St Mary the Virgin
EWELL PARISH CHURCH

ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2003

Background
St Mary the Virgin is the parish church of Ewell. Its postal address is London Road, Ewell, Surrey KT17 2BB although most correspondence is directed through the Vicarage, Church Street, Ewell, Surrey, KT17 2AQ. St Mary’s Parochial Church Council is a charity excepted from registration with the Charity Commission. Members of the PCC are trustees of the charity for the term of their appointment. During 2003 St Mary’s banked with Barclays Bank plc, Epsom. The appointed auditor was Kevin Mallett.

Aims and organisation
The PCC (Powers) Measure 1956 states that the PCC is to co-operate with the incumbent in promoting in the parish the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. St Mary’s PCC also has maintenance responsibilities for the Church and Church Hall, for the churchyard immediately surrounding the church, for the large churchyard extensions in Church Street and for the interior of the Vicarage.

In accordance with the Church Representation Rules, Members of the PCC are either ex-officio, elected by the Annual Parochial Church meeting (APCM) or co-opted. During 2003 the following served as members: 

Incumbent:	The Reverend Richard Hanford	Chairman
Reader:	Mr Reginald Saunders			
Wardens:	Mr David Hill		(Vice Chairman until May 2003)
Mrs Gilda Everson	(Vice Chairman from May 2003)
		Dr David Dance			 (from May 2003)
Representatives on DeanerySynod:
Mr Norman Hale
		Mr Bill Rackham
		Mr Julian Varney
Elected Members:
		Mrs Gill Bird				(until APCM 2003)
		Mr David Crick			
		Mrs Jenny Dance
		Miss Valerie Fuller			
		Mr David Hill				(from APCM 2003)		
Mr George Jarrett
		Mrs Sarah Lutton
		Mrs Miriam Massey			(Joint Treasurer – co-opted after APCM 2003)
		Gp Cpt Freddie Melrose		(until APCM 2003)
		Miss Janet Morrison
		Miss Kathleen Murphy		(Joint Treasurer)
		Mr Peter Pledge
		Mr Richard Rothwell			(from APCM 2003)		
Mrs Angie Samways			
		Mr Morris Scott			
		Mr David Slattery
Mrs Sarah Stovell
		Mrs Lynne Yuille			(Secretary)

The PCC operates through a number of committees, which meet between full meetings of the PCC.

Standing Committee
This is the only committee required by law. It has power to transact the business of the PCC between its meetings, subject to any directions given by the Council.
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Estates Committee
Attends to matters relating to the stewardship of plant, such as the church buildings and fabric, the churchyard, the church hall and the vicarage.

External Affairs Committee
The Committee has overall responsibility for St Mary's charitable fundraising, and for our overseas links with the parish of Corriverton in Guyana and the Jeel al Amal boys’ home in Bethany. At Harvest, it supervises the distribution of foodstuffs and clothing for the homeless and elsewhere, and of flowers to those parishioners bereaved during the previous year. It oversees the welcome afforded to visitors to St Mary's and keeps under review the relationship of the church to the wider community. 

Church Attendance
There are currently 204 parishioners on the Church Electoral Roll (12 having been removed and 8 added since April 2003). Usual Sunday attendance during 2003 was 133, with additional numbers at festivals. The ‘family’ services remain popular. 

Review of the Year
The full PCC met five times during the year with an average attendance of 74 per cent. 

The new window to commemorate the Millennium and the Queen’s Golden Jubilee was dedicated by the Bishop of Guildford on Palm Sunday and has been much admired.

A church website has been set up (www.stmarysewell.com) and has been viewed by a gratifyingly large number of people.  A folder containing a print out of the site is located in the welcome area and updated monthly, allowing those without internet access to remain aware of what is being posted. The site is monitored by a small Website Group whose members are also concerned with maximising the effectiveness of the church office technology.

During 2003 the PCC has been much concerned with matters relating to the church fabric. A major undertaking will be the refurbishment of the stonework and any necessary works to the church roof. 

With the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act coming into force in October, plans for replacement doors and a ramp affording disabled access to the South Porch have been approved and it is hoped that building work will commence in May. The Estates Committee also has in mind the need for a disabled toilet in church.
 
Progress is being made with upgrading the church hall. The proposals include moving the kitchen to the back of the hall, provision of access and toilet facilities for disabled people, a new boiler and replacement electric wiring.

All the above will result in heavy calls upon St. Mary’s financial reserves. 

The safety of the gallery has been a long-term concern. A proposal for erecting railings was considered prohibitively expensive and the gallery has therefore been closed to the public. We are very grateful to Ray Eyres for fitting gates at the top of the stairs and at the entrance to the front row of the gallery. Ray has also erected security grilles over the millennium and fire restoration windows and is currently engaged in crafting a security partition in the church office.

New noticeboards have been acquired for the front of the church and for the Church Street/London Road corner of the churchyard. 

Plans are under way for a peal board in memory of John Beams in the belltower and for a churchyard seat in memory of Canon Howarth.

The Vicar was installed as Honorary Canon of Guildford in October 2003.

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The churchwardens have continued to press the Diocese for support for St Mary’s but despite a July meeting with the Archdeacon of Dorking have so far been unsuccessful in obtaining practical help for the parish. However, we have been lucky this year to have the help of the Reverend Dr Patrick Miller on an informal basis. Dr Miller was previously Head of Esher College and lives locally.
External Affairs                                                                                                                                           
Charitable giving improved again in 2003 to a total of £4,597. The Lent Appeal raised £710 for Echo, a charity which began here in Ewell but now operates internationally. 
Thanks go to Frank & Ruth Stockwell who ran the Christmas Market which on a “foul weather” day raised £1,440. This was divided equally between our linked parish of Corriverton in Guyana, the Princess Alice Hospice, Send a Cow [livestock to African farmers] and St Luke’s Hospital for the Clergy. A record £1,160 was given to the Christmas cash collections for two children’s charities: CHICKS (Country Holidays for Inner City Kids) and The Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity.
Thanks to the Wednesday Coffee mornings, which continue to thrive, the Jeel al Amal Boys’ Home in Bethany was sent a cheque for £725. Children’s Society Boxes raised £520.00
Large quantities of dried and tinned foods collected at Harvest were divided between Waterloo Christian Centre and Vaughan House, Guildford.    
Reluctantly we had to cease the Wednesday “Churchwatch” arrangement, but hope to open the church on 11th September and 11th November each year for quiet reflection. 
Housegroup

The Tuesday Housegroup continues to flourish. It meets each week for a varied programme of study, worship, reflection, discussion, prayer and fellowship. During the last year the group has looked at a number of unsung heroes of the Bible, and watched and discussed a powerful series of video teaching sermons on St John's Gospel. We have also supported ecumenical prayer evenings in Ewell and enjoyed a number of group social evenings. In all this, we are continually strengthened in faith and fellowship.   

Children’s Activities 

Children’s activities are a major focus for the parish and the PCC has been much concerned with meeting the Diocesan requirements for Child Protection procedures. All members of staff and volunteers who have contact with those aged 17 and under should now have signed Confidential Declaration Forms. Council is working with the two Child Protection Representatives Jayne Strutt and Lloyd Mullen to evaluate the new requirements for Criminal Records Bureau vetting.

Children’s Hour: Numbers attending regularly are well into double figures and the age range is widening to include 6-year-olds.    This year we have had a party at Toddlers and an Open Day, inviting those within the age range who were baptised at St Mary’s.  As a result several children have become regular members of Children’s Hour. 

Crèche:  We have arranged an in-church crèche in the Vicar’s robing area at the back of the church which has provided an opportunity for parents of babies and very young children to take part in the 0930 service without parting from their children.   Two families make use of this at present.  In addition there are “busy bags “ for slightly older children who stay with their parents in Church. 

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Wayfarers:  Wayfarers in its present form is now in its third term, thanks to the contribution made by six members of the congregation, two of whom take three sessions per term.   The system seems to work well.  The young people are able to form a relationship with their teachers while the burden of teaching is evenly shared.    We have recently bought new, more up-to-date teaching materials.                                           

Choir Club: Officially under the auspices of the choir.  The club now meets on Fridays and occasionally includes aerobic-s/dance led by a lady who helps at Monday Toddlers.

Family Services: These have increased to eight and continue to be well supported – especially at Christmas or when animals or puppets are involved.

Toddlers:  Numbers hold up well.  Mothers have come forward to carry out the week-to-week running of the groups and members of our regular congregation provide a link with the Church at each session. We now need a volunteer to replace Sarah Stovell who is stepping down as the overall administrator of the Toddlers after many years of devoted service.  We are very grateful to Sarah for all that she has done and continues to do in her work for the children of this parish.    

Children’s Praise:  We have been obliged to put Children’s Praise sessions on hold until we can find a volunteer to replace Kathie Burgess who has run the monthly sessions for the last eighteen months.   We are extremely grateful to Kathie for her contribution.   

A great deal of hard work has been done already by all involved in our children’s activities to help our young people to understand the basis of our Christian belief, to demonstrate the inclusiveness of our worship at St Mary’s and to increase the number of young children and their families at our regular worship.    We now want to move forward.  At our most recent meetings we have discussed several proposals which we intend to implement in 2004.   These are:

1.	Children’s Hour will hold at least two Bring a Friend days.
2.	To encourage even stronger links between the Brownies and Guides and the Family Services.
3.	Wayfarers and the Under-18s in the Choir to be encouraged to plan and execute a Family Service
4.	To revive the Music Group to play at Family Services in particular.
5.	To link the receiving of Baptism Certificates with our Family Services so as to encourage families to keep in touch.
6.	To display some of the Children’s Hour work in Church so that members of the congregation can keep abreast of what they are doing.
7.	To enlist more help with Children’s Hour as the numbers increase
8.	To enlist another baptismal visitor.

If anyone has a few hours a week to devote to work with our young people, please get in touch with the Office.  We shall be pleased to hear from you. 

On behalf of the PCC

Canon W R Hanford (Chairman)
March 2004