St Wilfrid’S PariSh ChurCh

Parochial Church

Council

AGM 2013

Reports

Contents

Minutes of PCC AGM 2012

PCC Secretary’s report

Partnership for Missional Church

Reports from Church groups:

Church Wardens

Treasurer

Finance group

Prayer Ministry

Worship & Music Ministry

Bell Ringers

Flower Ministry

Pastoral Team

Global Mission Group

Huddle

Church-run Courses

Home group reports

Youth & Children’s Ministries

Deanery Synod

YEEPIES

Church Hall and related groups:

Luncheon Club

Uniformed organisations

The Centre and related groups:

Wilford Village Playgroup

Wilford Village Toddler Group

South Wilford School

Nottingham Emmanuel School

Accounts:

Church Church Hall

Minutes of Wilford Church AGM

Date: Sunday 29th April 2012 Venue: Wilford Church Hall

Meeting chaired by: Reverend Phil Marsh. Minutes taken by Paul Wicks (PCC Secretary)

The meeting followed a shared Lunch which was attended by about 70 people. It opened with prayer at 14:10.

Apologies for Absence

Jane & Wilf Fenwick, Steve Riley, Irene & Peter Cheslett, Cliff & Jeanette Bull, Jonathan & Heidi Shewell-Cooper,

Rob & Sharon Baxter, Claire & Neil Devonport, Pete & Liv Cull, Bob & Rosemary Stanley.

Vestry Meeting

A vestry meeting took place ahead of the main meeting so that new Church Wardens could be elected.

Phil advised that we are looking for two new Church Wardens as Simon & Eddie’s terms of office have now come to

an end. Phil extended a massive thanks to both of them for the enormous effort they have put in over the previous

5 years (Simon) and 7 years (Eddie) and also the roles played by their respective wives.

Phil advised that Rose Brown (proposed Karen Phillips & Wendy Brown) and Wendy Cranefield (proposed Sue

Periam & Peter Brown) had offered to stand as Church Wardens.

The proposals were presented to the meeting and all voted in Favour.

1)

1.1

1.2

1.3

Review of Minutes from 2011 AGM

Barbara and David Miller pointed out that they were shown as “apologies” which was incorrect as they were in

attendance.

Margaret Kidger pointed out that it was Shane Pembelton not “Shame” Pembelton who came off electoral role.

Other than these anomalies, Phil proposed that the minutes should be accepted as a true record of the meeting.

All voted in favour.

2)

2.1

2.2

2.3

Matters Arising

Solar Panels. Phil reported that the DAC had been contacted and various Solar panel companies, but the result of

the investigation was that the initial outlay was too much for us to consider at this time. There are also questions

about the long term gain and as such the PCC had voted not to pursue this initiative. However Phil offered the

opportunity for any individuals to progress this independently if they wished, but they should contact him first.

WYCS & PCC relationship. Phil advised that the Victorian centre is now used by Playgroup, and there is also a

before and after school club. Phil then invited Roger Periam to give a more detailed update. Roger advised that

we probably didn’t have the right paperwork in place for WYCS to exist as a charitable organisation in their own

right. But, under the guidance of the PCC, with the PCC holding the majority of Trustee roles this would ensure that

the Church and WYCS are joined up with the way they progress.

PCC membership. Peter Brown gave an overview of the proposal that had been agreed by the PCC, to provide

clarification over PCC membership and presented this to the meeting. Three alternatives were outlined, these

being

1) The whole PCC to be elected every year 2) The whole PCC elected every 3 years) 3) One third of the elected PCC membership to stand down each year and they could re-stand if they wished.

There would be no automatic or enforced break after a specific period, but people can stand down if they wish to.

The essence of the message was, that there should be no pressure on any individuals to either stand down or keep

on with unbroken service. Phil pointed out that it will provide us with an opportunity to develop the PCC, but the

new rules did not apply to those PCC members in ex officio roles. Peter proposed the option where one third of

the membership stood down every three years with no specific break, this was seconded by Roger. All agreed.

3)

3.1

Electoral Roll

There were 4 requests for people to be added to the Electoral role and 6 people were removed.

4)

4.1

4.2

4.3

4.4

4.5

Church Finance

Peter Brown talked through the accounts, for year ending 31st

December 2011, with the accounts displayed on the

screen.

Income Summary

Increase in church member giving has increased by £ 5,600. The driver behind this was the stewardship campaign

which significantly increased the amount of giving.

Peter pointed out that regular scheduled giving allows better budgeting and gift aid collection

Loss of Carters Grant for the Youth Worker, which gave us an income reduction of £6K.

Gift aid returns increase with the increased giving.

Small amount of bank interest.

Other income from our other accounts to cover building work.

Total income £108,565 compared to £112, 000 the previous year.

Outgoing Summary

Total running costs £37,415 against previous year £68,895.

Peter pointed out that, we have already had a major expenditure in this year with the replacement of the Church

roof and we have to gear ourselves for the additional expenditure that will be incurred with a new boiler.

Parish Share was £54,000 and Peter pointed out that we have paid our parish share in full.

Current account Balance £6,381

Un presented cheques £4,769

Which leaves a balance of £1,612

Peter then invited questions.

Jae Marriot asked where the income generated from weddings and funerals was represented. Phil advised that it

goes it goes to pay the various fees that we have with each event, making them “self balancing”.

Michael Kidger pointed out that last year the office costs did not include salaries as they were referenced as an

item in their own right, why was this not the case this year. Peter said that it was a one off last year but it was now

considered that it should be shown under office costs.

Peter also pointed out that we have also contributed £8,970 for mission, which includes specific collections for

Tearfund and the Royal British Legion.

Peter thanked the finance committee for their help and Helen Lander for her work in reclaiming the gift aid. Phil

also thanked the generosity of the congregation saying that this was the holy spirit at work.

4.6

5)

Phil also said that the finance team have very skilfully negotiated us around a number of issues that have been

forced upon us like the theft of the Church roof, but how he is excited about the dynamic of Gods generosity at

work in the midst of all of this.

Church Hall Accounts

Eddie Mason gave an overview on this pointing out that the hall accounts and church accounts are separate

Income for the year £11,071

Expenditure for the year £9,283

The expenditure included a Kitchen refurbishment, Hot water in toilets and a new ceiling in the Carter Hall. Eddie

pointed out that we have not had a gas bill for over a year and we need to make provision for this.

6)

7)

Report on Fabric, Goods and Ornaments

Eddie gave a summary of the main items of Church building expenditure :

Repairs to the Barns (which the Diocese forced on us)

Repaired pinnacle

Replacement of roof following theft of lead on south isle

New carpets in church Eddie also advised that a major item for consideration is the Church boiler, which is broken and needs to be

replaced, but we are looking at a gas boiler rather than oil and we will also look to feed water into the church.

WYCS (Wilford Youth and Children Scheme)

Eddie also gave an overview of the history. It started as a self funding management activity for the holiday club to

help fund the youth weekend away. In 2009 the old school building became available and after 2 years of

negotiating with Carters a lease was agreed in late 2010. This would be a self funding venture with the aims of :-

Moving Play Group to allow it to run with an increased capacity.

Create a before and after school club

Community use which is slowly kicking in

Coffee and cake shop To Date

Playgroup has moved

Breakfast club is fully booked

After school club also under way

A Ukulele club takes place on Tuesday evenings. The whole business plan is now coming together. Eddie invited everyone to have a look on a Friday afternoon

when the coffee shop is open.

8

Election for PCC members

Janet Penny and Chris Smith are standing down so there are 2 vacancies.

Chris Bemrose was proposed by Peter and seconded by Wendy Brown

Eddie Mason was proposed by Lindsey Barnes seconded by Eric Perry

All agreed with no objections. Mike Polkinghorne has offered to audit the accounts again. All agreed

9

Rectors report and the year ahead

Phil Reported that Alison Fletcher is standing down at Kowoku hospital and he has asked the mission team to look

at how/if we continue to support this area.

For the year now completed the priorities were

Being missional

Leadership development

To develop worship

Review and develop outreach

Celebrate stewardship

Phil has been pleased to see that people have been empowered to take up the lead for a number of these

initiatives despite being distracted by lead thefts and boiler replacements.

We have invested in our lay youth leadership team

We have now started being involved with Partnership for Missional Church (PMC) initiative.

There would be a number of opportunities for outreach in the year ahead with the Jubilee, Bishops Seed Scattering

weekend, “Olympifying” Holiday club and a Christmas hog roast with carols on the green.

Matt Roberts & Matt Simpson have joined us as trainees from St Johns college.

Megan Smith has moved on to take charge of a Church in Lenton.

Where next ?

Phil said that as an ongoing initiative we are looking to build and develop various teams :

Wardens team.

Projects and campus team

Mission and discipleship team Phil posed the question “how do we relate to the whole of our parish community (including Rivermead flats,

Compton acres and Silverdale) and how do they relate to us. How do the people in the Parish know we are here for

them.” Phil said that the only mission we can have is to promote the message of Church Crucified and anything

else is just service.

Phil considers that nearly everyone in the Church family does service very well, in some way or another, and we

now need to include a personal commitment to extend to those and connect with those around us. Phil posed

another question “how much of our collective efforts goes into supporting what we already do and how much goes

into focusing outward”.

The PMC Steering team are looking at who our community is and how we can best connect with them.

Phil encouraged everyone to bring family and friends to the events we are organising this year.

Phil then raised a challenge for everyone where between now and the next AGM each of us should make two new

connections that we are going to invest in for the sake of Christ. This should be someone within the Church who we

don’t know very well, with the second person being a new friend outside of Church.

Finally Phil advised that Anne and Eddie are standing down as hall managers and he presented them with a gift of a

weekend away, for all of the their hard work over the last 8 years

10

10.1

AOB

Margaret Smith asked about the proposal for a Children’s service and communion at Silverdale. Phil says it is still a

possibility but it has been difficult getting staffing for the project. Phil said that if anyone has a project idea with

missional intent they should speak to him and he will give guidance and support for getting the project under way.

It was observed that we didn’t have any reports from the uniformed groups and Phil will invite them to submit

reports next year.

The meeting closed with prayer at 16:00.

PCC Report 2012/2013

There have been nine PCC meetings since the AGM, last April, which have taken place on

the 3rd Tuesday of every month except for July, August and December. Additionally there

was also a PCC away day to Burton Joyce, one Saturday during February. The meetings have

all been well attended with a variety of items discussed, debated and voted on although two

subjects in particular have dominated the agenda.

One of these subjects is the Partnership for Missional Church (PMC) initiative which we are

engaged in as a Church. Although this initiative is being run independently from the PCC, the

PCC have still been very closely involved during this first year to provide the governance

during the initial phases of the project. However it is expected that PCC’s involvement will

decrease and become more of a “watching brief” going forward as the programme now has

its own management team.

The other issue that has dominated the agenda has been our finances, which have

presented some very difficult challenges and has resulted in us having to make some very

difficult decisions. Much of this was due to the knock on effect of replacing the Church roof

and will be covered in more detail within the Treasurer’s report, but managing the finances

within such tight margins, has meant that we have spent far more time discussing this issue

than we would like.

Other significant issues that were discussed during the year were :-

Community integration

Fabric issues (Church Heating, Church Hall Heating)

The one off summer events for 2012 (the Jubilee, the Bishops Seed Scattering

weekend, Open Churches, the Olympic Opening ceremony etc).

The Christmas Carols event on the Green.

Holiday Club 2013

Luncheon club funding

Chancel Liability and Glebe Land

Paul Wicks (PCC Secretary).

PMC – THE STORY SO FAR......

What is PMC?

PMC stands for Partnership for Missional Church.

It's an initiative designed by a Christian organisation originally from America, called Church

Innovations as an introduction to thinking about major change in the life of our church, learning

from other churches locally and looking ahead to growth and how we can spread the good news of

Christ to our community in Wilford, Silverdale and Compton Acres (“our three communities”) and

serve the needs of others, outside the church – the Mission that Jesus gave to His church – wherever

His church might be, in the World.

Our diocese has decided to run this programme as a pilot scheme and we at Wilford agreed to be

part of it, along with a dozen other churches drawn from the Southwell and Leicester dioceses.

“Partnership” means we are not, as a vicar, PCC and church congregation , just discussing these

things on our own. The information we gather and the ideas we have are, at various points,

discussed with Church Innovations who feedback an independent and experienced response to what

we are saying. Those involved are also meeting regularly for “cluster meetings” with our partner

churches who are following the same process as we are, at the same speed.....

“Missional” simply means “for others”. Like all churches, we don't exist exclusively for existing

members, like a club, but for non-members with whom we would love to share the truth and

challenge of Jesus. So, while the process doesn't shy away from taking an honest look at ourselves-

what we do well and not so well- this is only so that our three communities may better see Christ, in

us.

“Church” - means all of us ! Not just Phil ! Not just the PCC ! But all of us – working together so that

we can evolve, together and better meet the needs of a changing world.

So what does this “process” involve ?

The process began in late 2011 when the PCC decided to partner other churches in the programme.

Over the last year we have reached the end of stage 1 of 5 stages. The overall process takes 5 years !

Initially this seems shocking but think for a moment how you “buy into” and then gradually adopt a

major change in your life......PMC seeks to replicate that lengthy process.

Think of a mobile phone. Many of us , some years ago would never have envisaged using one every

day in 2013. Initially you may have found the ringtones irritating on the train. You vowed never to get

one. Then a friend you respected got one as a present. You were reluctantly impressed by it – but

wouldn't change your view. Then your car broke down. You had to admit it might be good to have

one for emergencies. You borrowed one. And now (maybe) you might never leave home without it.

If someone tried to impose such a decision on you quickly, you would have resisted it strongly. But

given the chance to consider, evaluate, trial it and discuss with others how it went......you might

have to admit that your new phone has been a transforming change.

The PMC process seeks to do the same thing by dividing the process of transforming change into 5

stages – AWARENESS OF A NEED TO CHANGE. INTEREST IN MAKING A CHANGE. EVALUATING THE

OPTIONS AVAILABLE. TRIALLING A CHANGE. IF IT IS THOUGHT TO WORK WELL , ADOPTING THAT

CHANGE.

This is the thinking behind PMC. Ill thought out, radical change will simply create friction and

resentment, faction and division , frustration and confusion, in a small church family. But change

which emerges gradually, from a starting point of honest self-evaluation, may well gain momentum

over time and eventually transform everyone involved, in a big way.

Ok, so what's been happening in the first stage?

So we started by evaluating where we are, as a church, today. Where are we? Where is God? Whose

are we? Where is God sending us? How can we live now according to God's future?

Although the PCC and a steering group have taken the burden of the process on themselves, these

evaluation questions have been for everyone.......so the church put together a time line of events -

good ones, bad ones and seeds of hope-so we could learn from our past. The steering group and

some “listeners” interviewed a few people from the church and our three communities about what's

important and who we are......we arranged a congregational meeting to discuss the issues which had

arisen. And the key findings were given to Church Innovations who reflected back , from their

experience, what the challenges and wonders of St Wilfrids were......

THANK YOU for participating – for making our history part of our future – for honesty and

transparency and enthusiasm in our discussions.

And, in having these discussions, seeds of change and transformation occurred – with new ideas

being tried (such as Carols on the Green) which forged new partnerships in the community.

And new techniques and reflective thinking has taken place – with PCC and other groups regularly

“Dwelling In the Word” - studying a single passage of the Bible together collating our views on it and

expressing another person's views can be a good way of broadening our response to God's Word.

Finally PCC went on an “away day” and reflected on what the needs of our three communities were

and what ideas we might have to transform our response to those needs, in Christ. Amazingly, and

wonderfully, everyone agreed that the three communities were seeking just that – Community – and

that our church was uniquely placed to be and to offer Christ's community to those around us.

We distilled down all the thinking into something focussed.......and decided that a Mission

Innovation Team (MIT) would take things forward to stage 2......

The focus provisionally decided upon was :

“Growing Community, that draws in those who are lonely or isolated”

So what's happening in Stage 2 ?

Stage 2 is equipping and helping the Missional Innovation Team (MIT) formulate and evaluate the

ways in which our church can impact the identified needs of out three communities in new, dynamic

ways.

The members of the MIT have not been finalised. Anyone who interested in moving things forward is

very welcome – from those who have visited our church a handful of times to those who have been

worshipping here for 50 years....from the old to young....

And, as in everything in PMC – there is no hurry !. The MIT will be meeting over the next couple of

terms.

Sounds interesting......Can I get involved ?

Yes !!! We want everyone to have a view and a say because there is no point (and no success in

changing God's world for the better) if every decision taken is dragged backwards by an

undercurrent of dissent. We would like membership of the MIT to be as diverse as possible, so we

miss nothing in our evaluation of what God wants for us as a church.

Please pray. Please join in. Please tell us all you can.

So how would you summarise things ?

At St Wilfrid's much has been achieved. Our Timeline Event was wonderful in showing our pride in

the past and our hope for the future. And God has walked with us through all those years.

Sometimes, new leaders, new PCCs tried something “new” which excited some people and upset

others. So it was temporary and of limited success.

To offer a genuinely new church to our three communities will take deep cultural change – honest

awareness, spiritual reflection and trial and error and courage. It won't be rushed. It won't be forced.

But we are, as a church , determined on this journey- of which we have presently taken only a few

steps- to ultimately be where God wants us to be, to be reaching those in our three communities to

whom God is directing us, to direct our energies externally to the World around us as well as

nurturing and loving our existing church family – walking ever onward in to God's preferred and

promised future for St Wilfrid's, Wilford.

St Wilfrid’s PCC

Church Wardens’ Report Doesn't time fly when you're having fun?!!

This year has been a lot of fun for Rose and I as we embarked on the adventure and challenge

of being Church Wardens at Wilford.

When I was elected last year I recall someone from the congregation coming up to me, and

saying “If you need any help I am here!”

Throughout this extraordinary year we have experienced this support and encouragement

from the congregation working as team. Without this team we would not have been able to

achieve what we have. So Thank You !

Rose and I began by creating a shared email address, so that the congregation would have a

single and clear method of contacting us, and for us to have an overview of what is going on

within our Church.

We meet weekly with Phil after Church, to discuss the priorities of the week.

This year has been a huge learning curve for both Rose and I but Phil has been an enormous

help to us both. Many thanks to him for all his assistance and much needed encouragement!

Within the PCC structure it was decided that the Fabric of the Church would be discussed

quarterly and that the fabric of the Church (our buildings) would be the responsibility of a

Fabric Team. I have chaired this and Rose took on the running of the Halls and overseeing the

Sub Wardens Team.

Wendy Cranefield & Rose Brown

Sub Wardens Team

Last year we set up a sub warden’s team. This team was set up to help with the opening up

and closing church on a Sunday and also with the opening and closing of the hall. They let

the other people in who come early to set up the music and AV. They light candles and make

sure any books, which are needed are out. After church has finished they clean away and lock

up and then go to the hall and lock that up too. This team consists of seven people and can I

say a big thank you to them all for the hard work and support over the last year.

Rose

Fabric Report

The Fabric Team has met four times during the year.

We are a small team, but one that supports each other - whether liasing with heating engineers

or organising work days.

Shortly after taking on this role we applied for a faculty to remove the existing boilers in the

Church and install new ones. I was very fortunate that much of the groundwork had already

been completed by our previous wardens, so the faculty was easily obtained. Work started in

early August and was finally completed and signed off in October. The heating is continually

being monitored within in the Church, to assess the cost and effectiveness of different

methods and styles of heating. At present Heating bills have become more significant for us

all (and are likely to increase in the future) so I have asked a an Energy Consultant to see if

there is anything else we can do to improve value for money and efficiency, at little additional

cost.

The boiler installation has been an enormous task, but was considerably smaller through the

help of the Team. There is nothing quite like meeting in a dark, spider infested boiler room as

we clean the filters......

Throughout this past year Paul Wicks has headed up our two Church work days, (another one

coming your way soon !), which have included cleaning drains, clearing guttering, tidying up

the Church and the gigantic task of painting the windows in the Church hall. This took three

Saturdays with a mixed bunch of people helping each week. Thank you to everyone who has

helped in these tasks.

As we move onward into a new Church year, we would warmly welcome anyone who would

like to be part of the Fabric Team. Spiders are an optional extra, I promise! Our vision is to

continue to build a team philosophy and to expand and to dream dreams that take shape!

My experience has above all taught me never to underestimate the power of God to provide

what we need for the job in hand...

Wendy

Treasurer’s Report

The Treasurer is responsible for the good stewardship of the Church finances in partnership with the Finance Committee and the Parochial Church Council. Together we acknowledge with gratitude the gifts entrusted to our stewardship and seek to use those gifts to further God’s purpose in Wilford, the local community and indeed the world. The following information demonstrates how St Wilfrid’s Church serves the public benefit. In general 2012 was another year of economic hardship for many in the UK and our parish reflects that picture too. Our financial story for 2012 was very much dominated by two challenges. The key challenge was “buildings maintenance”. We budgeted for £1,380 of general upkeep but ended the year having paid out £56,702! £1,000 was paid out on the old boiler for repairs and damage assessment before we realised it would not last and then £28,000 to replace it. £18,000 went on the South Aisle roof, £2,000 to replace the lightening rod, £7200 for new carpets and £1000 on other things such as lighting repairs. None of this would have been possible without the £19000 we had in reserves, £10,000 from insurance, £3,000 from VAT reclaimed, £10,000 from gifts and grants and £14,000 extra gift aid. Those quick with mental maths will have already calculated this is £56,000. We nearly covered the extra cost and would have done so if not for the gift aid reducing and the VAT claim being only half what we expected. We nearly pulled it off but...... Unfortunately the second challenge was “reducing income”. Giving fell by £6000 (£4000 from direct giving and the rest from plate and envelopes). This reflects that some core members/givers of the congregation moved on or passed away and they have not been replaced. This of course will continue unless measures are taken to reverse the trend. Other costs increased such as utilities and general day to day running costs but we also had some late gifts so the final shortfall of income over expenditure was £4000. As we realised there would be a £4000 shortfall this year and a greater shortfall in 2013 the PCC debated what actions to take to adjust spending to cope with the deficit. The only significant costs we could consider were office support, mission support and Parish Share. After much prayer, thought and discussion we decided to continue the office support as essential to church ministry. We decided Mission commitments were integral to who we are a St Wilfrid’s and to not reduce them. Therefore we decided to not pay the full amount of parish share. We had originally made a commitment to pay £55,620 but we only paid £51,590. Despite this your continued generosity is amazing and we should feel blessed that by God’s grace we have managed to achieve so much this year. We should be warm and dry for many years to come.

FINANCE GROUP

The Finance Group met to consider the budgets for 2013. We calculated there would be a

shortfall of £10,000. We adjusted a number of budgets but were still facing a £7,000

shortfall. We once again considered all the possible areas we could reduce including the

office support, mission support and Parish Share. Once again we decided to reduce the

Parish Share. We made a bid of £50,000 instead of the anticipated £57,000. This balanced

our budget.

The Finance Group have given great support to the financial decisions facing the PCC. We try

to meet four times each year. The key decisions are usually how to fund building needs,

setting and monitoring budgets and making a bid for the Parish Share. All members are

taken from the PCC with consultants drawn from the church family when needed for specific

support or guidance. A recent example of this was a meeting to review and publish a

welcome pack to the congregation including key information on church life including ways

to give and financially support the church.

I am hoping 2013 will be financially a much more mundane, standard item of church life

with no surprise challenges and perhaps the odd pleasant gift.

Peter Brown Treasurer

Prayer Ministry Team

Margaret Smith, Bob &Rosemary Stanley, Jackie Kirk and June Turner are the members of

the prayer ministry team.

What do we do as the church prayer team?

We meet every Sunday before the 10:30 service begins and pray for all those taking part in

that service, also any needs that we particularly know of.

We then spend a time of silence, hoping God will give us words or pictures of any needs of

the Congregation, their family or friends.

To us it is a real encouragement when we see how often these words clip together. We see

God’s sense of humour in them. Very often when the words are read out we see how much

they fit in with everything else in the service, isn’t that just like God.

We as a prayer team would love to welcome new people to join us in the team. If you feel

God has been speaking to you then can we ask you to see Phil about this. You will need a

little training for things to run smoothly.

Coming up after the service for prayer is lovely. Everything is done in complete

CONFIDENCE, and leaves you feeling that God knows all your needs.

Because,Our God is a great big God and holds us in His Hands

June Turner

Worship and Music Ministry

This year has seen a steady growth in the development of worship and music ministry at St

Wilfrid’s.

The main focus has been on leading the congregation in worship during Sunday morning

services. We have three adult worship leaders and are mentoring others to organise and

lead worship. At least another ten adults, are playing and singing in the various groups.

The worship leaders work closely with the service leaders and are responsible for choosing

relevant and supportive songs. As well as organising the bands, music and practises, (a big

undertaking), they are an integral part of planning of each service. We are backed up by an

experienced rota of technicians balancing and enhancing the music and co-ordinating song

words, as well as now having our own screens to read from.

As our youth musicians are involved in their on-going youth programme, it means we are

not using them so much in our regular morning services. This does not mean that they are

not playing and developing! They play regularly together and lead amazing worship sessions

at their Renovate evening services. It is a real blessing seeing these young people developing

worship leading skills and gifts and is something we thank God for and are looking to

encourage further.

In May, we are taking some of them to Soul Survivor Church, Watford (Bob and Ruth Yule’s

church), for a day’s course on leading worship. Much of their uninhibited worship is inspired

by Soul Survivor – something more established musicians are taking hold of too!

Working with the Christmas Choir was a great time of bonding, fellowship and fun as well as

producing some of the very special moments of singing during our Christmas services. It was

a great to have lots of new singers (of all ages!) in the group.

We are always open to suggestions and ideas to improve the worship at St Wilfrid’s. It was

interesting how much we were affected by having to move to the opposite corner of church

during the ‘rainy season’. It felt as though we were coming ‘home’ by moving back to our

original area, but has begun discussions about the best place to lead from and indeed how

to lead the worship.

There was very positive feedback on the series of evening services where we were able to

have longer sessions of worship. This encourages us greatly!

Please continue to encourage and value our musicians and technicians, who give an untiring

commitment of their time and talents to God’s work at Wilford.

A huge ‘thank you’ to all involved - be encouraged, you are a blessing to many! We are

moving forward in our worship.

Jill Edmonds

BELLS Report

B is for Bemrose, or more familiarly Chris, our newest recruit who with the aid of a double

gloved hand and a strategically placed knot has made steady progress since joining us and

can definitely handle her bell on her own and adjust her timing to fit, even if she’s not very

sure whether were going up or down to start! Adding her to our established band of

Shirley, Ian and myself means we usually have four at our practices on Wednesday evenings

and at least two to ring for the 10.30am service on Sundays and have provided three ringers

for most of last year’s weddings and a couple for the Jubilee events.

E is for the Effort put in by John Edmonds and the team he assembled to clean up the bell

chamber and the floor in between that and the belfry where you can see us ringing. Years

of soot from the old power station meant that this was a very dirty job with difficult access

so we are very grateful for their hard work. John has, in conjunction with the owner of the

Loughborough bell foundry, checked over all the bells and a report was put together for the

PCC with their recommendations. We have replaced one broken stay and had a bracket

repaired at the foundry and John hopes to get the team back together to continue to the

good work and treat the woodwork and paint the metal frame up there.

L is for Louder which was the net result of the replacement of the heating system. The huge

asbestos pipe that ran up the inside of the tower was muffling the sound of the bells,

something that we didn’t realise until it was removed last summer, and we could suddenly

hear ourselves much better, as the access hole was much more open. Unfortunately this

also meant there was often a terrible draught down the tower and along the north aisle so

we’ve now got a board across and are working on getting a curtain for the door to improve

this further.

L is for Laughs which we have a lot of anyway but never more so than the night three of my

work colleagues came along to have a go. They thought it would be easy! We knew better.

Jane wasn’t bad at all (provided she only had one end to deal with) but John was a bit too

forceful as he tried to demonstrate his manly strength. The end result was a video on the

other Helen’s phone that I haven’t watched (because I don’t want to see myself) but which I

have heard played back and consists of constant hysterical laughter on her part and

whoever else was watching at the time. They haven’t been put off though and are planning

a return visit soon.

S is for Space, or more specifically Shirley’s personal space, which was invaded by the

Ringing Master for the local Guild when they came and held their monthly meeting at

Wilford. He was trying to offer some advice to improve our ringing but was a little too close

for comfort. We may not have progressed beyond Call Changes and Plain Hunt but our main

objective is not to win the Crawford Cup it is to add to the worship here at Wilford and most

people like to hear us even if it is only simple Rounds. We welcomed some other visitors

only two weeks ago though and this was a much happier visit. Most of them came from

Norwich and they included our former Rector Gerald Pearce’s son David and grandson Ali so

it was quite a nostalgic afternoon.

Helen Lander Bell Captain

Flower Ministry

We have been able to keep within the budget we are set and have tried to keep the flowers in line

with the church season. We have done a few weddings since the last report and have had lovely

comments and cards back from them, which is lovely to get and makes it worth while to do as they

can take a long while.

We have done two mothers days gifts which have both been different in design and people did ask

last year for one which they could keep so this year 2013 we made bouquets of foam roses and have

had wonderful reports back ( so look out for next years) if people have any ideas for mothers then I

would love to hear from them.

We look forward to making many more flower arrangements for you all and would love to hear from

anyone who would like to talk about doing a Flower Festival later in the year.

Rose Brown

Pastoral Team Ministry

We have had a very exciting opportunity to draw together a team to look at our Pastoral Ministry. Myself, Margaret Kidger, Janet Raymond, Debbie Ballantine, Rosemary and Bob Stanley, Wendy Cranefield, Eddie Mason and Mick Barrowcliffe have explored what it means to be pastoral, and to seek to embody that in the church and community. We have visited people who have requested visits, checked in on those who have come to our attention as needing a visit, seen or contacted all those whom the staff team have sent our way- and seen others in the community to whom we have been sent! For us as a team it’s been a steep learning curve- as we learn together, that we are there to listen and point to God, and assist where we can- we are not the solution- Christ is. People have been bereaved, sick, lonely or desperate in some way for a pastoral visit, and some have just not been to church for a while so we go and see how they are. We have helped practically with form filling, making calls, supporting people at doctors appointments and family meetings. We have also been able to tap into the wonderful ministry of hospitality that Sue Periam administers alongside the pastoral team. So we can access meals from the freezer that a team cook and provide- these have blessed many people and I know have really brought the practical nature of God’s provision and love to many. The freezer is currently empty again- so do feel free to contact Sue and join in this simple act of giving when you can.

Alongside this practical engagement with people, we have also met monthly as a team to

share, pray and train further together. Eddie led a wonderful session on C.A.P and how we

could access that for others if it was needed. Phil did a very thought provoking session on

character, which is ongoing and constantly needs review! “I would just like to say how much

I appreciated the session we had on Character, for I believe that understanding oneself (the

dark side as well as the good side that most other people see) is one of the keys to being able

to help others.” Margaret

We still have a way to go…. And a list of things we would like to see happen, or just good ideas! We would like to visit every wedding couple to see how they are getting on, and every baptism family.

We would like to get a text or email prayer chain off the ground so that urgent/ crisis prayer

requests can be shared rapidly.

Working with a trained counsellor to send people to when its too big for us.

Above all we are really grateful for the team together, the encouragement of Christ in the

midst of the darkest times he meets with people and removes their burdens, and for the

church who has let us loose and prays for us!!!

Many thanks Mandy Marsh

Global Mission Group

The team continues to meet regularly during the year and tries to feed back to the

congregation.

We have a number of Mission Partners who we have supported both financially and by

prayer during 2012. One of our longest serving Mission Partners is Alison Fletcher. Sadly

this will be our last year supporting Alison as she has decided that this will be her last year

working at Kiwoko Hospital, Uganda. But our link to Kiwoko will not come to an end as we

have entered into a commitment to them to support the outreach work of the hospital.

We continue to support Tearfund and through this we are entering into the Connected

Church Scheme. Over the next few months more information on our “Connected Church”

will be made available to the congregation.

Over the years one of our main areas of support has been to the youth of the church who go

on Missional trips. This year we have supported two of our youth on a Nottingham

Emmanuel School trip to Ghana. We have also financially supported the school so that they

can carry out project work whilst they are in Ghana. We are hoping that this assistance can

be continued in the years to come making NES a key Mission Partner.

Locally we support Emmanuel House, The Friary Drop In and The Winter Shelter where a

number of our congregation volunteer on a regular basis.

A short presentation has been prepared by Paula Atkins who is a member of our team.

Hopefully you will get chance to see this later at the AGM.

Rob Baxter for the Global Missions Team

Huddle

Huddle is our leadership team, made up of all those leading in different areas of parish life, from finance, to youth work, to music, to mission committee, to CAP, to outreach from the centre, to PMC steering team, to office administration, to Readers, to clergy, to website, to pastoral team, to wardens. The aim of huddle is to gather the leaders of these different ministries together, to grow in fellowship and leadership, to explore facets of church life together, and to explore threads of leadership development. In many ways this replaces a traditional paid staff team, and recognises that the leadership with the parish is both paid and unpaid, and honours those who have given of themselves to lead teams within our church for the sake of Christ and his purposes. We’ve only been going a little while, meeting together once a month, so baby steps, but hopefully it will continue to grow in its impact and the whole church will benefit and be blessed from its leadership being invested in and cared for.

Church- run Courses

You may have noticed but we haven’t run an alpha or a Christianity explored this year. Instead we ran two course, one entitled the BIG ASK on a Thursday night, and the other JOURNEYS, on a Wednesday afternoon. Both consisted of just a handful of people, and have developed into two on-going small groups really, both exploring faith and the Christian life, and continue to be open to all. Speak to Phil if you would like any more details.

Phil Marsh

Home group reports –

“Wilford Village” Group We meet on alternate Thursdays in Wilford Village but members don’t just come from there – Silverdale is represented and we had members from West Bridgford until recently. Our age span is from 20s to 70s. Currently there are 9 of us so we have room for more members and anyone wishing to join us would be made very welcome. Please speak to me if you’re interested.

Our focus is on fellowship, Bible study, prayer and support for members. We looked at the Jeff Lucas ‘Friends’ DVD series during the year (as other groups have done) but mostly we have studied (in a relaxed, interactive way) short passages of scripture, seeing what we make of them and trying to relate them to current situations and concerns. In recent weeks we have tentatively begun the ‘Dwelling in the Word’ approach to study and may do more of this. In the year ahead we hope to focus particularly on some the themes emerging from the Partnership for Missional Church (PMC) process.

Big thanks to Janet Raymond and Ruth Brown for hosting our meetings during the year. Michael Kidger

Women's Group Tuesday Evenings. Luke 1:78-79

By the tender mercy of our God,

The dawn from on high will break upon us,

To give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,

To guide our feet into the way of peace.

Where do we begin to express how much God has answered prayers for a closer, more

spiritually connected group!

Life seems to be more challenging at times with family, financial, job,health and social

pressures. It often seems overwhelming almost as if God isn't hearing our prayers. Where is

God in all of this? Why doesn't he intervene and take the burden when we pray? These are

common prayers when life's situations seem to overwhelm us and appear almost childish

questions as I type this. Often we are like children before God asking for his wisdom to

understand "Why me?".

Then, a new understanding and spiritual growth arise as we learn to deepen our trust in Him.

Life will always keep happening, but God is always faithful. He never leaves us even when

we can't see his face. The trick is to keep seeking him, even when hope seems lost! He will

answer!

We have been sharing our personal testimonies with each other and the common thread

throughout our journey to God is that life can be full of deep joy and also deep sadness. It is

full of twists and turns that we can not control but our Heavenly Father allows us to

overcome. He is our strength. He is our hope. He is the answer. God has been our support

throughout. We rejoice in each others victories, and have a deeper understanding of each

others journey to get here now.

As our group is mainly made up of women, tears and conversations are plentiful, but God’s

love had made these women sisters in God’s family! Who doesn't need another sister?!

Beth Sporton & Wendy Cranefield

Silverdale Home Group Our group emerged from the Alpha Course of 2007 and was established by James and Alison Place. Membership of this group has been fluid over the years but the most dramatic change was when James and Alison left Wilford Church for pastures new (West Bridgford!) in July 2012. After much prayer and discussion Debbie Ballantine and Peter Brown decided to jointly lead the group into 2013 so in some ways this is a relatively newly formed group. Meeting on alternate Thursdays in Silverdale (and alternate Thursdays to the ‘Village’ group), current members are from Silverdale and West Bridgford and our age span is 40s to 60s. We tend to have a structured approach to study and have centred on short passages from the Bible although recently we took a detour and studied the ‘Friendship’ DVD. We study in a gentle relaxed atmosphere with a side order of laughter and fun. Our members are inquisitive and in the most part still in the early stages of Bible understanding (including the leaders!) but we enjoy journeying together and look forward to what the year ahead will bring. We expect to be looking at a series of themed study guides interspersed with less structured DVD sessions. Peter Brown & Debbie Ballantine

Home Group

We continue to meet every couple of weeks, mostly at Shirley’s house, to chat, pray, talk about God, encourage each other, drink wine, tea and cider, eat crisps, cake and home-made hot cross buns, wear hats and generally try to be part of the Kingdom of God. In particular this year we have done the following:

Watched Shakespeare in the rain at Newstead Abbey,

Read the following books together:

o Bold I approach – The how and why of Prayer by Tony Payne

o This Risen Existance – Paula Gooder

o Radical Disciple by John Stott

Used the Bible Society “Reel Issues” 1 material to talk about our faith

through the following films

o Matrix

o Atonement

o Paul

o King’s Speech

o Finding Neverland

o Pursuit of Happiness

Prayed using a number of Compline liturgies and the Lord’s Prayer And some went to hear the Rend Collective We also have to report that inflation has caught up with the price of jumping beans so the value of the Christmas secret Santa has now risen to £2. If you would like to borrow any of the books we have read then please ask one of us we could supply a set. We are mostly: Shirley, Helen, Lorraine, Mel, Dawn, Kathy, Alan, Bernie, Alistair & Jonathan

Jonathan Shewell-Cooper

Youth Ministry @ Wilford

Youth at Wilford this year have taken a slightly different, but exciting spin on things. Last

Summer saw many of us going off to camps such as New Wine and Soul Survivor, quite a

few for the first time, and so it was a fantastic new experience for us as we joined with

thousands of other young Christians from around the country (and even the globe). Our

annual Youth Weekend at Home combined thinking out our journeys with God with a

‘treasure hunt’ in Southwell, fish & chips, Just Dance, and Fifa (FUN). In March, the worship,

talk, ice breaker, reflection (and tuck shop) in our monthly ‘Renovate’ session were all

planned and led by older members of the youth group, which enabled us to actually reflect

deeper on what we were saying, and helped some of the younger members to engage more

with the messages and themes of Lent and sacrifices for God. Recently, we’ve had our

Maundy Thursday prayer vigil, which didn’t use the prayer stations we’ve had in the past,

but instead a booklet and group sessions, including one outside around a camp fire. It was a

great reflection space for us as we travelled with Jesus along the night’s path, also creating a

visual art walkway down the aisle of Church for everyone to reflect on, both during the

evening and in the Good Friday service.

Eleanor Dickens Youth Group Member

Children’s Ministry Report 2012- 2013

Well first of all, can I just say this is the last report I thought I would be giving this year!!! I

have fallen into the overall “holding” of the Children’s Ministry leadership by default as our

previous leader John took a well earnt rest!! And can I take the opportunity to make a public

thank you for all the years of service he has given, plus Janet Coleman, Naomi, Claire

Devonport and Karen all who have left since the AGM last year.

The team now is- Jonathon, Janet and Alex (til May) running little Explorers; and Beth,

Wendy running Explorers. We have had to combine the Explorer groups yr1-3, and 4-6 as

because of the lack of leaders- and this has gone well but is not the ideal situation. We do

split into age groups for craft activities, but generally now we see the groups as one age

range.

The kids and the leaders love this work, and are all very committed to it. The kids love the

content (we now also follow the same programme as the youth work so there is continuity

across families too) and the different people coming each week to bring the story or activity.

For many (including the leaders) this is a highlight…. And we have some very talented story

tellers out there- we have had drama, puppets, re-enactments and tent making to mention

just a few! Without this willing bunch of people we could not run. And I don’t make that

statement lightly.

We have had some difficult choices to make and some personally very demanding times for

some of the teams. With only 2 leaders in each group this becomes a very demanding task

for anyone if there is sickness or any reason someone can’t make it- there is only one fall

back. I have been covering some weeks in the older Explorers- BUT THIS IS NOT

SUSTAINABLE.

So please do not see this as a negative report- we love what we do- we love the kids and will

fight tooth and nail to keep these groups going, and keep meeting the parents, and working

with your children- BUT WE NEED HELP, PRAYER AND SUPPORT.

Please if you would like to know more about children’s ministry- do come and see me. We

are looking for Leaders not helpers and Phil is helping out this term as we so desperately

need to raise the profile of this wonderful ministry in a church that is proud of its wonderful

Children Ministry.

Mandy Marsh on behalf of the Children’s Ministry team

Holiday Club takes a break this summer Space to reflect.

When you are involved in something you really love, it can sometimes be difficult to take a

step back and to really identify the strengths and weaknesses of your operation. Although it

may be tempting to imagine that close proximity makes it easier to find room for

improvements, the reality is that it can sometimes lead to a lack of growth and development.

Sometimes in order to take a long view of things you need to step away from the coalface to

see what it is that you are actually doing.

This is part of the reason why PCC have elected to not run holiday club this year.

The idea of taking a break from doing holiday club has been floating in the ether for a

number of years now. Having run holiday club consistently for a solid 12 years it is well

over-due being given some space and time to reassess and evaluate what we are doing and

how we are doing it.

This year a number of factors all come to a head;

1. This summer will be the first summer we experience schools in city and county taking

a different approach to the pattern of summer holidays, which impacts a number of

key helpers.

2. Our uniformed groups are taking a week away during the week we would normally

run holiday club

3. Emmanuel is looking to run a Summer school for year 6’s

4. Numbers of volunteers for holiday club has consistently dropped over the last five

years with folk who were once key beginning to step away to take a break.

5. Members of our congregation, and we as a PCC have been evaluating the nature of

holiday club and why we do it the way that we do.

Together these different factors have led the PCC to consider taking a break from Holiday

Club in order to take a step back, to create some space to reflect together on what we do, and

how we do it.

We are keen to do something this year in the space we would normally do Holiday club. The

community barbeque is always well received, and we imagine continuing with this. Others

have suggested a family picnic, and there are probably lots of other ideas in our congregation

of what we could do within the space not doing holiday club creates.

Lots of us will be disappointed that holiday club isn’t happening this year, but it will be an

opportunity for us to attend to what God is doing in our midst and in our community and so

to re-imagine how we engage with our community and with the children and youth in our

community.

One of the things we love about our church is our desire to serve, and reach out to the

families in our community. Our aim in taking a break, is to create some space, so that we

might be even better able to discern the ways in which we can best go about that endeavour,

as we understand more and more about what God is doing in us, and in the people around us,

as we take time to pay attention to what God has been doing and is doing in what has been an

exceptionally special part of our common life together.

Phil on behalf of the PCC

Deanery Synod

Representatives of Church of England churches from West Bridgford, Wilford, Ruddington,

Clifton, Gotham and East Leake continue to meet together regularly at the West Bingham

Deanery Synod. Your representatives are Rose Brown, Robert Baxter and Roger Periam.

Roger is also on the Deanery Standing Committee.

Last year was a busy year for Deanery Synod with 5 meetings being held at various

locations, including Nottingham Emmanuel School (NES). Most meetings follow similar

agendas and normally there are at least 2 main items per meeting. Here are some of the

presentations given last year: Church Publicity and Communications, The Dunham House

Rebuild, Feedback from General Synod, Reflections from Natal, A Diocesan Youth Summit

and at the synod held at NES presentations were given by our own Kirsty Barnes and Heidi

Shewell-Cooper.

During the last year the main item at every meeting was “Missional Leadership

Deployment” and at the last meeting of the year the “Draft 2020 West Bingham

Deployment Plan” was accepted by Synod and it was agreed that it should be forwarded to

Bishop Paul for the next stage of consultation. Various working groups are being created for

the next phase and members of the groups need not be Synod members – so watch out,

You might be called upon!

If you would like to know more then please talk to one of us.

Rob Baxter, Rose Brown & Roger Periam.

YEEPIES (Young Elderly Energetic People Into Everything)

In Wilford we interpret ‘young elderly’ as young in heart rather than in chronological age,

since eight of our Yeepies are in their nineties. However, all our Yeepies are energetic

people into everything because, even if they are disabled in some way, they all eagerly

participate in our activities – card making, flower arranging, looking at slides of old Wilford,

listening to and singing along with either Jack Marsh or the Nottingham Ukulele Band,

eating lunch and/or tea (provided for us by Anne Mason), receiving hospitality and

entertainment at Nottingham Emmanuel School, visiting Southwell Minster (taking our own

lunch but enjoying the afternoon tea provided for us there) and participating in acts of

worship, whether in Wilford or in Southwell.

When we organise Yeepie events we are, of course, entirely dependent on people from our

church or luncheon club who generously provide free transport for us and who often help

too with serving refreshments and lending their arms for support to those who need it. So a

very big thank you to all who help in any way. You are doing a great job and are helping to

build God’s kingdom here in Wilford.

The wonderful thing is that our Yeepies are not just receiving service from others but are

themselves serving God’s kingdom; not only by helping each other, which they do, but by

participating in our church projects such as providing harvest gifts for the homeless, filling

shoe boxes for ‘Operation Christmas Child’ (we have at least two of our number who

specialise in knitting hats and toys for this), filling candle shaped boxes with small change in

support of the Children’s Society, and currently (Lent 2013) putting their small change in jam

jars for Water Aid.

So what are our hopes for the future? Well, apart from more of the same, I hope that we

can do our part towards our PMC (Partnership in Missional Church) challenge by working

with all in our neighbourhood who, like ourselves, want to draw into community the lonely

and isolated among our elderly population, and in so doing continue to further the work of

building the kingdom of God in Wilford. Please pray for us and, if you are able, join us –

there’s room for plenty more!

Margaret Kidger

Church Hall

2012 saw major change for the halls. The playgroup and toddlers moved out as part of the

development of the Centre and thus aiding WYCS to move some of the church activities into the

community.

Over the last few years we have been able to fund some changes to the halls including improving the

kitchen, toilets and especially introducing constant hot water into those area.

In 2012 we carried on this development with a new ceiling and lighting in the Carter Hall with plans

to change the ceiling in the main hall (Carters education Fund made a generous donation towards

this). During the summer Paul Wicks organised a painting party for the outside of the Carter hall and

we managed to improve the windows and doors. The fire doors still present a problem as they need

to be changed.

With the playgroup gone other groups are taking up regular usage of the halls during midweek days.

Slimming world, Zumba classes and the Nottingham Ukulele club are regular users.

During the year we established with British Gas that they had not been billing us as they believed

they could not locate the meters. It just so happens that they are only contained in the very visible

box on the front of the hall! We were able to clear any back charges for the gas used. This left us

with a fairly healthy balance again at the end of the year. It must be remembered that the halls are

run on a stand alone basis and they currently pay for themselves.

The plans for 2013 were to continue the improvements by carefully managing the finances to enable

us to do other jobs. Events were about to overtake us, just like the church we had a major failure of

the heating system which as severely dented the finance for the halls and put on hold some of our

plans. Eddie Mason, Church Hall Treasurer.

In 2013 Rose Brown took up the mantle of Church Hall Manager so read on to see the plans for 2013

As Wendy has said in the Fabric Report this past year the windows of the Church Hall have

been painted. We also had a major problem with the heating towards the end of last year

and many groups met without full heating or any heating and were very patient with us

while we tried to sort out this problem and we would like to say thank you to them. We now

have had the problem fixed and hopefully you all are keeping warm now.

We also saw the move of the Playgroup to their new area in the Centre across the road. We hope they are very happy there too. The Women’s Institute no longer meet in the hall as they closed due to lack of members. Upcoming Hall Projects 1- To sort out the cupboards in the kitchen and mark them up so people can find what they want. 2- Sort the entrance out between the two halls to make more room and to make the tables more secure and find room to store mops and buckets. 3- To clean and restore the hall floors. Reseal and buff and polish both hall floors. Rose Brown

WILFORD CHURCH LUNCHEON CLUB

With 11 regular and several occasional helpers, Luncheon Club caters for about 30 regular guests on about 37 Wednesdays a year (in school term times – meals are cooked by South Wilford School kitchen). Though many members of our congregation don’t experience it, the Club is actually a major outreach activity and one of our church’s greatest ongoing commitments. It has been running for over 17 years and is self-financing. Luncheon Club is open to all ages, but a number of members, including most of the helpers, are in the ‘active retired’ category. But there are also a lot of members who are now very elderly and transport arrangements have been a major concern for a long time and especially over the past year. As well as lifts provided by relatives, helpers and other members, a Nottingham City Social Services bus transports 12 members – but this is a reduction from a service by 2 buses until recently and, due to local authority budget constraints, the cost has risen very steeply during the year. Indeed, last summer we were worried about how to keep the transport going at all, but God was good and with the PCC’s strong encouragement and sound advice, and a grant from Nottingham City councillors, we managed to work out an affordable arrangement. It only just meets current needs however and there is no capacity to expand our numbers in the field of the less mobile elderly, where the need to get out and meet others is greatest. For many members the Club is a lifeline, preventing them from becoming housebound. They really appreciate the outing and the company as well as the cheap, nutritious 2-course meal. There is great disappointment on the rare occasions when meetings have to be cancelled due to bad weather etc. Thanks to all who helped in various ways, to keep us reasonably warm as we struggled through a long, cold winter with the hall heating giving problems. We know there are more people out there whom the Club could serve. The keys to expansion though are a greater pool of helpers and drivers, and a significant breakthrough to overcome the transport constraint. As our church thinks more about the principles of hospitality in the months ahead there is obviously more for the Luncheon Club to learn, but perhaps some of its long experience could be a resource which could be shared with others. If you could help the Luncheon Club in any way please contact Janet Raymond (Tel 981 8330). We are so very grateful to the dedicated volunteers who do a wonderful job each week but are desperately in need of a break sometimes and long for other people to come forward to relieve them. Janet Raymond/Michael Kidger

Uniformed Organisations

1st Wilford Brownies

We’ve had a wonderful year despite the very wet weather and difficulties with the heating

in the halls. Some of our outdoor activities had to be cancelled but were replaced with

alternatives.

Fortunately we enjoyed hot dry weather for the Division Jubilee Day at a local Scout camp

site. The girls loved the freedom and large range of activities on offer and the throne we

made went down very well with everyone and the County commissioner –Kate Royse had

her photo taken on the throne and said it was really comfortable! We also had a Jubilee

party on a warm dry evening and had hot weather when we went for a golf lesson at a local

course. This was something different and the girls were really enthused about it. Our mini

Olympics were great fun despite our medal ceremony being a bit delayed as the cords of our

medals became tangled up!

We’ve enjoyed some very good theme nights including a cinema night and worked through

all the girls Pow Wow ideas plus some surprises of our own. We’ve had a party on a steam

train and met Santa and been to a local pantomime. We’ve had a pyjama party, done some

cooking, made candyfloss, introduced new games and crafts and had an International Night

for Thinking Day.

The Brownies decorated our notice boards by themselves for Remembrance and autumn

into winter. You may have noticed that the poppies on the left of the board spelt the word

“Heroes.” Our notice boards have now been changed to reflect winter into spring.

Over the year we’ve done quite a few badges. We’ve just finished our Chocolate badge. Our

Division Commissioner, Wendy, came to help with a cooking with chocolate evening and the

girls were most impressed to find that adults can get covered in chocolate too! We are

currently planning our Out and About badge and our Friends to Animals badge. Badges are

only a small part of what Brownies is about. Soon we are having a visit from Girlguiding

Nottinghamshire’s Peer Educators for an evening on teamwork and leadership. Girlguiding’s

new tag line is “We Discover, We grow.” This is exactly what we do at the 1st Wilford

Brownies. We are thriving with a full pack but we could do with more adult leaders.

Norma Mills, Leader.

4th Wilford Brownies

We have had a very busy but fantastic year, these are a taster of some of the activities and

adventures we have been on….

Pack Holiday 2012 was at Whitely Woods Outdoor Activity Centre run by Girlguiding

Sheffield. It was Olympic themed with beautiful weather! We decorated t-shirts, went grass

sledging and our favourite bit was the night-line and camp fire.

In June, to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee we paraded through Wilford with other Girlguiding

sections, scouts and also the military ending with a big celebration on Wilford Village Green

with stalls, games and lots of activities. Wow! What a fantastic day!

During our meetings we have welcomed lots of new faces and our Young leader organised

and run a brilliant US election style night. The girls loved it! We have baked yummy cakes,

performed crazy science experiments, had a firework display and even learnt how to spend

money at a shops evening. But not forgetting our Fire Safety Badge which involved a visit to

West Bridgford Fire Station.

Dianne Rolley was presented with her 20 year service brooch and Claire Rolley with her 10

year.

We look forward to the next 12 months of fun and adventures.

Dianne Rolley Brown Owl

Wilford Beavers

Beavers continues to run at full capacity. As we only have one warranted leader we are totally

reliant on volunteer helpers. Each Tuesday evening at 5:15 for an hour, we entertain and teach 18

small boisterous boys, and have much fun doing so. If you could spare an hour a week or even once

a fortnight between 5:15 and 6:15, Phil would be ever so glad to have your assistance alongside him

as he seeks to lead and serve within our community.

Phil Marsh Beaver Leader

1st Wilford (St Wilfrid’s) Sea Scout Group

This has been a successful year for cubs. The group is led by myself and Peter Whitmore as

assistant cub leader. Since September 2011 we have been well supported by Charlotte

Taylor as a young leader. There are currently 26 cubs in the group. We have a constant

intake from the beavers and send cubs onto scouts after about two years. We have a rota of

parent helpers with one or two attending each week to support activities. Currently there

are eight children on the waiting list. Myself and Pete received our 5 year service award

from the mayor at The St George’s Day Parade last April.

Cubs took part in regular weekly meetings each Thursday in and around the Church hall.

Activities included camp fire cooking, woodwork (wooden bird boxes), cycle ride to Beeston

Weir (muddy!), night walk from Clifton Village (very muddy!) martial arts, rugby training and

a wide variety of creative activities. Cubs are encouraged to attend church parade and there

are a core number who attend regularly with many more joining us for Remembrance

Sunday and Christingle services. We are part of the Sea Scouts and try to provide water

activities; this was a real challenge last summer due to the amount of rain and hence

challenging river conditions. Cubs had rides in the motor boat, in the Canadian canoes and

older cubs paddled the kayaks. Trips were organised to Whilwell and Attenborough Nature

Reserves, to watch the Olympic torch, climbing at the Arches Adventure Centre, raft building

at Colwick, cricket at Trent Bridge, the Arts Theatre pantomime and West Midlands Safari

Park.

Last June we took nineteen cubs and nine adults to camp in the grounds of the Wells Scout

Group in Norfolk. We enjoyed fish and chips by the harbour, a boat ride to see the seals at

Blakeney Point, visits to Cromer Lifeboat Station, the Sea Life Centre, and swimming at

Hunstanton. Yet again it was wet, so not as much time on the beach as we had hoped and

we made full use of the scout hut to dry off, but not one moan and a lot of laughs. Next

weekend we are taking 20 cubs to Whirlow Farm in Sheffield the cubs will help around the

farm, go pony riding and have a chance to get close to the animals including the new born

lambs.

We hope we live up to our aim of ‘Developing Young People through Adventurous Activities’

Karen Gregg Leader

Silverdale Scouts

Silverdale Scouts have had a rough time since the last report. We were threatened with a

closure letter last September 2011 as we only had 6 beavers 3 cubs and 4 scouts and were

told that to stay open we needed to get 12 beavers by January 2012. We worked hard

sending out leaflets to schools and to the surprise of Chris Flewitt and Simon Clark when

they came with a closure letter we reached the target they set for us.

They have now set us another target to get 12 cubs and more beavers so we have beavers

when the ones we have reach cub age. At the minute we have 2 cubs who are about the

leave beavers so need to work hard again to get the numbers up. (so if you know of any girls

or boys who would love to come and join us then please get in touch.

The beavers have gained quite a few badges from camping, healthy eating, athletic creative

challenge and many others.

Our aim over the next year is to get some more youngsters of all ages to increase the size of

the groups, so we can do more activities and have more fun. We shall be going on some

camps this year and hoping to do many exciting activities. If you want to know more or

would like to see us you would be most welcome to join us on a Wednesday night at

Silverdale Community Centre between 6.00pm and 7.30pm during school terms time.

If you have any skills i.e sewing, cooking, crafts, tying knots or anything else you think you

could do to help us please have a word with Rose Brown.

Rose Brown Leader

The Centre

Wilford Youth and Children’s Scheme (WYCS) have been renting The Centre (the

Victorian School building on the campus of South Wilford Primary School) for a couple

of years. The Wilford Village Playgroup were the first to take up residence there and

are going on from strength to strength. Led by Anne Mason the groups meet every

morning, two lunchtimes and two afternoons each week during term time. The Playgroup

also run two Mum’s and Toddlers’ groups each week which are very popular.

WYCS have started Breakfast and Afterschool Clubs for the children attending South

Wilford School. This is managed by Tracey Morledge, assisted by two hand working

assistants. We open at 7.45am each morning and feed and look after up to 24 children,

before taking them over to school for the beginning of the school day. After school we

collect up to 20 children from their classrooms and bring them over to the Centre.

Here they can play together, watch Children’s Television, play on computers and

generally have a safe environment to enjoy themselves until collected by their parents.

After School Club children also get a substantial snack during the session. These clubs

run term time only.

The Centre is also used by the Nottingham Ukulele Club each Tuesday evening and has

hosted a couple of Church groups from time to time.

We also run a Coffee Lounge each Friday afternoon from 1.30pm until 3.30pm during

term time. We serve fresh filter coffee, various teas and really, really nice cakes all at

very reasonable costs. Parents come in for a drink and a chat instead of sitting in their

cars on Main Road. The coffee lounge is open to all. It would be good to see a few

church family members coming in and getting to know the members of the school

community. We have a large selection of second hand books at very cheap prices. We

look forward to seeing you one Friday.

Eric Perry

Wilford Village Playgroup

Since September 2011 the Playgroup has had a new home at ‘The Centre’. The move

enabled us to increase the amount of children we can have. The great advantage of having

two rooms just for us has had a massive impact on the team, no more packing away and

setting up each day and a garden for our use which has soft play area, the move has also

allowed us to open some afternoons, plus have a lunch club for the children.

For the past year we have been running at close to full capacity, with the afternoons also

being full. As a team we feel that the move was the right thing for the playgroup and the

families it serves.

Our link with the church has remained close with us still having our monthly preschool

praise (see preschool praise report) and the closeness of South Wilford School has been a

real blessing to us, the children have been invited at various times over the past year. They

joined reception class for a winter walk with toast and hot chocolate after, we were invited

to the autumn celebration again with reception and we were very lucky to be asked to the

Christmas production, all of which both the children and staff really enjoyed. Being able to

liase with the school so closely has helped extend the curriculum. Over the past few months

we have had Kirstin Baxter in the group to deliver music session for the children these are

always well received by the children. In the summer the children, staff and parents went to

Rushcliffe Park for a picnic and games and then enjoyed a ride on the miniature train, a

great day was had by all.

Over the past year we have done various fundraising events, such as Christmas concert &

Fair, Easter celebration, sports day, and sponsored sticky picture, but the children and their

parents have also raised money for Children in Need, Macmillan Nurses and comic relief. As

well as raising money they have filled shoe boxes for Samaritans purse and donated food,

shoes and sleeping bags to The Friary and brought food for the Harvest, we feel that

through these activities the children learn about the wider world and how not everyone has

food, toys and somewhere to sleep.

Anne Mason, Preschool Manager

Wilford Parent & Toddler Group

In October of 2011 the toddler group moved from the church hall to ‘The Centre’. The

group is for babies/children from birth to 4 years and their parents or carers, it is open on

Tuesday and Friday mornings during term time and attracted around 25 to 30 families per

week. The group is very popular, providing lots of play activities for the children and

friendship for their adults. The group is invited to join the playgroup for the summer picnic

and preschool praise and benefits from the use of playgroup equipment and use of the

garden.

Anne Mason, Preschool Manager

Preschool Praise.

For a number of years now Wilford Church has provided preschool praise for children under

5 yrs.

Preschool praise takes place on the second Tuesday of the month usually at Wilford Village

Playgroup at The Centre.

Phil comes to the group tells a Bible story, usually using props, sings songs and prays with

the children. This is a really special time for the children hearing God’s word in a way they

are able to understand.

During the year there are a number of visits to Church, parents are invited to join in with

Christmas, Easter and Harvest celebrations, Phil has also introduced a ‘leavers’ service for

the children starting school, this is a great opportunity for parent to see how the children

are celebrated and valued at such a young age.

If you would like to join us for preschool praise please feel free to come along, look out for

the date in the Church news letter.

Anne Mason, Preschool Manager

South Wilford Primary School

Our School’s links with St Wilfrid’s Church remain strong. June Turner continues to

lead KS1 assemblies one Tuesday each month and the younger children really love

her wonderful visual aids! All the children look forward to Phil’s ‘energetic’

assemblies every Wednesday. Harvest Festival and our Christmas and Easter

Services were also held in church. We had such a good turnout from our parents at

the Christmas service that we held two services at Easter-one for the Infants and

one for the Juniors.

With the help and support of many members of Church our first ever Prayer Space

Day took place at the end of February. This was hard work but a great success. The

children visited either the church or the church hall and were encouraged to access a

variety of ‘hands on/child friendly’ prayer stations.

We are very grateful for the support that so many members of the congregation

continue give to us here at school.

Carol Kay (Acting Headteacher)

THE NOTTINGHAM EMMANUEL SCHOOL

From its inception in 2002, clear Christian ethos and vision has stood at the very heart of

The Nottingham Emmanuel School. Throughout this year, the outworking of this ethos has

continued to develop rapidly, through the consistently rising results, improved Ofsted

outcome of ‘Good’ in November, and a wide range of exciting and pioneering Chaplaincy

work. The school continues to provide a range of faith pathway activities for students in all

year groups, alongside a selection of faith activities for staff and parents to worship and pray

together. The impact of these has continued to grow, in the further development of our

Showcase programme for Years 7-9 (this group continues to develop strongly, holding its

first weekend away this year, alongside a programme of outreach and practical service

activities in the local community - including a Tea Party and performance of ‘We Will Rock

You’ for Wilford residents). Other new groups this year include Christians in Sport and

‘Deeper’, an after school programme to support students looking to develop further in their

faith.

In addition to this, the school has published the first edition of ‘Onestory’, a collection of 16

stories of individual staff and students’ faith journeys, which will be published annually to

celebrate all the development that is going on through the Chaplaincy work of the school.

This work was extended this year to include a team of 6 Chaplaincy Team Partners, who

have been drawn from a range of local and city churches, and are supporting individual year

groups in developing their Chaplaincy work. This new resource is invaluable in building

capacity and creating new opportunities for engagement, and promises to continue to move

the school forward effectively. Finally, we continue to develop our international links with our

partner school in Dutch Komenda in Ghana, and are extremely grateful for the ongoing

relational encouragement and financial support provided by the church which has made a

huge difference as we seek to extend and develop this relationship fully. We will take a team

of 20 students (Years 11-13) this July to Ghana, and will also run a parallel staff trip later in

the year.

The strategic vision for Emmanuel to be recognised beyond our local and regional networks

as a Church of England school leading best practice nationally, is progressing well with

senior staff delivering programmes on the aspiring heads programme in the county,

mentoring newly appointed head teachers and more recently being invited to speak at

national Christian education conferences, furthermore, engaging with national networks to

promote Christian education. The leadership and management structure of Emmanuel

includes a strategic chaplaincy team which steers the shape and vision for our work and

enables us to link together the Diocesan mission with that of Wilford Church and South

Wilford Primary school. We particularly value the significant contribution of Phil in his role as

Chaplain and are really encouraged by the increased numbers of teachers and support staff

with a faith, writing directly to us, expressing a wish to work at the school should a post

becomes available. All very exciting!

We continue to undergird all that we do with the prayers of all of our staff, students, parents,

governors and community, and we continue to work closely in partnership with the church in

activity, prayer, holding all before God as we continue our journey towards outstanding, in

every aspect of our provision and service.

Carol Fearria, Headteacher