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Parish Profile

Team Ministry of

St Thomas the Martyr, Up Holland Christ the Servant, Digmoor

with special responsibility for St Michael and All Angels, Dalton

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The Parishes of Up Holland & Dalton

Team Ministry of St Thomas the Martyr, Up Holland

Christ the Servant, Digmoor with special responsibility for

St Michael and All Angels, Dalton

Deanery of Ormskirk, Archdeaconry of Wigan & West Lancashire

Diocese of Liverpool

Patrons

Bishop of Liverpool Archdeacon of Wigan and West Lancashire

Rector of Wigan Churchwardens

Deputy Churchwardens

www.stthomasthemartyr.org.uk

www.christtheservantchurch.org.uk

www.stmichaelsdalton.org

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About the Parish of Up Holland

The parish covers a population of 17,041 based on the 2011 census. The historic village of Up Holland has well-established housing estates built in the 1960s, some of which are now privately owned. There are old stone built cottages and farms and modern privately owned dwellings. The area is served by the parish church of St Thomas the Martyr.

Digmoor and Tanhouse, part of the former Skelmersdale New Town, has a high proportion of social housing and modern privately owned dwellings and is served by Christ the Servant Church.

Close proximity to junctions of both the M6 and M58 motorways make it a convenient area for those who need to commute to Manchester or Liverpool. Local employment is found in Wigan and Skelmersdale.

We have been a team ministry since 1970 when the Parish of Up Holland was enlarged to include parts of Skelmersdale new Town. The two churches are each managed by their own District Church Council under the authority of the Parochial Church Council. Each has a direct responsibility for its own mission, ministry and finances while still working closely with the other to develop a parish-wide mission.

We currently have two stipendiary clergy. Rev Dawn Harrison was appointed in 2014 as Team Vicar and Schools Minister and is now acting Priest In Charge and Rev Paul Lock was licensed as interim Curate for a nine month period in June 2016. Cath Bell has been a Reader at Christ the Servant Church since 2009 and Nick Daunt has been a Reader since 1987 (since 1998 in this parish). David Barker and Paul Givens are currently Readers in training and Christopher Dunbar is awaiting a Bishops’ Assessment Panel.

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The churches are liberal catholic in tradition, the Eucharist being central to worship. Common Worship is used in most services and vestments are worn. The electoral roll is 202 consisting of 159 at St Thomas the Martyr and 43 at Christ the Servant.

St Thomas the Martyr Church

Currently we have four regular Eucharistic Services each week and also special services throughout the year. These include the Tree and Toy, Candlelight Carol Service, Christingle, Christmas Midnight Eucharist, Ash Wednesday, Holy Week services (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday Eucharist with address and meditation; Maundy Thursday Eucharist followed by vigil, Good Friday Matins, an Ecumenical service at the War Memorial and afternoon liturgy, Easter Eve ceremony), All Souls, Ascension service and Wholeness and Healing services. Our congregation has 59% people over 70 years of age and we hope to ‘grow’ our intake of younger people in the future with our implementation of ‘Our Church, Our Future’ (OCOF). OCOF, an initiative led by the Shared Ministry Team, grew from an Away Day and intensive discussions in 2013. Following the decision to merge two Sunday Services, it was recognised that the congregation wanted more time to get to know each other and as a result we introduced refreshments every week after the main Sunday Service. However other plans have had to be put ‘on hold’. Sadly, the previous incumbent suffered debilitating ill-health during 2014 and 2015. She was absent for 15 months from February 2015 and took early retirement in May 2016 on health grounds. In 2001 Rev Peter Bradley, our Rector, became Archdeacon of Warrington and continued to work as priest within the Up Holland Team, with the Rev Janet Heighton, Team Vicar and Schools Minister, and Rev Judith Ball, Associate Vicar. In 2011 Archdeacon Peter left to take the full-time role of Archdeacon. In 2012 Rev Judith retired. We have always been fortunate to have dedicated clergy who were part of our community, deeply pastoral and inspiring leaders.

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In term time there is a Young Explorers group for the children over 3 years of age. In the past we have been recognised with Child Friendly Church accreditation, however this lapsed during the long-term absence of our incumbent. Our work with children and young people is currently under review thanks to the support of our Interim Curate. We also have strong links with both St Thomas the Martyr and Roby Mill Primary Schools. Members of our congregation are on the governing body of both schools and are involved with many aspects of school life. We try to make the church accessible to all. We have disabled access and a hearing aid loop system. During the week the church is open when members of the congregation are present. At the moment this happens regularly on Monday afternoon when the Gardening group meets and we are planning a rota to have the church more accessible on other days of the week. We feel there is a need for the opportunity for people to appreciate the stillness and sanctuary of the church. We are also aware of the antiquity of our church and that some visitors may want to explore the building for its history.

The church building is used for funerals and weddings and the clergy celebrate monthly baptism services. It also hosts concerts and Christmas and Summer Fairs. The Summer or Medieval Fayre echoes our Benedictine roots and takes place in the church building and grounds. The Christmas Fair reflects our Victorian history. Both are community events and are very popular. We also hope to develop our outreach by having monthly Sunday afternoon concerts and have approached various people who could perform.

As some of our older congregation are now unable to attend church through ill-health, three members of a well-established Eucharistic Ministry Team visit the housebound. They serve four residential care homes and private homes as required, on a monthly basis. The Eucharist Service is always adapted to the needs of the individual. With clergy support in the future, we would hope to develop this ministry further.

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St Thomas the Martyr has had a Shared Ministry Team since 1994 which was commissioned in 1995. The team is made up from members of the congregation, approved by the District Church Council and clergy. The SMT is reformed and recommissioned every five years and a new team of nine people has commenced training. Currently there is a break in training as they await the appointment of the new Priest in Charge who will train with them. Together they will produce the new Agreed Statement. The Church of St Thomas the Martyr is a scheduled Ancient Monument and Grade 1 Listed building. It is set in a conservation area. Its history goes back to Medieval times (1307). There are neighbouring villages and there is a rural community as well as the New Town of Skelmersdale built in the 1960s. The recent Quinquennial Report identified problems with the roof and we are currently having repair work done. Funds for this have been raised by some loyal members of the congregation who held a popular social evening and raffle. The congregation are generous with their time as well as financially, but there is now a high proportion of elderly members. We have mourned the loss of several dear friends in the past two years, people who had enriched our church and who had been significant benefactors. In recent years we have been able to build a small annex to the church, providing social space, kitchen and toilet facilities. This is thanks to the legacy of Ellen Moss after whom the room is named. Our Parish Room is attached to St Thomas the Martyr School in the centre of Up Holland, approximately ¼ mile from the church. This facility is currently used by the school for provision for the First Steps Children’s Centre. Two evenings a week the youth organisations meet and the rooms are also available for hire outside school hours.

We have extensive church grounds. There are graves of historic significance dating back to the 1600s. There are also eight War Graves and the last highwayman to be hanged in this country is buried in the church grounds. There is a car park near the burial ground at the east of the church and local residents on School Lane can rent parking spaces to ensure overnight parking.

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Christ the Servant Church

The church was opened in 1970 to serve the Digmoor area of Skelmersdale New Town which fell within the Up Holland parish. At this time it was fashionable to have buildings finished with a flat roof. Over the years this has caused many problems with water ingress, in fact between 9th November and 20th December 2015 the church building had to be closed

and the infant hall of Bishop Martin school was used for the duration. After advice from the Diocese and insurance company we were allowed back into the building in time for the Christmas festivities. The roof has got to a stage where a full replacement is desirable, however funds for such a large amount are not available at present. In the last ten months we have raised over £4500.00 for the emergency repairs to the roof and this has been solely from our loyal and devoted congregation through fundraising and donations. We have two Eucharistic services each week and a number of special services throughout the year which include Carols Crib & Christmas Cake, Christingle, Carols by Candlelight, Midnight Christmas Mass, Epiphany, Ash Wednesday, Holy Week, Stations of the Cross, Maundy Thursday Agape, All Souls, Good Friday liturgy, services of wholeness and healing, Songs of Praise and other celebration services. We have a small congregation which has a wide age range from twenty upwards, we do not have many younger children attending regularly attending. We are looking at this now and we have members of our congregation who are interested in exploring a Sunday School and a Youth Praise service to engage with the younger members of the community. During term time we have a Church Lads’ and Church Girls’ Brigade which. We have had a company of over 20 which is currently growing. We meet every Tuesday evening during term time for all ages 4+. This incorporates different activities including Band Practice. We have a parade service once a month in which the Brigade take an active part.

Brews with the Brigade is held four times a year in which they invite the congregation and members of the community for food and drinks that the members of the Brigade cook and prepare.

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A number of the older members of the Brigade recently had the honour of marching in the Whitehall Remembrance Sunday Parade in London in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen.

They enjoy days out with the children and have recently been to South Lakes Wildlife Park in Cumbria. For more information on the Brigade please visit www.clcgb.org We have always had strong links with Bishop Martin Primary School which is next door to the church and members of our congregation have been Foundation Governors for many years. The school children often come over to Church for end of term services and other special services throughout the year and also Year 6 children have been over to attend the Wednesday said Eucharist on occasion.

We have an annual programme of mission giving, identifying one local one national and one international charity, which we support financially and through prayer during the course of the year. In addition we support the Children’s Society, Christian Aid and other one off appeals Our church is fully accessible for the disabled and we have a hearing aid loop system installed. The church is open most Wednesdays with a coffee morning and Tea Pot Café in the afternoon and the worship area is accessible during this time for quite reflection. The design of the church worship area accommodates a great concert space in which we have had a number over the years from local Duets to the Liverpool Gospel Choir. We have an annual Conker Competition and we also use the building for Summer Fairs & Christmas Fairs. Recently started is Soul Kitchen which is a ladies’ lunch where they have guest speakers who give talks on different topics.

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About the Parish of Dalton

The parish is very much a mixture of the old and the new. When Lady Skelmersdale laid the foundation stone for the present church in 1875 the parish consisted of the village of Dalton which covered a wide rural area with a small population. With its elevated position above the mosses and lowland plain of South West Lancashire Dalton attracted settlement from the earliest times. The church of St Michael & All Angels served this small village community for just over a century but in 1982 the parish was extended to take in the northern part of Skelmersdale New

Town. This increased the population from a few hundred to about 7,000 and the old Dalton vicarage was replaced by a new building in this part of the parish. Subsequently other parts of Skelmersdale were added and today the Church on the Hill, as it has become known, serves a very mixed population of about 11,000 drawn from Ashurst, Whalleys, Elmers Green, Fosters Green, Birch Green and Tanhouse as well as Dalton. Virtually all the houses in Dalton are owner occupied as are many in Ashurst and Elmers Green. Most of the remaining properties in the Skelmersdale part of the parish are social housing. The population will soon grow further when a planned 600 houses are built in the Whalleys area St Michael & All Angels Dalton

Over the last few years the congregation has been increasing, giving us a current average attendance of 70 people. Our Sunday School has recently been overhauled and has started to use the “Roots” literature. It has been renamed W.I.N.G.S. which means Worshipping, Inspiring, Nurturing with God on Sundays.

It has a current attendance of between 4 and 12 children.

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We have a very good relationship with Dalton St Michael’s CE Primary school, who are involved in our all Age Worship Sunday Services as well as holding their monthly service in Church on the last Friday on each month. It is always nice to welcome young people, and their parents, into the Church. Following the Annual Meeting of Parishioners in March, four sub-committees were created:

Worship, Mission and Prayer,

Buildings Fabric and Finance,

Social and Fundraising, Communications, Marketing and Website.

This meant that more people were involved in the running of the church, reducing some of the workload for the main officers. The W.M.P. committee have recently organised a three week Mission event which culminated in the Harvest Festival Service. Over 4,000 leaflets and invitations were delivered to every house within the Parish. Since the retirement of the previous incumbent in March 2015, the programme of services has changed with a different service booklet each Sunday, which members of the congregation can take away with them to form the basis for their prayers between services. At the 2016 Service of Remembrance held in Church, we had, for the first time, a serving member of the RAF to lay the wreath on the War Memorial. The B.F.F. Committee is currently working on a development plan, looking at possible ways to reconfigure the current layout of the Church to bring it in line with modern buildings, some of which are long term projects. The plan includes TV Screens in the nave, new toilet facilities to include a disabled toilet, creation of a kitchen area and replacing the existing pews with chairs, which would be more comfortable to sit on and also would make the nave area more flexible to enable the church to be used by local businesses for seminars or training days. This would mean that the church could be used seven days a week, not one or two as at present.

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We have several regular fund-raising and social events organised by the S.F. committee. These include a Variety Night in April/May, a concert by Skelmersdale Prize Brass band in April/May, a Ceilidh Barn Dance, two concerts by the Occasional Singers and the Christmas Fayre, which in 2016 is to include a Christmas Tree Festival in Church. However, the main fundraiser

for St Michael’s, Dalton is Dalton Gardens, when parishioners open their gardens to the public for the day, usually on the second Sunday in June. The Church and Dalton School are also open on this day for refreshments including a barbecue. We have already welcomed members from St Thomas the Martyr and Christ the Servant to these events and hope to continue to do so in the future. The C.M.W Committee has ensured that the Church is now registered with the Data Protection Authorities with one of the Churchwardens taking the lead on this. They have updated the existing database held by the Church and created a new one for holding details of members on the Electoral Role. All are held on a new laptop computer purchased for this purpose which is kept in the Church safe or at the home of the Churchwardens. A new website was created and is updated regularly. We continue to host the lion’s share of the weddings and baptisms within Skelmersdale, with 22 couples married at St Michael’s in 2016, and around 60 people baptised. We already have over 25 weddings booked in 2017. The Church, in conjunction with the Diocese, is looking to create Church plants in both Ashurst and Birch Green. This is seen as a way of bringing the Church to the people, who don’t feel comfortable making the journey to the Church on the Hill.

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Patterns of worship

St Michael & All Angels

Christ the Servant St Thomas The Martyr

SUNDAY

8.00am Said Eucharist with a sermon. Avg attendance

20 adults. 9.30am 1st & 4th Sung

Eucharist 2nd Family Parade

service with communion.

3rd Sung Eucharist with Wholeness and

Healing 5th Experimenting with

different liturgies Avg attendance

30 Adults 2 under 16s

Sung Eucharist with robed choir and Guild

of Servers. Explorers of over 3s

meet during term time.

Avg attendance 72 adults

6 under 16s

11.00am Sung Eucharist with robed choir & Eucharistic Ministers.

Average attendance 70 adults

7 under 16s + weekly during term time young people’s group

before joining the congregation

+ monthly all age worship with Church

school. Avg attendance

120 adults 30 under 16s

11.30am Said Eucharist (1st Sunday only)

Avg attendance 15

TUESDAY

7.15pm Said Eucharist (2nd Tues Wholeness

and Healing) Avg attendance 9

WEDNESDAY

10.00am Said Eucharist 4th Wednesday Wholeness and

Healing Avg Attendance 10

7.15 pm Said Eucharist

THURSDAY 10.00am Said Eucharist

Avg attendance 22

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Regular groups meeting across the three churches

Pastoral

Care Team

Prayer

Groups

Eucharistic

Ministers

Worship

& Mission

Lent

Group

Advent

Group

Creative

Spirituality

Young Peoples' Worship,

Explorers,

W.I.N.G.S

Shared

Ministry

Choirs

Charity

Support

Bellringers

Womens

Groups

Social &

Fundraising

Walking

Groups

Men’s

Ministry

Early Birds'

Breakfast

Youth Disco

Admin Group

Beetle Drive

Bingo

Communications

& Website

Gardening

& Maintenance

Buildings, Fabric & Finance

Church Cleaners

Flower Arranger

s

Coffee

Mornings

Teapot

Cafe

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Cross Parish Events We have held a number of joint Sunday morning services where all three churches come together to worship as one and we have recently had Bishop Richard preside over one of our joint services. We have a number of joint parish wide events throughout the year. As we do more together, these will become more numerous. Below are a couple of events that have already taken place.

Annual Pantomime

The annual parish pantomime, now in its tenth year, is one of the biggest undertakings that we do throughout the year which is community driven. It involves approximately 80 people from all three churches and the surrounding community in the production, from 8 upwards and there is no age limit! There is a great feeling of community when putting the production together, no one is turned away regardless of acting ability which then gives everyone involved confidence

in themselves. It is held in Christ the Servant church and auditions and rehearsals start in October and the performance is over three nights in the February half term when around 450 people come to see the show.

Singing In One Spirit (SOS)

Singing in One Spirit arose from the Up Holland ecumenical Alpha Course. We continue to meet monthly for a Café style worship. This was embraced by all the churches across Skelmersdale on November 13th when Singing in One Spirit was held at the Ecumenical Centre with a congregation of over eighty people.

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Autumn Events We all took part in the Annual Conker Completion held at Christ the Servant in October on a pleasant Autumn afternoon, enjoyed the Annual Craft Exhibition at St Michael’s and stood round a huge bonfire at St Michael’s on a chilly evening on November 5th. We have recently started a men’s ministry group

to explore and nurture men’s faith and our first event is a Men’s Ecumenical Breakfast in January 2017, to which we have invited all the churches in the area and we have Bishop Paul Bayes as the speaker on that morning. We also come together throughout the year to attend special events at the Cathedral and in the future we intend to organize joint away days to plan for our wider mission.

Wider Church Community We are part of the Skelmersdale Anglican Group, which also involves the churches of St Paul’s, The Ecumenical Centre and Oaks. This group is very important in developing mission and ministry to the town centre and wider community in Up Holland, Dalton and Skelmersdale as some areas of the parishes have multiple deprivation and are amongst some of the highest in the UK. This group organised a series of talks in Lent 2016 focusing on the Church and Community in Skelmersdale, Dalton and Up Holland. This was planned by The Skelmersdale Anglican Group. The aim was to develop relationships and increase awareness of the larger community of churches and their needs. For more information on the Skelmersdale Anglican group see www.tawd.org.uk

The church plant, Oaks, is situated within the boundary of Christ the Servant, Digmoor and was formed through the encouragement of Bishop James back in 2004 as a fresh expression of church within Tanhouse. The minister Rev Duncan Petty (Ormskirk Area Dean), works closely with Christ the Servant, and Oaks is an active member of the thriving clergy group within Skelmersdale. Oaks functions from a base

in a community house purchased by them in 2005 and has a ministry geared to small groups seeking to engage with the poorest in our community and to walk with them to fulfil the words of Isaiah 61:1-3.

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There is an Ecumenical Covenant with the Roman Catholic and Methodist Churches in Up Holland, they meet four times a year and a representative of our local clergy attend this. Services are shared for Remembrance Sunday, One World Week, Christian Unity Week, Women’s World Day of Prayer and Good Friday.

Parish Schools’ Ministry

In 2007 the Up Holland Parish became the first Parish in the Diocese of Liverpool to appoint a Schools Minister to be responsible for the development of our mission and ministry. All four schools have achieved the Diocesan Church School Partnership Award,

The parish clergy lead Collective Worship weekly in all the schools on a rota basis, and School services at the end of each term, either in school or in church. Clergy and lay members of the congregations are also involved as Foundation Governors and take part in all aspects of school life, including RE lessons, confirmation preparation and tours of the church. The clergy and head teachers meet on a termly basis to share news and discuss matters relating to our parish schools’ ministry. The R.E co-ordinators from all three school also meet on a termly basis.

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Our Schools St Thomas the Martyr Aided C E Primary School http://www.st-thomasmartyr.lancs.sch.uk/ At St Thomas the Martyr we strive to provide a caring Christian community where everyone can enjoy growing and achieving together. We seek to provide a school experience which is full of creativity, challenge, wonder and fun where achievement of all kinds is recognised and celebrated. Through a stimulating, challenging curriculum and working in partnership with parents, governors, the church and wider community we work hard to ensure our children reach their full potential. Christian values and spirituality are at the heart of all aspects of school life. Through them children learn to work well together and develop skills and attitudes to become confident, responsible individuals with a love of learning able to make a positive contribution to the world. Bishop Martin Aided C E Primary School www.bishopmartin.lancs.sch.uk

At Bishop Martin we pride ourselves on providing a secure, welcoming and caring environment. We aim to foster a ‘family’ atmosphere, in which each individual is valued and respected. Our school benefits from having a team of highly dedicated and professional staff who promote high standards, both academically and socially. We aim to provide every child with the opportunity to develop their full potential. We offer a full curriculum, with a variety of teaching styles, a good level of classroom support, and a wide range of extra-curriculum activities.

As a Church of England School we are distinguished by the support of our staff for the Christian foundation and the active involvement of the governors and clergy. We promote Christian values and relationships between staff, children, parents, governors and the church community. We believe in providing a happy and stimulating learning environment where everyone works together with mutual respect and in which children are well-mannered and grow together into capable young people.

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Roby Mill Aided C E School http://www.roby-mill.lancsngfl.ac.uk/

We are a small village school with a big heart. A caring environment, combined with education structured to include spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, is essential to the Christian ethos of the school.

The new head teacher, appointed in September 2015, staff and governors – including foundation and parent governors – are committed to pupil achievement, and the development of Christian values with worship and Religious Education lessons planned and taught to reflect these views. Dalton St Michael’s Aided C E Primary School http://dalton-stmichaels.co.uk/ Dalton St Michael’s Aided C E Aided Primary School is a small semi-rural school with church school distinctiveness. It is very much a nurturing community where positive relationships flourish; consequently all members of our school community feel valued, secure and have the courage to learn from any mistakes we may make throughout our learning journey. As a community we try to demonstrate Christian Values throughout our everyday lives. Each term we look at a different Christian Value in detail; finding examples in the Bible and instances to demonstrate that Christian Value using an action exhibited during a school week. We worked together to determine which Christian Values were most important to our school community.

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We would like our new Priest in Charge to be an experienced, open-minded, dependable, kind, loyal priest who will….

….inspire and motivate people to carry out God’s work.

….nurture aspects of the spiritual and social life of the church community.

….enable an innovative and creative approach to ministry yet understand the

variety of needs of all ages within the Church community.

….be a compassionate pastor, sensitive to the needs of others and able to stand by

them in times of both sorrow and joy.

….connect more fully with our primary schools and secondary schools, recognising the amazing mission opportunity that collaboration could offer.

….have a flexible approach to worship yet understand and appreciate the theological and liturgical traditions of the parishes.

….communicate skilfully and sensitively across all age groups.

….encourage, equip and realise the gifts of all members of the congregations for

ministry in the church and beyond.

….develop networks of relationships in the wider community, being open to future

collaborations.

….long for and pray for a loving and hospitable church.

….pray for us and with us.

….be warm and approachable with a good sense of humour.