ANNUAL REPORT
THE PARISH OF BARWICK-IN-ELMET
2016 - 2017
PART OF THE ELMETE TRINITY
BENEFICE
BARWICK-IN ELMET PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL
2016 to 2017
Rector Revd. Andrew Nicholson
PCC Officers
Secretary
Sylvia Snowdon
Treasurer
Norman Whyte
Church Wardens 2015-2016
Carole Cassidy
Leslye Thomas
Deanery Synod Representatives
Sue Cole
Peter Snowdon
PCC Elected Members
from to
Keith Langley 2016- 17
Pauline Robson 2016- 17
Martin Rogers 2016- 17
Claire Gaunt 2016- 18
Sylvia Snowdon 2016- 18
Lynn Whitaker 2016- 18
Christine Nottingham 2016- 19 `
Rosemary Swales 2016- 19
Norman Whyte 2016- 19
Steve Rostron Co-opted for 1 year
PCC Secretary’s Annual Report 2016
In January 2016, the Parish of Barwick in Elmet with Scholes was dissolved and two new parishes were established; the Parish of Scholes and the Parish of Barwick in Elmet. This change followed many months of debate, consideration and prayer and the final decision was met with mixed emotions.
I think it is fair to say that the people of St Philip’s Church in Scholes entered 2016 with a feeling of new beginnings and of anticipation, as for the first time they went forward as an independent parish. The people of Barwick had more mixed feelings. Some felt a sense of bereavement at the loss of an ancient parish with all its history and tradition. Others, like myself, who live in Scholes but worship in Barwick were left feeling rather unsettled. For the past 5 or 6 years we had been worshipping at All Saints’ in Barwick; this would continue, but now, with the separation, we were living in one parish and worshipping in another.
The uniting aspect of this situation came with the creation of The Elmete Trinity Benefice. The benefice incorporates the three parishes of Thorner, Scholes and Barwick under the leadership of one Rector, the Rev. Andy Nicholson. A lovely service was held on January 31st, 2016 to welcome the creation of the benefice.
So this is where we were as the Parish of Barwick in Elmet held its first Annual Parish Meeting on February 1st, 2016, when our Church Wardens and PCC were elected. The PCC is made up of 2 Church Wardens, 10 elected PCC Members and 2 Deanery Synod representatives.
The Rector, the Revd. Andy Nicholson, is the Chairman.
The PCC has met each month, with the exception of August and December, 9 times in all. The attendance has been an excellent 85%, and it was not long before we realised the advantage of having only the affairs of one and not two churches to discuss. Among the main items that have been discussed in the course of the year are ( in no particular order):
..>..Extensive work that needs to be done to the outside of The building and which was identified in the last Quinquennial Review. Some smaller work has already been done and repointing much of the mortar on the exterior walls will commence in the early Spring.
>Decisions regarding the graveyard and the gardens surrounding the church, including the type of grave stones that can be used, the safety of the trees and the possibility of placing memorial benches in the church grounds.
>The future planning for the inside of the building to make better use of the space available so that it is more open and accessible to the local community. This is in its very early stages and will entail considerable fundraising.
>General ongoing repairs to the inside of church including the Central Heating and the Speaker System
>The setting up of a new all age service called
ALL TOGETHER@ 10, which is now held on the first Sunday of each month and replaces the 11am
service on that week. This has been a great success.
>The purchase of new Hymn Books, many of which have been paid for by members of the congregation.
>The appointment of a PA for the Rector to cover matters across the three churches in the Benefice.
>As well as routine financial matters, the setting up of new Gift Aid Charity with HMRC and all the clerical work that accompanies this.
The setting up of a Website for the new parish
All these things involve a lot of work by individuals and small groups within the PCC and the wider congregation. Many thanks to all the PCC members for their commitment and good humour in dealing with such a wide span of church business. Particular thanks to Carole and Leslye, the two church wardens for the immense amount of work they do, week in week out, and of course to Andy, our Rector, whose care and efforts we often forget to acknowledge.
have mentioned before in previous reports that I continue to be surprised at how little people know of what the PCC actually does. Thanks to Rosie Swales we now have a synopsis of each meeting printed in the Parish News Magazine, which I hope you find useful.
If you are on the Church Electoral Roll and come to All Saints’ fairly regularly, then you might like to serve on the PCC. Have a glance at the red notice board at the back of the church where you will find nomination sheets. We would welcome you with open arms – or, as I said in church this morning, with a mass waving of our walking sticks!
Sylvia Snowdon (PCC Secretary)
Diocese of West Yorkshire and the Dales
Parish of Barwick-in-Elmet
Electoral Roll Officer’s report prior to the 2017 Parish Meeting
Following the formation of the new Parish of Barwick-in-Elmet, formerly part of the Parish of Barwick-in-Elmet with Scholes, on 1stJanuary, 2016, a new electoral roll was drawn up. There were 82 persons on the roll, of whom 5 were also on the new roll of the Parish of Scholes. Of those on the roll, 67 were resident within the new parish and 15 outside. One further name was added during the year.
At the time of writing, a revision of the roll is in preparation for the 2017 Annual Meeting.
Peter Snowdon
1st February, 2017
Diocese of West Yorkshire and the Dales
Parish of Barwick-in-Elmet
Deanery Synod Report for the 2016
The representatives on the Deanery Synod were Sue Cole and Peter Snowdon together with our Rector, Andy Nicholson. Normally it meets three times during the year, dealing among other things with clergy vacancies and emergencies, elections to higher synods, sharing of talents and facilities to meet special needs, and some aspects of the way the share is divided among the parishes within the deanery. In 2016, Swillington, Lofthouse and Halton hosted the meetings. The first meeting of 2017 will be at Thorner.
It is usual to invite a visiting speaker to give a talk on some aspect of their work, or to stimulate a discussion on a particular topic relevant to the operation of the deanery or the wider church. Alison Bogle, the Diocesan Communications Officer, spoke about making the best use of local media outlets to communicate our message, and the Very Revd John Dobson, Dean of Ripon, about what has been happening at Ripon Cathedral recently. We were due to be addressed by Bishop Paul but he was laid low by illness on that occasion. Fortunately, Canon Rosemarie Hayes, our Area Dean of Whitkirk, who chairs the meetings, saw this as an opportunity to incorporate the service of Compline instead.
One consequence of the enlarged diocese is a re-thinking about the present parish groupings in the deaneries, together with the way they operate. This is likely to mean some major changes before long.
Peter Snowdon
1st February, 2017
From ‘Young Mums’ to ‘All together @ 10’ - our journey continues!
Our 9.30 All Age Worship service continued into 2016, with a thriving congregation; the following gives a flavour of what it entailed during the year:
Our May service followed hot on the heels of the Tour de Yorkshire and saw us keeping the cycling theme alive.
At key points in the Christian calendar, we joined with the 11 am service, as was the case on Mothering Sunday when we were also joined by the children of Barwick Primary School Choir.
Rainbow the Clown helped us tell the stories of Noah and the Lost Sheep.
In addition to our monthly services we once again held a fabulous Good Friday Activity Morning, with lots of happy faces joining in with songs, crafts, treasure hunts and the now traditional piñata!
As the year progressed we noticed that we were being joined by more and more of the 11am congregation at 9.30 and so the question arose as to why we should continue with 2 separate services. There was always a concern about having 2 distinct congregations, so uniting the services seemed to be a logical step The proposal was put to the PCC and as a result ‘All Together @ 10’ was born which has now taken place on the first Sunday in the month since last Autumn.
Having made this decision, the challenge was to create a service which would appeal to all. Not wanting to alienate any of the two former congregations, we set out to create a service which
1. kept the shorter more informal nature of the 9.30 service but which clearly contained the key elements of the more traditional 11am one such as prayers, readings and the confession.
2. It Is not a ‘children’s service’ or ‘youth led’, but is one in which
everyone truly plays an active part.
We were concerned that in trying to please everyone we would please no one, but so far this does not seem to be the case and the congregation is growing month on month, with really positive feedback. Perhaps a lesson to us all, is that age does not determine whether or not you like traditional or modern worship and that it is perfectly possible to create a blend of the two.
We are still developing the service and to do this we need the involvement and feedback of everyone, a journey is an over-used term today, but it feels relevant to where we are. In terms of looking ahead, we need to continue to develop our worship in order to ensure we increase our congregation which will be vital to the long term sustainability of All Saints’. A big thanks goes to every single person who has participated in our services in any way whatsoever this year, we are at the end of the day ‘all in this together’ and it would be wrong to single anyone out!
I am going to finish this report by sharing something from our Crib Service which was attended by 130 people. I decided due to the likely numbers attending, to let everyone take their seats first, before sharing out the service sheets appropriately. What started out as an idea to prevent a practical problem, actually turned out to be really rewarding, as it allowed me to give a proper welcome to everyone who had come through the door. Having spoken to and given the sheet to one lady who I did not know, I saw her turn to her husband and heard her say whilst pointing around the packed Church "Don't you think all this is absolutely great!"
That is our challenge for 2017 and beyond, in our new services and events we have started something powerful and together we need to discuss and agree how we build upon it, supporting each other and seizing opportunities for sharing our Christian welcome in an ever challenging world and in ways which can reach out to both today and tomorrow’s society.
Claire Gaunt
Church Wardens’ Report - All Saints’.
It has been another challenging year as we moved forward as a Parish in our own right. It would be remiss not to mention one couple who have been particularly instrumental in ensuring that we did everything in the "proper" manner, many thanks to Peter and Sylvia Snowdon.
This year we have seen a tremendous increase in the young families who attend the Family Service and have supported the new Altogether @10 along with members of the wider congregation. Well done to Keith Langley, Ann Oliver, Claire Meadley, Claire Gaunt and their team for their innovative approach to the service. This is critical to the survival of our Church, thank you to you all. We must also thank the "retired" clergy who have supported us and Andy in maintaining the spiritual responsibilities of our Church, John and Anne Oliver, Geoff King and John
Bullimore. We have new faces on the PCC, this is critical to us moving forward with modernisation and new ideas. Thank you Steve for your work on the web site.
The Events Committee, chaired by Rosemary Swales continue their hard work. They have had a wide variety of very successful events, from social and music events to Christmas Tree week etc, raising money for both the church and for charity. Many others also work to make people aware of All Saints’, the list is impressive. Each year I thank the small but dedicated team of volunteers who work so hard for our beautiful church. From Doreen and her flower ladies, and her care and maintenance of the altar linen. The brass cleaning and general maintenance continues week upon week, and Terri and her refreshments gang are always there. Thanks to Gaile and the choir, Martyn and Sylvia for their music and John and the bell ringers. Importantly, thanks to all helpers with the services routines. They are a small but dedicated band and we need more volunteers please. Thank you all for your support and hard work. Without your help we would not be able to sustain the work of our beautiful church.
We continue to work closely with our Methodist friends and now with the change in our status this will become our priority, to work together in the interests of the Village Community.
External Work
Colin and the "graveyard gang" have continued to work extremely hard to maintain the high standard of the graveyard and areas surrounding the church, Well done! I thank Colin for his continued work and guidance throughout the year, in spite of his own health problems. His experience is invaluable. There have been some jobs required to the outside of the church. The fall pipe repairs, wall repair to the rear gate area, and gutter cleaning have been finished. The repairs to the ramp to the back church yard will be completed when the better weather arrives. The outside maintenance work to the church should start in the Spring. We desperately need volunteers to help us with project planning, to work as a team with the Church Wardens.
Internal
We still continue to have minor problems with the boilers, managing the heat levels in very cold weather. The speaker and music systems needed attention this year but hopefully the problems have now been ironed out.
Planning needs to now proceed to get costs for the reordering of the inside of the church to make it more flexible without detracting from it’s history and beauty. The Church Architect can be employed to draw up plans of proposals for consideration and costing, so that we can pursue funding. Martin Rogers is on standby to look at avenues of funding, but as I said earlier we need a project team of people to help. Perhaps you could give thought to who could assist with this. You don’t need professional expertise just some of your time and enthusiasm.
As Church Wardens we see the pressures on our Rector, Andy, with the numerous responsibilities with three churches, not to mention the Church Schools. Andy continues to work with all three churches to meet our varying needs and as Wardens we will continue to work with and support him in the
interest of All Saints’.
Carole Cassidy and Leslye Thomas
RECTOR’S Annual Report 2016/17
This last year has been a year of learning to live in an altered situation in Barwick Church.
In January 2016 Barwick and Scholes officially became separate parishes, joining with Thorner to create the Elmete Trinity Benefice. This movement came with a number of challenges but also a number of opportunities. It has meant that the diocese could sell the Rectory in Barwick, which I know will be a particular sadness for many in the village. It has also meant that All Saints’ Church is now fully responsible for its own finances, which again has brought its own fair share of challenges and opportunities.
Youth Work
The fantastic work done by Clare Meadley at the Friday Family Fun group has now been extended into the monthly AllTogether@10 Service, which continues to grow and make connections with families and the school in exciting and novel ways. There is now a strong group of leaders involved in this service, which also run the Good Friday craft morning and are involved in the Christingle Service and last year were instrumental in the Christmas Eve Crib Service. We look forward to this church expression growing and developing in the years to come. My thanks go to them for all their hard work and passion in making this an area of growth in our church.
Social Group
My thanks also go to the social committee who have put on a number of events over the year, including the Christmas fair, Harvest Supper and concerts. It is through social events that the church is able to reach out to the village and invite them into church, reminding the village that All Saints’ is their Church.
Gardening Gang
Once again the gardening gang continue to keep the churchyard as a place of calm and beauty where people may sit and tend their loved one’s graves. Over the year I have had many comments from relatives who appreciate the care with which All Saints’ churchyard is kept and gain much from the space.
Building work
After a number of years of preparation we are now at the point at which we can complete the many external pieces of building work that require to be done. This is going to be an expensive year and I thank in advance all those who will be giving financially to enable the various works that are needed to be done.
Looking to the future
This next year promises to be an exciting year. With the external building work finished we will be looking at reordering the internal space at All Saints’ to make it better suited to a Church that is reaching out to its community in the 21st Century.
There will also be a new arrival in the summer. Bob Bailey and his family will be coming and Bob will be serving as a curate in the Benefice for the next 3 to 4 years. We look forward to welcoming Bob and his family to our church in July.
Many thanks
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people – from Church Wardens to flower arrangers, tea servers to sacristans, gardeners to choir and bell-ringers – who minister in Barwick church through the donation of their time, gifts and energy. Your efforts make the church an enjoyable and worshipful place to be.
Blessings.
Andy NIcholson
All Saints’ Barwick in Elmet Bell Ringing
Report for 2016/17
The ringers meet most Thursday evenings from 7.30 – 9.00 pm. There are currently 5 regular ringers and 2 learners.
We have rung for 4 weddings.
We have rung no quarter peals.
We have had a visit by the scouts.
We have refurbished three of the clappers and repainted the bell frame.
John Crouch
Tower Captain
All Saints’ Flowers
A big thank you to everybody who have arranged or given money for flowers for the altar.
There are many who give regularly throughout the year and are on the rota. However I have spaces over the year should you wish to donate either flowers or arrange to do this yourself.
A special thanks to those who help to decorate the church for
Festivals, Christmas, Easter and Harvest.
I encourage new members to join the team
Doreen Bond
AII Saints’ Churchyard and Grounds Report 2016 / 17
Despite a shortage of helpers due to illness, a cold and very wet springtime and the damage to the grassed area and remembrance / poppy bed in 2015, our efforts were rewarded with an individual gold award in Yorkshire in Bloom. This was followed by another gold for the village in Britain in Bloom in 2016 when we were judged as part of the village.
Following the problems with the remembrance / poppy bed in 2015, we decided to move it to the area alongside the sundial. This proved to be very successful. The pansies in spring followed by begonias in the summer made a stunning display.
The plastic mesh that we laid at the bottom of the ramp into the churchyard extension in 2015 has worked quite well, as the annual winter muddy patch has not appeared since it was laid.
We have had to remove two trees. The first on the Aberford Road side, which was blown down in 2015 and the second one which had been killed by honey fungus was in the Churchyard extension.
Thanks go to Bill White whose expertise made both jobs easier.
We will have to treat a small area of ground in the spring where the diseased tree was removed in order to stop the disease spreading.
Our new machine is far more versatile as it has rear wheel steering which allows us to access areas we couldn’t get to with our old machine. Instead of collecting grass it mulches it into small particles which are forced down into the grass sward. These particles break down within hours, depositing nutrients which are carried back into the soil by micro-organisms and worms. Both of our larger Honda power driven mowers also have mulching capabilities which means we have a lot less grass cuttings to dispose of. The Husqvarna also proved invaluable with annual leaf problem; as long as the leaves were dry we were able to mow through them leaving almost no trace at all.
We decided to hold a coffee morning in 2016 instead of the of the usual plant sale during open gardens This proved successful as we raised £367. Guess the average age of our group proved popular, and surprised many people when we announced that the total age was 788 years and 6mths, with an average of 72yrs and 1 month. We are using the money to purchase plants for the flower beds, and equipment. We are hoping to repeat the coffee morning this year and eventually raise enough money to purchase a replacement for our oldest mower which does not have mulching capabilities. We have already used some of the money to replace the roses in the cremation bed as they were way past their best and pansies in the remembrance / poppy bed. Two of the replacement roses were provided by Mavis Edwards.
On the down side I’m afraid that the dog fouling problem persists. Putting a request in the Church magazine has not even reduced the problem. The only thing the request prompted was an exchange of views between some of the dog walkers and the gardeners. We feel sure that the problem of dog fouling lies not with those who attend church and receive the magazine, but with other residents of Barwick who clearly don’t care. We all feel that something needs to be done and very soon please.
We suffered a small bout of vandalism over a few days during the summer, when a couple of youths thought it was a good idea to start fires in the extension. The first was worryingly close to our shed and the other on the edge of the cremation grave area. Colin informed the local police and some of us paid regular visits to the Churchyard over several evenings until we were sure that the problem had gone away.
Although mulching the grass cuttings has helped to reduce the amount of waste needed to be disposed of, the refusal of the grave diggers to remove the waste from fresh graves means the pile is continuing to grow. Colin and Doug carried out a rough survey and came to the conclusion that the various mounds throughout the Churchyard, take up the space of at least 40 graves. Clearly this problem needs to be addressed as soon as possible.
Hopefully the wall at the rear gate and the slope down into the extension will be repaired during the next year.
Colin Bond & Doug Haynes.
ANNUAL PARISH REPORT
TREASURER’S REPORT YEAR 2016
The Annual Accounts presented to the PCC and approved by them at the beginning of 2016 showed funds brought forward of
£69,363.23.
This figure included the Central Board of Finance (CBF) Deposit Account of £14,916.24 which was transferred to Barwick PCC following the separation of the two churches from the old Parish of Barwick and Scholes. We also received the sum of £13,148.61 which was due to us when the funds of the old parish were split equally between the two churches.
Our closing balance as at 31st December 2016, was £73,817.64 –
an increase in the year of £4,454.41. However, without the receipt of the £13,148.61 mentioned above, we would have shown a deficit in the year of £8,694.20.
The reason for the deficit is as follows.
The level of regular
Parish Giving (covenants/collections/gift aid donations and tax refund) totalled £42,072.11. The Parish Share, a sum that we have to pay to the diocese each year, was £41,682.96. which was barely covered by the regular giving. The Parish Share for 2017 is increased by 15% to £47,935. The PCC has serious doubts as to whether we can afford this £6,000 increase.
Of our other means of income, Funerals raised a net income £6,524 (after payment of diocesan fees/verger/organist and stand-in vicars). Weddings, which were considerably down in number on 2015, raised a net figure of £1,094 after deducting diocesan fees and the cost of the Wedding Co-ordinator. The Magazine raised a net figure of £2,179 after printing costs.
The Event’s Group had a very good year in raising £2,758.76 for the church. They raised an additional £1,050 from two Charity Events. £800 was sent to Yorkshire Air Ambulance from the 60s Night and £250 to the British heart Foundation from the Wendel Singer’s Concert.
General Running costs were much in line with previous years and within my 2016 budget.
They totalled £10,191, which is what it costs to run our church each year.
We bought a new mower for the churchyard team at a cost of £3,995.
We also made donations of £4,000 to Outward Giving for the year 2015. We will be discussing our policy on Outward Giving for 2016 at the February 2107 PCC Meeting. We have already given £1,050 through our fundraising events.
Repairs to the church building.
An ancient building like All Saints is continuously in need of repair. Every 5 years each church has to undergo a mandatory inspection by an architect to check what essential repairs need to be carried out.
This inspection is called the Quinquennial Review. At our last review it was discovered that extensive work was needed to replace crumbling mortar to the outside of the building. In 2016 the architect carried out a further inspection and identified in detail what needed to be done. This work will commence in the very near future and will require extensive scaffolding. It will cost in the region of £30,000 so will dig deep into the funds that we have set aside for this project. We have future plans to reorder the interior of the church, which will require extensive fundraising.
The funds in the CBF Deposit Account, which I mentioned at the start of my report are restricted and in the main can only be used for the road-side wall repairs, which are always on-going.
My underlying concern is that even if we discount the larger items of expenditure from last year, we are not going to break even in the coming year. We shall all have to look seriously at what we can afford to give to our church.
Norman Whyte
The Weekly Newsletter - also known as The Pewsheet
Question - Why do notices frequently arrive after the deadline?
Answer - (please insert suggestions here)
Joking apart it is a privilege to produce the weekly newsletter. Thanks to Pauline Robson and Anne and John Oliver for being part of the team. Some weeks the news is so thin that I have printed just 2 sides of A5, and on other weeks the font and images have been reduced in size so that everything can be squeezed in. It certainly makes life interesting.
Please keep sending news items; even if it is after the deadline - as long as the printing has not already been done, I will try my best to include everything. If there is anyone with a computer and some spare time, please consider joining the Weekly Newsletter team.
Thank you,
Leslye Thomas
Heritage Weekend
9th-10th September
All Saints’ Church was open for visitors for two days. Thirty one people attended and joined the continuous organised tours of our ancient church.
The Anglo-Saxon Stones, Norman developments and medieval features attracted particular attention. Pauline Robson spoke about the Gascoigne tomb and John Crouch and his team of bell ringers demonstrated the art of bell ringing’
We are very grateful for all the help given by parishioners who organised the refreshments.
Nesta and Martin Tarpey
Report on All Saints Monday Ladies Fellowship for the
Annual Parish Meeting 2017
At present we have 56 names on our books with approximately 27 being very regular attenders. We have been fortunate to have been able to invite a variety of interesting speakers over the year. Our thanks must go to Sue Cole for ‘hunting them down’ and persuading them to talk to us. Many of our speakers are from charities so this means that up to 31st December 2016 we donated £260 to various charities:
Yorkshire Air Ambulance,
The Salvation Army, RNLI,
All Saints’,
Martin House and Mission Aviation Fellowship.
On top of this our annual Coffee Morning raised £241.40 for the Alzheimers Society. This brings our total charitable donations to £501.40 a not too insignificant addition to the Parish outward giving.
We had a very successful day out in June to Helmsley and Ampleforth Abbey. The weather was exceptionally kind to us and we had no entrance fees to pay which meant it did not cost very much! Unfortunately the coach company we have used for many years has closed due the retirement of the owner so our travelling costs will increase significantly this year.
Although attendances were very good in the early part of 2016 we had fewer members attending from September up to Christmas which meant we spent £123 more over the year than we had collected at meetings. Over the last few months members have been complaining about the lack of heat in church during meetings even though the heating has been on for an hour before the meetings start. As many of our members are quite elderly this is an issue if winter attendance is to be maintained.
On behalf of Pat Whyte and myself I would like to thank the other members of our committee, Sue Cole, Pat Pattison and Peggy Moore, for all the help and support they give to us.
Pat Rogers
Magazine Report for Parish AGM 2016 - 2017
The magazine has been carrying on as usual since it became Barwick News. May Davisworth informs me that we receive 600 copies from the printer, 520 for Barwick and 80 for Scholes. In Barwick approx. 480 are sold, in Scholes approx. 70 are sold.
We have just upgraded our ‘desk top publishing’ programme from Page Plus 8 to Page Plus 9 as technology moves on. I am always trying to catch up with it!
There still seems to be a gap in the advertising. We have lost some custom to other local magazines, I counted 12 spare spaces in the March magazine which would appear to be 2 more than last November. Advertising is not something I have ever dealt with. At present, Keith Langley deals with people who wish to advertise and Colin Bond does the layout for the printers when needed, so I believe. Thanks must go to both of them for the work they do.
The treasurer will have details of the finances.
Thanks to May Davisworth, we are fortunate to have some wonderful help with delivering the magazine. Thank you to all of them. May also must be thanked for her organisation of the distribution. Thanks also to Sylvia Snowdon for organising distribution in Scholes. We are so pleased that some people in Scholes want to keep contact with us.
I would like to receive more copy from local people about themselves, local concerns/village life or just about something they feel our readers would find interesting. It does not have to be ‘religious’ in any way. We try to produce the magazine for everyone in the village, not just for people with a Christian faith but hopefully the magazine does announce to readers that All Saints is still very much alive and kicking. I am very grateful for the copy I already receive from people in the village and elsewhere.
Pat Rogers
Gift Aid in 2016
The formation of the new parish necessitated activity on two counts:
.> first, to register the PCC with HMRC as a charity
> second, to ask givers to complete new declarations of eligibility for Gift Aid that will allow basic rate tax to be reclaimed on donations.
Currently, the envelope scheme has 35 parishioners making use of it. In addition, there are 42 parishioners who donate by standing order and another 6 people who donate as Friends of All Saints. Overall, the proportion of this giving that qualifies for reclaiming tax is around 89%.
The first claim for gift aid repayment has been compiled and is in the process of being submitted to HMRC. This is now done over the Internet and involves Gateway accounts, user ID’s, passwords and activation codes. It can also take weeks. Somehow, the idea of using one form, one envelope and one stamp to do the job seems very attractive and a much more efficient way of doing things!
Please Gift Aid your donations.. For every £100 which is given by Gift Aid, we can reclaim another £25, provided you are a tax payer.
Martin Rogers
Pastoral Visiting
This seems to be working well at present. Several of our church family are happy to visit the housebound or sick, Just a phone call to me , Christine Nottingham, on 0113.2812449 and I shall arrange a mutually convenient visit.
Do not hesitate to call.
Christine Nottingham
Prayer Chain
The prayer chain has been in operation now for a number of years.
We are a group of people who use our prayer time to pray for the sick, not necessarily in the village.
This information is given in strict confidence.
Lynne Whittaker
Family Fun at All Saints’
Family Fun at All Saint's continues to flourish, 15 adults and 17 children regularly attend every Friday during school term times and lots of fun activities are enjoyed. Clare is ably assisted by Joanne Moore who has devised a useful ring binder full of ideas of crafts which means that each session has been planned in advance.
Thanks must be given to the team of ladies who provide refreshments every Friday. They are -
Terri
Christine
Pam
Leslye
Anne
Rosemary
An average of £7 donations is collected each week which has resulted in over £300 a year raised for church funds.
Clare Meadley
All Saint's Church Website
The website for All Saints' Church, Barwick in Elmet has been live since summer 2016. It has information on upcoming events at the church and in the community as well as shows highlights from all aspects of what we do in the parish. The address for the website is www.barwickcofechurch.co.uk
If you would like to add anything to the website; please email Steve Rostron on steverostron82@gmail.com .