Annual Report and Financial Statement

For the year ended 31 December 2004

Diocese of Salisbury
Dorchester Deanery
 

Background
Dorchester Parochial Church Council (PCC) had the responsibility of co-operating with the Team Rector, the Reverend Philip Lambert, and the Team Vicars, the Reverends Richard Betts and Drucilla Dennis and the Curate Reverend Deborah Smith in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical.
Membership
Members of the PCC are either ex officio or elected by the Annual Meetings held by the three churches making up the Dorchester Team. Licensed Team Clergy, Churchwardens, and those co-opted on to or elected to General, Diocesan, or Deanery Synods sit on the PCC ex officio. The PCC can also co-opt a limited number of additional members during the year.
During the year the following served as members of the PCC:
 

Team Rector	The Revd Philip Lambert	Chairman
Team Vicar	The Revd Richard Betts
Team Vicar	The Revd Drucilla Dennis
Team Curate	The Revd Deborah Smith
Wardens	Ronald Cornick Jill Minchin John Lock Pam Montgomerie John Palmer David Trickey
Representatives on Diocesan Synod:	Robert Potter
Representatives on Deanery Synod:	Ernest Coombs Keith Hooper John Lock Jill Minchin Derek Norris Peter Parker Robert Potter Jean Saddington Jill Bryant	(ex officio) (Secretary)
Elected members:	Cynthia Fry John Herring Allen Knott Jean Lang Elizabeth Pulfer Jean Saddington Beryl Shuttleworth Vernon Moffet Katharine Marr Julie Mansley Lilian Wood	(Lay/Chairperson) (Electoral Roll Officer)

The Parish Report 2004

The Parochial Church Council of Dorchester met four times during 2004 - 2005. Peter Parker was re-elected as Parish Treasurer, Jean Lang was re-elected as Vice Chairman and Gill Hartnett was re-elected as Secretary of the PCC. At all meetings a report of the current state of the parish’s finances was received. Peter Parker agreed to continue as Parish Treasurer for the time being.
We welcomed Revd Geoff Turnock to the Parish as a non-stipendiary Team Vicar with special responsibility for the people of Poundbury. He was licensed in St Mary’s Church on 11th January 2005.
The Parish now have a Website and Parish Diary thanks to a lot of hard work from Richard Cox at St George’s who set it up and acts as Webmaster and from the representatives from all three churches: Tricia Bowen from St George’s was Chairman, with Mike Morgan from St Peter’s and Jean Saddington from St Mary’s. This sub-committee of the PCC agreed to provide the PCC with regular verbal reports. The purpose of the Website was to inform and evangelise our faith from the different perspectives of the three churches.
Gill Hartnett had resigned from the job of doing the accounts on computer. The process of amalgamating the four Parish accounts had proved more difficult than anticipated. It was agreed that the person appointed to take over be agreed with the four Treasurers.
Share apportionment was another topic which came up during the year. There had been a number of surveys to decide numbers in the churches and this had led to the Diocese producing a revised figure for the Parish share.

Both St Osmund’s Church of England Middle School and Manor Park First School had new heads. The PCC agreed to ask them both to come in to talk to the PCC about themselves and what they hope to achieve in their respective schools and to offer our support for the review of the Tertiary System. The County Council were considering changing from the current three tier system and replacing it with a two tier one. David Bowen was re-elected as Chairman of St Osmund’s Governors and the Archdeacon, Ven. Paul Taylor was made an ex-officio Foundation Governor. Julie Mansley was made Foundation Governor at Manor Park. Thirty people from the Parish, adults as well as children, were confirmed at St George’s in October.

Philip had written a paper regarding the setting up of a Christian Centre in Poundbury which was supported by the PCC and had been discussed with the Duchy of Cornwall.

Eleven people attended the Parish Retreat in February 2005 at The Community of St. Francis at Compton Durville.

PCC Treasurer’s Report 2004

I am pleased to report that we completed the payment of the share amounting to £120,359 before the end of January 2005. This is our largest commitment and I am most grateful to the Church Treasurers for keeping their monthly payments up to date on a regular basis throughout the year. We also had to transfer £5,101 from the Reserve Account which now stands at £7,399.
The income from office services and the Church Magazine was up on the previous year and our expenses compared favourably with those incurred in 2003.
Bearing in mind that we were also able to make a payment of £3,024 towards the Tsunami Disaster Appeal and pay all other bills promptly the overall position is satisfactory.

Once again we are indebted to a number of people who helped to make this possible. Mike and Felicity Morgan who have Edited the magazine for a number of years and Miss Liz Green our energetic Advertising Manager, Mary Wade and Gill Hartnett who have served us well in the Church Office and have once again succeeded in increasing our income from Office Services (by £748). I am also mindful of the help that all the Treasurers have received from the people who have helped in so many different ways including the counting and banking of monies received from the congregations.
Finally a very sincere thank you to the partners and staff at Edwards and Keeping for all their help in the collation of the final accounts and completing the audit quickly at their busiest time of the year.

As I mentioned in my report last year the Diocesan Quota for 2005 has been calculated by the Diocesan Office in a more equitable manner. A transitional figure of £103,361 for 2005 and then £107,584 hopefully for the succeeding 3 years.

Reports from the secretaries to the three churches:

St Peter’s Church
St. Peter’s Church Council met five times during the year and at St. Peter’s Annual Meeting Ron Cornick and Jill Minchin were elected as churchwardens.

During the year the church council considered “St. Peter’s - past, present and future” with Jane Culliford reporting the findings of her congregational analysis, the church council attending an Away Afternoon at West Stafford with the Archdeacon, Paul Taylor, and a visit of the Diocesan Advisory Committee looking at possible points of change, development and alteration to the church and its grounds.

Matters discussed during the year included alterations to create a disabled access toilet, radio microphones, hall and choir vestry refurbishment, finance and commemorations for the 400th anniversary of Rev John White’s institution in November 2005.

The church has maintained its pattern of Sunday worship. The Thursday morning communion service continues to be well supported and Little Fishes flourishes. Prayer breakfasts and the prayer group underpin all that we do at St. Peter’s and Evening Prayer is said each weekday at 4.45pm.

Within the wider church, Jane Culliford began her second year of training for the ordained ministry and became more involved in leading worship and preaching. A house group was held at the vicarage during the winter months.

With its town centre location St. Peter’s held services for the Mayor’s Civic service, the District Council, the Bayeux Twinning, the Boys’ Brigade, Thomas Hardye School and many carol services. The church continued to be open each day as a place for quiet prayer and reflection.

St Mary’s Church
The Council has met four times since the last annual meeting, in May, September, November and January, each meeting being preceded by Mass said in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. There was an additional brief meeting before this annual meeting solely to approve the accounts for the year ended 31st December ’04. Attendance by council members has generally been good.
The Minutes show that the major topic for discussion was the forthcoming mission, or St Mary’s Festival. As you will know, this is being led by a small team from the Society of St Francis and will run from June 18th to 26th, aiming to strengthen the links between our church and the community it serves. The Council was kept informed at most meetings about progress with the establishment of the Friends of St Mary’s. The ‘Friends’ was launched on 17th March with an inaugural concert and again one aim is to involve the community.
The idea of a ‘cell structure’ , creating small units to complement the bigger unit of the whole congregation, was discussed and there was a congregational consultation, as a result of which a number of small groups was suggested but the scheme has not progressed beyond that stage, probably because the mission has been the priority.
Finance was of course on each agenda with the additional concern about the unexpected and serious deficit in our gas bill due to deficiencies and errors in meter reading. We were kept informed about the move to centralised electronic accounting. The Council decided to buy some large print hymn books and to have large print orders of service and copies of Pewsnews available and it agreed to the provision of an icon stand and the enlargement of the candle stand. It reviewed the successful Lent course and discussed proposed changes in the children’s corner and the changes to Junior Church following the change of its leadership.
The Fabric was a regular item for discussion; we were told of the circumstances leading to the provision of a replacement organ in the chancel, the proposals for an improved lighting scheme were seen and discussed, the problems in providing a ramp for access by disabled people and the provision of a storage area continue to be unresolved. The Council was told of the need for a revised Deanery Strategic Plan and the parish of Dorchester was one of three contrasting parishes, details of which were outlined at a recent deanery synod meeting.
During the year we celebrated the ordination to the priest hood of Rev. Deborah Smith and the 25th anniversary of Rev. Philip Lambert’s ordination. We welcomed Rev. Geoff Turnock as an associate member of the clergy team and agreed to support Jean Saddington in her application to be considered for training as a deacon. We accepted, regretfully, the resignation of David Trickey as one of our wardens.

St George’s Church
St. George’s Church Council met on five occasions during the year. In addition to routine reports from the Committees and discussions the Council had presentations by Allen Knott on the work of the Worship Committee which considers matters pertaining to the Church e.g. music in church and the growth and direction of the church. Anne Jonathan spoke about the success of the Flower Festival at St. George’s and the possibility of making this an annual event. The Vicar outlined the work of the Local Ministry Team, which had been formed after a visit and presentation by Alan Jeans, Archdeacon of Dorset to look at the way forward for our church. In the year 20 people were eligible to sit on the Church Council together with representation to the PCC and the Deanery Synod.

Four new LPA’s have completed their training and have joined the group of 15 already working to assist in bereavement visiting, christenings, prison and hospital visiting. Jo Lacey Smith has been approved as a candidate for Ordained Local Ministry and commences her 3-year period of training in September 2005.

During the year different types of music were introduced in church services, e.g. guitar and solo singing as well as a new music group. These augment the music provided by the choir.

The fabric of the church is under constant supervision by the Fabric Committee and of 24 items identified by the architect in the 2003 quinquennial report only 3 are still outstanding. A survey for the presence of asbestos and also accessibility under the Disability Discrimination Act has been carried out. A new inventory of the church goods and chattels has been completed.

St. George’s remains financially sound and we again had a good response to the gift day appeal earlier in the year. We are currently seeking a new Treasurer. £2120 has been distributed to our chosen charities during the year. In 2005 we are looking forward to the dedication of 2 new bells to add to the 6 we already have.

There is a very successful ‘Thursday Club’ who meet once a month in the Church Hall with a speaker and attract 40-50 people from the wider parish. The monthly luncheon club has proved very successful for people who like to meet for a reasonably priced lunch in good company.

The Sunday School flourishes and we are fortunate to have attracted some new younger Sunday School teachers to help. We also have a family who are dedicated to promoting the goods from ‘Fair Trade’. We have enjoyed many social occasions this year including a Lent lunch, shopping trip, coffee morning, Harvest Supper and a very successful St. George’s Day Fair.

We have a faithful and supportive band of sidespersons as well as a group of ladies who serve coffee after the 10.15 services. This is an invaluable meeting point for newcomers to the Church and a special welcome was extended with a cheese and wine event. We also have a very creative group of ladies who arrange the flowers in church.

Our Churchwardens for 2004-2005, John Palmer and Pam Montgomerie have carried out their duties in a most professional way and we are also grateful to our Deputy Churchwarden, Trish Bowen who has stepped in whenever needed.

At the Annual Meeting grateful thanks was expressed to our Vicar, Richard Betts who has given good leadership, help and support to all. He has been ably assisted by our Readers, David Bowen and Allen Knott. The Vicar highlighted the need for St. George’s to be more mission-conscious and has arranged to consult with the Church Army about the ways forward.

Report from Dorchester Deanery Synod

Synod has, as usual, met three times in the past year. At the June meeting a deanery youth strategy was considered and a working party set up, now due to report to synod in June this year, instead of February as planned. In November a representative of the Ecclesiastical Insurance Company gave advice on a range of Health & Safety matters which affect the use of our buildings and facilities. A speaker from the Board of Parish Development spoke about the diocesan ‘Growing Healthy Churches’ programme and synod was advised that a new deanery strategic plan would be required. Finance, including the working of the new Fairer Share scheme, was of course on each agenda.

The bishops and the archdeacons had planned to visit every deanery synod during the first part of 2005 and it was Dorchester’s turn in February. Accordingly Bishop Tim and our archdeacon attended our February meeting in St Mary’s hall. Senior members of the Church House staff were also there. The intention was for them to hear first hand accounts of life in this part of the diocese and of plans for the future and to take part in a general discussion. The opportunity was taken to approve the terms of reference for the new deanery strategic plan, to hear initial responses from three parishes and to discuss these. Attendance at that meeting was higher than average! The Pastoral Committee will now begin work on preparing a new plan to cater for the needs of the deanery given the restrictions of staffing and money.

This has been the final year of the current triennium and elections for members of the new synod are taking place at parish annual meetings this month.

Robert Potter
 

Report from Diocesan Synod

This has been the second year of the current triennium and the next elections will be in July 2006. The usual pattern of meetings has been followed with Synod gathering in Amesbury, Corfe Mullen and Salisbury. As usual, the format is a celebration of Holy Communion with the business interspersed. This may seem disruptive but it does bring home the idea that the secular business is part of the whole life of the church. Quite often at church council meetings, although admittedly they start and finish with prayer, there is a danger that the money and the fabric and the latest problems can be seen out of context. The place of the sermon is taken by a presidential address by Bishop David who usually presents an important diocesan or national topic in a theological context
The business this year has included finance of course, with the establishment, after much discussion, of the new Fairer Share quota allocation. The other major topic has been the review by Bishop Peter of the structure of the Boards and the work of Church House to ensure that the needs of the church today are properly covered. As a result of his thorough investigation a number of important changes have been proposed. A number of changes were agreed to at the meeting in February, with a further report to be considered in November.
Synod also discussed a link with Latvia, a vision for the long term strategy for the cathedral and the celebration of the 1300th anniversary of St Aldhelm, a project under the care of Bishop Tim.

Robert Potter