2019 Annual Report and Financial Statement

of the Parochial Church Council of St James the Great, Dursley & St Mark’s, Woodmancote

Our vision: As members of the Ewelme Benefice, we will work together to share in the Diocese

of Gloucester’s LIFE Vision

Rector

The Revd Canon Michael Cozens

Bank Independent Examiner

Lloyds Bank Plc Baldwins Eagle House Prospect House 5, Long Street 5 May Lane Dursley GL11 4HN Dursley GL11 4JH

Registered Charity Number: 1130972

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The Parish of Dursley

Minutes of the Meeting of the Parishioners for the election of Churchwardens

St James the Great

Sunday 28th April 2019

Present Canon Michael, Caroline Marrow, Elizabeth Byrne, Jane Bilous, Gillian Mather, David Vonberg, Jan Vonberg, Kathie Rebbeck, Joy Pepper, Rev. Ian Gardner, Tony King, Ann King, Geoff Whiley, Nigel Davies, Anne Shipton, Barbie Davies, John Taylor, Lynn James, Ian Unsworth, Corinne Unsworth, Maureen Wood, David Wood, Peter Kirvan, John Crellin, Anne Easey, Jacqueline Strange, Glenna Neale, Marlene Powell, Rachel Brown, Joyce Lombard, Austin Meares, Valerie Meares, Sally Hayward, John Ewer, Glennis Ewer, Jacquelin Hill, Leonie Northcote, Chris Raffle, Edwina Walton, Sally Pearson, Joyce Theaker, Pam Crellin, David Smith, Elizabeth Oakley, Dawn Elsdon, Sheila Gardner, Sally Arnold.

Apologies Sarah Hodge, Philip and Judith Staddon, Jo Downing, Anthea and David Fittall, Tim Arnold.

The meeting was opened, using the life vision prayer, by Canon Michael.

19/1. Appointment of clerk to the meeting

Caroline Marrow, Secretary for the PCC, was proposed by Canon Michael seconded by Austin Meares. All in favour.

19/2 Minutes of last meeting 30th April 2017

No amendments were needed to be made to the minutes of the 2017 parishioners meeting. The minutes were proposed by David Smith and seconded by Liz Byrne. All in favour.

19/3 Election of church wardens

Canon Michael said thank you to Sheila who has completed an extra year and on behalf of everyone presented Sheila with a voucher.

Austin Meares proposed by Joy Pepper and Antea Fittal. All in agreement

Caroline Marrow proposed by Liz Byrne and seconded by Ann Orchard. All in agreement.

19/4 Election of Deputy Churchwarden

Sally Pearson had offered to job share the churchwarden post with Caroline but legally this is not possible with the Church of England. Sally will be assisting Caroline and they will share the responsibilities between them. It is proposed to create a Deputy Churchwarden post to accommodate this.

Sally Pearson proposed by Edwina Walton seconded by Joy Pepper and all in agreement.

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The Parish of Dursley

Annual Parochial Church Meeting 2019

St James the Great

Sunday 28th April 2019

19/1 Minutes of previous meeting There were no corrections or alterations to be made to the minutes of 22nd April 2018 APCM. These were proposed by Anne Shipton and seconded by Sally Arnold, all agreed and they were signed by Canon Michael.

19/2 Matters arising No matters arising

19/3 Electoral role officers report This year has been a complete revision of the electoral Role. At the end of last year there were185 on the role. This year there are 152. Six of the previous people are now deceased and on the positive side there are 20 new names. The role is now open and so those who didn’t return their forms by the deadline can now be added.

Proposed Kathie Rebbeck seconded by Sheila Gardner. All in agreement

19/4 Secretary's Report Nothing to add to the published report. Caroline will not be continuing as Secretary for the PCC now she is Churchwarden.

19/5 Treasurer's report The Report is in the printed in full in the annual report. Peter gave a verbal presentation to assist with everyone's understanding of the financial situation. This year we have not had to call on our reserves but only because of the success of the to the Christmas bazaar and the Christmas lunches.

Thank you to Sarah Hodge, Sheila Gardner, Clive Orchard, Philip and Judith Staddon who have all helped during the year.

The accounts have been examined by Baldwins and thank you to Ian Lansdown who has approved and signed them.

Peter explained the restricted monies which are in a healthy state. The Tower work has been completed and was fully funded. This was mainly due to the generosity of various Trusts which are shown in the accounts, but especially the support from the Torchacre Trust.

In the unrestricted monies the state is less healthy. The designated fund is for the Parish Centre but is within the unrestricted so that the PCC can see the costs of the Parish Centre. This year income is down by 10% and expenses up by 1.2% - these funds are used for the running of the church.

The main concerns are the regular giving. It needs to be in line with our parish Share which this coming year will be over £70,000, income is approximately £53,000, please consider your planned giving to see if we can close the gap. We have committed to pay the increased Parish Share so this forthcoming year.

There is £330 difference in the balance returned to the diocese and the balance sheet. This is the amount that we pay for the audit fees, which the Bishops council do not ask us to include, which is why the two amounts differ.

Ann King asked about the funds raised from the Lent Lunches. Lent lunch money is included in the charitable giving on the restricted funds, apologies that it was not listed separately it was in the region of £1000.

Nigel Davies said that we had been assured that the Parish share was going to go down with the formation of the Benefice but this did not appear the case. Peter explained that other

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parishes have had increases of 12% and the cost to us had flattened but that the PCC had approved offering to pay an inflationary rise to assist the financial situation at the Diocese.

Canon Michael thanked Peter for maintaining our finances and for steering us through the report. This coming year will be Peter's last year as the Parish Treasurer.

19/6 Appointment of independent examiner Baldwins were proposed by Austin Meares and seconded by Chris Raffle. All in agreement.

19/7 Fabric report The fabric report is written in the annual report. Austin Meares reported that he had received an estimate to replace all the high level lighting to LED lighting and cost will in the region of £5000.

The toilet at the back has had to have the floor removed due to dry rot. It has been removed and concreted over and it should be left for a period of 2 months to totally dry and then the flooring will be laid, this will be done towards the end of May.

Thank you to Austin for chairing the fabric group and all those involved on the maintenance of the two buildings

19/8 Report on proceedings of the Deanery synod The printed report is in the annual report. David Smith had nothing to add and there were no questions.

19/9 Safeguarding There is a printed report in the annual report. There will be a new safeguarding handbook from central church that is being rolled out though out the diocese. Our policies will need reviewing in line with the new guidance. Thank you to Rachel Brown for taking on this role.

PCC members need to undertake the Diocesan safeguarding training. Rachel will confirm with PCC members the frequency required to undertake the training.

19/10 Election of new Deanery Synod and PCC members Gillian Mather proposed by David Smith and seconded by Elizabeth Oakley.

Ian Unsworth proposed by Joy Pepper and seconded by Jane Bilous.

Jan Vonberg nominated by Kathie Rebeck seconded Sheila Gardner.

Corinne Unsworth proposed by Rachel Brown and seconded Chris Raffle. All were agreement to these nominations

19/11 Election of Sidesmen and women The report is in annual report. Those for election are listed below:

Jan Vonberg, Maureen Wood, David Smith, Elizabeth Oakley, Sally Hayward, Valerie Meares, John Crellin, John Ewer, Gill Mather, Ian Unsworth, Ann Colebrook, Roger Ransome, Ann Ransome, Keith Midgeley.

All were proposed by Sheila Gardner and seconded by Sally Pearson. All in agreement.

19/12 Rectors report The report is as written on page 3 on the annual report.

Canon Michael wanted to underline thanks to all those who have supported the ministry team particularly Jane in her new role. Thanks to all who staff the office during the week especially Clive and team who help to administer the benefice and all the Parish Centre comings and goings, it is a great community resource.

St Marks is ticking over from service to service. Canon Michael has spoken to the new Archdeacon and now Easter is over we will arrange on open meeting where the future can be discussed and then probably look at moving towards a closure.

The Patronal festival is celebrated next week with evensong at St Marks.

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The Uley and Dursley PCC's have had a very successful joint meeting and thank you to Sally Pearson for facilitating the morning. There are some actions to be picked up and the first one is to look at the pattern of PCC meetings with looking at some joint meetings.

The pattern of services is also being looked at to ensure that it remains achievable with the available staffing.

Uley are keen to run a survey asking the community what they agree wanting from the church. The PCC's have greed that this could be done across the Benefice. We are also looking at a Digital Champion to help run the Twitter and Facebook accounts, and there was a suggestion to look at having Wifi in both churches which will also help with moving towards contactless payments.

During the Dursley Walking Festival in October there will be a benefice walk from Dursley to Nympsfield covering all 5 churches in the Benefice.

19/13 Churchwardens report Nothing to add to the published report

19/14 St Mark's Report Nothing to add to the published report. There were no questions.

19/15 Reports from other organisations All the reports have been circulated in the published annual report. The report represents a lot of volunteer time in the running of our church in the widest sense.

Liz Byrne reported that there is half a sentence missing at the end of the worship team paragraph 'we are looking forward to the Easter vigil at St Giles' should be added.

Thank you to all those who work with the children and young people of the Parish in many ways. Messy Church, open the book and Wings and Caterpillars.

There isn’t a report from the academy but there is a strong working relationship and they value our help. Bishop Robert came to the Easter service and walked back to school with them blessing the new buildings and also the children. Ofsted continues to give them a Good rating.

Also thank you to the editorial team for the magazine and the move to the colour copies which look so much better for the increased cost.

Ministry and nurture report Tony King corrected that Canon Michael had organised the training and that he had offered technical support.

19/16 Matters of Parochial interest Leonie Northcote announced that on Saturday 15th June there would be an Interfaith event at a church in Stroud. 6pm Taize worship followed by the film The Saint and the Sultan and discussion afterwards over food. Leonie will give flyers when she gets them.

Dursley and Cam Child contact centre are looking for volunteers 2 - 21/2 hours per month. You sit in a room to monitor/witness a play time between the parent and children. Please ask Corinne Unsworth if you would like details.

Dawn Elsdon manages Dursley good neighbours who provide transport for hospital appointments etc. Looking for more volunteers the commitment is approximately one driving session per week. Please ask Ian Unsworth or Dawn Elsdon for more details.

Austin Meares on behalf of all the church family expressed thanks to Canon Michael and the whole ministry team for the work and care for us over the past year.

Meeting closed at 12.45 with the grace.

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The Parish of St James the Great, Dursley with St Mark’s, Woodmancote

Annual Report for 2019

Aims and Organisation

The Parochial Church Council (PCC) of the Parish of St James the Great, Dursley with St Mark’s Woodmancote has the responsibility of working with the clergy and the people of this parish in promoting 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 Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) in accordance with the Church Representation Rules. During the year the following served as members of the PCC:

Rector The Revd Canon Michael Cozens

Associate Priest The Revd Ian Gardner

Assistant Curate The Revd Jane Wood

Reader Tony King

Churchwardens Austin Meares Caroline Marrow

Honorary Treasurer Peter Kirvan

Honorary Secretary Edwina Walton

Representatives on Wotton Deanery Synod Leonie Northcote David Smith Elizabeth Oakley

Safeguarding Officer Rachel Brown

Health & Safety Viv Kennedy

Churches Together Representatives John Ewer Jacquelin Hill

Elected Members

2017 Chris Raffle Edwina Walton Valerie Meares Joy Pepper

2018 Anthea Fittall Sarah Hodge Marcia Heaven Sally Pearson

2019 Ian Unsworth, Corrine Unsworth, Jan Vonberg Gillian Mather

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ELECTORAL ROLL. 2019 started with 152 names on the electoral roll. During the year 4 people died and no new names were added. At the end of the year the electoral roll stood at 148 names Chris Raffle, Electoral Roll Officer PCC SECRETARY'S REPORT The PCC thanked retiring members Kathie Rebbeck and Sheila Gardner and welcomed new members Ian Unsworth, Corrine Unsworth, Jan Vonberg and Gillian Mather. This year has seen the development of a shared role; David Smith has undertaken the role of minutes secretary, whilst I have taken the role of general secretary. The sharing of the role is very successful. The post of Foundation Governor at Dursley C of E PRIMARY ACADEMY has been filled, from the start of this year, by Edwina Walton. Two of the six planned meetings this year were designated as joint meetings with Uley, Nympsfield and Owlpen PCC; the first of these was held in September, at Dursley Primary Academy, and was very positive and successful, leading to a continuation of working in partnership to develop working together in shared ideas and aims. The, second meeting, scheduled for January, was postponed owing to Canon Michaels sabbatical. The sub committees are continuing to work to promote Bishop Rachel's LIFE initiative and continuing to enjoy the benefits of a forever strengthening bond with colleagues from our partner PCC. We look forward to the developments this positive link provides throughout the coming year. Edwina Walton, PCC Secretary FINANCIAL REPORT My thanks go to Sarah Hodge and Sheila Gardner for assisting me from time to time in treasury matters. Thanks are also due to Clive Orchard for looking after the Parish Centre and Philip Staddon for taking care of St Mark’s. Once again, this year the books have been examined by Baldwins of Dursley. The year of 2019 has been exceedingly tricky to manage and at one time I felt that we would need to dip into our meagre reserves to the tune of £5000 or more in order to balance the books and complete our commitments but, as it happens, that proved not to be necessary. Thanks to a last minute grant from Omega Trust of £10k and utilising and reducing our cash in the bank instead I was able to complete our year without drawing on the reserves. Overall the year has shown a decrease in our funds on the Unrestricted account (including Designated Funds) of 8%. Our total income actually increased by 5.5% thanks to the grant from Omega Trust, and our total expenditure increased by 1.2%. However, a very big worrying factor is the reduction of our planned giving by 12%. The Planned Giving Scheme was 15% down on last year and there was also a decrease in Stewardship giving of 24%; cash collections were more or less level. Without a sustained and inflation proofed increase in our planned giving the difficulty of running the church and meeting our commitments is greatly increased. Our giving to charities and mission this year has increased by 37% thanks to the sterling efforts of the fundraising team – we were able to give substantially more than the committed £2000 to our 4 named church charities. In total our expenditure in unrestricted funds has shown an increase of 1.2% which is more or less in line with inflation. The church running expenses have decreased by 27% but this is mostly due to the fact that the expenditure on the Parish Centre maintenance and cleaning is less. Nevertheless, modest savings in gas and electricity, probably due to a mild winter, have contributed well. A decline in Administration costs has been assisted by the sharing of common services between Dursley and Uley which is anticipated to continue into the future. The Fabric fund supported the switch to LED lighting both in the church and the Parish Centre and this has made a big difference to the brightness in the buildings and in particular in the chancel and choir. The church boiler repairs were very costly. Overall, the Fabric fund reduced 47% as a result of these expenditures and completing the payment of the final withheld balance for the Tower restoration. I expect another difficult financial year to occur in 2020. Our Parish Share will not increase in the year and the gas and electricity agreements are fixed for another year but unless it is possible to sustain and increase the planned giving we shall struggle to make ends meet. We do anticipate drawing on the resources of the Omega Trust and possibly our reserves at the CBF. Your Finance & Fabric Team continue to meet on a regular basis usually just prior to PCC meetings. On a personal note, after 15 years in the job as Parish Treasurer I am retiring from the post. Dr Sally Pearson has agreed to take over as Treasurer and I know that you will give her your support and encouragement in the same way as you have me. I believe that your church finances are in safe hands. Nevertheless, you may see some changes in the nature and substance of the accounting for the Parish as Sally decides how she will run the accounts. Thank you for all your support and good nature to me in the past. Peter Kirvan

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FABRIC AND ORNAMENTS Following the restoration of the church tower in 2018, this year has been quieter. However, as with all ancient churches, hardly a month goes by without the need to address some problem with the fabric. The new prayer board, desk and votive candle stand designed and made by Brendan Skelton was installed early in the year and was blessed by Canon Michael. This is in regular use by parishioners and visitors alike and has proved very popular. At the beginning of 2019, the wooden floor beneath the vinyl in the church toilet was found to be rotten. This was replaced by a concrete floor so hopefully no further problems will occur in this area. A Quinquennial Inspection was carried out in April. Generally, our Grade 1 listed church is in a fine condition but inevitably the report highlighted a number of issues. Chief among these was a recommendation to have our church monuments (all 52 of them) inspected for safety. The inspection has been carried out and a detailed report is expected shortly. During the year, two of our churchyard table tombs were considered to be unsafe and were strapped for safety. Towards the end of 2019, all the lights in the nave clerestory along with those in the chancel were replace with new LED fittings. This has resulted in better lighting, a saving in electricity consumption and an improvement in our carbon footprint. The church is much admired by the many visitors who come to Dursley throughout the year and many complimentary remarks are written in the visitor's book. Austin Meares WOTTON DEANERY SYNOD. Leonie Northcote, Elizabeth Oakley, and myself serve as elected lay members of the Synod. All licensed clergy are entitled to attend synods. The synod meets about four times a year. Its purpose is to discuss matters of common interest in the deanery. There is usually a visiting speaker. In February Arthur Champion spoke about Caring for Creation. A major topic this year has been the parish share. Canon David Russell (Area Dean) spoke about the subject in June, and Revd Mike Smith in October. Mike said there was widespread misunderstanding of the purpose of the parish share. None of it is used to fund the diocesan office, or the cathedral. Most of it is used to pay for clergy. Synod also give us the opportunity to meet members of other benefices and share our experiences.

David Smith

SIDESPERSONS The sidespeople continue to welcome all comers attending the main Sunday service at St. James. They ensure that everyone has the right service booklets, pew leaflets and along with the church wardens ensure that the services run smoothly. Thank you to those who carry out this important ministry and if anyone would like to join the rota we are always happy to incorporate new sidespeople.

Sally Pearson, Caroline Marrow, Austin Meares

CHURCHWARDENS' REPORT This year we began by challenging the organisation of the Church of England by hoping for job-share churchwardens! This it seems is still a step too far officially but locally at St James it has worked well with Caroline and Sally job-sharing. This year has again been a busy one with the Messy Church Saturdays continuing and the Saturday Coffee, cake and Music remaining a popular event with many town people and those from further afield coming to enjoy the recitals. In September there was a come and sing Pirates of Penzance, complete with pirate dress and Pirate tea. This was on the same weekend as a day with the Bishop Rachel which gave us rare and valuable time to be able to chat and do activities alongside the Bishop. She was the first recorded bishop to have a go at ringing the bells and it was her first bell ringing lesson. In June we organised a coach to go to Gloucester Cathedral for Jane’s ordination and this was followed on the Sunday by a Benefice lunch enjoyed by many after Jane celebrated her first Eucharist. This year the church building has not required quite so much attention although the boiler gremlin was back for a couple of Sundays until it could be fixed and an inspection of the wall memorials has show that there are some that will require being made safe. The pews have cordoned off the area before we have heavy memorial bits landing on unsuspecting congregation or visitors! The level of vandalism has been much reduced this year and that is greatly down to all those who make a point of popping into the church when they are passing just to check that nothing is untoward. The visitor book continues to be well used and shows that many people come from near and far often to trace relatives, or revisit where they or members of their family were married or buried. There are many comments on the lovely feeling of peace in our church. As ever thank you to everyone who helps maintain on so many levels our buildings, services, community

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presence and outreach. As Austin steps down as Churchwarden after many years of diligent service, we have been looking at streamlining the role so that it feels more manageable to church members who hopefully won’t feel reticent about standing for the role. If we ask you to undertake a delegated task please give it some thought and we can all work together to further God’s kingdom in this place. Austin Meares, Sally Pearson, Caroline Marrow

ST MARK’S REPORT

The viability of St Mark's has been very much in the forefront of discussions this year. At the request of the Diocesan Mission and Pastoral Committee, Church Buildings Council came to survey the church and to make recommendations. Their report, whilst complimentary to St Mark's current state and good facilities, made the point that a sustainable future in worship is limited given the church's proximity to St James's church. The church could be partially or extensively adapted to facilitate a viable future but lack of parking facilities is seen as an inhibiting factor to attracting would be users. On 7th December a meeting was held at St Mark's to discuss its future. The Archdeacon of Gloucester was present and it was encouraging that 61 members of the public attended, many of whom asked questions and suggested alternative uses for the building. The results of this consultation meeting have been sent to the Archdeacon and Town Council. During the year, two Sunday services a month have been maintained. Additionally, special festive services at Easter, Christmas and on the Feast of St Mark have taken place and these have been well attended. As in previous years, we wish to thank all those who prepare for the services and maintain the church in a clean condition. Caroline Marrow & Austin Meares

MINISTRY AND NURTURE It has been a busy year for the clergy – especially Canon Michael – and as a result the group only met once, back in January 2019. Following that meeting: The prayer walk was organised by David Smith on behalf of the Mission and Outreach team as part of the Dursley Walking week. The visit to Oxford took place, organised by Rev. Jane, but the suggested away-day to Bourton-on-the-Water did not materialise. The Weekend Away to Lindors did not happen due to the property sale and renovation changes; this was ‘converted’ into an away-day at home with the Bishop, which was not organised by the M&N team. It proved very successful Ministry to residential homes continue. Home Groups. The group hosted by Marlene Powell has started with an average attendance of six. The other two groups continue to run. We ran two courses during the year. The Lent Course, held in the choir room, followed the Diocesan ‘Shapes for Living’ Course. It was successful, with a reasonable attendance. For Advent we used the York Course ‘Who are we praying to?’ It was held in the St Giles Room at Uley and was also successful. For Lent 2020 we are using material produced by Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, called ‘Opening the Scriptures’ Several other churches in the Churches Together Cam and Dursley group are following the same material, and it will be used as the basis for the Joint Services in the Methodist Church during Lent. I expect that the M & N team will restart following Canon Michael’s return from his sabbatical. Tony King

WORSHIP TEAM The Worship Team has met three times in the past year, in June and October 2019 and January 2020. As before, we have reviewed the major festivals, and have shared any feedback from the congregation. We have planned the next festival services taking account of any comments or problems encountered in the past year. We are still finding ways to link more closely with the other Benefice churches, holding joint services at Patronal Festivals and minor church festivals Significant items under discussion have been: To encourage more people to join the Palm Sunday procession from Parsonage Street; The need to have regular services at St. Mark’s;

An attempt to reduce the amount of paper used for printing all the service booklets needed over major festivals;

More people to be encouraged to help decorate the Christmas tree; Better crowd control at the Christingle service, to ensure a smooth flow when collecting Christingles.

coachload from the Benefice enjoyed the visit to the Cathedral to support Jane Wood in her ordination to the priesthood in June. She celebrated her first Eucharist at St James’ the following day.

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In September, instead of the planned Parish weekend away, Bishop Rachel joined us for a day of workshops and activities with the whole Benefice, including a talk by Bishop Rachel, prayer, art activities and bellringing. We began with breakfast, had a “bring and share” lunch, and ended with a short act of worship. Two new intercessors have joined the team, and two more preachers. At the time of writing we are in the middle of Canon Michael’s sabbatical. We are particularly fortunate to have enough ordained priests in our midst to enable things to run smoothly. We are very grateful to Rev. Canon Richard Morgan and Revd Bob Callaghan for helping out. Elizabeth Byrne SERVERS, INTERCESSORS AND ASSISTANTS A big thank you to all the servers, intercessors and assistants for giving your time in these important roles as part of our services. There are two regular 8am servers - Joy and Ann. Sheila has offered to return to the servers’ team when she is available. We now have nine regular servers covering the 10am and evening services (Clive, Peter, Royston, Abi, Jane, Jenni, Cynthia, Anthea and Sheila. Louise also serves when she is home from University). The intercessors now have a team of seven people leading us in prayer each week. This team includes Ian, Tony King, Jane Wood and Richard Morgan (new in 2019) who often have commitments at other churches, leaving four members of the congregation at St James – Sheila, Liz, Austin and new in 2019 David Vonberg. We have a team of five regular assistants who administer the chalice at Communion – Ann and Joy (8am), Clive, Liz, Glena and Kathie plus Richard, Tony and Jane when they are with us at St James and Ann O and Caroline during August. We would welcome people to join us. So, if you feel you would like to serve, be an intercessor or assist with the chalice please speak to a member of the clergy or church warden. We look forward to growing in experience as we serve, assist with the chalice and share intercessions with our congregations. Gluten free wafers are available for those who require them. (If you would like a gluten free wafer please just let a church warden, server or sides person know at the beginning of the service). . Jane Bilous, (Sacristan)

PARISH CENTRE

The Centre continued to be very well used, running at full capacity throughout the year apart from the August break. DODS, Girl Guides, MOBS, and Stroud College were our top hirers. We kept our rates unchanged. The Centre was well-used by many community groups, ranging from mums and babies to mature age groups, as well as for Church use. This provided us with sufficient income to cope with running costs. The committee met on three dates during the year. The kitchen had its annual deep clean. During the August break the courtyard was cleared up and had ivy and buddleia overgrowth largely removed. Large amounts of accumulated debris were taken up to the Horsley tip. All strip lighting units throughout the Centre were replaced by LED units. They have improved Centre lighting, whilst reducing running costs. The requirements that help protect all of our users were updated. H&S advice for kitchen users and key safe contribute to enhanced Centre use. All electrical provisions required for safety have been implemented. The Committee has only 4 members, but only 3 can attend meetings, as Sarah Hodge has to work. Her contributions at other times are greatly appreciated. We have also benefitted from Austin Meares’ attendance as Chair of the Fabric Committee. Plans for the future We aim to repaint the toilet floors and institute a program to repair parts of the outer Centre walls and windows. These measures should ensure that our facilities are maintained so that they continue to be safely and well-used by both Community and Church users. . Roger Ransome

PASTORAL GROUP There are now 17 members in this group. During the year we have lost a small number of members but, have been pleased to welcome several new ones who responded to a personal invitation to join. Those who are able, meet regularly throughout the year to maintain an up-to-date list of people who wish to be prayed for every day. This ministry is not restricted to members of our churches, requests for names to be included in our prayers cover a very wide selection of people - relatives, friends, neighbours, work colleagues and others. It is helpful but, not essential, for personal information to accompany requests and where such information is provided then, it is treated in the strictest confidence. We also try to support those members of the congregations who are unwell or unable to come to worship. Some members undertake the ministry of giving home communion while others assist the Clergy when they visit/take communion to our local nursing homes. Occasionally, if requested, we can visit people who are in hospital or housebound. If anyone feels that they could help with this aspect of our ministry please talk to one of the Clergy. We continue to try to be aware of anyone in our churches perceived as vulnerable. (This is included within the

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church's Safeguarding Policy.) We try to be aware of when members of our congregations miss a number of services and ensure that the clergy are advised when this occurs. We continue to encourage all church members to be aware of 'missing persons' and to notify the clergy accordingly. We have had some very positive feedback from friends/family of those whose names have been added to the prayer list. This has been encouraging. If anyone would wish to join this group then they would be most welcome. The only commitment is to include in your daily prayers those people on the list provided. If you able to contribute to any other aspect(s) of the group's work that would be a bonus but certainly not an obligation. Meetings are currently held every other month, during the day, but attendance is not a condition of joining. If you could or would like to join the group and support this ministry of our churches then please speak to a member of the clergy. Corinne G Unsworth

THEOLOGICAL READING GROUP The theological reading group has been meeting monthly for two years now. We have a membership of about nine and meet to discuss a theological book. During the past year we have completed reading ‘The Great Partnership’, by Jonathan Sacks, and just come to the end of ‘The Beauty and the Horror’ by Richard Harries, former Bishop of Oxford. We are reaching the maximum number of members, but if you are interested in learning more about the group, please contact David Vonberg on 01453 519506. David Vonberg

SAFEGUARDING The main focus of last year’s Safeguarding was the introduction of the new Parish Safeguarding Handbook, which has brought into one place the key safeguarding responsibilities for parishes as outlined by the House of Bishops. The Diocesan Safeguarding Team delivered training on the new Handbook, and the training meeting for the Wotton Deanery was attended by Canon Michael and Parish Safeguarding Officer Rachel Brown in September 2019, and the new Parish Safeguarding Policy was adopted at PCC of Nov 27th 2019. We are in a strong position in terms of meeting the requirements of the Safeguarding Handbook, and we are complying with all the Safer Recruitment requirements in terms of the 5-year rolling programme of DBS checks. At the recent PCC meeting we discussed the 3-year rolling safeguarding training required of our PCC members, which many have already attended, and those still to complete now have the option of undertaking this online. Rachel Brown has also attended the compulsory training required of her as Parish Safeguarding Officer, including a recent Domestic Abuse training session. In 2007, the Church of England commissioned a national Past Case Review (PCR) which sought to look at the handling by the Church of child protection cases over many years. During early 2020, every Diocese has been required to check their records for all known incidents of concern regarding the behaviour of church officers, to comply with a further review process, a new national review which is known as the PCR 2. We have completed the process required of us according to the PCR 2, within the deadline of 28th February 2020. If any members of the congregation have any queries or concerns regarding this or any other safeguarding matter, please do contact Rachel Brown, Michael Cozens, or the Diocesan Safeguarding Team on 01452 835516 / 07944 680320.

Rachel Brown

PRAYER GROUP

We meet at 2.30pm on the first Wednesday of the month in the Omega rooms in St Mark’s church for up to an hour, usually less, of bible reading and prayer and silence, usually with a hymn or psalm as well. We are delighted that the Revd Richard Morgan has joined us, and would very much like others to do so. We find it a very worthwhile and refreshing time together. Jacquelin Hill

MUSIC

The Choir As ever, the choir has led the singing at many services during the past year with music ranging from unaccompanied polyphony of the sixteenth century to pieces written by living composers. When absolutely everyone is present we have thirty-four members, but our biggest attendance for the year was thirty-one, and our average is around twenty-seven. This is most commendable given that choir membership is a considerable commitment when people lead such busy lives. This year we welcomed newcomers Pat Maine (soprano), Michael Lunt (bass) and the return of Rob Marrow (bass). It is good to note that many of the choristers contribute to other areas of church life, indeed at present we have a Churchwarden and the Church Treasurer in our number.

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As well as the “usual” services at St James, we have made four visits to St Mark's ; for Easter Day Evensong, St Mark's Patronal Festival, Harvest Evensong and Epiphany Carols. At Christmas, as well as the carol services for Advent, Christmas and Epiphany, we gave a successful “Secular Christmas Concert” in St James' and sung for the residents of Henlow House. On Saturday 1st June 2019, the choir sung at two weddings! In these days when church weddings are fast disappearing, and CD's are becoming the norm, it was quite refreshing to have two “traditional” weddings on the same day! On a sadder note, we sung at the funeral of Tim Arnold on 30th August 2019. Tim was a lifelong member of St James and would have completed sixty years' service to the choir in 2020. His support for our music-making was remarkable. Even when his sight began to fail he would ensure that he had large copies of the music enabling him to continue to join in. We are pleased to see that his wife, Sally and daughter-in-law Heather continue to sing with us. It is well known that several of the choristers have many years of service to their credit, and in February 2019 we celebrated Lionel Jones' astounding eighty-five years in our choir stalls. In October 2019 it was the turn of David Collins after some seventy year's service to St James' church. David began as a choirboy, became a tenor, the assistant organist to Cecil Adams taking over in 1980 as Director of Music when Cecil retired, and Assistant Organist from 1992. Of course it's not all about singing! The annual choir plant and produce stall (25th May 2019) was most successful in raising funds, and, miraculously avoiding the rain, we were entertained to a splendid barbeque provided by Caroline and Rob Marrow on 19th May. The annual Choir Dinner has, for the past couple of years, become a lunch in the Parish Centre and this year it coincided with Choir Sunday when the work of the choir during the year is given prominence and we were able to celebrate David Collins' achievement. It also coincided with the Director of Music's right eye removal (resulting from a vicious cancerous growth). The Tambourine Award (unique to Dursley Choir) presented by David Wood with much hilarity went to Ann Orchard. Concerts The Saturday morning Coffee Cake and Music organ recitals continue to attract large audiences and are now in their fifteenth year. The first of six in the series was to have been given by Adam Parrish (from Chesterfield) who asked to come and play for us, and let us down just a week before the concert. His place was taken by Nigel Davies who, having completed twenty-eight years as Director of Music, knows our splendid organ like the back of his hand! A rare treat in July was to have Nick and Helen Sherwood giving a recital of Flute and Organ, Violin and Organ and Organ solos. On August we hosted a Viola and Piano recital given by Mariko Izumi and Michael Henderson as part of their UK tour in a programme of music by Britten, Brahms and Glinka. A “Come and Sing” is always popular, and in 2019 we hosted two very different events. “Olivet to Calvary” directed by Lynn James was our Palm Sunday offering, and this was reasonably well supported by singers, and congregation for the evening performance. On September 8th a very different “Come and Sing” was well supported by singers and audience. Barbie Davies directed “The Pirates of Penzance” in a costumed semi-acted version of the Gilbert and Sullivan favourite. We were fortunate in having another visit from The Gesualdo Six as part of their UK tour. Singing to a packed church on Sunday 5th January 2020, their precision, huge dynamic range and amazing sense of ensemble was a real treat to hear. It was good to catch up with our very own Guy James who has sung with this prestigious group since its inception. During the year, the church hosts concerts and events generated by the local community. These have included visits from The Tyndale Choral Society, The Oriana Singers, The Monday Choir, Rednock School, The Dursley Academy et al.. All of whom have their own distinctive style and bring much pleasure through their performances Nigel Davies BELLRINGING Sunday ringing - Ringing for Sunday services has been good in general but we are suffering from the fact that most of our tower members are now retired and tend to be away from Dursley more than in the past. Our numbers are such that we can’t always cover each other now. Thanks are due to friends from Cam and Berkeley who regularly come over to Dursley on a Sunday morning to help us out when we’re short. For services on Sunday evenings we’ve usually been able to arrange a quarter-peal. There have been 15 rung during 2019 and most have managed to include the regular visitors to our practices. This has enabled them to ring methods that they are not able to ring with their local bands (as well as hopefully providing a better framework of striking). Practices - The practices have been well attended and this is due mainly to the regular visitors mentioned above. We often get several people from Cam and Stone, plus others from Berkeley, Tetbury and Stroud. I believe they have all benefitted from these practices as well as the quarter peals. Maintenance - We have no official Steeple Keeper at the moment. A recent review of the ropes showed that we are rather short of spares and need to order several new ones and perhaps some tail-ends to shore up the existing ones. The wooden shafted clapper from the tenor has been repaired and refitted. New recruit - Matt Wood from the 10am congregation is learning to ring and is at the early stages of putting everything together. Philip Pope and Elizabeth Byrne

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CAM, DURSLEY AND DISTRICT CHURCHES TOGETHER. Churches Together has maintained a busy programme and welcomed the contribution of The 3Cs. 2020 began with organisation of a combined Service at St. Dominic's where were warmly welcomed and the importance of unity emphasised. It was good and encouraging to see the intermingling of the congregation after the Service over a traditional cup of tea etc. Plans are prepared for our usual Lent discussion groups in a variety of venues to enable as many people as possible to participate. Evening Services led by Clergy of our group will be held at 6.00p.m. in Dursley Methodist Church each Sunday in this period. Our Walk of Witness is always well attended especially when the weather is in a good mood on Good Friday. The one change that is necessary this year will be a change of staff for the Christmas and Boxing Day lunches and social. Those who are taking a well earned rest will be missed and we offer them our grateful thanks. We shall have new leaders in the kitchen and have been so fortunate with our volunteers in the past. Many have already indicated that they are prepared to continue. If our Churches are to grow we must look outward

. John Ewer

DURSLEY C of E PRIMARY ACADEMY It’s been another busy year at the Academy. We have spent a large part of the year continuing to develop our Academy’s Christian vision. We all felt that we didn’t want to rush our work on the vision to ensure that we got in right for all of our school community. Since the publication of the Church of England’s Vision for Education, “Deeply Christian, Serving the Common Good”, in 2016, there has been a significant swing away from talking about a School’s Christian Values to focusing instead on the School’s Christian Vision. This enables schools to demonstrate how their Christian vision impacts on every aspect of their school, including the Christian values, and how these may be demonstrated in the school community. Our values of Perseverance, Responsibility, Thankfulness, Forgiveness, Respect and friendship, are the tools to help each child live out our Academy’s vision. Under Canon Michael’s expert guidance, we explored lots theology to ensure that our Academy’s vision is rooted in clear biblical teaching. Our vision is “Together we shine brightly”, which is inspired by John: “Let you light shine before others. “ We also chose the words from the baptism service “Shine as a light of the world,” as this fits in with the vision we have for our children ,who have the ability to be inspired to take action for things that they want to stand up against or to take a lead in ,within our community. The community continues to support us through “Open the Book”, “Experience Easter” and through volunteering to hear readers. We know how lucky we are to live in such a good community. Canon Michael also supports us in many ways, especially leading fortnightly worship on Mondays, Prayer Group on Tuesdays and by being a Governor. The year started in January with a visit from Ofsted, which judged the academy as Good, again. The staff were all pleased with the judgement of this one day inspection and reflected the continued hard work by all. February brought our annual pancake races, which is a wonderful time when we bring the academy community together before the season of Lent. March was an extremely busy time. Firstly Beverly Butler, our Bishop’s visitor, made her annual visit. This is always a good opportunity to have a discussion about our academy’s priorities and to show off some of our high quality RE lessons. Throughout March we introduced The “Shapes for Living” materials, from the diocese, in worship. Some of these were led by Canon Michael and some by Ignite Club, children who work together to plan, lead and evaluate worship. Each week there was a theme for the children to think about throughout the week. The themes were also supported by a prayer space in each classroom that constantly changed. The children particularly enjoyed the theme on “Praying” where they were taught praying could take place at any time and doing all sorts of activities. In mid March , we had a visit from Daphne Spitzer, our SIAM’s inspector for the half way point review. This robust meeting was to establish how far along we were to meeting the priorities that we were set at our last Inspection. We were all happy with Daphne’s report and we are well on the way for our next Siam’s inspection in April 2021. At the end of Spring term, we had two important visitors to the Academy. As part of the Diocese’s “Good Shepherd Project”, each Deanery had a model of a sheep visit each school over the year. On arrival, we named our sheep Ewelme and decorated it with our school logo and our vision. Whilst with us, Ewelme visited Dursley Pool, all classes, a mothering Sunday Service attended by Bishop Rachel , Experience Easter at St Mark’s and Stroud Food bank, when we delivered our contributions from our Easter collections. Of course, the highlight was a visit from Bishop Robert. He started his day, on the last day of term, leading worship at St James. It was a fantastic Easter service even though we had a few musical technical difficulties, which resulted in us singing without any accompaniment. However, this did show off our super singing! Bishop Robert walked back with the Year 6 children to school, then after some tea and cake, he carried on with his

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duties. Using technology, the whole school were able to watch as Bishop Robert blessed the new office, Hazel room and Oak Class. It was all very exciting and he then proceeded to the hall where he “blessed” the children with a good splash of water from his rosemary twigs! The summer term was also packed with various things such as SATs, residential, Educational visits, Sports Days, visits from “Britain in Bloom” and of course the Leavers’ Service at Gloucester Cathedral. This is always a reflective time for our Year 6 pupils as they get ready to move on to Secondary school. The children always do us proud and “shine brightly” where ever they go. On the last day of the Summer Term, we held our Leaver’s service at St James’, which was led by the children and was memorable especially for the parents of children that were moving on to their new schools. During the summer holiday, there was building work at the academy, which involved the dismantling of the old canteen and then landscaping the area to become part of the field. In October we collected Food for the Stroud food bank as part of our Harvest Appeal. It was very successful and the food bank was delighted with our record breaking donations. In November’s Children in Need’s appeal also raised our largest ever total! As December approached, all children were busy learning words for our Christmas performances. There were fantastic performances from EYFS who did a production of “Everyone loves a baby", KS1, who performed the nativity, “Prickly Hay” ,Y3/Y4 did another nativity, “Straw and order” and KS2 performed words and songs that really got us all really in the mood for Christmas. It rounded off another fantastic year and we are all proud to continue to serve our community. OPEN THE BOOK Our team of 12, mostly from St James’ church, has been going into Dursley Primary Academy most weeks during term time, to tell Bible stories through drama, to Years 3 to 6. A set pattern is followed; questioning on last week’s story, an introduction followed by the drama and a conclusion with a prayer. The children are always attentive and eager to answer questions posed. The school has changed the time of their daily act of worship from the morning to last thing in the afternoon. We provide this act of worship on Wednesdays. This year stories have been taken from the Old and New Testaments, finishing stories from Year 1 in the three year scheme, and Year 2 from September 2019. With this three year rotation, it means that the children in Year 6 will have already heard the stories, but may well not have remembered them from when they were in Year 3. We told the Ascension story last May, and covered Christmas and Epiphany each side of the Christmas holidays. We will tell the Good Friday and Easter stories each side of the Easter holidays. Elizabeth Byrne

JIMMYS PARENTS AND TODDLER GROUP. Jimmys Toddler Group continues to thrive, opening its doors to Mums/carers and pre schoolers every Tuesday morning in the Parish Centre. We welcome 10-14 youngsters most weeks and everyone has a great time playing and crafting in the safe and spacious surroundings. The children enjoy imaginative play with the doll’s houses, the Wendy House or dressing up and use up spare energy on the mini trampoline, the slide and the ride-on toys. The train set, the dinosaur park and the building blocks are well used and when it all gets too much, they can spend some time doing puzzles, looking at books or playing the musical instruments. Our activities on the craft table have followed the Seasons and major festivals and lots of beautiful cards and little gifts have been produced- some of which can be seen on our notice board. As ever, we are very grateful for the help we receive from the church and in particular the ‘ tea ladies’ who prepare a host of tasty snacks for the children to enjoy, with toasted crumpets and bananas still a firm favourite. The adults can enjoy a cuppa and a chat We are looking forward to another successful year coming up and hope to welcome a few new families to the

group. Carolyn Rigden

MESSY CHURCH

When we started Messy Church at St James in February 2012 the initial aim was to reach out to those families in the community who had little or no involvement with the Church.

From our early attendances of 15-20 children accompanied by their parents it rapidly grew to average around 40 attending the four sessions held throughout the year. On several occasions we have over 50 and our top attendance was 81 – quite a challenge for all our helpers!

Where possible we have tried to choose a theme relating to the Church calendar and matching crafts, activities and our song to the theme can sometimes be quite challenging. We generally manage to find something but there have been many other topics from the Bible that have been enjoyed by the children. The play at the end of the morning is usually chosen from those we do for Open The Book at Dursley Academy.

In 2019, our eighth year, we only managed three Saturday sessions as we had to cancel the one planned for July due to health reasons.

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The themes for 2019 were: 19th January Love and The Wedding at Cana 6th April Holy Week 12th October Harvest

Our ‘Messy Church’ banner displayed for a week or so before the event remains our main source of advertising although, when possible, we announce it at Open the Book and for several years have used the ‘Mailchimp’ database informing familes of the future events.

The format of the morning has remained generally unchanged since we started but we have tried to introduce variations in the games and, on occasions, added Multimedia displays to help during the song and showing the story of the morning’s theme. Thank-you, Joy, for organising the props/scripts and, most importantly, organising the children taking part.

Of course, all the activities and games need to be ‘supervised’ and the Messy Church ‘Café’, popular throughout the morning, keeps those in the kitchen on their toes. Our sincere thanks go to all those who help on the day or setting up on Friday, most of you having been there since our first session – without you none of this would be possible.

Sadly, due to ill health, we have had to step back from planning and co-ordinating the sessions but we hope that the new co-ordinating team will carry it on with fresh ideas to take to the wider community.

With thanks, Anthea and Dave Fittall

CHURCHYARD During the past year, the churchyard has been maintained to a high standard. This work has been carried out by an enthusiastic team of grass cutters and others who have tended the flower borders and the paths. A big thank you to all who have contributed in 2019 to the upkeep of our lovely churchyard. Caroline Marrow & Austin Meares ST. MARK’S POETRY GROUP We continue to meet once a month to enjoy a wide range of poetry, from traditional to modern and sometimes poetry written by members themselves. We enjoy the readings and also the discussions that follow which can be rewarding and thought-provoking. During the year we were joined by a new member bringing our total membership to seven. We are very enthusiastic and enjoy both the poetry and the social interaction. These are always interesting and often leads to wide-ranging discussion which can be very thought-provoking. Our meetings take place on the last Friday of the month in the Omega Rooms at St. Mark’s Church commencing at 2.15p.m. and the meeting is followed by tea and biscuits. We always welcome new members and hope to attract new poetry lovers in the coming year. Mary Jones

CLEANERS An enthusiastic team of volunteers has kept the church in fine fettle throughout the year. This work is gratefully appreciated and we thank all who contribute to this on a regular basis. Many visitors to the church comment in the visitor's book how well the building is maintained – a sure barometer of the team's hard work.

Caroline Marrow & Austin Meares