2012 Report Page 8

Lymm amp

District

Churches

Together

Deanery

Synod

St Mary`s has taken part in several

activities for this ecumenical group

The Prayer Breakfast Easter Day

Sunrise Service at the Dam Dick-

ensian Day Christian Aid collec-

tions and the High School Annual

Service

LDCT have appointed a Youth for

Christ worker who is organising an after school service at the High

School and Darren will visit Year 6

pupils about to enter High School

in September Darren also has

been instrumental in setting up the

Youth meeting ldquoThe Hubrdquo each

Friday at the Sanctuary Cafe

We continue to need at least one

other representative to attend

meetings and any person willing to

help should contact the Rector or

Heather Warren

Great Budworth Deanery Synod has met four times in Moore Sutton Weaver Ap-pleton and Grappenhall and reviewed and discussed a variety of topics A group of non-church-going students of Chester University Padgate gave a presentation on funerals in particular the increasing use of secular and human-ist officiants at funerals Their four main recommendations have been passed on to the Diocese for further consideration Bishop John Hayden gave a fascinating talk on his experiences working as a mis-sionary bishop in Africa and the Middle East with insights into the reasons for church growth in some areas despite the overwhelming presence of other faiths as well as dangers from other disasters Canon David Felix gave regular reports on General Synod particularly concentrating on the Women Bishops measure and where the C of E is going now The Autumn Synod was mainly financial when Diocesan Secretary George Colville spoke of the economies employed in Chester and the need to raise 85 of the required income through Parish Share as nothing is received from the Church Com-missioners He told us that giving in our diocese is one of the worst in the country Finance remains a constant problem for many parishes and the Deanerys accumu-lated debt to the Diocese for Parish Share was one quarter of the years total with two parishes being seriously in arrears but with Lymm being the third biggest debtor It is intended that a review is made of the most recent GAP returns so that parishes may be able to share with each other any beneficial ideas and schemes as is al-ready happening eg In training and dif-ferent kinds of services A Deanery Choral Evensong is being planned plus possibly a Deanery Walk or Quiet Day Finally subject to the Church Commis-sioners approval the four parishes will be changed around with Antrobus joining Great Budworth (two parishes one incum-bent) while Aston Little Leigh and Lower Whitley will become one parish (possibly called Weaver Valley) with one part-time priest There is plenty going on at Deanery Syn-od - visitors are always welcome

Church W

atch

Church Watch The Church Watch team has had

another interesting year with an

unannounced visit from Bishop

Keith who was delighted to find the

church open

A visitor from New York was hop-

ing to find references to her family

Rev Hatton was a former Rector of

Lymm and the visitor was also inter-

ested in the Domville family Fortu-

nately Janet was on duty and knew

of the family and was able to give the visitor details previously un-

known to her

We have had visitors from all over

the world and throughout the Unit-

ed Kingdom many of whom have

commented on how beautiful the

church looks and how well we look

after the building

If anybody would like to join our

team it is not an arduous task

please contact Heather Warren

Welcome to the annual St Mary`s Newslet-

ter St Mary`s is the Parish Church of Lymm

We exist primarily to remind the people of

Lymm and beyond of the reality of God in

our world and the grace that comes to us

through Jesus Christ enabling us to model

our lives and help model our wider society

on what he has shown us

Focused on worship as our life-blood we are

an inclusive community which aims to offer

space to those exploring what life means as

well as those already committed to Chris-

tian faith Our activities range widely and

take in a good social life and service to

those beyond as well as within the Church

You will find a warm welcome among us

Why not come along

Rectorrsquos welcome

Sunday Club

and Choir

member

Fisayo wins

Young

Composer of

the Year

Award

St Maryrsquos 2012 Annual report

The Parish Church of Lymm April 2013

The Churchrsquos

year in words

and pictures

Welcome 1

Secretary and

Treasurer

report to AGM

2

Tower Captainrsquos

report

Wardens face

water damage

3

Getting together 4

Pudding Mice

and Chips

5

Growing in faith 6

Worship and

Music

7

Beyond St Maryrsquos 8

wwwstmaryslymmorg

2

The Parochial Church Council

meets on a regular basis We

have submitted our Gap Year

Three analysis to the Dio-

cese There are three Goals we

are now concentrating on Look-

ing Out - Looking In and Looking

Up New task groups have now

been formed and you will be

hearing about their progress through the Church Magazine

George Bainton attended a

course on Growing Leaders -

Growing Churches and we have

been at various PCC Meetings

discussing Church Community -

Health Section - Health Check

Party Time

Again this year we participated in

the Historic Churches Preserva-

tion Trust Annual Ride and Stride

led by our Youth Group members

and had an excellent turnout and sponsorship

Carol Roberts

PCC Secretary

Finance report

Tower Report

Our band of ringers has not changed this year 9 members are registered

with the Chester Diocesan Guild of Church Bellringers and helped by visitors who join us on Sundays and

on practice nights we have continued to progress

4 quarter peals were rung One by a home band and three by visiting bands (though one of those did invite Ryder Dines to ring with them)

We also joined in the national cele-brations by ringing on 5 June for the

Queens Diamond Jubilee

Visiting ringers have again come from

all parts of the country we were particularly pleased to welcome those who called in on their way to the

annual meeting of the Central Council in Chester on 2 June Liz France

For the second year in succes-sion the Church managed to break even This follows a number of years where we made substantial deficits We managed to make all our pay-ments to the Diocese and were able to proceed with a number of badly needed repairs to the Church Hall However there will be many challenges and difficulties to overcome in the next year The parish share will this year in-crease by 3 and we still owe pound21000 to the Diocese from previous years The Church Hall although in a better con-dition than for a number of years still needs a considera-ble amount of money spending on it A successful Stewardship Re-newal this year is very im-portant so that these challeng-es can be met and the Church continues to move forward to continue moving forward

David Critchley Treasurer to the PCC

Page 2 2012 Report

ST MARYrsquoS

LOOKS IN

OUT AND

UP

Secretaryrsquos

Annual

Report

Page 7

Worship and Spirituality

The centre of our worshipping life is the Parish Communion which brings together the best of tradi-tional and contemporary Anglican-ism Music (led by our able choir and organist) and drama (we have a small drama group) play an im-portant part Special all-age services through the year (such as Mothering Sun-day Harvest Christingle) aim to ensure our worship is accessible to all Lay participation is a key element at every level - reading lessons leading prayers the work done by our baptism visiting team

In the past year Godly Play and storytelling have become new additions to what we do During Lent we have also had a home-based retreat and a medi-tation group The candlelit Christ-mas Carol Service continues to

be a highlight for many

Ru

shb

eari

ng

A

ugu

st 2

012

Choir Notes

I am delighted you are able to spend a few minutes reading about our choir here at St Maryrsquos In the past year we have welcomed 5 new members Dorothy Nick Tom Jacky and Tom We are quite a mixed bunch of ages sizes and voices Much church music is written as SATB where S stands for sopranos (we have 8) A stands for altos (we have 2) T stands for tenors (we have 2) and B stands for bass (we have 4) We practice every Thursday from 630pm to 745pm (except October to December when we change to Fridays due to my other com-mitments) On the fourth Sunday of the month and at some other major festivals we sing an an-them Over the past 18 months we have sung a different anthem each time so our repertoire is growing

If you take our parish magazine you will have noticed not only details of the hymns for the next month but also the anthem and some notes on the composer I have recent-ly started to add the recessional organ music for each Sunday (stops members of the con-gregation trying to guess what I have played) Last Christmas for the Lessons and Carols service the choir sang 14 carols

Every member of the congregation has the

chance to choose their own hymns

Roy Sutton

Organist and Choirmaster

2012 Report Page 6

GROWING

IN FAITH

Ministry to

Children

Young Adults

and Young

Families

Sunday School meets every Sunday at 1000am and Praise and Play at

1030am every Friday in term time Both groups are well attended

In Sunday School we use games craft activities and stories to help

teach the younger children about the Christian faith The children

helped the congregation celebrate Pentecost by making a large felt

hanging which everyone added flames to We learned about parables

including the Prodigal Son and the Parable of the Two Houses The

children also enjoyed finding out about some of the Old Testament

Stories with the themes of rsquoBread from Heavenrsquo and Abram and

Sarai Godly Play is used once a month with children of all ages hear-

ing and responding to the storytelling Stories this year have been

The story of Baptism which we had when one of our newest arrivals

was baptised The children have also responded to the story of The

Great Family How the Church Tells the Time and The Good Samari-

tan Our older Sunday Club members have followed broadly the same

themes of the lessons studying some them in more detail and learn-

ing to use their Bibles in extension challenges such as word searches

and crosswords as well as enjoying craft and artistic activities

The Theme of the Prizegiving service

in July was lsquoWho is my neighbourrsquo

when we learned about our new Action-

aid sponsorship child Sipitei a Kenyan

boy The Prizegiving was followed by a

BBQ and games

At Praise and Play we have a good

nucleus of people who attend regu-

larly and we have mums who help each term with programme

planning and leading activities Our work lately has had to be

very simple as the children are so young although

the adults have on occasion been very inventive

The group has supported the churchrsquos Building Fund

through social activities in a number of ways We

are very grateful to other church members who

help regularly on the coffee rota New faces are

always welcome to join us on Friday mornings during

term time

We continue to support our ministry to Baptism families Baptism

follow-up works well with the new personalised Baptism certifi-

cate proving popular with the families Some children who have

been baptised recently and their families have begun to become

regular members of our church family and they are very welcome

Sunday School

Presents Africa

Souper Soup

Lunch

Churchwardens Jill Wasey and Liz France review the year

In time for Easter the new

Sanctuary furniture arrived

and is very attractive and

suitable to its purpose

The election of Wardens

and AGM was postponed

for another Warden to be

found and Liz France came

to the rescue

In no time at all disaster

struck when on 7th

June

the Rector phoned to say

the vestry was very wet By

the time we went in the af-

ternoon it was an inunda-

tion Buckets appeared

from all sides An inspec-

tion of the roof revealed

that the lead had been sto-

len Tarpaulins were laid

across it But the rain

poured in and buckets had

to be emptied at regular

intervals

Permission was required

from the Archdeacon on

Friday night and we are in-

debted to the Rural Dean

for facil itat ing this

Goughs builders managed

to stem the flow until Rich-

ard Williams our new ar-

chitect was able to effect a

more permanent but tem-

porary repair until we can

afford a replacement which

will NOT be lead

During the year the light-

ning conductor was vandal-

ised but was repaired by Peter Clark

and there was a blocked spouthead

over the rear vestry door but that

has been assessed as due for renew-

al

For a short time we thought we were

going to have to live with bats but

they seem to have left

Recently Richard has carried out the

Quinquennial Inspection He has

not indicated any major problems

but we should receive his report

soon

WARDENS

KEEP

GODrsquoS

HOUSE IN

ORDER

despite

theft and

vandalism

Page 3

2012 was a very eventful year for the UK with the Queenrsquos Diamond Jubilee followed by the Olympics St Maryrsquos Mothersrsquo Union members celebrated these events in their own style In June an Evening of Royal Memories was held to celebrate the Royal Jubilee Everyone came suitably attired in lsquoposh hatsrsquo and raised a glass in toast to the Queen To prepare for the Olympics in a warm up to the main event there was a Pancake Tossing competition on Shrove Tuesday and in May members of St Peterrsquos Mothersrsquo Union joined us in a Mosquito Drive The competitiveness shown on both these occasions was no less than that shown by any Olympian During the rest of the year there have been a variety of guest speakers and an outing to Warburton Old Church together with the Annual Dinner and Pre-Christmas Jollification with Church Womenrsquos Fellowship members

2012 Report Page 4

MOTHERSrsquo

UNION

A Celebratory

and Athletic

year for the

Mothersrsquo Union

THE FELLOWSHIP WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS

The Fellowship was pleased to welcome several new members in 2012

They along with the existing members enjoyed a wide ranging pro-

gramme of events including talks on the CAB the work of a Communi-

ty Policemen a virtual tour of Nova Scotia and life as an organist with

a demonstration of the skills needed to play this instrument

There were celebrations held on St Valentinersquos Day with chocolates

and love poems and on the Queenrsquos Jubilee when memories of the

day 60 years ago were shared memorabilia shown and crowns worn

There were also the regular events the Beetle Drive the Annual Din-

ner the Christmas Social with Mothersrsquo Union members and the

evening outing which in 2012 was to St Roccorsquos Hospice in Warring-

ton to see the recently completed new additions to the Day Care Cen-

tre

During the year the Church Reading Group has continued to be very well attended Books discussed included Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton Perfect People by Peter James Oth-

er Peoplersquos Money by Justin Cartwright and The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon To mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of

Charles Dickens we read The Tale of Two Cities Our avid readers enjoyed lively discussions and enjoyed sharing their views about the very varied choices of books which they had enjoyed During Lent 2012 two adult groups met to follow the York Course for 2012 lsquoHanding on the Torchrsquo Another adult group followed Peter Privettrsquos Living in a Fragile World a meditation in the Godly Play style reflecting on the fragility of the earth the vision of God and finishing with the Easter message of hope

Discussi

on and

Study

Social Events

Page 5

Puddings

Concerts

and

Church

Mice

A BIG THANK YOU helliphellip hellip to all those who have supported the many and varied fund raising events throughout 2012 The Pudding Club continues to be a popular attraction In May the theme was lsquoRoyal Jubileersquo with traditional English Puddings being served and in December there were the usual and unusual seasonal puddings

Still on the theme of food in April a Spring Walk was arranged when many energetic walkers and assorted dogs started the morning with coffee and croissants before heading off

round Spud Wood returning to enjoy bacon butties At Easter many attended the break-fast held on Easter Sunday which was served between the two morning services Two of our more energetic walkers Maggie and Chris Maudsley under-took the 15 mile Wirral Sponsored Walk in May

During the Lymm Festival a lsquoFestive Funrsquo afternoon was held in church providing fun for all the family This included a lsquoFind the Church Mousersquo trail quizzes for the adults plants to buy the tower was open for those with heads for heights and a deli-cious selection of cakes were served In September we were pleased to play host to the massed choirs of the Cantorum Choir and Gothenburg Police Male Voice Choir from Sweden and the Greater Manchester Police Male Voice Choir In all 100 voices entertained a very appreciative audi-ence In October we went to visit the Black-pool Illuminations enjoying a fish and chip supper And the year closed with a concert by Julie Ann Carr a professional concert organist who demonstrated her skill and the power of our organ in lsquoAn Evening with Juliersquo

A total of over pound2500 was raised towards the General Church Fund and the Building Fund

The Parochial Church Council

meets on a regular basis We

have submitted our Gap Year

Three analysis to the Dio-

cese There are three Goals we

are now concentrating on Look-

ing Out - Looking In and Looking

Up New task groups have now

been formed and you will be

hearing about their progress through the Church Magazine

George Bainton attended a

course on Growing Leaders -

Growing Churches and we have

been at various PCC Meetings

discussing Church Community -

Health Section - Health Check

Party Time

Again this year we participated in

the Historic Churches Preserva-

tion Trust Annual Ride and Stride

led by our Youth Group members

and had an excellent turnout and sponsorship

Carol Roberts

PCC Secretary

Finance report

Tower Report

Our band of ringers has not changed this year 9 members are registered

with the Chester Diocesan Guild of Church Bellringers and helped by visitors who join us on Sundays and

on practice nights we have continued to progress

4 quarter peals were rung One by a home band and three by visiting bands (though one of those did invite Ryder Dines to ring with them)

We also joined in the national cele-brations by ringing on 5 June for the

Queens Diamond Jubilee

Visiting ringers have again come from

all parts of the country we were particularly pleased to welcome those who called in on their way to the

annual meeting of the Central Council in Chester on 2 June Liz France

For the second year in succes-sion the Church managed to break even This follows a number of years where we made substantial deficits We managed to make all our pay-ments to the Diocese and were able to proceed with a number of badly needed repairs to the Church Hall However there will be many challenges and difficulties to overcome in the next year The parish share will this year in-crease by 3 and we still owe pound21000 to the Diocese from previous years The Church Hall although in a better con-dition than for a number of years still needs a considera-ble amount of money spending on it A successful Stewardship Re-newal this year is very im-portant so that these challeng-es can be met and the Church continues to move forward to continue moving forward

David Critchley Treasurer to the PCC

Page 2 2012 Report

ST MARYrsquoS

LOOKS IN

OUT AND

UP

Secretaryrsquos

Annual

Report

Page 7

Worship and Spirituality

The centre of our worshipping life is the Parish Communion which brings together the best of tradi-tional and contemporary Anglican-ism Music (led by our able choir and organist) and drama (we have a small drama group) play an im-portant part Special all-age services through the year (such as Mothering Sun-day Harvest Christingle) aim to ensure our worship is accessible to all Lay participation is a key element at every level - reading lessons leading prayers the work done by our baptism visiting team

In the past year Godly Play and storytelling have become new additions to what we do During Lent we have also had a home-based retreat and a medi-tation group The candlelit Christ-mas Carol Service continues to

be a highlight for many

Ru

shb

eari

ng

A

ugu

st 2

012

Choir Notes

I am delighted you are able to spend a few minutes reading about our choir here at St Maryrsquos In the past year we have welcomed 5 new members Dorothy Nick Tom Jacky and Tom We are quite a mixed bunch of ages sizes and voices Much church music is written as SATB where S stands for sopranos (we have 8) A stands for altos (we have 2) T stands for tenors (we have 2) and B stands for bass (we have 4) We practice every Thursday from 630pm to 745pm (except October to December when we change to Fridays due to my other com-mitments) On the fourth Sunday of the month and at some other major festivals we sing an an-them Over the past 18 months we have sung a different anthem each time so our repertoire is growing

If you take our parish magazine you will have noticed not only details of the hymns for the next month but also the anthem and some notes on the composer I have recent-ly started to add the recessional organ music for each Sunday (stops members of the con-gregation trying to guess what I have played) Last Christmas for the Lessons and Carols service the choir sang 14 carols

Every member of the congregation has the

chance to choose their own hymns

Roy Sutton

Organist and Choirmaster

2012 Report Page 6

GROWING

IN FAITH

Ministry to

Children

Young Adults

and Young

Families

Sunday School meets every Sunday at 1000am and Praise and Play at

1030am every Friday in term time Both groups are well attended

In Sunday School we use games craft activities and stories to help

teach the younger children about the Christian faith The children

helped the congregation celebrate Pentecost by making a large felt

hanging which everyone added flames to We learned about parables

including the Prodigal Son and the Parable of the Two Houses The

children also enjoyed finding out about some of the Old Testament

Stories with the themes of rsquoBread from Heavenrsquo and Abram and

Sarai Godly Play is used once a month with children of all ages hear-

ing and responding to the storytelling Stories this year have been

The story of Baptism which we had when one of our newest arrivals

was baptised The children have also responded to the story of The

Great Family How the Church Tells the Time and The Good Samari-

tan Our older Sunday Club members have followed broadly the same

themes of the lessons studying some them in more detail and learn-

ing to use their Bibles in extension challenges such as word searches

and crosswords as well as enjoying craft and artistic activities

The Theme of the Prizegiving service

in July was lsquoWho is my neighbourrsquo

when we learned about our new Action-

aid sponsorship child Sipitei a Kenyan

boy The Prizegiving was followed by a

BBQ and games

At Praise and Play we have a good

nucleus of people who attend regu-

larly and we have mums who help each term with programme

planning and leading activities Our work lately has had to be

very simple as the children are so young although

the adults have on occasion been very inventive

The group has supported the churchrsquos Building Fund

through social activities in a number of ways We

are very grateful to other church members who

help regularly on the coffee rota New faces are

always welcome to join us on Friday mornings during

term time

We continue to support our ministry to Baptism families Baptism

follow-up works well with the new personalised Baptism certifi-

cate proving popular with the families Some children who have

been baptised recently and their families have begun to become

regular members of our church family and they are very welcome

Sunday School

Presents Africa

Souper Soup

Lunch

Churchwardens Jill Wasey and Liz France review the year

In time for Easter the new

Sanctuary furniture arrived

and is very attractive and

suitable to its purpose

The election of Wardens

and AGM was postponed

for another Warden to be

found and Liz France came

to the rescue

In no time at all disaster

struck when on 7th

June

the Rector phoned to say

the vestry was very wet By

the time we went in the af-

ternoon it was an inunda-

tion Buckets appeared

from all sides An inspec-

tion of the roof revealed

that the lead had been sto-

len Tarpaulins were laid

across it But the rain

poured in and buckets had

to be emptied at regular

intervals

Permission was required

from the Archdeacon on

Friday night and we are in-

debted to the Rural Dean

for facil itat ing this

Goughs builders managed

to stem the flow until Rich-

ard Williams our new ar-

chitect was able to effect a

more permanent but tem-

porary repair until we can

afford a replacement which

will NOT be lead

During the year the light-

ning conductor was vandal-

ised but was repaired by Peter Clark

and there was a blocked spouthead

over the rear vestry door but that

has been assessed as due for renew-

al

For a short time we thought we were

going to have to live with bats but

they seem to have left

Recently Richard has carried out the

Quinquennial Inspection He has

not indicated any major problems

but we should receive his report

soon

WARDENS

KEEP

GODrsquoS

HOUSE IN

ORDER

despite

theft and

vandalism

Page 3

2012 was a very eventful year for the UK with the Queenrsquos Diamond Jubilee followed by the Olympics St Maryrsquos Mothersrsquo Union members celebrated these events in their own style In June an Evening of Royal Memories was held to celebrate the Royal Jubilee Everyone came suitably attired in lsquoposh hatsrsquo and raised a glass in toast to the Queen To prepare for the Olympics in a warm up to the main event there was a Pancake Tossing competition on Shrove Tuesday and in May members of St Peterrsquos Mothersrsquo Union joined us in a Mosquito Drive The competitiveness shown on both these occasions was no less than that shown by any Olympian During the rest of the year there have been a variety of guest speakers and an outing to Warburton Old Church together with the Annual Dinner and Pre-Christmas Jollification with Church Womenrsquos Fellowship members

2012 Report Page 4

MOTHERSrsquo

UNION

A Celebratory

and Athletic

year for the

Mothersrsquo Union

THE FELLOWSHIP WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS

The Fellowship was pleased to welcome several new members in 2012

They along with the existing members enjoyed a wide ranging pro-

gramme of events including talks on the CAB the work of a Communi-

ty Policemen a virtual tour of Nova Scotia and life as an organist with

a demonstration of the skills needed to play this instrument

There were celebrations held on St Valentinersquos Day with chocolates

and love poems and on the Queenrsquos Jubilee when memories of the

day 60 years ago were shared memorabilia shown and crowns worn

There were also the regular events the Beetle Drive the Annual Din-

ner the Christmas Social with Mothersrsquo Union members and the

evening outing which in 2012 was to St Roccorsquos Hospice in Warring-

ton to see the recently completed new additions to the Day Care Cen-

tre

During the year the Church Reading Group has continued to be very well attended Books discussed included Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton Perfect People by Peter James Oth-

er Peoplersquos Money by Justin Cartwright and The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon To mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of

Charles Dickens we read The Tale of Two Cities Our avid readers enjoyed lively discussions and enjoyed sharing their views about the very varied choices of books which they had enjoyed During Lent 2012 two adult groups met to follow the York Course for 2012 lsquoHanding on the Torchrsquo Another adult group followed Peter Privettrsquos Living in a Fragile World a meditation in the Godly Play style reflecting on the fragility of the earth the vision of God and finishing with the Easter message of hope

Discussi

on and

Study

Social Events

Page 5

Puddings

Concerts

and

Church

Mice

A BIG THANK YOU helliphellip hellip to all those who have supported the many and varied fund raising events throughout 2012 The Pudding Club continues to be a popular attraction In May the theme was lsquoRoyal Jubileersquo with traditional English Puddings being served and in December there were the usual and unusual seasonal puddings

Still on the theme of food in April a Spring Walk was arranged when many energetic walkers and assorted dogs started the morning with coffee and croissants before heading off

round Spud Wood returning to enjoy bacon butties At Easter many attended the break-fast held on Easter Sunday which was served between the two morning services Two of our more energetic walkers Maggie and Chris Maudsley under-took the 15 mile Wirral Sponsored Walk in May

During the Lymm Festival a lsquoFestive Funrsquo afternoon was held in church providing fun for all the family This included a lsquoFind the Church Mousersquo trail quizzes for the adults plants to buy the tower was open for those with heads for heights and a deli-cious selection of cakes were served In September we were pleased to play host to the massed choirs of the Cantorum Choir and Gothenburg Police Male Voice Choir from Sweden and the Greater Manchester Police Male Voice Choir In all 100 voices entertained a very appreciative audi-ence In October we went to visit the Black-pool Illuminations enjoying a fish and chip supper And the year closed with a concert by Julie Ann Carr a professional concert organist who demonstrated her skill and the power of our organ in lsquoAn Evening with Juliersquo

A total of over pound2500 was raised towards the General Church Fund and the Building Fund

2012 Report Page 6

GROWING

IN FAITH

Ministry to

Children

Young Adults

and Young

Families

Sunday School meets every Sunday at 1000am and Praise and Play at

1030am every Friday in term time Both groups are well attended

In Sunday School we use games craft activities and stories to help

teach the younger children about the Christian faith The children

helped the congregation celebrate Pentecost by making a large felt

hanging which everyone added flames to We learned about parables

including the Prodigal Son and the Parable of the Two Houses The

children also enjoyed finding out about some of the Old Testament

Stories with the themes of rsquoBread from Heavenrsquo and Abram and

Sarai Godly Play is used once a month with children of all ages hear-

ing and responding to the storytelling Stories this year have been

The story of Baptism which we had when one of our newest arrivals

was baptised The children have also responded to the story of The

Great Family How the Church Tells the Time and The Good Samari-

tan Our older Sunday Club members have followed broadly the same

themes of the lessons studying some them in more detail and learn-

ing to use their Bibles in extension challenges such as word searches

and crosswords as well as enjoying craft and artistic activities

The Theme of the Prizegiving service

in July was lsquoWho is my neighbourrsquo

when we learned about our new Action-

aid sponsorship child Sipitei a Kenyan

boy The Prizegiving was followed by a

BBQ and games

At Praise and Play we have a good

nucleus of people who attend regu-

larly and we have mums who help each term with programme

planning and leading activities Our work lately has had to be

very simple as the children are so young although

the adults have on occasion been very inventive

The group has supported the churchrsquos Building Fund

through social activities in a number of ways We

are very grateful to other church members who

help regularly on the coffee rota New faces are

always welcome to join us on Friday mornings during

term time

We continue to support our ministry to Baptism families Baptism

follow-up works well with the new personalised Baptism certifi-

cate proving popular with the families Some children who have

been baptised recently and their families have begun to become

regular members of our church family and they are very welcome

Sunday School

Presents Africa

Souper Soup

Lunch

Churchwardens Jill Wasey and Liz France review the year

In time for Easter the new

Sanctuary furniture arrived

and is very attractive and

suitable to its purpose

The election of Wardens

and AGM was postponed

for another Warden to be

found and Liz France came

to the rescue

In no time at all disaster

struck when on 7th

June

the Rector phoned to say

the vestry was very wet By

the time we went in the af-

ternoon it was an inunda-

tion Buckets appeared

from all sides An inspec-

tion of the roof revealed

that the lead had been sto-

len Tarpaulins were laid

across it But the rain

poured in and buckets had

to be emptied at regular

intervals

Permission was required

from the Archdeacon on

Friday night and we are in-

debted to the Rural Dean

for facil itat ing this

Goughs builders managed

to stem the flow until Rich-

ard Williams our new ar-

chitect was able to effect a

more permanent but tem-

porary repair until we can

afford a replacement which

will NOT be lead

During the year the light-

ning conductor was vandal-

ised but was repaired by Peter Clark

and there was a blocked spouthead

over the rear vestry door but that

has been assessed as due for renew-

al

For a short time we thought we were

going to have to live with bats but

they seem to have left

Recently Richard has carried out the

Quinquennial Inspection He has

not indicated any major problems

but we should receive his report

soon

WARDENS

KEEP

GODrsquoS

HOUSE IN

ORDER

despite

theft and

vandalism

Page 3

2012 was a very eventful year for the UK with the Queenrsquos Diamond Jubilee followed by the Olympics St Maryrsquos Mothersrsquo Union members celebrated these events in their own style In June an Evening of Royal Memories was held to celebrate the Royal Jubilee Everyone came suitably attired in lsquoposh hatsrsquo and raised a glass in toast to the Queen To prepare for the Olympics in a warm up to the main event there was a Pancake Tossing competition on Shrove Tuesday and in May members of St Peterrsquos Mothersrsquo Union joined us in a Mosquito Drive The competitiveness shown on both these occasions was no less than that shown by any Olympian During the rest of the year there have been a variety of guest speakers and an outing to Warburton Old Church together with the Annual Dinner and Pre-Christmas Jollification with Church Womenrsquos Fellowship members

2012 Report Page 4

MOTHERSrsquo

UNION

A Celebratory

and Athletic

year for the

Mothersrsquo Union

THE FELLOWSHIP WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS

The Fellowship was pleased to welcome several new members in 2012

They along with the existing members enjoyed a wide ranging pro-

gramme of events including talks on the CAB the work of a Communi-

ty Policemen a virtual tour of Nova Scotia and life as an organist with

a demonstration of the skills needed to play this instrument

There were celebrations held on St Valentinersquos Day with chocolates

and love poems and on the Queenrsquos Jubilee when memories of the

day 60 years ago were shared memorabilia shown and crowns worn

There were also the regular events the Beetle Drive the Annual Din-

ner the Christmas Social with Mothersrsquo Union members and the

evening outing which in 2012 was to St Roccorsquos Hospice in Warring-

ton to see the recently completed new additions to the Day Care Cen-

tre

During the year the Church Reading Group has continued to be very well attended Books discussed included Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton Perfect People by Peter James Oth-

er Peoplersquos Money by Justin Cartwright and The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon To mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of

Charles Dickens we read The Tale of Two Cities Our avid readers enjoyed lively discussions and enjoyed sharing their views about the very varied choices of books which they had enjoyed During Lent 2012 two adult groups met to follow the York Course for 2012 lsquoHanding on the Torchrsquo Another adult group followed Peter Privettrsquos Living in a Fragile World a meditation in the Godly Play style reflecting on the fragility of the earth the vision of God and finishing with the Easter message of hope

Discussi

on and

Study

Social Events

Page 5

Puddings

Concerts

and

Church

Mice

A BIG THANK YOU helliphellip hellip to all those who have supported the many and varied fund raising events throughout 2012 The Pudding Club continues to be a popular attraction In May the theme was lsquoRoyal Jubileersquo with traditional English Puddings being served and in December there were the usual and unusual seasonal puddings

Still on the theme of food in April a Spring Walk was arranged when many energetic walkers and assorted dogs started the morning with coffee and croissants before heading off

round Spud Wood returning to enjoy bacon butties At Easter many attended the break-fast held on Easter Sunday which was served between the two morning services Two of our more energetic walkers Maggie and Chris Maudsley under-took the 15 mile Wirral Sponsored Walk in May

During the Lymm Festival a lsquoFestive Funrsquo afternoon was held in church providing fun for all the family This included a lsquoFind the Church Mousersquo trail quizzes for the adults plants to buy the tower was open for those with heads for heights and a deli-cious selection of cakes were served In September we were pleased to play host to the massed choirs of the Cantorum Choir and Gothenburg Police Male Voice Choir from Sweden and the Greater Manchester Police Male Voice Choir In all 100 voices entertained a very appreciative audi-ence In October we went to visit the Black-pool Illuminations enjoying a fish and chip supper And the year closed with a concert by Julie Ann Carr a professional concert organist who demonstrated her skill and the power of our organ in lsquoAn Evening with Juliersquo

A total of over pound2500 was raised towards the General Church Fund and the Building Fund

2012 was a very eventful year for the UK with the Queenrsquos Diamond Jubilee followed by the Olympics St Maryrsquos Mothersrsquo Union members celebrated these events in their own style In June an Evening of Royal Memories was held to celebrate the Royal Jubilee Everyone came suitably attired in lsquoposh hatsrsquo and raised a glass in toast to the Queen To prepare for the Olympics in a warm up to the main event there was a Pancake Tossing competition on Shrove Tuesday and in May members of St Peterrsquos Mothersrsquo Union joined us in a Mosquito Drive The competitiveness shown on both these occasions was no less than that shown by any Olympian During the rest of the year there have been a variety of guest speakers and an outing to Warburton Old Church together with the Annual Dinner and Pre-Christmas Jollification with Church Womenrsquos Fellowship members

2012 Report Page 4

MOTHERSrsquo

UNION

A Celebratory

and Athletic

year for the

Mothersrsquo Union

THE FELLOWSHIP WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS

The Fellowship was pleased to welcome several new members in 2012

They along with the existing members enjoyed a wide ranging pro-

gramme of events including talks on the CAB the work of a Communi-

ty Policemen a virtual tour of Nova Scotia and life as an organist with

a demonstration of the skills needed to play this instrument

There were celebrations held on St Valentinersquos Day with chocolates

and love poems and on the Queenrsquos Jubilee when memories of the

day 60 years ago were shared memorabilia shown and crowns worn

There were also the regular events the Beetle Drive the Annual Din-

ner the Christmas Social with Mothersrsquo Union members and the

evening outing which in 2012 was to St Roccorsquos Hospice in Warring-

ton to see the recently completed new additions to the Day Care Cen-

tre

During the year the Church Reading Group has continued to be very well attended Books discussed included Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton Perfect People by Peter James Oth-

er Peoplersquos Money by Justin Cartwright and The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon To mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of

Charles Dickens we read The Tale of Two Cities Our avid readers enjoyed lively discussions and enjoyed sharing their views about the very varied choices of books which they had enjoyed During Lent 2012 two adult groups met to follow the York Course for 2012 lsquoHanding on the Torchrsquo Another adult group followed Peter Privettrsquos Living in a Fragile World a meditation in the Godly Play style reflecting on the fragility of the earth the vision of God and finishing with the Easter message of hope

Discussi

on and

Study

Social Events

Page 5

Puddings

Concerts

and

Church

Mice

A BIG THANK YOU helliphellip hellip to all those who have supported the many and varied fund raising events throughout 2012 The Pudding Club continues to be a popular attraction In May the theme was lsquoRoyal Jubileersquo with traditional English Puddings being served and in December there were the usual and unusual seasonal puddings

Still on the theme of food in April a Spring Walk was arranged when many energetic walkers and assorted dogs started the morning with coffee and croissants before heading off

round Spud Wood returning to enjoy bacon butties At Easter many attended the break-fast held on Easter Sunday which was served between the two morning services Two of our more energetic walkers Maggie and Chris Maudsley under-took the 15 mile Wirral Sponsored Walk in May

During the Lymm Festival a lsquoFestive Funrsquo afternoon was held in church providing fun for all the family This included a lsquoFind the Church Mousersquo trail quizzes for the adults plants to buy the tower was open for those with heads for heights and a deli-cious selection of cakes were served In September we were pleased to play host to the massed choirs of the Cantorum Choir and Gothenburg Police Male Voice Choir from Sweden and the Greater Manchester Police Male Voice Choir In all 100 voices entertained a very appreciative audi-ence In October we went to visit the Black-pool Illuminations enjoying a fish and chip supper And the year closed with a concert by Julie Ann Carr a professional concert organist who demonstrated her skill and the power of our organ in lsquoAn Evening with Juliersquo

A total of over pound2500 was raised towards the General Church Fund and the Building Fund