12. Presentation of the future of Portland Parish.

Rev Gomm preceded his presentation by saying that the reason for our Faith is not about fabric or community but all about our relationship with Jesus Christ.

He then showed a short film made by the Archbishop of Canterbury who, along with the Archbishop of York, is encouraging the nation to pray in earnest during Pentecost. It is their wish that during the week before Pentecost Sunday that Churches pray for the evangelisation of the nation. (8 – 15 May)

It is the wish of the Archbishops that

a) All Christians find new life in their relationship with Christ.

b) All those who meet with us might see something of Jesus in us.

c) Pray for the Church that it is so full of life and the joy of Christ that it overflows with love and the reality and presence of Jesus.

Rev Gomm said there is a need to introduce Portland back to Jesus and to see Portland become more of a Christian Community. He also urged members to attend the prayer meetings which are held regularly as, at present, only 4 or 5 regulars attend. Rev Gomm urged all to make prayer a priority in our lives.

13. Any other business.

There was no more business to discuss.

The next PCC meeting will be on July 20th when Mr. Ian Bromilow will be speaking. The meeting will be held in St. Andrews Church.

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NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the year ending 31 December 2017

1. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Church Accounting Regulations 2006 using the Receipts and Payments basis.

2. Fixed assets retained for church use: St Andrews Hall and Flat, and also St John's Hall.

3. £20,900 Parish Share was paid during the year.

4. The following assets are recognised but not necessarily valued in the statement of Assets and Liabilities: All electrical equipment used for administrational purposes and for assisting in the delivery of services.

5. The Clergy and Staffing costs amounted to £2,924.42 Ministerial Expenses, Salary, expenses, HMRC tax contribution and redundancy pay for Community Chaplain £22717.72

6. Overseas and famine relief £379.45

7. The purpose of any restricted funds is as follows;

To adhere to and respect the wishes of those who have made bequests using such bequests in accordance with the restrictions stated in the bequeather's wishes.

To ensure that all monies collected for previously designated purposes are used as such i.e. appeals for donations for specific charities. All monies collected are restricted for said charity.

8. Rental income from the letting of church premises is accounted for when earned but is not expected to be used exclusively on the buildings that are rented.

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TEAM RECTOR’S REPORT.

First let me start by saying a big thank you to all of you who have helped in many ways across the parish, from cutting the grass, polishing the brass, making coffee and teas, making arts and crafts, organising events, serving food, listening to people, leading prayers, reading in a service, playing an instrument, being on the PCC, preaching, cleaning toilets, moving chairs – and more than I can know. THANK YOU. I won’t mention anyone’s name as I know I will miss someone out.

Having responsibility of all that happens in the churches, and as a parish, I can see things are progressing. New people are coming to church, new events happening, and a deep spiritual confidence occurring. I am glad I am here on Portland and seeing new life emerge.

It was both good and sad that Rev’d Eric Mitchell was promoted to Glory on Sunday 19th February 2017. He had been very impatient to get to heaven and to be with May and Ian. Thank you to those who came to his funeral.

What a year we have had – Neil leaving at the end of June 2016, and then Mark at the end of August 2016 – I am grateful for the work they did in the whole parish while they were with us. With both of them leaving the work load this year has been quite heavy. If anyone would like to come and help with any of the following – please come and have a chat with me.

Administration Task. Weekly Pews sheets for St Johns and St Andrews. Updating the web site regularly.

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Fund raising. Faculties

St Andrews St Johns

Community work. Weekly luncheon club at St John’s Hall.

I have been able to re-create it with the help of IPACA’s kitchen. Huge thanks also go to a new member of the church Zena Martin and also Margaret Olsson and Linda Battley who do a wonderful job in running this now.

Community Computer Hub. Job Club. Weymouth college come every week and run a session for anyone who is interested in finding a job. During the summer of 2016 I finally completed the setup of this room in St John’s hall. It has six PC, and a printer in it, along with a projector and a screen, ready if anyone wants to provide training for people.

Royal Legion committee. As always we organise the Annual Day of Remembrance parade. We are seeking to have some royalty to attend for the 2018 parade.

Court Leet. Beating of the bounds. An event which happens every 7 years. I prayed for God’s protecting hand to be over Portland, and for His blessing to be received by us.

St Andrew’s garage. This has been now cleared for a while and we are storing in it various items of furniture and household items – which we can give away free of charge.

Alpha in Portland Prison. I joined about 10 other Christians from Weymouth and Portland to help Rev Claire Carlin – the Chaplain Manager of Portland Prison run a Alpha Course. Over 50 men have attended at least one session – but it is incredible seeing how God is changing those men’s attitudes and outlook on life. I have spoken at some of them, along with Graham Douglas and

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Jon De Kretser. It has been a very good experience. Portland Food Bank.

I have become Chair of this important community provision as well as giving a morning a month as a volunteer. It is very good to sit down with people and hear why they are where they are.

Pentecost on Portland. Once again we had a great time on Pentecost Sunday 2016. We saw over 400 people come and join in. Plus we had a good church service on the back of 2 vans. Then after that we took a minibus to Winchester and join over 3000 people in and around Winchester cathedral for a national celebration of Pentecost and to pray for the “evangelisation of the nation”.

Portland Hospital. Once a month Sue Giebel and I go and take a very short service. Singing some various popular hymns. Jan Camp comes and supports us. It is well received.

As a part of the agreement with the PCC about the possibility of employing another full-time worker for the parish, and my ability as manager I under took with the Open University a course entitles “Growing as a Manager “Level 1 Management and leadership course with the Open University (Feb 2017). I am doing the level 2 course starting April 2017.

Youth Alpha. Ruth Slade (Methodist Youth worker) and I run a Christian youth (secondary school kids) group every Monday in St John’s hall. Now we have completed looking at the youth alpha course it has been transformed in “ALF” (about life and faith). We discuss various things and look at faith issues.

IPACA. I have also been active as a governor for IPACA, and for 6 weeks in the autumn term I became the Chair of Governors – very gruelling and extremely hard work. During that time, I was able to bring into question the sponsors responsibilities and support which led to them withdrawing. As a governor with special responsibility for safe guarding I have done the “NSPCC Safeguarding recruitment Course” (Jan- March 2017. It continues to be hard work. It is hoped that within the next 6 months a new sponsor will be found, and that might mean that I withdraw as a governor, but continue with lessons and assemblies.

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New Wine Leaders Conference (March 2017). Karen and I travelled over to Bristol and spent a good invigorating 3 days there along with 300 other church leaders. As you know last year Karen and went up to Harrogate and heard people like the Archbishop of Canterbury speak about the future of the church, Rev Paul Harcourt – Vicar of All Saints Woodford Wells,

and who is the national leader for New Wine, and numerous others. I always find it a source of inspiration and encouragement. Next year in 2018 the dates for the National New Wine leader’s conference in Harrogate is Tuesday 27th February – 1st March, please do consider joining us.

St Andrew’s Church’s steps. Have been replaced by Niall Lambing. They look good and access to the Hall from the church is much simpler.

Parish Away Day – 14th January 2017. Over half of the congregation joined the PCC and Ian Bromilow to look back at what has been achieved, and what we are doing now – in order to consider what we can do better in the future. The lists were very long – but for me two main things came out – the need for prayer and better communications. This is a process and not a one-off event. Ian will be coming back to the PCC to continue this process. But I really hope that we will start straight away in coming together to pray. From 25th May – 4th June there is an international prayer event called “Thy Kingdom Come”, which was established by the Archbishop of Canterbury last year. Throughout the parish, we will be holding various events. Please support these important events.

Revd Tim Gomm

Team Rector of Portland Parish.

Team Vicar’s Report

2016/2017 has been an encouraging year for All Saints, with several new developments and slow but significant growth. In this report I want to outline some of the highlights of the year, to express my gratitude, and also to present

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some of the challenges and opportunities ahead.

In Christian thinking, church is primarily about people rather than buildings. As a community we have been delighted to welcome several new members, ranging in ages from 2 to 92! This has been a real blessing to us and has enriched our life together.

We were, however, very sad to lose Rev Eric Mitchell who passed away in February. He was a valued member, not only of the All Saints congregation, but of the parish as a whole. He will be deeply missed and we give thanks for his life and ministry.

Also key to what church is about is mission and evangelism. Literally, this means “being sent” and communicating the gospel. Whilst Christians do this- or should be doing this!- at a personal level, we do mission and evangelism corporately too. Highlights this year have included a new service of “Carols by Candlelight” as part of Easton Promise, which attracted many people and gave them an opportunity to hear the good news about Jesus as we celebrated Christmas. Occasional offices- that is, baptisms/thanksgivings, weddings and funerals have kept on coming in, which has been an opportunity to extend a ministry of hospitality (amongst other things) and to show the love we have encountered in Jesus.

Following Neil’s departure from the Parish, I took on provisional responsibility for the babies/toddler group at the Kimberlin Club, and the men’s “Blokes Time” social group. My hope was that this would be a temporary arrangement, which it has proved to be. Whilst I am still involved as a helper (and remain a point of contact for oversight), I have handed over running these activities to groups of volunteers to whom I am profoundly grateful. They continue to be successful, and a good legacy of Neil’s community work on the island.

Further developments have included the installation of a new sound system over the summer, thanks to a grant from Synergy Housing; replacement of our 25 year old hymn books with a set of new “Hymns Ancient and Modern”; the introduction of the “Easter Feast” (does what it says on the tin); new hymns and approaches to intercession. It has been good also to work with St George’s Primary school on a new Service of Remembrance, and a new Easter service for this year, and we enjoyed celebrating the Queen’s birthday in June with a party held in the Vicarage garden.

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Whilst there is frequently the assumption around that the Vicar runs the church, this is an illusion! Keeping the mission of the church properly running and resourced is actually a team effort. I am very grateful to every single member of the church- simply by turning up, you witness to the fact that worshipping God is a worthwhile occupation. Your generosity too, in time, resources and finance allows us as a community to do God’s work. I am particularly indebted to Marjorie Barker and her team of ladies on the Social Committee (plus Colin Cade!) for all the work that they do providing refreshments and planning events. Marjorie also has been a fantastic pianist, giving us excellent accompaniment for worship. Carol Callis has worked hard to run C2000 and do the flowers in church, amongst other things. Josie Butcher has been an invaluable Church Warden, and has wrestled ceaselessly with repairs, routine maintenance and of course, faculties! Our sidespeople, Beryl, Gisela, Vicky and Charlotte have been fantastic, and Peter Augustine too for his role as church cashier. I would also like to record my gratitude to the Methodist circuit on Portland. It has been excellent to work more closely with their leadership on a number of projects, and they have always been exceptionally generous in accommodating Anglican ways.

It is probably worth mentioning that I remain on the Arrow Leadership Programme until November 2017. This course has challenged me to grow in areas of leadership, evangelism, competence and character, and has been immensely beneficial to myself, and I hope by extension to the parish also. It does however, require a considerable investment of time during the week and on several residential training modules. This has meant that with annual leave, I have spent more time away from the parish than normal, and less time on ministry. I am grateful to everyone for their patience and understanding.

Although I don’t have overall formal responsibility for St Andrew’s, it has been enjoyable to take services there more frequently since Rev Mark’s departure. The church (if I may say so) is a lovely group of people who care deeply about their fellowship and wider community. The coffee mornings have been excellent- there is always great cake!- and a real example of what it means to serve the local community. The vast majority of funds raised have gone to local “good causes”, benefitting many people.

This has so far been a report about the past. As our Parish Vision Day highlighted, it is good to look back with gratitude on good things that have happened. However, the point of the vision day was to build on the past to start

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thinking seriously about our future. Churches are, like other organisations, apt to yearn for the past as we recall how things were, rather than get excited about future opportunities. This may be because the future is generally less certain, and may imply change. We find change uncomfortable because it inevitably involves loss as we leave some things behind and move on to others.

As a parish, we face significant financial pressures from increasing costs and

necessary building works. Bearing this in mind, our greatest challenge may be

ensuring that the parish does not become solely about institutional

maintenance. Our job as Christians is not, in the first place, to keep buildings

going but rather to live and communicate the good news we have encountered

in Jesus Christ. Most of our neighbours have not yet encountered Jesus

meaningfully- we have a gospel to proclaim, and we need to keep this the main

thing! The challenge and opportunity ahead is to ensure that everything we do

reflects what church should really be about. What this will look like specifically,

we will explore as a parish in the months and years ahead, as we reflect on the

vision day. In the meantime, I’d like us to move ahead with a confidence in

Jesus, that he has called us to live and serve on Portland with a purpose- to build

his kingdom, and to witness to the grace, love and hope we have discovered in

him.

Rev’d James Menzies.

Team Vicar of Portland.

CHURCHWARDEN’S REPORT FOR ALL SAINTS’ CHURCH, PORTLAND PARISH. APRIL 2017

It has been another year when a great deal of the PCC’s time have been taken up with discussions on how to spend what little money we have on the many items of work that need to be done. Sometimes I wonder if our available money will ever get us to the bottom of the list.

Window 13 – In July 2016, the glazier that the architect had organised to start work on the window, became ill and pulled out of the job. We had to start again, but by November we accepted the tender of Tudor Rose Ltd and they started work at the beginning of January 2017. Before they started the work the scaffoding was errected and the undergrowth was cleared behind the church so

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that the men had room to work. This clearance was paid for by members of the congregation and I thank them for that. As I write this report, we are still waiting for the window to be finished. They have had enormous problems with some ‘lime grout’ which had set like rock and had to be chiselled out bit by bit. We will not have to pay any more than the original invoice but Tudor Rose will almost certainly be out of pocket by the time they finish.

Chancel Steps – Two members of our congregation have organised and paid for some beautiful gold coloured carpet which is now in place in front of the altar on the chancel steps. It looks wonderful and I am very thankful for this contribution to our church.

VJ Memorial - Rod Wild initiated the work on this memorial and aided by Colin Cade the memorial was placed in the centre of the small garden at the front of the church. Thank you to Rod and Colin for their hard work.

Lady Chapel – We have had problems with the lighting in the Lady Chapel. However the electrician has checked it all and says there is no water damage that he can find, so the light bulbs are changed, but they do not last long before they blow again. An electrical inspection will need to be done in the future, but unfortunately it cannot be a priority at the moment.

Gutters – These were cleaned out in August, but our architect was not very pleased that there were some places that they could not reach. The architect suggests that in the future we may need to employ a jobbing builder, who could reach all the places necessary.

Flagpole – As this has been broken for some time, in September it was removed. We have been offered a new one but as yet have not managed to get it put into place.

Quinquennial Report – This report (every 5 years) was done at the beginning of October and we received the printed copy in January 2017. The architects recommendations are that we need to spend £10,000 over the next year on priority work and then over the following 4 years, an estimated £100,000 on the rest of the windows, plus £15,000 for other work in the church. These are daunting amounts of money.

Car Park – The situation with the Car Park has become an enormous problem

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and there have been times over the past year when no-one attending funerals or weddings at the church have been able to park in the car park, as it was already full. Many people are now leaving their cars for days, or weeks on end, in the car park and they are extremely rude if they are spoken to by members of the congregation (or the librarian). The PCC has, therefore, taken the decision to put a barrier across the driveway and only people using the church or C2000 will be able to park there. Permission has been sought from the Borough Planning department and they have agreed that posts and a chain will be ‘in keeping’ with a Grade 11 listed building. So we are now in the process of completing a Faculty to obtain permission from Salisbury Diocese. We hope that before very long this will be set up and the work completed.

Church insurance – In February it was decided that the insurance for the church would be moved from Ecclesiastical to Trinitas. Trinitas is a broker and gets the best possible price for the church. This year we will be saving in the region of £2000 and we hope that will increase over the next few years.

So many jobs are done by so few people in our church and I am constantly amazed at how willing people are. I rarely need to ask because people volunteer before I manage to ask. Thank you all for your help, your very hard work and your support over this past year. You show that God is at work in our church.

Josie Butcher

All Saints Church Warden

Women’s Fellowship Report

On February 25th we had our first (and at the time of writing only) meeting of the Women’s Fellowship which Eva and I have begun running together. We will be looking at significant women in the Bible and we started with Eve. I personally really appreciated having the time to chat about what we can learn from Eve and it was a reminder of how enriching it is to look at the Bible with other Christians. Having our children in the house playing made it a little more lively than a typical Bible study but I think it is really important that our children see Christians meeting together in this way and to give

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them that opportunity to witness Christian fellowship outside of the Sunday services. Although they were probably more interested in the cake we had afterwards! We will be aiming to meet on the 3rd Saturday of every month and hope that it will be an encouraging space for women of any age and faith stage. It is open to anyone, from any church/no church at all, so please spread the word to anyone you think would benefit from this fellowship. We meet at All Saints Vicarage, 9am onwards for a cuppa, at 10am we have discussion and prayer, 10:45ish we have cake! Any questions talk to Eva or Georgie, email Georgie at [email protected] or ring her at the vicarage 01305458593.

Georgie Menzies

C2000 Report for APCM April 2017

The Country Market closed at Christmas having run for 25 years on Portland. This was due to a lack of helpers, cooks & customers. The Skills & Learning IT Job Club also closed In July. But we do have a new weekly exercise class.

The Art Group (Island Artists) left the St Johns Ambulance Hall due to a 50% increase in rent and the way the rent would be collected. So from September 2016 the Art Group moved to C2000 holding 13 sessions a month generating £260.00 month. However, the proposed rent increase did not happen & as most of the group have now said that they prefer the St Johns Hall they are moving back there at the beginning of April. This will leave just one are class meeting alternate weeks still at C2000.

Funds raised from the coffee mornings, toddler group, book sales for 2016 totalled £3339.00 which was paid into the church general fund. This is in addition to the rent we received for the hire of the hall & meeting room at the Centre.

In September Gisela Smith & Sandy Cave took over running the Little Lambs baby & toddler group – see separate report.

We held a quiz night but as only 3 people came we had to cancel.

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We had been having problems for some time with the central heating boiler so it was agreed by PCC that we should have a new boiler fitted. Donations from the Court Leet & Rotary were put towards the cost. We have also been having major problems with unauthorised parking in the car park so it has been agreed by PCC that the carpark will be locked when the church & hall are not in use. This will take the form of posts & a chain at the bottom of the drive. Margaret Stone generously gave the proceeds of her February Charity Bingo (£470) towards the cost of this. Again I would like to thank to Josie, Marjorie, Colin Cade, Pat & Diane for their help in running the Coffee Mornings & for Margaret Stone & Mick for “Taxi -ing people to & from the coffee mornings. I would also like to thank Margaret Stone, Mick & Kelly who carry out the cleaning of the Centre every week. Because without all their help & support none of this could happen. Everyone has given their time for free and also contributed cakes, raffle

prizes etc which means that we have been able raise funds for Portland

Parish from both hire charges from C2000 & profits from our coffee

mornings etc.

Carol Callis, C2000 Centre Co-ordinator. March 2016.

Little Lambs

This is a group for babies and children under school age and their carers/

parents/ grandparents. We meet on Wednesdays 1.30pm-3pm during term

time at Community 2000 so the children can play with a wide variety of toys,

have refreshments together and enjoy a music and story time based on Bible

stories. The adults enjoy a chat while supervising their little ones.

Attendance is patchy. Sometimes there are only a few children and at other

times up to 12 children. Contributions are paid for refreshments. The

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atmosphere is friendly, fun and not too noisy, most of the time. Advertising is

done by word of mouth and posters.

We welcome all young children and their adults. For more information phone

Sandy Cave 01305 860354 or email [email protected] Sandy Cave

14.3.17

Foyle Bank.

It’s been a bitter/sweet year at Folye Bank. We lost Queenie which was sad but

we all knew how strong her faith was and her funeral was one filled with hope.

We miss her and her sense of humour. We have changed the time of the

meetings to the first Wednesday of the month and this seems to be working

better for all. We regularly get between 10 and 12 communicants with a home

visit afterwards.

I think the highlight for all of us was when Sue Giebel joined the community as

she now plays her accordion for us when we sing. We also held a carol service

which was very well attended. I would like to thank those that meet for their

support and eagerness to always learn more about the word of God.

Karen Gomm

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