On May 11 2025 we had our Annual Parochial Church Meeting, during which our activities throughout 2024 were reviewed. Here is Rev Steve’s report:
“I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1.6). Portraits of Church life are vivid, personal and full of action. But a spirit needs a body and a fellowship requires a place to meet. To be sustainable, every activity has – quietly and with discretion – a balance-sheet. Every meeting-place has a roof, a design and some very necessary gutters!
For this Annual Report, please give thanks for the people who sustain the life of our fellowship through their attention to the infrastructure that keeps us alive and ministering, to one another and to the parish that we serve. Behind every line of the balance-sheet is a life with which we have engaged – and, behind every repair to the building, there is an activity that could not have happened without a healthy physical home. This, too, is part of the ministry of Christ’s Body – in Holyrood and Simister.
Our website declares: “Our mission statement is to worship God, follow Jesus, serve our neighbour and welcome all, which can be summarised as WELCOME, WORSHIP, FELLOWSHIP, SERVICE.”
Thank you to everyone who has made me feel so Welcome as have settled into this new role of Vicar since my licensing on 21 April 2024. It is a privilege to serve you in this way – and I am indebted to you, and especially to your prayers, for the ministry that we exercise together here. At the same licensing service, we commissioned a Focal Minister for each of the two churches in the parish – Revd Sue Walker for St Margaret’s and Revd Christine Hardy for St George’s.
That Welcome extends to the Ordinations that we celebrated in June – our Curates, Revd Helen Tyler, as a Priest on 29 June, and Revd Christine Hardy, as a Deacon on 30 June – to be followed by Revd Helen’s First Eucharist on 7 July, and we look forward to Revd Christine’s very soon this year in 2025!
An essential part of St Margaret’s and St George’s ministry are the Authorised Lay Ministers that we have – Andrew Ginn, Carol Olive and Carol Porter (who was re-commissioned at the Cathedral on 21 September). They play a discreet but highly effective role in the life of our fellowship.
We are indebted to our Wardens, Laurel Avery and David McConville, and our Deputy Wardens (with an eye on St George’s), Joan Knott and Carol Knaggs, for all their hard work throughout the year. We also rely heavily on our PCC Secretary, Joan Evans, and our Honorary Treasurer, Janet Dalton, the evidence of whose work also runs throughout this Report. Our Child Protection Officer, Jacqui Jackson, also has a key role of responsibility, which we are very grateful to her for fulfilling.
Jesus said: “I am the vine; you are the branches. Apart from me, you can do nothing.” (John 15.5). Worship is the heart of our life. We give thanks for all who help us to prepare: our Musicians, Carol Porter our Director of Music, Tom Dalton our organist, Maggie’s Music Makers; our Sacristans, Ray and Pat Coleman: our Sanctuary Team, led by Judith Murphy. Remember, too, our regular ministry of Wholeness and Healing within the context of Worship, with thanks to Carol Olive; Home Communions, with thanks to Andrew Ginn. The Retreats at Foxhill and Parcevall Hall are special moments in our Calendar. We are seeing encouraging growth in numbers among young people engaging with our worshipping life, through monthly Messy Church at Lady Wilton Hall and monthly Sunday Club (sometimes attracting up to 20 people).
Fellowship is the oxygen of our community. We give thanks for all who help us to meet regularly together in such creative ways – to study (with our Advent and Lent Group), to read (our Book Club), to serve (our special events: our Plant Sale, our Christmas Fair), to eat (our Lenten and Harvest lunches, and Young at Heart at Christmas), to meet (our Social Circle, our trips out, and the regular Tea-Pot Time in Simister).
Service is our calling. We do this through regular ministries, such as Rhyme Time among pre-school children, and the knitting of Prayer Blankets; charitable giving, such as our regular gifts to Porch Boxes, Christian Aid, Leprosy Mission, Children’s Society and our annual Macmillan Coffee Morning; and the nurture and encouragement of others through our buildings and institutions – especially Church House (the home of Cherry Trees Nursery and many other community activities); and St Margaret’s Youth and Community Centre (the home of Rainbows, Brownies, Guides, Beavers, Cubs and Scouts as well as a new local authority youth club and popular youth martial arts).
An essential part of our presence in our local community is, of course, St Margaret’s Primary School. It was good to share with them in such a positive Ofsted Report this year. Their Ethos Group is a distinctive and important sign of their spirituality. Our role among the Governors is especially significant. Please continue to remember Governors, Staff, Parents and Children in your prayers.
Brother Roger of Taizé says: “What God asks of us, he gives.” Let’s face the challenges of the New Year with confidence in his grace.
St Margaret's Church Prestwich 