Annual Report 2009
WORLD SERVICE AND
MISSION COMMITTEE
1ST HARLINGTON
BOYS BRIGADE COMPANY
LADIES BRIGHT
HOUR WEEKLY FELLOWSHIP
Dear
Friends
As
I write this report I have just looked at last year’s report and our main
concern was the amount of the loan that was still outstanding and that there
was still fundraising to do. God in his goodness and faithfulness has provided
and our debts should be cleared by the end of August. We are grateful to
everyone who has helped and to the circuit for their assistance.
It has been a year of activity with the growth of
children’s work, especially the Boys’ Brigade, with the new anchors and
seniors. We have completed Youth Alpha which was well received by the young
people and involved a huge amount of work, so thank you to all those who
supported it, practically and prayerfully.
626 and 7 Up continue to meet on a Friday, a noisy fun-filled affair.
The lunch club has experienced growth and has potential for outreach into the
community. The Ladies Bright Hour continues to provide support, a time of
worship and great cakes.
At the beginning of the year we celebrated harvest
with a difference, which focused on environmental issues with displays and
organic lunches. In addition, there has been the Saturday Film afternoon,
The Revd Andy Melvin, the circuit mission enabler
came to us first, as requested, in November. We were disappointed when the
Vision Day had to be rescheduled due to bad weather, but as the time draws near
when we will have that opportunity to share, I have a sense of expectation and
anticipation. We are in a wonderful place to reach out to our community with
our faith and I trust that over the next few months our vision will become
clearer.
I am as ever, excited by the possibilities here at
Harlington and feel privileged to serve you at this time. I would like to take
this opportunity to say thank you to everybody for all that you do to keep us
going. I pray that you will know God’s blessings and faithfulness in your own
lives as we continue to serve God in this place.
With every blessing,
Earlier this year we were pleased to receive three
new members by transfer; Danny and Helen, and Helen’s mother Phyllis. As part of our Easter Sunday celebrations we
hope to welcome Robert and Sue as new members.
This will bring the total membership to 57. Vindra is planning to run a young people’s
membership preparation group soon.
Following the death of Rev. David Hinson last May,
we joined with Betty in a joyful celebration of his life and work as a minister
and Mission Partner in
In the summer it was good that Sheila Norris, a
member of our church and a Mission Partner in
If you know of a pastoral need that is not being
met, or someone who would appreciate flowers from the communion table, please
speak to one of the stewards or pastoral visitors.
This is the last Fundraising report as, after 10
years, we have wound up the Fundraising committee. It’s been lots of fun organising events, but
hard work so it’s good to have a break.
Although our building is nearly paid for,
fundraising must continue to augment our regular giving and also we intend to
carry on giving money to outside charities.
If you have an idea for fundraising please go ahead!
Last year the Book Sale was a great success and
lunches at the Harvest Stewards of the Earth Exhibition were an unexpected
bonus. We also had concerts, and our usual coffee mornings which we shall carry
on organising. Over £3000 was raised
last year, 10% of which was given to Harlington Neighbourhood
Help.
Over the year to 31st August 2008, the
church contributed to the following causes, under the auspices of this
committee:
Self-denial = a total of
£1342.15
JMA = £1111.09
Action for Children (NCH) =
a total of £871.13, made up of
£667.61 for the house to house collection
£203.52
from in house collections
Christian Aid raised
£1622.17 in the house to house collection
Fishermen’s
MRDF = £35.47 sent, with a
request that it be used in the
The beginning of 2008 started with much concern
about the future of the Company. The temporary home of
The summer and autumn of 2008 however brought much
brighter news; advertising and selling the company within the local area has
seen our numbers rise to an astonishing 25 boys. Pressure on space is again an issue but now a
nice problem to have and one we are prepared to live with. All our sections – Anchors, Juniors, Company and Seniors are very healthy and the boys
are enjoying their weekly activities and competition on both local (within our
Battalion) and national level.
In addition to new boys we have welcomed returning
officers and a new Company Chaplain in Vindra, but most rewarding of all is to
see our senior boys taking an active part in the leadership of the
company. Each of our seniors is now an
active leader in one or more of the younger age groups. Not only does this develop
our young men but provides a strong base for the company’s future.
Funds are never an easy subject and particularly in
these economic times, but hard work in outings for the band at the Scout
parade, school and church fetes and assistance from the Parish Council will
enable us to ensure a solid, if modest, financial platform for the company in
providing activities, training and resources for our membership.
It
would not be appropriate to let this opportunity slip without recognising the
work done in previous years and our thanks go to Mel Westwood as former captain
of the Company and his family. Mel
formed the company a little over 10 years ago and worked hard to establish the
Company sometimes with only a small number of boys. We would like to thank Mel for his leadership
and vision and wish him well in his future endeavours.
We look to the future with a much more positive
vision than 12 months ago. Our annual
display will return in May and we hope everyone will give us their support and
come and see the work of the company.
The Boys Brigade is alive and well in the
Traidcraft sales continue to 'tick
over' steadily and, although we don't make huge profits (nor do we have long
queues waiting to be served!) we do have some very
faithful customers in our congregation who make it worth while continuing and
are a great encouragement to me.
We had a few orders from members of St. Mary's
Church at Christmas and, now that there is a Traidcraft
catalogue on display in their church, I hope we will see more during the year.
Members of the
At the moment the Traidcraft
bank account is healthy enough for us to consider doing what we have done in
the past i.e. giving some of that money back to Traidcraft
and using some for our own church needs. The Church Council already has an idea
for the latter!
If you haven't already done so, please look through
a copy of the new Spring catalogue - there are some
lovely items illustrated and, if you would like to try any food items which I
don't usually stock, you only have to ask.
We continue to meet roughly every other Tuesday,
depending on the majority of the group being available. We chat for 15 minutes
or so at the start of the meeting and then undertake a Bible study, frequently
wandering off at a tangent but always ending up back on the subject. We are a
close knit and supportive group of 6 but we would welcome others. Please let me
know if you are interested in joining.
The meeting continues to be somewhere people come to
find comfort, help and blessing as they share together in love, fun and
fellowship.
The past year has seen extra people come along to
join us and they have quickly and happily settled in. We are fortunate in having a few drivers
which means we can go out and about occasionally. Games, quizzes, poetry and craft afternoons,
together with a speaker sometimes, form our programme, ending with hymns and
prayer. Our bond with the Ladies Bright
Hour grows as we share each other’s company from time to time.
We have recently been saddened by the death of
Gladys Powell, a loyal supporter of our group.
Gladys had her roots in Methodism and had a great attachment to the
Methodist Chapel in Westoning. Despite being very deaf, she entered
wholeheartedly into things and always had a smile for everyone. She was the proud recipient of a Land Army
Badge recently in recognition of her service in the War years.
There is good news and bad news. Our numbers remain
low, and we decided this year that we would have a single Celebration service
combining all the age groups. On the plus side, some of the young people are
now attending the full morning service rather than coming out to Sunday School, and we are inviting them to consider membership.
The Sunday Morning Specials continue to attract
more children, and we are currently running four a year, for Christmas, Easter,
Summer and Harvest. These involve considerably more
effort and people than a normal Sunday School, so we
cannot run them very frequently, but they represent one different approach to
children’s work.
626 continues to attract
children. Our weekly attendance is around 20, apart from the holidays when
there are usually fewer children. The format of active games upstairs and craft
and table games downstairs continues.
Craft activities include bead work ranging from
simple threading to more complicated bead animals – lizards, spiders, etc.,
The older children, particularly the girls, are
starting to spend more time just talking, and it will soon be time for the next
group to move up to 7Up.
This age group has been challenging this last year. The group is presently mostly boys. In between playing the Square game, which
they can mostly be trusted to police themselves, and pool - which they play
mostly very badly! - they sit and talk. About life as they see it,
about relationships - their own, and others (which puzzle them). About what they want to do with their lives,
what they like, or don’t like. About
what is happening in their lives now - some of them are choosing GCSEs, others are in their last year at Parkfields.
The girls also talk, and
mostly about the same sort of things.
But the two groups are difficult to mix. They are the wrong age for playing games
together - the boys are beginning to show off, or possibly to demonstrate how
physically superior they are to the girls - but in the 21st century,
that is no longer so certain as it might have been in the 20th.
That both groups come, and
are happy to come, demonstrates that though they may think the beliefs of the
Church are a little odd, and old fashioned, the Church itself is offering them
something they value for itself. This is
something we still need to build on in the future.
Between Christmas and the summer of 2008 we ran a
very successful and enjoyable Youth Alpha course for anyone between 9 and 14.
We averaged about 7 children. A small team ran the course every other Friday
and generally enjoyed the experience. My thanks go to all who helped and the
various parents who brought their children to each meeting. If anyone is
interested in being involved in, or completely organising another course,
please let me know.
It was good to have Sheila Norris leading us in
worship for our World Church Service in 2008.
It is always good to have someone who has recently returned for
furlough. It means we get news “hot off
the press”. Sheila did not disappoint
us. In a lively and informative way she
told us about the work she does sharing as a Mission Partner in
Since Christians in
Whilst Sheila is a Professor of English at Kwassui Women’s College in
As a member of our church here at Harlington, Sheila
is also a member of our church family.
She needs our thoughts, support, love and prayers as she seeks to fulfil
her calling.
The
Lunch Club celebrated
its 1st Birthday in January with Haggis, Tatties and Neeps on the menu with a
surprising number of the people trying it.
Numbers are creeping back up towards the 30’s again after illness and
bad weather reduced the guest numbers to as low as 14. Most of our regulars only phone now if they
CAN’T make it!
Dates and menus have
been set for the remainder of the year and again they include the very popular
‘Christmas in July’! They thought we
were mad – now they know it – but they still enjoyed it!! (Don’t forget, if you have
spare crackers – please see Mary).
Over the past year we have
had visitors from around the Circuit and from Luton and Dunstable. To them – Thank You for coming so far to
support us. We were also joined in the
autumn for the first time by folk from St. Mary Magdalene in Westoning
including Rev. Nigel Washington.
Westoning folk continue to support the Lunch Club every month. We are hoping to introduce extra items to
extend the fellowship time, i.e. April
is 2 courses but this time it is starter and main instead of the normal main
and dessert, with a Quiz after. Any other ideas for something different? Why
not let us know.
The one area where we
are desperately lacking is HELP. Vivien, Yvonne and Barbara Donaldson have
been very generous with their time and help.
It would be really useful if we could put together a rota of
helpers. At the moment both Trevor and
Michelle have had to take vacation days to help with the running and I am due
to return to full-time work after the March Lunch, having negotiated the 3rd Tuesday
of every month off. If you are able to
wash up, help with the cooking or fancy running the club once every so often
yourself, please let me know.
AND FINALLY..... the
Christmas Carvery was amazingly successful,
and has been able to ‘prop up’ the cost of the lunches when only a few have
turned up. However, we already have
people asking when the tickets for Christmas Day this year are going to be on
sale!!!!! So book your tickets early – it
will be a 4-course Lunch on Christmas
Day with Sparkling Non-Alcoholic wine and a small gift for everyone – Price £15.00 per head (a £5.00
non-refundable deposit is needed to secure your booking). Thank you for your suppport.
After a full year in the building we have made
great progress settling in and coming to terms with maintaining more
sophisticated additions like the lift, fire alarm, lighting and improved
kitchen.
As a result of an inspection by Environmental
Health, a new cleanliness regime is in place and, along with the installation
of a key box in the vestry for the locking storage, has called for extra
communication and cooperation amongst us all.
We have a nice new Notice Board in the Entrance Hall
and others are planned to keep us up to date with events and information and
also advertise our mission to all who use the building.
We now have sufficient funds for a long awaited
Notice Board outside and this should be ready shortly. The front door is now double glazed and
hopefully when this goes to print the drive will be finished which completes
the ‘snaggings’ list.
On April 27th we intend to repaint the upstairs hall
and do some outside Spring cleaning so if you can help, please put it in your
diary.
The website continues to attract a small number of hits
each week. It could do with a good revamp so if anyone else is interested in
getting involved I'd be pleased to hear from you. Tina updates the notices each
week, which is much appreciated.
The team is still going in to
Another busy year at our Thursday afternoon meetings,
our numbers are holding up well and we’ve enjoyed a good mix of speakers and
events.
The annual outing was to
Members have been knitting furiously making little
hats for premature babies for Save the Children Fund and squares for
blankets. We also filled a large number
of shoe boxes at Christmas for the SMILE appeal for children in
As a gift to the new sanctuary we ‘commissioned’ Reg Phillips to make a beautiful wooden bookstand for the
communion table.
Many of the members of the old singing group
wished to join in this circuit event that is being performed on 4th
and 5th April. Given the complexity of the music and difficulties of
travelling to rehearsals in Dunstable and Leighton
Buzzard for some people, we have been running our own rehearsals for people at
this end of the circuit. These have proved highly successful in enabling us all
to learn the music and to have confidence at the joint rehearsals.
We have been joined regularly by the participants
from Toddington and as the event gets closer, we have also been joined by a
number of people from Dunstable who find our approach
helpful in learning the piece. This has enabled us to get to know others in the
circuit very well and we have enjoyed the rehearsals (despite the hard work!).
We will continue to meet every Friday evening in the church at 8pm until the
performance.
Our remit for the year has
remained the same:
i to
discuss all aspects of worship in our church,
i to make
sure that a variety of types of worship are included on the plan,
i to make
sure that the church is appropriately decorated for festivals,
i and to make sure that everything is done to make our worship
as inclusive as possible - so that, for example, the use of modern technology
does not exclude those who cannot see the screen, and that the hearing loop is
working.
We have now had a full year
back in our own building, and those of us who are vestry stewards find
ourselves being asked, from time to time, “which way round” the Church is
currently arranged. This is often
followed by “can we …” anything from tables for prayer stations – not easy
either way round, if the congregation has to go round the prayer stations – to
pictures on the screen.
We have hosted a number of
circuit services of varying styles – breadmaking in
the hall perhaps being the most out of the ordinary for a service of worship –
and continue to encourage preachers to bring their ideas of worship to us.
If there are any ideas for
worship that you would like to see tried, bring them to the Worship
Consultation, which is open to anyone to attend.
A group of people met last year to help plan an
Environment Exhibition as part of our Harvest Thanksgiving weekend, with the
theme, “The Earth is the Lord’s”. The
exhibition proved very successful with displays from local councils and groups
on topics such as recycling, wildlife conservation, local produce, rights of
way and compost making. Organic
ploughman’s lunches were served. Around
150 people from the village and circuit attended.
Later in October the Church Council pledged that
members would “encourage the church family to take the issue of climate change
seriously, and actively seek to reduce our carbon footprint as individuals and
as a church”. We agreed to work towards
obtaining an Ecocongregation Award through a series
of modules.
The environment group or “Green Team” has met again
to work through the first module – a church check-up, to recognise what we are
already doing and identify some areas for change and improvement. Further details on the
website www.ecocongregation.org.
Additional members of the group would be most
welcome, as would ideas and insights into ways to achieve our aims.
Accounts
As you will see by the
accounts included in this report the Church Funds decreased during the year
ended 31st August 2008 to a negative £29,234. This was mainly due to
the money spent on the building project and was corrected when we received an
additional £30,000 Grant from the Circuit in September 2008.
Reserves
Policy
We
still had a negative general fund of - £1,386 at the end of August 2008 and I
would like to see this reduced to zero by 31 August 2009. This will allow us to
pay our bills as they fall due. The
Church Council is currently looking at ways to reduce the deficit to zero.
The
Church has a reserve policy which is to build up reserves so we have enough
funds to pay half our annual expenditure plus an additional £5,000 for property
emergencies. As we currently have negative funds we have a long way to go.
However, we will find it easier when the building project is finally finished
and we have paid all outstanding debts.
Building
Fund
The
additional £30,000 grant from the Circuit, for which we are very thankful, has
allowed us to finish our building project much earlier than originally
anticipated. We now expect the building project to be completed by 31 August
2009. In total the project will cost us £496,333 and the money has been raised
as follows:
Gift Days 8,670
Fundraising 41,861
Promises from members 45,993
Donations from individuals 25,001
Donations from other
churches & Circuits 17,940
Donations in memory of other
people 8,875
Gift Aid Tax 20,487
The Circuit 114,400
Methodist Grants 77,000
Grantscape (Landfill Tax) 46,169
Wren (Landfill Tax) 16,762
Robinson Trust 37,000
The Beatrice Lang Trust 5,000
Other grants 400
Interest received 22,775
Total raised 496,333
I would like to thank everyone who has helped us
during the 10 years of the project. When
we started the project we were looking at a cost of just over £250,000 but
ended up with a cost of just under £500,000, almost double. We were set a
target to raise £2,000 per member but we have raised well over £3,000 per
member. An achievement we thought was impossible when we started.
We are sorting out a few outstanding items before we
make our final payment to the builders. These are mainly the double glazing on
the front door and the tarmac on the driveway. Also we have to purchase a
notice board for the front of the building, we have one final loan payment to
Methodist Chapel Aid at the end of June and gift aid tax to reclaim.
I will, in the next few months, write to everyone
who is still giving weekly, monthly or annually to the building project.
The average weekly
collection for the year ended 31st August 2008 was £223.40 per week
which was 11% higher than last year’s average of £200.52. Our weekly collections since 1st
September 2008 have increased further to an average of £235.50. Thanks to
everyone who has been able to increase their weekly giving.
Our
costs have increased as we now have a new building to maintain and we have new
expenditure like lift maintenance (£351 per year). In order to cover our costs
our weekly income needs to be in excess of £260. If you haven’t had a chance to review the
amount of money you put in the collection each week then I urge you to do
so. Also, a good way to increase your
weekly giving is to Gift Aid it (see below) which increases it by 28%.
The Church has successfully
reclaimed Tax on all donations made under Gift Aid. This includes donations for
Methodist Charities such as MRDF and MHA, weekly collections and donations to
the Building project. If you are a tax payer and haven’t considered putting
your payments to the Church through Gift Aid please talk to Cathy Sheehan.
It is a very easy process.
All you have to do is fill in a form and the rest is done by the treasurer.
Since the gift aid scheme started on 6th April 2000 we have received
gift aid tax refunds of almost £40,000.
Where does our money go?
Of
our total income in the year ended 31 August 2008 (excluding the building fund
income) over half went to the Circuit (54%) and one sixth (18%) went to outside
organisations. The rest was spent on running the property (23%) and general
expenses (5%) such as printing the notices and Sunday school books and
equipment. Payments to outside organisations were as follows:
Methodist Homes (paid late) £0.00
NCH £74.33
Relief & Development £221.36
Home Missions £136.72
World Missions £231.06
Easter Offering £53.85
LWPT £250.00
Property Fund £250.00
JMA £1,111.09
Neighbourhood help £325.00
Bible Society £50.00
Accounts for the year ended 31st August
2008
Collections 11,617
Direct
Giving
1,235
Other
Income
1,347
Property expenses 4,053
Circuit Assessment 9,666
Direct Giving 2,457
Other expenses 1,000
17,176
Deficit on General
Funds
(456)
Building Fund
Income 58,238
Expenditure 123,995
Total decrease in building
fund
(65,757)
Fund brought forward 36,979
Funds Carried forward
£(29,234)
General Funds
(1,386)
Building Fund
(27,848)
Total Funds
£ (29,234)