Last year we said goodbye to Vanda and she is now settled and working well at Bedhampton – where I am glad to say that she receives some pay for her church work which means she can give more time to it.
Last year was also dominated by the building work - and although I said what I wanted to say in the way of thanks last Sunday evening at our thanksgiving service – I do want to put on record at this meeting my thanks to Ian Munro who led us through the project, to Karen Cutting and her team for the wonderfully successful fundraising initiatives – and to Mary Makin who had lots of work over and above the normal run of treasurers’ activity because of all the donations – and thanks too to Nigel working away behind the scenes applying for grants – and to Ray for helping with that task. And of course thanks to you all for your generosity - and for being such a good team putting up with the disruption and helping get things back in order.
When a major piece of work has been done, as well as the relief and the pleasure there is always the question – well what shall we do now? –
Well there are some more practical things like the car park and the lighting to improve – but mainly I think our challenges this year are less costly in terms of money but perhaps more challenging in terms of our Christian life. There are areas of our life where we are doing well and have a lot of support and there are areas where we could do with some help –
The three areas where I think we are very healthy are the practical, the social and fundraising and the pastoral visiting –
I am very grateful that there are so many people in our congregation who are happy to share in the work of maintaining the church-yard and to undertake minor repairs to the building – thanks especially to Colin and Nigel for coordinating it all as well as working hard themselves – and thanks to each one of you who helps inside or outside the church –.. long may it continue. We get such appreciative comments about both the church and the churchyard and the social and fundraising - as you know Karen leads the social and fundraising group extremely well and lots of you volunteer to share the tasks for each event as it comes up –
We recently had a coffee morning at Jim and Norah’s and thanks to them – one event we forgot to mention in the written report was Gina’s garden party last year – which was a really lovely afternoon and Gina is willing to offer another one later this year -
Our next event is the plant sale on May 13th and then the garden party at Sue and Colin Cooke-Priests – and if you can help with that do speak to Sue or Karen.
What we have discovered is that we have a lot of fun in amongst the hard work involved in these events – and we have a growing reputation in the community for being a lively and friendly church. Thanks to each of you who is part of that team running the social and fundraising side of life here.
Pastorally speaking I am pleased to report that we have a number of people willing to visit the lonely the sick and the bereaved. We meet together every two months and we have distributed the tasks in a slightly different way recently. Mary Peall will coordinate the requests for home communions and help develop our relationship with Park House the only residential home in the parish. Mike Hoad will coordinate the ‘transport to church’ rota and the requests for lifts – Ruth Genge will continue to take flowers to those who are sick of the parish! – and with her new duties as church warden will ask for help when necessary. Jane Thurstan and Sue Cooke-Priest will coordinate the visiting that we do and liaise with the other pastoral groups at St Mary’s and St Andrew’s – they will also be encouraging joint ongoing training. Mary West and Hilary Gillians are also members of the visiting group – and there is room for more visitors – and I am delighted with the commitment to reaching out to the lonely sad and ill in this way – thank you -
However what we also need to look at are two other areas of our life here – learning and teaching – and mission and outreach –
I would like us to grow in our faith. I know that some of you go to house groups and that is good - and some of you join Lent groups and 6 of us were involved in the Alpha course and I think all of us enjoyed it and learned a lot.
I would like to create more learning opportunities – I have invited Don to think about a series of Bible studies perhaps once per month – ‘an evening with Don’. I would also like to have a once a month simple supper and discussion – perhaps here in the Ark or in someone’s home – and if anyone has any particular subjects they feel we should explore or learn more about please let me know.
Then there is our mission and outreach - taking the plans forward for a more welcoming church – encouraging people to come here for worship yes and that means a variety of worship - and you are in for a treat on Sunday with the songs of praise service in the morning led by professional musicians and also the BCP Communion service in the afternoon followed by tea and cakes – this is a mission opportunity –
In this last year I have been taking the plans forward for imaginative work with children and I would like us to raise a little money for some Godly Play books and resources so that I can teach others the joy of this method of telling Bible stories – both in church and in our schools.
Communication is also part of our mission and outreach – thanks to Judith our notices are noticed – and thanks to Nigel and others we are getting well known in the community for being active and imaginative in what we do – we must build on this in the coming year and if anyone is excited by this area – please let us know.
We are seeking opportunities to work together across our parish boundaries not just with St Mary’s and St Andrew’s but also with St Faith’s Havant, St James’ Emsworth with Warblington and also Bedhampton, Leigh Park, Warren Park, West Leigh and Rowlands Castle all of which together make the southern partnership of the deanery – the clergy get on very well together but we need to find ways of this partnership benefiting all of us – and we also need to work together for the day when Hayling Island becomes one benefice with one incumbent plus a half stipendiary post – that means I think encouraging more vocations to reader ministry and to NSM ministry but also encouraging more people to come forward and explore a variety of lay ministry –
We are already a good way along this road here at St Peter’s and I am very grateful to all of you who willingly give your time and skills to make this such an active church community – and now to my particular thank–you's –
to Kate as she steps down from some of her duties especially that of PCC secretary– she has been a tower of strength behind the scenes - to Margaret Voysey for much support in many ways also behind the scenes to Stella Burras – for her gift with flower arranging and making this church look so beautiful - and for all the time she is willing to give – and thanks to Marilyn and others who help her – and to those who clean the church and look after the churchyard and to Mike and Mary and the new servers – Jane, Ruth and Sue - the servers do a lot of work behind the scenes to make the services run smoothly and I am very grateful to them –
and thanks to our Sunday school team – Debbie and David with help from various Mums plus Lin and Angela – we are hoping to do more with St Andrew’s Sunday club in the way of fun days and workshops - thanks too, to our organists Ray and John who add so much to our worship - and to the sidespeople who get here early each Sunday and help with welcoming people and ensuring they have all they need for the service – I want to look at one small change during this coming year – and that is to have someone at the door to help open it for the many of us who struggle with it – and we shall need to think how we can do this – I have noticed that Dieter does it as a matter of course when he is on duty and it is much appreciated.
As you many of you know last year was a very busy and sometimes difficult year with the building work an the stresses around the paper work – I was very sad when Ian finally decided he could not stay on as our churchwarden but it was lovely to see him at the thanksgiving service and it was good to be able to thank him for all he has done for us – and it is a great deal. Thanks too to our retired priests who enrich our worship and are a great support to me and to our life here at St Peter’s.
Lastly I would like to put on record my thanks to two remaining people without whom I could not do my job here – Nigel – is the first one – sometimes I have to run to keep up with him and many times I worry about his health but mostly I am in awe of his vision and energy and very glad that he is our churchwarden – between us we shall make group council work if it the last thing we do. and then there is Alison – you have no idea how much she does behind the scenes – in effect she has been an administrator over the last couple of years as well as preacher and worship leader. It has saddened me that she has had to bear the brunt of any criticisms about worship and lack of choir and the sometimes negative responses to requests for a variety of hymnody and liturgy. I could not have done all that I have to do without her support – and that includes her quiet loyalty and good common sense when I have been under attack as occasionally has happened over the last year – ‘how these Christians love one another’
So to the future – we hope that Jenny Salisbury will be licensed as a Reader during this year. I continue to be very busy with the two churches as well as being chair of Churches Together and the Group Council this year – but now that I have eight hours admin support per week I intend to slow down a bit and take some time each week to read and reflect and prepare for sermons. This is because I regard it as part of my service and duty to you to find the time and space for God to inspire me to enable you all to grow in your relationship with him – and that has been squeezed out in the 2.5 years I have been here so far. and that is why I have given you the quote from Monica Furlong: –
I am clear what I want of the clergy. I want them to be people who can by their own happiness and contentment challenge my ideas about status, about success, about money, and so teach me to live more independently of such drugs. I want them to be people who can dare, as I do not dare, and as few of my contemporaries dare, to refuse to work flat out (since work is an even more subtle drug than status) to refuse to compete with me in strenuousness. I want them to be people who are secure enough in the value of what they are doing to have time to read, to sit and think, and who can face the emptiness and possible depression which often attack people when they do not keep the surface of their mind occupied. I want them to be people who have faced this kind of loneliness and discovered how fruitful it is, as I want them to be people who have faced the problems of prayer. I want them to be people who can sit still without being guilty.
Monica Furlong
I look forward to another year with you all and in fact I look forward to many more years here on Hayling.
Ann Leonard