St.Nick's was fifty years old this year! The building was opened in 1955, closed between 1968 and 1998, and has now had seven years of regular use as a place of Christian worship.

We marked St.Nick's' birthday on St.Nicholas Day (December 6th) and were delighted to have Fr. Bill Shergold down to preach for us, and to be able to bless a new icon by Michael Coles in memory of his sister Daphne. We celebrated afterwards in the Neighbourhood Centre opposite the church and the St.Nick's community once again put on a wonderful meal for all our visitors. It was a day of great rejoicing.

Heartfelt thanks to the St.Nick's Wardens, our Treasurer and Council Secretary, and to all the members of the St.Nick's Council and the joint PCC. A huge amount of work is done at St.Nick's to keep various rotas going, to shape the future of our church in Council meetings, and to manage the day-to-day affairs of the church.

Thank you also to the Rector for his guiding hand and to all the Staff Team who have made frequent visits to St.Nick's throughout this last year.

The Council has worked particularly hard in overseeing the building work on the church hall. Approval for a grant from the Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) was secured on 3rd March 2005. An asbestos survey of the hall revealed that the tiles on the ceiling were made of asbestos and in the end the whole ceiling needed to come down. Work on the ceiling took place in November '05; on the heating, decorating and lighting in December '05 and January ‘06; on the floor in February '06 and on the partition behind the stage in March '06. The current estimate is that all the work on the hall will be completed by the end of May '06. Work then begins on using the hall in a way that is of real benefit to the church and the local neighbourhood.

We started work on the hall with our architect Tom Hornsby. Tragically Tom died in 2005. He was a very gifted architect, a wonderful human being and a great friend to this parish. The interior of St.Nick's on the church side bares his imprint and we remember him with great warmth and affection.

Gordon MacLaren, our current architect, took over and re-shaped the hall project and has worked tirelessly for us over the last six months to see the project through. Grateful thanks to him and John Baker for being the core of the planning-team for the hall.

We continued to be incredibly fortunate in the quality of the music at St.Nick's on a Sunday thanks to the work of our church musician Andrew Brown with Mike Ludlow on guitar. Thank you to both of them for their enthusiasm and commitment to St.Nick's.

Nell Hocking very sadly died on 28^th April 2006. Nell and her sister Doll are members of the St.Nick's congregation and the St.Nick's Lunch Club. They are both very well respected and well loved. We commend Nell to God's care, and pray for Doll in her bereavement.

Fundraising for the Delhi Brotherhood has continued throughout the year and contacts have been maintained and strengthened.

The Lunch Club continues to use the hall after a spell squashed together in the Sunday School room during the worst of the building work. Our cook Rita's cooking and the assistance of Molly have been attracting new members which is great to see.

The end of the year saw work begin in earnest on the Mission Action Plan (MAP). It was good to end by looking outwards. There will always be work on the building to do, but the really substantial work is nearing completion. The MAP work reminds us of the all important task of building up a Christian community here at St.Nick's that has a secure future, and - with the community at All Saints - tries to serve both God and neighbour in this particular corner of East London.

Andrew Wilson

April 2006