The Minster Church of St Denys Warminster – Annual Report of the Parochial Church Council for the year ended 31st December 2019.
Administrative Information
The Minster is situated on the Bath Road, Warminster and is part of the River Were Benefice. It is part of the Diocese of Salisbury within the Church of England. The correspondence address is the Parish Office, The Minster Church of St Denys, Bath Road, Warminster, Wiltshire BA12 8PQ.
The Parochial Church Council (PCC) is a Charity and is registered with the Charity Commission of England and Wales as The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of St Denys, Warminster. Reg. No. 1174047.
Incumbent: Revd. Jacques Desrosiers.
Assistant Curate: Revd. Sue Hart.
Wardens: Mr David Prior, Vice Chairman. Mrs Sheila Pomeroy, Vice Chairman.
Deanery Synod Representatives: Mr Ray Shorto, Mr Tom Miller, Mrs Sue Allen.
Secretary: Vacant.
Treasurer: Nr Nick Humpherson.
The PCC Members who have served in 2019 were :-
Elected Members:
Until APCM 2019: Mrs Beverly Tonks, Mr Reg Doyle, Mrs Stacy Gardham.
Until APCM 2020: Mrs Janet Jackson, Mr Tony Wilcox.
Until APCM 2021: Mr Trevor Hobgen, Mrs Jayne Clarke – resigned August 2019, Mrs Helen Hitchings – resigned August 2019, Mrs Sylvia Short, Mr Tony Berridge.
Until APCM 2022: Mrs Dilys Acton, Mr John Acton, Mrs Julie Long, Mr Philip Short.
Bankers: Lloyds Bank, 37 Market Place, Warminster, BA12 9BD.
CAF Bank, 25 Kings Hill Avenue, Kings Hill, West Malling, ME19 4JQ.
Independent Examiner: Diana Miller, Robinson Miller, 3 Newopaul Way, Warminster, BA12 8RY.
Structure, governance and management
The method of appointment of PCC Members is set out in the Church Representation Rules. All Church attendees are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and stand for election to the PCC. The Minster Church of St Denys is part of the River Were Benefice incorporating this church, St Mary’s Upton Scudamore, St John’s Church Boreham Road and St Aldhelm’s Church Bishopstrow. It is led by the incumbent of The Minster Church, Revd. Jacques Desrosiers.
Objectives and activities
The Minster’s PCC has the responsibility for co-operating with the Incumbent, the Rev’d Jacques Desrosiers, in promoting in the Parish of Warminster St Denys the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. It also has maintenance responsibilities for the Church building and for the property, 22 Church Street, Warminster, held under Trust by the Incumbent and Churchwardens.
Achievements and performance
Church attendance and Services
There are 136 Parishioners on the Church Electoral Roll of whom approx. 15 are not resident within the Parish; the roll reduced by 30 during the year. The average weekly attendance at regular services during May was 93 with 7 under 16s. This average increases at festivals and, in particular, during the Christmas period when the attendance was 404 and 89 under 16s for our Carol, Crib, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services. In 2019 there were 21 baptisms, 3 weddings and 32 funerals, burial of ashes and thanksgiving services either at the church or crematoria.
Regular Sunday services are 8.00am Holy Communion and 9.30am Sung Eucharist. Once a month the ministry of Laying-on-of-hands takes place in the south transept during the 9.30 service, lead by a member of the retired clergy assisted by 2 lay pastoral assistants. Morning Prayer is held 4 mornings a week with Tuesday Morning Prayer followed by celebration of the Eucharist. The is a 9.00am Holy Communion every Saturday. Revd. Jacques Desrosiers and other Minster clergy lead the weekly and other occasional services at St Lawrence Chapel, Warminster.
Review of the Year
The full PCC met 7 times during the year other than the APCM. Committees met between Meetings and Minutes of those Meetings and Reports together with those of Deanery Synod and Churches Together in Warminster were received by the full PCC and discussed where necessary. The first meeting of the PCC after the APCM was preceded by a celebration of the Eucharist.
There is still no PCC Secretary taking responsibility for secretarial affairs but Mrs Sylvia Short kindly takes the minutes of the PCC meetings.
During the year Associate Priest, Revd. David Prescott, left the Benefice in May to take up the post of Chaplain at a school in Gloucestershire and our Assistant Curate Priest, Revd. Gay Maynard also left in July to join the Cley Hill Villages team.
Apart from the regular PCC meetings the Clergy and Churchwardens met fortnightly. The West End of the church was used regularly by various groups including monthly Sunday lunches, a mothers & toddlers group, twins club and brownies. Additionally, the Youth group meets monthly and the weekly coffee morning (Oasis) continues to be well supported. As a demonstration of public benefit, all these groups are offered the facilities of the West End without charge and the Parents and Toddlers group has been formally recognised by the PCC as a Minster Church group. Other bookings are also taken for one off events as the church building has a large capacity and lends itself for provision of concerts and recitals.
Unfortunately the monthly evening supper club “The Minster Arms’ closed in May owing to lack of support but the Sunday lunch from September to April is popular and well supported.
During the year a successful summer fete was held in the town park. This followed the pattern of 2018 as the change of venue from the rectory garden to the park had proved much more successful in attracting local townspeople as it is situated more centrally in the town. Other fundraising events included participation in the town’s “Spring in the Park’ event, a garden tea party at Westdown House, a special Sunday lunch and Stir-Up Sunday.
In early December the annual 3-day Christmas Tree festival was held. Once again it proved to be a well-supported success and attracted a large number of outside visitors from the town. The church was well filled with about 90 trees.
The boarding pupils at Warminster School joined us for one Sunday service whilst the whole school still uses the church for assemblies twice a week during term time. The Christmas carol service and Christmas Tree Festival service were opened up to the wider community with a number of local dignitaries participating in the services. The Minster also hosts the Annual Civic Service.
An ‘Away Day’ at Warminster Park Community Centre was held for the PCC and other members of the congregation and was attended by about 20 persons whilst a successful benefice weekend away was held in September.
During the year donations have been made to Christian Aid and others whilst all donations collected at the Lent lunches were to Tree Aid – a charity which, working with local communities, helps people in the African drylands lift themselves out of poverty to help protect and grow trees for themselves and future generations.
The Minster continues its close association with the Minster Primary School, St John’s Primary School and Princecroft Primary School. Clergy and members of the congregation lead weekly assemblies and serve on the board of governors of these schools. An “Open the Book’ team attends Princecroft School most Wednesdays during term time to enact bible stories and their efforts are well received and appreciated by pupils and staff alike.
The Minster hold quarterly Messy Church (called Messy Minster) with sessions held on a Saturday morning ending with a simple act of worship and lunch. They have proved to be very popular and well supported, especially by those who do not attend Sunday worship.
Space for Life is a drop-in joint venture with Christ Church that takes place weekly at a Coffee No1 in the town.
The church has a licensed Lay Worship Leader and 8 Lay Pastoral Assistants who support the clergy in their ministry. Holy Communion is taken every month to Wren House residential care home, Homeminster House and Imber Court and there are a number of individuals supported regularly by this team. Additionally, 5 members of the Minster congregation join others from local churches of all denominations as Warminster Street Pastors, each person attending on a 4-weekly basis. Prayer Pastors support the teams as they go out on a Friday night.
The church has a representative on Cornerstone – a community “drop in’ help centre open three mornings a week but which also goes out “mobile’ to Warminster Hospital and to two village locations and also on Space for Life – a weekly gathering at a local coffee shop for discussion and personal guidance. The church also has a representative on Churches Together and the Warminster Foodbank to which it regularly contributes goods.
The parish magazine, The Minstrel, is now edited by Sheila Pomeroy who has upgraded the print quality.
It has now become a tradition of Warminster School, that they allocate a day at the end of the summer term to work on various community projects in the town. One of those is to allocate a number of supervised pupils to help clean the church and also to do general gardening duties in the churchyard. The PCC is most grateful for this valuable work.
Fabric Report
In April the bells were lowered and removed for refurbishment and repair and the bell frame has been repainted and new sound insulation will be installed to replace the old sawdust which has been used for years. They are due to be returned during the late spring or summer and the faculty has been successfully extended to facilitate this. A gift day was for the bells was organised during the Patronal Festival weekend.
During September all the lead roofing above the west door and WC area was stolen over 3 nights. Police were informed and there had been a number of thefts from churches in the area. Unfortunately, that part of the roof was not alarmed but, subsequently, the alarm system has been extended to cover all the church roofing with the exception of the top sections of the nave which can only be accessed by crossing the lower sections which are alarmed. On the advice of the Archdeacon, it is proposed not to replace the lead with more lead but with a form of stainless steel and a faculty application is in process but is proving to be a tortuous process. Most of the cost is covered by our insurance.
In August a 2-metre section of the churchyard wall adjacent to Dorothy Walk was demolished by a car. The wall has been repaired and the cost borne by the driver’s insurance except for about £100 which we have had to pay. (The driver’s insurance would only pay a certain amount which they considered to be the true cost of repair, but which was unrealistic considering that 2 quotations were received).
All the pendent light bulbs have been replaced with much brighter long-life bulbs and the high spotlights are replaced with more efficient bulbs as and when required.
It is planned to develop an area of the churchyard adjacent to Dorothy Walk into a wildflower meadow and we have been working with the Town Council (who have responsibility for the maintenance of the churchyard) to prepare the ground.
A comprehensive inventory of the church contents has been carried out and there were no significant changes revealed.
Financial Review 2019
Full details are shown in the Financial Statements but a brief summary shows that total operating receipts on unrestricted funds were £96,570 whilst payments were £97,914 giving an excess of expenses over receipts of £1,344. Diocesan Parish Share increased by £2,849 (+7.7%) and was paid in full as it has been since 2013.
The property, 22 Church Street, continues to be occupied by tenants and is largely self funding. Rental income received for the year was £7,979 with little expenditure incurred.
Synod Report
There were 3 meetings with the February meeting topic Empowering local Ministry. The May meeting was Funeral Ministry. The last meeting was held in October and was of a general nature. Financial / Sudan updates and reports from Diocesan and General Synods were received and discussed.
Safeguarding
The PCC complies with the duty under Section 5 of the Safeguarding and Clergy Discipline Measure 2016 having due regard to the House of Bishops’ guidance on safeguarding children and vulnerable adults.
During the course of the year a number of faithful worshippers died and their presence at our services and contributions over many years are greatly missed.
The PCC wishes to thank all those who contribute and support the life, ministry and mission of the church throughout the year.
