Church Wardens report for the Annual General Meeting held on 25th April 2010

  

This last year has once again been an active and busy one in the life of this church.

At the start of the year there was still some outstanding work to be done mainly to the Coleman hall. It was decided that it first needed to be decluttered and Conway and his helpers undertook a GRAND CLEAR OUT before work could commence. I personally think it is looking good now. The tiles on the walls and the floors are easier to keep clean and the new paintwork, fans etc have given it a completely new look.

The contract with Centre Stage for the use of the Coleman Hall has been renewed again this year and the rental increased in line with inflation. Conway continues to do sterling work among the youth of the island and we are proud of his achievements

In early November the annual church bazaar was held thanks to Lynne and her band of helpers. It was a great relief to the Wardens when Lynne offered to coordinate and run the bazaar and despite being a very new member of the church as well as being new to the island she did a magnificent job for which we thank her. The good news is she has agreed to do it again this year (some people are gluttons for punishment) As usual a good time was had by all who helped as well as by those who attended.

The 2 raffles in Summer and at Christmas were also a success despite the credit crunch and not having the draw of a cruise for the main prize. They were as usual in the capable hands of Ken and Sue and we thank them.              

                                                        

The Sunday school continues to flourish under the leadership skills  of Linda although the numbers fluctuate weekly. Sam and Fiona are proving to be capable and competent supports to Linda for this valuable and significant ministry in our church

The monthly all age service is now an important and stable part of our worship and we continue to have a noticeably different profile to the congregation on the first Sunday of each month. It is good to know that we are catering for the special needs of a younger or different  congregation as well as for the older members of our church family

On the ministry side we said goodbye in January to Michael Redfern the part time incumbant at Pollensa.

 

Both David and I attended his last service in January and it was a very moving occasion. The new priest Canon Mel Smith is due to take up the post in May and until then we have Paul Southern who is acting as locum and from what I hear he and his wife Lesley have settled in and he is doing a very good job.

We now have 3 new members of the congregation here who can now serve the chalice at communion and they are my fellow warden David, Val and Eddie.

There have been many other things happening at St Phillip and St James this year.

The Georgie Insull singers continue to entertain by both singing and their very famous sing-alongs. In doing so they raise lots of money for charities both here and abroad but we are aware of the amount of hard work this entails and so must say a big thank you to them all

Dick Welch and John Cade went off on a jolly to Peru in September to help people from the diocese of Europe who were building a church. I am not sure they they actually laid any bricks but I believe Johns diary is a very moving account of their time there and the help they did manage to give to the people of Peru. I look forward to reading it John.

We were also donated amongst other things a paschal candle from the family of the late Betty Smith and of course we have the "Tale of the Grand Piano" which still adorns the back of church awaiting a buyer preferably with a removal man in his family!!

Towards the end of this year the council started under the able leadership of Linda and Robert to look at our churches role in the community as a mission shaped church and you will I hope be seeing and hearing more about that once the new council are up and running.

Finally a big thank you from me personally to David for all his help and input this year and also to Robert for his ministry., patience, love and guidance not just to me, not just to us all here in church this morning  but to everyone on this island who asks for help or need a shoulder to cry on. Robert is always there and so much more than a priest to many people who never pass through these doors. Thank you Robert.