APCM 2025 Minutes

St. Lawrence with St. Paul Longridge

Minutes of the Annual Meeting of Parishioners held on

19^th May 2025

Present: Revd. Mike Barton, Dot Little, Dorothy Laver, Barbara Burton, Graham Kelsall, Mae Heys, Phil Jones, Adrian Mairs, Dorothy Mairs, Helen Bailey, Merilyn Kinrade, Vernon Kinrade, Val Wardley, Rosemary Lyons, Eileen Lewis, Terry Lewis, Ellen Dawson, Michael Dawson, Steph Willan, Helen Clements.

The vicar welcomed everyone to the meeting which commenced in prayer led by the curate.

Apologies were received from: Ali Ng, Kai Ng, Janet Heap, Lawrence Ingham, Hilary Ingham, Barbara McCormick, Karen Boardman, David Hartley, Wendy Smyth, Rie Rogers-Waterman

Following a proposal by Graham, seconded by Mae the minutes of the Annual Meeting of Parishioners held on 22^nd April 2024 were approved as a true record.

Election of Churchwardens

People allowed to vote are:

Anyone who lives in the parish of St Lawrence with St Paul
Anyone on the electoral roll of the Parish Church

Dot Little and Dorothy agreed to stand for election for another term as Churchwardens. There were no further nominations.

Dot was proposed by Steph Willan and seconded by Vernon Kinrade. Dorothy was proposed by Rosemary Lyons and seconded by Val Wardley.

As there were two vacant Churchwarden positions and two people standing, both Dot and Dorothy were duly elected unopposed as the new church wardens for St Lawrence with St Paul.

The vicar thanked Dot and Dorothy for being willing to serve St Lawrence with St Paul.

This concluded the ANNUAL MEETING OF PARISHIONERS

St. Lawrence with St. Paul, Longridge.

Minutes of the annual Parochial Meeting, held on 19^th May 2025

Present: See attendance list for Annual meeting of Parishioners (Vestry meeting) above.

Apologies were received from: See above.

Graham proposed and Vernon Kinrade seconded that the minutes of the meeting held on the 22^nd April 2024 were an accurate record. The motion was unanimously supported.

Matters Arising from the Minutes:

None

To receive a report on the changes to the roll since the last annual meeting

With 2025 being the one year in every six-year period when the Electoral Roll needs to be completely renewed, Michael Dawson, our Electoral Roll officer has been working hard behind the scenes to produce the new roll.

In accordance with the legal requirements, notice concerning the new Roll was circulated for over two months; since the beginning of March 2025, and the impact has been a significant drop from 217 registered people on the Electoral Roll at the 2024 APCM to a new a total of 155 people.

While at face value this doesn’t sound a positive development it far better reflects the size of our active worshipping community.

Sadly, included in this reduction are some dear congregation members who have died over the course of the last year. These include Janet Redding and John Dixon.

We remember such people with great affection for who they were and all their kind contributions to the life and worship of our St Lawrence with St Paul community. We spend a moment to place them and all those we love but no longer see before the everlasting arms of Almighty God.

God our father, we praise you for all who have lived and died in our church family. Thank you for the encouragement of their example, their witness which inspired us, and the memory of their lives which gives us cause to reflect with gladness at this time.

In response, teach us to number our own days aright so that enfolded in your everlasting arms we may know you more clearly, love you more dearly, and serve you more truly, to the honour and glory of your name. Amen

To receive an annual report on the proceedings of the PCC and the activities of the parish generally.

APCM Vicar’s Address 2025

^‘For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.’

(2 Timothy 1:6)

In the warmth of the ongoing May sunshine, last Tuesday I decided it was time to have our first BBQ of the year. And as you know in England a BBQ is a proper event, not to be entered into lightly!

So, I dug out the coals from the coal bunker, arranged them on our makeshift firepit BBQ and set to work starting the fire. The key of course to a good BBQ is to make sure that the initial fiery flames caused by setting the kindling alight burns long enough so the coals can catch fire to the point where the flames settle down and the whitening coals exhibit a hot red glow. At this point you know it’s time to put your burgers, sausages and chops etc on the grill, which needs to sit at just the right height above the coals. Too low and when the fat drops onto the coals – you know exactly what’s going to happen – whoosh, the flames will dramatically spark up again and burn the food to a crisp. Too high and they’ll be no flame grilling at all; the food won’t cook properly, the coals will lose their heat, and oh the shame if you have to retreat into the kitchen to use the oven grill and you’re left wondering why go to all the fuss in the first place! Makeshift BBQing is a tricky business. Maybe running a church is too, you need enough hot coals of faith burning to keep the church alive in the present, you must continually add fuel to the fire if the church is to remain hot into the future, and you need good governance structures operating at the right level to make sure everyone involved can properly taste and see the Lord is good. But over all this, what makes church life a proper event, what makes all the fuss worth it, is seeing the flame of God’s Holy Spirit actively revealing gifts and changing the lives of believers at various stages and every generation today. And here at St Lawrence with St Paul, the year since the last APCM on 23 April 2024 has been no exception and my sincere hope in this time of transition is we’ll continue to fan into flame the gift of God that lives in us for the future. In what follows I don’t want to steal the thunder of the Churchwardens’ and Treasurer’s reports which cover and gives thanks for all the amazing people and work that’s taken place in the area of our Church’s Fabric and Finances so I’m going to do my best to limit my report to some of the hot coals in our worshipping life as we review the previous period while also looking to the season ahead. Perhaps the first thing is to say is a big thank you to the PCC and Congregation for giving me the opportunity to have a three-month sabbatical from June-August last year. I really needed it, and it made a world of positive difference. I’m extremely grateful to Revd Simon for leading the Church during my time away. I know he did a great job which will stand him in good stead as he shortly starts as the new Vicar of St Leonard’s Penwortham. Thank you also to Revd Adrian and Kathleen Sturzaker for their extra help with the service leading and preaching. One of the strategic capacity-based decisions we took at the time was to move from having two morning services at St Paul’s Church, formal and informal, to one combined 10am service. It’s true that this decision meant we lost a few people who prefer a more modern style of worship but it seems Sunday morning remains a very contested space for many people, including young families, so when Revd Jesse arrives on 29^th June we’ll take an intentional look at how we can attract more people in the teen to early fifties age range to worship with us. In the waiting I’m deeply grateful to our Worship Group who have been very gracious in not being able to play in our services every week. Interestingly, overall, the numbers at our 10am and 6.30pm services over the year seem to be remaining healthy, and even steadily increasing. This is also true for our 10am Thursday morning Holy Communion service. I think there are some societal and structural reasons for this. From a societal perspective, there have been two major post-Covid shifts, the first is that the world seems and increasingly fragile and fearful place, and into this the good news of Jesus speaks the greatest message of hope. The second societal reason is that the once strident new atheism has proved to be vacuous in meaning and promise, and after all its proponents’ denigration of faith, their secular project has nothing to offer in return. This means people and especially younger generations are more open to exploring a life of spiritual significance. This is the societal wind fanning over our hot coals and structurally over this is how we’ve sought to increase the reach of our flame. Based on our overall vision of ‘Following Jesus in Loving Community’, I think the 2024 vision emphasis, ‘Following Jesus with the Northern Saints’ really captured people’s imagination, especially the trip to Durham Cathedral for those who were able to enjoy it. Then while we’re only halfway through this year’s vision emphasis, ‘Following Jesus in Reconciliation’, in a time of global upheaval the gospel theme of reconciliation with God and each other feels particularly apposite. Through the related Difference Course that Janet Mortimer (our new Licensed Lay Minister) and I were recently able to lead, thirty of us have learnt what it means to ‘Be curious, Be present and Re-imagine’ what’s possible in situations of conflict. The weekend before last we held a glorious VE Day themed Spring Fair followed by our Sunday services thinking about those who followed the way of Christ, giving their lives so we could know freedom. Then shortly, our summer preaching series will be based on the book of Ephesians which at its core has a message of how the cross of Christ destroys dividing walls of hostility, bringing peace between different groups of believers. To top this all off a day trip to Coventry Cathedral on Saturday 15^th November is being organised as we consider how reconciliation can be built from the ashes of war. We’ve also embarked on some notable projects. The most obvious one being the successful installation of a new Audio-Visual System at St Paul’s Church. Thanks to our congregation’s generosity in raising £16,000 and a matching £16,000 grant from Blackburn Diocese, we’ve been able to expand the horizon of our worship offering. Audioworks did a brilliant job of installing the system and I’d also like to pay tribute to Fred Little who has spent many hours behind the scenes working out how the new audio equipment works and Lawrence Ingham who is quietly building up a team of volunteers to help with the visuals and livestreaming of services. Next, I’d like to touch on our ‘Resourcing the Journey’ campaign that with our Treasurer, Graham Kelsall’s help, we launched at the start of the year as this directly ties in with some of our ambitious plans for 2026 which also marks the 100^th Anniversary of the creation of Blackburn Diocese. I trust you’ve already seen the booklet explaining our financial position and I hope you’ve prayerfully considered how to respond. Simply speaking we can no longer afford to set anymore deficit budgets and if we don’t balance our books we can no longer expect to offer the same level of Christian service to our community. As a congregation, time and time again we’ve proven our generosity to support individual projects and people, but now we need to fan into flame the gift of our regular giving.

One of the exciting reasons for this is that in August 2025, I’d love us to be in a confident financial position to apply for a Children and Youth Leader as part of what’s appropriately called Blackburn Diocese’s Ignite programme. I’ve every reason to suspect we can submit a successful application for a Children and Leader to start in January 2026 which would require increasing financial contributions from us at St Lawrence with St Paul, so that by the end of the 5-year project cycle we can pay such a person’s full salary.

As I look at our Longridge community a huge area for outreach and growth exists if we partner wisely and appropriately with our local High Schools and I believe this must be one of our major missional priorities moving forward. Like so many Anglican churches in the UK we tend to lose contact with children and their families from about school year 4 and despite extremely good relations with the staff and pupils at Longridge Church of England Primary School through things like Open the Book, we’re seeing fewer children coming forward for Confirmation.

Exploratory conversations about what might be possible at Longridge High School have already begun with Headteacher Mrs Green and I’m hopeful that any future support we’re able to offer would be a real blessing to them.

With this in mind, until a potential Ignite Children and Youth Leader starts with us, I’m going to ask our new curate Revd Jesse to make this a real focus of his initial ministry among us. Revd Jesse’s existing youth work experience means he is ideally placed to build on Revd Simon’s excellent work so that Revd Jesse can quickly get to know our wonderful Church Lads and Church Girls Brigade and Friday night Youth Group. Thank you to Ammi Bateson and others who volunteer locally on the ground to support this and Olivia Stewart who supports the work from her base in Saudia Arabia!

For my part I hope to support the work of our amazing Children’s Church Leaders to fan into flame the gifts of their ministry.

None of our ministry with children and teenagers would be possible though were it not for the important work of our Parish Safeguarding Officer, Elizabeth Hemingway and our Safeguarding Administrator, Barbara McCormick. In November 2024 we held our first Safeguarding Sunday which was then highlighted in the Diocesan newsletter to all the churches in Blackburn Diocese. Between them we’re getting to grips with the new Parish Safeguarding Dashboard and making sure all our volunteers have undertaken the necessary safeguarding training courses and checks.

Their hard work and effort go a long way to ensure our PCC complies with our duty to have due regard to the House of Bishops’ guidance on safeguarding vulnerable children and adults.

At this juncture I want to acknowledge two changes that have taken place in our sung worship. Firstly, in October 2024 we managed to recruit Annette Walker as our new Junior Choir Director. While our Junior Choir are just a small team of four singers at present, ably led by Annette, they’ve already enhanced our All-Together Services, and we hope to welcome more young singers as soon as possible.

Secondly, the celebrations of Easter Day also marked the last official services for Paul Warren as our Organist and Choir Director. He’s been a real credit to our church, and I’m delighted that he continues to ring the handbells and remains a worshipper with us at our evening service at St Lawrence. Paul was very gracious in giving us enough notice so that we’ve been able to seamlessly recruit the extremely capable Karen Au who it’s also been an absolute pleasure to welcome among us. Blessed by a Senior Choir we find ourselves in an ideal position to fan into flame the gift of our sung worship.

There are just a few more hot coals of our ministry I want to mention but before that I’d like to speak about an area which I fear risks going cold - This concerns the strength of our Corporate Prayer Life.

You might call prayer the firelighter that enables all Christian ministry to grow and flourish. In my first sermon here eight years ago I spoke from Acts 2:42 about the believers in the early church devoting themselves to four areas, like the four wheels of a car that make sure drives forward in straight line without swerving off the road.

These areas are the Apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer. During my Sabbatical I reflected that one of the reasons I’d got near the point of exhaustion was I was trying to do too much in my own strength without asking the God who created the universe to help!

In part my own fault, but sometimes I think our church drives too much like one of those three-wheeled Robin Reliant from Only Fools and Horses. If we’re really to fan into flames the gifts within all of us at St Lawrence with St Paul, we’re going to have to get serious about believing in the power of prayer. My hope was that the launch of the monthly prayer meetings called ‘The Well’ on a Monday nights would begin to address this issue but very few people attended. It could be that the cold winter evenings weren’t the ideal time for people to come out but still the priority remains.

For this reason, I’m going to ask Revd Jesse when he comes to help build our expectation in prayer.

Why? Because the wind of God’s Holy Spirit still mercifully blows among us, but we mustn’t take it for granted if we’re to add more fuel to the fire.

Positively now to close, in the last year I’ve see God’s Holy Spirit powerfully at work fanning into flame growth in many areas of the varied ministry we’re able to offer. Things like Grace Notes, The Bereavement Group and related Bereavement Journey Course. The Wednesday afternoon Welcome Café which on some weeks attracts 45 children and adults of all ages mingling together. And then there is the Thursday afternoon Neuro Diversity Group and Friday morning Churches Together Foodbank, both of which now receive increasing support through partnerships with people from Lancashire County Council. And I’ve not yet mentioned Brew Time, Walkie Talkies, The Crafty Café, The Mother’s Union and The Tuesday Club.

All this is backed up behind the scenes by our Parish Administrator Michael Dawson whose diligent and patient work behind the scenes provides

By God’s grace, we’re able to offer so many opportunities for people to interact with our loving community of St Lawrence with St Paul. And as we come together to fan the fire of God’s Spirit within all of us, my prayer for the future is that these interactions will lead to more followers of Jesus both here in Longridge and among those who remain dear to us, like the King family, as we send out to places like Penwortham.

To receive the financial statements of the PCC for the year ending 31^st December 2024

Treasurers report to APCM

Having welcomed everyone to the meeting Graham proceeded to talk through the 2024 year-end figures.

In 2024 the total receipts were £247,874 of which £102,897 was received as restricted funds, £2,071 was designated funds and £142,906 was received as unrestricted funds. This represented an increase in total income of £53,677. Planned giving, however, was £3,660 lower than in 2023, and collections at services continued to fall. The PCC continues to promote the Parish Giving Scheme alongside 'card machine' giving, and Clergy will continue to promote 'giving through grace'. Other voluntary receipts increased by £38,803 from £22,218 to £61,021 mainly due to donations received for the Audio-Visual project at St Paul’s, and the Lychgate fund at St Lawrences.

Gift Aid claims were lower than in the previous year at £19,219 compared to £39,198 in 2023. We continue to promote the Parish Giving Scheme (PGS), where eligible donations through this route automatically have Gift Aid reclaimed by PGS, and is received in the same month as the donation. A number of Gift Aid claims were outstanding at the year end and will be received in 2025.

Fundraising revenue was down by £2,561 and facilities rental income increased from £2,905, to £4,613. Fees for weddings and funerals increased by £1,198 to £21,522. Investment income rose by £4,624, due mainly to an increase in the Haighton Dividend.

We also sold some investments in the year generating £38,134.

We were in receipt of a grant from the Diocese towards the cost of the new Audio-Visual facilities of £16,429.

£224,109 was spent in total, to provide the Christian ministry from St Lawrence with St Paul, including the contribution of £89,217 to the diocesan parish share which largely provides the stipends and housing for the clergy.

Expenditure was up on 2023, by £34,838. This increase is due to more being spent on Repairs and Maintenance than in 2023, £32,233 as opposed to £60,056 in 2024. Included within the 2024 expenditure is the Audio-Visual Project at a total cost of £34,182.

Expenditure on energy, churchyard and running costs increased. Clergy and staffing costs were up by £1,446, mainly due to agreed increases in pay rates.

The net result for the year was a surplus of £23,765 for the year – however it should be noted that within this figure is the sale of investment receipt of £38,134. Had we not sold these shares, then we would be showing a deficit of £14,369

The value of a Central Investment Fund (CIF) share increased over the course of the year. However, as we realized £38,134 worth of shares, the actual end of year total value of our investments now sits at £309,371, a reduction in value of £28,777.

The United Utilities shares showed a loss of £283 following a decrease in the share price. This is a paper loss only.

The breakdown of the income from these shares/investments is detailed within section 5c of the financial statements.

Thanks were expressed to Jacqui Taylor for her work as Gift Aid Secretary, and to Dorothy Laver for reviewing the accounts prior to submission to the accountants.

There being no questions, Graham closed the presentation.

Fabric Report presented by Dot Little

Fabric Report presented by the Churchwardens.

First we would wish to offer our thanks and sincere good wishes to Revd. Simon and Tracy as they move to Penwortham and also look forward to offering a warm welcome to Revd. Jesse and his family as they prepare to move to Longridge. It’s a time of departures and welcomes.

Dorothy Laver and I have completed our second year together as your Churchwardens and I thank Dorothy for her help in putting this annual fabric report together. I have to admit that form filling, rotas and spreadsheets are not my forte, so I am especially grateful to Dorothy for dealing with the form filling required by the Diocese and for compiling the weekly Service rota which ensures Services are appropriately staffed and people know their duty dates well in advance. Dorothy and I would also like to thank Deputy Warden Mae Heys and indeed all the Duty Wardens and Sidespeople for their support and help Sunday by Sunday.

One of the roles of a churchwarden, and there are many, is to be involved in the life of the church and community, something we try to do and enjoy but for the purpose of this APCM the focus of our report has to be strictly on fabric and with two church buildings to maintain and hopefully enhance fabric issues are always going to take up a significant amount of time for the PCC and treasurer Graham Kelsall. We can however report a positive year where much has been achieved.

The new Audio-Visual system in St. Paul’s, a project match funded through the Diocesan Parish Vision Fund, was installed in September, 2024 and as we become increasingly familiar with the system is enhancing our Sunday morning worship. Going forward it will surely be used to further advantage as we found at the Longridge Band concert held in St. Paul’s earlier in the year. CCTV on the outside of St. Paul’s Church was also installed around the same time to give added security.

In October, 2024 we learned that we had been successful in obtaining a Net Zero Carbon Programme Quick Wins Grant via the Diocese to partly fund the replacement of all the bulbs and many of the fittings to LED at St. Lawrence – this covered both the church and the Parish Room. The work was completed in January 2025 and has made a notable difference to the brightness and hopefully to the energy costs.

At St. Paul’s Church we continue to move towards being fully LED with the majority of the bulbs if not LED being compact fluorescent’s so energy efficient.

This is perhaps a good opportunity to mention a relatively new sub group of the PCC set up to deal specifically with Fabric and Eco issues and we are grateful to Barbara Burton for leading and encouraging us to adopt a more environmentally aware way of doing things. Her report can be found along with the other reports in the June Log.

Trees at both churches featured in last year’s fabric report and we can now confirm that after seeking advice from the Diocesan Tree Specialist and approval from the Ribble Valley Countryside Officer twelve Ash trees at the top side of the carpark at St. Paul’s with Ash Dieback were removed in August 2024. We were grateful to John Collinson, Terry Lewis and other volunteers for helping remove much of the remaining vegetation waste following that felling but for ecological reasons that area is now currently being left.

Trees were a problem at St. Lawrence Church with tree roots of previously felled trees pushing a section of the boundary wall out of alignment and dislodging coping stones down the side of Happy Alley. We can report that the tree roots have now been removed and despite there still being a slight bowing in the wall the re-bedding and repointing work has stabilised this. Work on the memorial plaque in that area of the wall still needs to be addressed..

At the same time the stone steps at the Walton Fold end of the churchyard have been re-bedded and made safe for people wishing to go into the churchyard via this entrance.

No grants were obtained for either the repairs to the wall or the re-bedding of the stone steps.

In June 2024 an appeal was launched to help raise money for the much-needed restoration of the Lychgate at St. Lawrence with a JustGiving page set up and fundraising events planned and although those events gave the appeal a tremendous boost it is thanks to the church family and the wider community of Longridge that a total well in excess of £20,000 has been achieved. In the May 2025 Log, we were able to announce that we feel sufficient funds have been raised to cover the anticipated cost and with the faculty now approved we are hopeful the work will be done over the Summer.

Although there were no grants to help with the lychgate we have been encouraged that some grant funding continues to become available including a Minor Repairs and Improvements Grant which has part funded repairs to the North Porch roof at St. Paul’s together with some other maintenance work including the painting of doors, downpipes and railings.

Most grants of course only cover a percentage of the cost but two grants we have been successful in obtaining in full recently have been linked to a Disability Project Parish Grant Scheme which both churches will benefit from.

At. St. Lawrence this will cover Handrails to enable safe access to the Garden of Remembrance and at St. Paul’s handrails on the dais, which when in place, will more safely enable us to use the high altar. We now have a faculty for the work at St. Lawrence but one is still awaited for the work at St. Paul’s.

At this juncture we must express our sincere thanks to Rosemary Lyons without whose expertise in writing schemes of work and preparing faculties, not to mention meeting surveyors and contractors, some of the work done over the past twelve months would not have happened. Rosemary we do thank you and very much appreciate the many hours you have devoted to this on our behalf. Helen Clements also deserves our thanks for her work on faculties and there seems to have been a good number of those over the past twelve months.

We would also like to thank Chris Martin for undertaking a comprehensive assessment of Health & Safety and Fire Protection issues at both churches and we continue to work through some of the matters raised. One issue highlighted at St. Paul’s was the re-opening of the outer door in the vestry/print room as an additional fire escape and at St. Lawrence the importance of regular topple testing of gravestones in the Churchyard.

Speaking of the churchyard in the next twelve months it seems we will be looking for a new groundskeeper, certainly at St. Lawrence, as Terry Lewis has indicated he plans to retire after this year – so special thanks in advance Terry for all the love and care you have put into that churchyard over the years.

Still at St. Lawrence a defibrillator is now in place on the outer church wall – something we have felt was needed for sometime and with the help of some funding towards the cost we are pleased that this has now happened and already used on at least two occasions.

Although much has been achieved on the fabric of our two churches there will always be work outstanding – at St. Paul’s the re-surfacing of the carpark and paths around the church, highlighted in the last Quinquennial with major cost implications, remains outstanding.

The Quinquennial inspection at St. Lawrence church is taking place at the end of May, 2025 and we anticipate the dampness and flaking of plaster most prominent at the back wall of the church to feature in that report.

Of course, it’s great to get major work completed but there are also many day-to-day jobs that people do voluntarily, often unnoticed but certainly appreciated. We would like to place on record our thanks to Chris and Theresa Page and to Val Wardley for the cleaning they have undertaken at St. Paul’s until health issues prevented them continuing and our thanks also to those who open and close St. Lawrence Church with special thanks to Ray Hodgson who also keeps the vacuum cleaners going at St. Lawrence and to David Hartley who always so willingly repairs or sees to things for us. Our thanks also to the flower arrangers in both churches and to all who contribute towards the cost of altar flowers.

The cleaning of our two churches is however a growing concern and although we do continue to pay for some professional cleaning, with St. Paul’s used almost daily the cleaning side is difficult to keep on top of. Certainly, the Saturday morning a number of volunteers spent recently cleaning in St. Paul’s made such a difference and it would be wonderful if we could have a cleaning rota of volunteers going forward for both churches.

We are, however extremely grateful to everyone who in any way gives of their time and talents to help us as a parish. With Gods help and with your support much will continue to be achieved and Dorothy and I look forward to supporting Revd. Mike and working with the PCC in the coming twelve months.

Deanery Synod presented by Dorothy Laver

Preston Deanery Synod

The Diocese of Blackburn (the Church of England in Lancashire) is divided into 14 areas (Deaneries), ours being Preston Deanery. Each Deanery Synod is a meeting of elected representatives from every Anglican church in that area. Representatives are elected by each church at its Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) and serve a term of three years. The size of our electoral roll means we are allowed up to four representatives. The Deanery Synod representatives were elected by the APCM in 2023 to serve until 2026 and our representatives for those three years are Dorothy Laver, Karen Boardman and Chris Martin. Graham Kelsall is also a Member of Deanery Synod as he is a Member of the Diocesan Synod.. Since the APCM in 2023 Chris Martin has stood down. When new representatives are elected at our 2026 APCM we are likely to have three vacancies due to the size of our electoral roll. Deanery Synod Representatives are automatically members of the PCC.

The Deanery Synod considers items of concern to the wider church and members then share these ideas with their own PCCs. They are also the group that elects members to the Diocesan Synod (the collection of representatives of the Deaneries throughout the Diocese of Blackburn). The Diocesan Synod then debates items that are under consideration by the General Synod. The Deanery Synod can also be asked by the Diocesan Synod to consider matters and report back to the Diocesan Synod. Deanery Synod may in turn ask PCCs to consider these issues. In turn, a PCC can ask the Deanery Synod to debate a motion that can then be debated by the Diocesan Synod and ultimately by the General Synod.

Our meetings include any necessary business but also provide an opportunity for churches to hear from each other about various ministries being offered by churches across the deanery, which we have called the ’Big Parish Share(ing)”.

We only met twice in 2024. As Dave Hanson was the Area Dean, Father David Craven from St George’s Preston was appointed as our new Area Dean from 1 July 2024.

On 6 February 2024 we met at St Stephen’s Preston where we heard from the Message Trust about the No More Knives Tour held 4^th – 8^th March 2024. We then heard from one parish about their work with young people before discussing in small groups what different churches had tried, had learned and their dreams for work with young people.

Our second meeting was held on 13^th June 2024 at St Michael and All Angels. This was an opportunity to hear about specific approaches to Bereavement work. We heard presentations from Cedar House who are a counselling service with a Christian Foundation and who deal with referrals relating to a wide range of issues which include but are not solely related to bereavement. We then heard from Christ Church Fulwood about the Bereavement Journey course which they have been running for several years (and which is also run by our church). Finally, we heard about the Bereavement Café run in the Grange Park Interpretation Centre by Ribbleton Parish in collaboration with St Catherine’s Hospice before people had the chance to ask questions about the work done by each one

No items were passed to us from consideration by Diocesan Synod. There were no further meetings in 2024. At the beginning of April 2025, we met Bishop Philip as part of a consultation about the follow on from Vision 2026. Dorothy Laver and Dot Laver attended the meeting.

Update to parochial lay representatives on Deanery Synod.

Revd Mike thanked Chris Martin for his service and, Dorothy Laver, Graham Kelsall and Karen Boardman for their continuing commitment to the wider deanery.

2.To elect the Parochial Church Council

Because our Electoral Roll has dropped below the 200-person threshold we are now entitled to have a total of 12 elected members on PCC rather than the previous 15. This is 3 people less than previously.

10 people still have terms of either one or two years to run, and 5 people have come to the end of their 3-year term.

These people were:

Michael Dawson
Barbara McCormick
Robert Bretherton
Helen Clements
Steph Willan

Both Michael Dawson and Robert Bretherton wanted to stand down now as their terms had come to an end and Barbara McCormick, Helen Clements and Steph Willan would like to stand again.

At this point the vicar asked us to show our appreciation to Michael Dawson and Robert Bretherton for all their help over the last three years…

Their stepping down freed up two new 3 years terms of office.

In addition to Barbara McCormick, Helen Clements and Steph Willan who are standing again for election, Ellen Dawson and Terry Lewis also which to stand. Normally this would mean there are five people standing for election and two spaces to fill. However, the vicar said that he believes it is important to honour the commitment of all five people who wish to serve on the PCC at this time.

Therefore, to create the necessary room, Mae Heys and Barbara Burton who presently hold elected positions on the PCC for a further two years and one year respectively, are allowed to hold their positions on PCC by virtue of the ex-officio status of being Deputy Warden and PCC Secretary.

They have kindly offered to do this which frees up one elected space with a term of 2 years remaining and one elected space with 1 year remaining.

In other words – another two spaces in addition to the 2 open spaces resulting from Rob Bretherton and Michael Dawson stepping down.

This left us needing one further space.

But the good news is that a PCC is allowed to co-opt up to two more members for specific reasons. Val Wardley has therefore kindly agreed to also stand down from her position on PCC with another 1-year term remaining, because in the PCC meeting which follows this APCM we can agree to co-opt her onto the PCC because she very kindly sorts out the refreshments. This was proposed by Mae and seconded by Helen. All in favour.

In summary we therefore have the following to fill in these elections:

Following the straw poll-

Two, 3-year terms of office: Barbara McCormick and Helen Clements

One, 2-year term of office: Steph Willan

Two, 1-year terms of office: Terry Lewis and Ellen Dawson

There were no other nominations

To elect the Parochial Church Council

Barbara McCormick was proposed by David Hartley and seconded by Amii Bateson
Helen Clements was proposed by Michael Dawson and seconded by Graham Kelsall
Steph Willan was proposed by Mae Heys and seconded by Dot Little
Ellen Dawson was proposed by Helen Clements and seconded by Rosemary Lyons
Terry Lewis was proposed by Michael Dawson and seconded by Val Wardley

As there were five vacant positions and five people standing, the vicar confirmed that all Five had been elected onto the PCC of St Lawrence with St Paul. In order to determine who took the Two, 3-year terms of office, One, 2-year term of office and Two, 1-year terms of office we had to draw straws in the PCC meeting which followed.

To confirm any Readers as members of the Parochial Church Council

We did not need to confirm any Readers as members of the PCC this year.

To appoint an Independent Examiner to the Parochial Church Council

It was proposed by Graham Kelsall, seconded by Helen Clements and agreed by all present that McDade Roberts be appointed for a further 12-month term.

Questions from the floor

There were none.

However, I would though like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all the people who serve our Church of St Lawrence with St Paul’s. We are in a time of transition, but I believe we have good cause to look to the future with much excitement.

Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and fan into flames the gifts within each one of us through generous encouragement, heartfelt worship, a commitment to service and lots of prayer.

3. To close the meeting with prayers and the blessing.

Almighty God, we pray for your blessing on all who share in the life and work of this church:

in the ministry of word and sacrament,

in teaching and pastoral care,

in administration and finance

in service to the diocese, the community, and those in need,

in ecumenical fellowship and co-operation.

We pray for all members of the congregation, that in their varied callings they may advance your kingdom and bear witness to your love, shown in your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

PCC members please stay behind

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REPORTS FROM ORGANISATIONS

These have been received and will be published in the June Log. They will be kept as an historical record with the APCM minutes.

PCC Meeting

(To follow the APCM – this meeting should be for PCC members only. Anyone else should vacate the meeting at this point. Ordinarily this meeting would address only the business below and not be a full PCC meeting, but other urgent items of business can be brought, provided due notice is given.)

Need to elect:

1) Secretary – Barbara Burton

Treasurer - Graham Kelsall

Vice-Chair – Graham Kelsall in the absence of myself or potentially Jesse Adesina further down the line

Electoral Roll Officer – Michael Dawson

Deputy Wardens – Graham Kelsall, Mae Heys

There were no other nominations for these positions These were proposed by Vernon Kinrade and seconded by Terry Lewis and they were elected unanimously.

2) Confirm appointment of Parish Safeguarding Officer – Elizabeth Hemmingway. Proposed by Steph Willan and seconded by Ellen Dawson. All were in favour.

3) Election of Standing Committee (Rule M31 states this should consist of (a) the Minister, (b) each Churchwarden who is a member of the PCC or, if there are more than two, such two or more of them as are appointed by the PCC by resolution, and (c) at least two other members of PCC appointed by the PCC by resolution, the number of whom must at least equal to the number of churchwardens who are members of the committee under (b)).

The proposal is that we continue with our current format, where the elected members from the PCC are the Curate, Churchwardens, Deputy Wardens, Secretary and Treasurer. This was approved by the PCC. Proposed by Graham and seconded by Steph. All were in favour.

4) Confirm Sidespersons.

Duty wardens

Sidespersons / Welcomers

Dot Little, Barbara McCormick, Dorothy Laver, Ali Ng, Kathleen Sturzaker, Vernon Kinrade, Mae Heys

Karen Boardman, Bev Keating, Janet Heap, Peter Turver, Lib Turver, Graham Kelsall, Val Wardley, Lawrence Ingham, Merilyn Kinrade, Ian Cookson, Ruth Buckley, Barbara Burton Jennifer Sturzaker, Kai Ng, Helen Eccles, Keith Thompson, Diane Sanderson Muriel Anderson and Judith Singleton

These were proposed by Graham and seconded by Mae.