Christ Church Douglas-in-Parbold

Annual Report April 2007 to April 2008

Parish Administrator - Frances McGucken

Pastoral Auxiliary & J08 Youth Work - Joanna Ashcroft

Sunday School (JJ08 & J08) - Michele Holliday

Crèche - Jo Higgins

Noah's Ark - Jill Bithell

Parish Administrator
Report of the Under 18s "Safe from Harm" Coordinator: Frances McGucken

During the past year the activities relating to the work amongst the under eighteen church "population" has continued and the Safe from Harm procedures remain intact. The annual registration form for Sunday morning activities is being used, and its use should be extended to cover the JO8 members who attend at other times. This will be implemented immediately.

New helpers in the various young peoples' groups have had applications made for CRB clearance. CRB clearance applications have completed for new helpers of the Noah's ark group as well.
On October 29th 2007, in anticipation of the Vicar's retirement, I attended the Board of Education (of Blackburn Diocese) CRB Approved Signatory Course. This means that in the absence of an incumbent, I will be responsible for checking and signing all CRB applications.

I wish to thank all the leaders of the young peoples' groups for their co-operation.

Pastoral Auxiliary: Joanna Ashcroft

This role seems to have merged with the youth group and it has taken over my life.

JO8 Youth work (11-16s); Joanna Ashcroft

Since the last report we have continued to meet in the church most Sunday nights with the occasional break when we meet in the WI hall and someone's house for pizza and DVD night. We have really missed Brian but he has left us with enough grounding for us to carry on. I feel that now we are one group rather than the older group and the younger ones. We do still stay on later with the older group usually for a chat and discussions. I have had a lot of help from Becky, Rob, Charlotte and Martin and we meet regular for group leaders meetings. We do try to vary the youth meetings each week along with outings usually on Fridays and Saturdays. We went to see Y Friday (a Christian rock band) a few weeks ago a bit loud but the kids enjoyed it. We have lots of activities planned but they need to be agreed by the PCC. At the moment we are planning a service for May.

Please continue to pray for us as some of the group would like to be confirmed, pray that we will grow together in the Lord and to do His will.

Sunday School (JJ08 & J08): Michele Holliday

There have been several changes in leadership since the last activity report. In August 2007 I took over responsibility for Sunday School from Derek Aschroft who had been in charge for several years. Indeed, in compiling this report, I would like to thank Derek for his hard work, commitment, encouragement and service to the Sunday School. I would also like to thank Derek for building up a good stock of resources which has meant our spending costs for this year have been minimal. In addition I would also like to thank Angela Cully for her years of service, commitment and hard work.

Until recently, the running of Sunday School has progressed fairly smoothly. In September I was very pleased that Sue Murrin-Bailey had volunteered to become a member of the Sunday School team but could see that Joanna Ashcroft was wilting. The burden of a full time day job, responsibility for the youth group, plus a variety of other church commitments and taking the 10-16's Sunday School class each week was too much. I therefore decided to reduce the number of Sunday School classes to two, which would enable a rotation system to be put in place.

The 4 - 8 year olds' class remained as it always had, with Diane Powell and Angela Cully leading them on a one month on, one month off basis. The 9-11 and 9-16 classes were merged. The idea was that we would change the structure of the lessons, try to make them fun and suitable for a broader age range. Sue, Joanna and I then intended to lead the classes on a monthly rotation basis. In actual fact we have found that, most of the time, the second class has consisted of the 9-12 year olds, which Sue and I have rotated. The teenagers have tended to opt to stay in the main service and then to go to the Young People's group held by Joanna Ashcroft at 7.30 pm in the evening.

Until March, the arrangement worked well and Sunday School has been booming, with an average of twenty to twenty five children attending each week. Unfortunately, whilst the numbers of children attending and enjoying Sunday School has been growing, the leadership has reached a crisis point. Due to family commitments, Angela Cully is no longer able to take the 4-8 year olds class and so far there have been no volunteers to take her place. Everyone involved with Sunday School has gained great enjoyment from leading a class on a rotation basis but a weekly commitment would be draining and eventually impossible to keep up. I would be willing to move across to take the 4-8 year olds' class on a rotation basis with Dianne. This, however, would mean Joanna would have to help Sue with the 9-12 year olds and also take youth group in the evening, which is asking too much on top of her other commitments.

I do so hope and pray that someone will be moved to volunteer to help with Sunday School. Whoever rises to the challenge would be given lots of support and assistance to get them going, not just thrown in at the deep end. Perhaps someone would be willing to offer occasional help, perhaps in a specialist area. Occasional help, for example, from people with skills in drama, dance, athletics, sport and nature study would be a great help. Even someone willing to offer assistance rather than leadership would be helpful. We could occasionally combine the classes into one but, with such a wide age range and numbers sometimes rising to thirty, there are far too many children for one person to cope with on their own.
In conclusion, the past year has been a successful one, with the Sunday School thriving and growing. How sad it would be if we become unable to sustain this success. Particularly so when, as you can see from Sue's report below, Sunday School can yield many benefits.

Sunday School - Sue Murrin-Bailey
We have had a very busy time over the last few weeks with both the J08 and JJ08 groups working well together.

The children have worked hard on formulating and discussing key words of faith, drawing them together to write a faith song which they have practiced in the sessions and will perform in Church on Palm Sunday.

They also contributed a segment to the Mothering Sunday service as we concentrated during two sessions discussing the importance of Mothers from Biblical stories and also how the children could identify how their own Mum's were reflected in everyday things in today's world.
Thank you for the opportunity it has been inspiring for the leaders as well as the led.

A few years ago Catherine Mercer started a rota of people to look after the under 3s in the crèche so the children's parents can participate in the service. Last year I took over the rota and we have continued to try and provide this facility at every morning service. We usually have two or three children at any one time with some parents staying with them while other children let their parents go back into church. We hope that as the children get to know us and the toys, they start to feel more comfortable with us. For those parents who are new or wish to stay with their child it is a time to get to know each other.

I would like to thank Catherine for starting and organizing the rota initially, and all the people who help or have helped out. If anyone would like to spend one Sunday morning every four to five weeks, sitting on the floor playing with the toys and getting to know the youngest members of our church family please contact me.

Assets as at 31st December 2007:
Closing Bank Balance £845.25
Petty Cash £128.84
Total Assets £974.09

Helpers: Frances McGucken, Lisa Walters (Spring & Summer Term), Deepika Hemmady, (Spring & Summer Term). From Autumn Term: Jill Bithell, Jan Mullen, Tammy Hewlett, Rachel Bartholomew, and Corinne Ainscough.

During 2007, Noah's Ark met on Wednesday mornings during School Term time, from 10.00-11.30 am in the Womens Institute in Parbold. It is an important meeting place for all those in the local community who care for and look after babies and toddlers.

We continue to attract 10-20 parents/grandparents/child-minders each session, so we are generally busy. We supply refreshments for parents and children and provide general unstructured free play for the children. Most weeks there is also some kind of activity, which the children are encouraged to participate in. This includes: making pictures, play-dough, card making, biscuit decorating and dressing up. On occasion, we have a storytime or musictime during the session which the children enjoy. During the year we have had a Phoenix Card sale, an Usbourne Book sale, and a Christmas party at Playmates, the Soft Play centre in Coppull.

From January 2008, the group has moved to a new venue in the school hall at Parbold Douglas School. This is still held on a Wednesday morning with a revised time of 9.45 am-11.15 am. This venue offers us a larger and brighter play space for the children, together with a more accessible storage arrangement for the toys.

Statement of accounts to be inserted.