I begin as always by expressing my thanks to all my colleagues, the Churchwardens and other elected officials, and to all who lead or support our many activities as a parish. Perhaps, it is my age (!), but the Parish seems to be getting busier and, as always, nothing could have been achieved without the hard work, generosity, commitment, support and faith of so many people. An especial “Thank you” for all the hard work and enterprise during my sabbatical from September – December 2006. It was a great comfort to me to know that while I was out of the country everything parochial was in safe hands. We really are fortunate to have a large number of people who work very hard – many often unseen and unknown to the congregation – to ensure the continuance of our life, worship and activities. My grateful thanks to them all.

St. Nicholas Church Centre

I am pleased to report that the congregation at St. Nicholas continues to grow and to be an effective witness and presence of the Aberfeldy Estate under the leadership of Fr. Andrew. It is good that members of our two congregations feel able to worship together and join in activities in both our churches, and I hope that it will be possible in the coming year to encourage and facilitate greater contact and fellowship between members of the different congregations in both churches. You will see from Fr. Andrew’s report that a great deal has been achieved in the last year and the buildings are in excellent condition. It is always a joy to lead or share worship at St. Nick’s and I hope that we will keep the life and ministry of the St. Nicholas Church Centre in our prayers.

Ministry

John Seymour, was ordained Deacon at St. Paul’s Cathedral on July 1st last year and joined us as Curate. He hit the ground running and has already made his mark as he develops his ministry with us, especially taking the lead with our volunteers in our participation in the Diocese’s youth ministry training scheme run in conjunction with the Children’s Society and the Y.M.C.A. (An update on this is contained in the current issue of the “Parish News”). John will be ordained priest on Saturday June 2nd , and will preside at the Eucharist for the first time at All Saints on Sunday, June 3rd . In addition, Henderson George (one of our Readers and a long-standing member of our congregation) will complete his training for ordination this summer. He will be ordained Deacon at St. Paul’s Cathedral in July and will serve as Curate at St. James, Hackney. We will give him a proper “send-off” before he goes. Last year Margaret Baker (at St. Nicholas) completed her training as Parish Assistant to assist in pastoral work in the Parish, and Pat Triggs will complete the same course this summer. Modupe Kenku has begun the three year course of training for Reader ministry. It is wonderful that more people are thinking about offering themselves for the variety of ministries the church offers, and I ask you to keep them all in your prayers. If you are interested in training for ministry, please look at the notices on Training & Courses in the church and speak with one of the staff team. Five members of the congregation from All Saints & St. Nicholas also participated in the 2006/7 “New Step” course chaplained by two of our Readers (Helen Palmer and Michael Keyte). Speak to them if this may be something you would like to explore.

Fellowship Groups & Mission Action Plan

These groups for sharing, support, prayer and learning are now underway – each with it’s own distinctive character. Details about the groups and their purposes can be found on the notice boards and I hope that over the coming year more groups will be formed. The larger the congregation, the more important it is that we have effective ways of enabling pastoral care and nurture in the Faith. The PCC also agreed our Mission Action Plan for the next three years with it’s initial plans for enabling our Christian community here to be –
          a sign of God’s presence;
          a source of spiritual nourishment and healing (for ourselves and others);
          a fellowship which welcomes and brings together the community;
          a refuge

The congregation at St. Nick’s and at All Saints will each work out it’s own way of making this more real and effective, so please read the Mission Action Plan and see if there is any way in which you can play a part.

Money

We managed to pay all our bills last year and make generous donations to charities in addition to the fund – raising that was necessary to meet our own expenses. I thank people for their time and generosity, but also remind us all of the need for continued realistic, regular giving in the coming years as we try to meet our day to day expenses  and  contribute more to the costs of ordained ministry in the parish and the work of the Diocese and national Church. Our contribution to the Diocesan/Ministry costs for 2006 was £40,000 – increasing to £44,000 this year. Despite our giving and fund-raising we are still heavily subsidised by other Parishes in the Diocese, and we thank them for it. I am sure, too, that the Treasurer would want me to remind everyone who pays tax on of the need to Gift Aid their giving so that we can re-claim the 28 pence already paid in tax on every £1 given. I am pleased to report that more of our members are using the weekly envelope scheme, too. Our Treasurer would love to speak to anyone who would like more information on any of these matters!

Below I list some of the statistics and events that readily come to mind:

1. the statistics for occasional offices we have performed in the past 12 months (previous year’s totals in brackets for comparison are :

                    36 (45) funerals – of which 7 (9) were in church;
                     3 (5) burial of ashes in the Garden of Remembrance;
                    56 (51) baptisms;
                    10 (8) weddings;
                    32 (20) people were confirmed in June.
Statutory Minister’s fees paid, where appropriate, for these services amounted to £3342 (£3357) and were paid to the Diocese towards clergy stipends.

• the Prayer Healing Group continues and the Services of Prayer for Healing will continue to be held at regular intervals in both churches;
• the 2006 retreat was at Alton Abbey;
• the work with children and young people continues and many of the parents in our congregation play an active part in the leadership. Our thanks to them for keeping this work alive, especially in Junior Church and during week-long marathon activities of Holy Week
• we continued to support many charities as a Parish, including our commitment to the Delhi Brotherhood Society. It was a great joy and an intensely moving experience to finish my sabbatical with the community in India and to see at first hand the tremendous difference their programs of community engagement, empowerment and charitable and educational help are making to the poor and marginalized in the community. A display of their work is on show at All Saints and on their website www.delhibrotherhood.org
• which leads nicely to the good news that we now have our own Parish website – www.parishofpoplar.com and we are all grateful to Michael Sheldon for the hard work and expertise which made it possible;
• volunteers continue to make it possible for All Saints to be open and available at lunch times;
• the annual service of remembrance in November for the friends and families of those whose funerals we have conducted is appreciated and continues to be well attended;
• the Crypt has been used on a regular weekly basis by the Parent & Toddlers Group, the Tuesday Lunch Club (newly re-formed by volunteer young mums), Barnardo’s  outreach work to families in temporary accommodation; and is used regularly by all the other groups and activities associated with the church and the parish.
• The staff continues it’s weekly involvement taking assemblies at St. Saviour’s School. We congratulate the school on its continued deserved popularity with parishioners.
• The conduct of regular worship continues to benefit from a large number of people who give their time to ensure that it happens well. My thanks to them all. Perhaps, this year an especial mention can be made of the Choir, which is attracting new members and which now has a junior section. We should also congratulate our Director of Music, Brian Hagger, who in July was awarded the Melitus Medal by the Bishop of London to mark his 50 years as organist. A remarkable achievement and commitment. Thank you, Brian.
• The Wednesday evening informal Mass continues to attract a large number of people. As part of our Mission Action Plan we will be exploring ways of developing the varied and informal style of that service;
• The PCC appointed Patrick Crawford as Inspecting Architect for out 2 churches and he visited the parish earlier in the year. He comes highly recommended by the Diocese and we look forward to working with him.
• The ministers of the local churches continue to meet monthly over breakfast and we have maintained the pattern of regular acts of joint worship throughout the year.
• The Docklands Singers continue to use the church for at least one concert each year.
• It was good to welcome back members of the SPY Club (South Poplar Youth) for their re-union in the Crypt. Their fund of stories about the parish as it was is always informative!
• A great deal of hard work went into a well-attended celebration of All Saints Day on November 1st with Bishop Stephen of Stepney as President and Preacher. My thanks to all for their hard work.

There are, of course, many other people who have been and are working hard in many ways which have not been mentioned, and, on behalf of the congregation, I thank them all.

The Church Electoral Roll is having its 6 yearly revision as I write. Last year it stood at 318. The total will be presented in two weeks before the Annual Parochial Church Meeting scheduled for April 29th, but will not be so high: many of those who have come into the Church through adult baptism and confirmation have moved out of London, and that is a common trend in the east end. Whatever the total is, these figures will be an important reminder to us of the need to develop effective ways of sharing our faith with others and encouraging more people to join us. The Christian Church in Poplar and throughout the Borough needs to grow and each of us has a part to play in that. We are in the process of compiling an up-to-date database and that, with the new web site, should make it possible for more effective communication with everyone.

Finally, many thanks again for all your support. May God guide and bless all we attempt to do together in His name.

Alan Wynne                                                                                                     April 2007

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The annual report for 2007 by Father Andrew Wilson concerning life at St Nicks'
may be found here >