PRESENT

INTRODUCTION
At the start of this year there were twenty- one elected and ex-officio members of the Parochial Church Council. By the end of the year there were twenty members, this includes the vacancy for the incumbent as Chairman. The PCC meets regularly and has met 5 times during this Church year to discuss the regular business of the church. In addition the PCC has met on three other occasions, once with the Archdeacon of Berkshire in connection with the interregnum and the appointment of a new vicar, secondly in what is referred to as a “Section 11” meeting to approve aspects of the process to appoint a new vicar. They have also met in an extra-ordinary meeting to approve the application for the faculties for the work to be completed on the stained glass windows. There are three sub committees of the PCC. The Standing Committee has met nine times this year; all the meetings were in connection with running the parish during the Interregnum and the appointment of a new vicar. Towards the end of the year a Fabric Committee was formed. The Social Committee has met on a number of occasions.

MEMBERSHIP
The members of the Council are as follows;

During the year, H. Rudge moved away from the area and resigned from the Council. The Vicar retired during the year leaving the post of Chairman vacant. V. Webster as Deputy Chairman has chaired the meetings of the Council and the Standing Committee during this period.

DEANERY SYNOD
At the start of the year St. Michael’s Church was represented on the Deanery Synod by: The Revd. G. Repath, H. Rudge and J. Tucker. H. Rudge did not seek re-election at the last Annual Parochial
Church Meeting and Ian Murray was elected at this meeting as the other laity representative from
St. Michael’s. In addition, the new incumbent will automatically become a representative on the Synod.

A YEAR AT ST. MICHAEL'S

From the Registers

THE P.C.C.

As can be seen by the number of meetings held this year, your Council has been extremely busy and the vast bulk of its work and discussion has concentrated on two main topics. The first was to ensure that everything was done to ensure the smooth running of St. Michael’s Church up to and during the Interregnum. A major part of the work was preparing the Parish Profile which gave all potential applicants a view of the life of St Michael’s and the parish, what we were looking for in a new vicar and the direction we wanted St Michael’s to take. This took a lot of hard work, primarily from the members of the Standing Committee. This was a new and enriching experience for all those involved and on completion the council felt that they had achieved the right balance. The quinquennial building inspection revealed that there was a great deal of work that needed to be done to the walls of the church and to the stained glass windows to ensure that St Michael’s church survived for future generations. At the same time it was also revealed that the organ needed extensive and extensive repair work in order for it to function properly. The council have discussed how best this work could be carried out and very importantly how the finance to cover the project could be raised. To assist with this latter task a small project group was formed with both council members and members of the congregation as members. A Fabric Committee was also formed to look at the medium to long term structural needs of the church.

But the number of meetings is not the only commitment that members of the council and other parishioners have made during this period. A lot of time and effort has been taken up in the physical side of preparing for and running the church during the Interregnum. Many people, particularly Council members have taken on new roles, formerly carried out by the Vicar. This has meant that some members of the council have become responsible for arranging baptisms, weddings, funerals and ensuring that the parish office phone calls are dealt with promptly Others have organised the visiting of the sick and giving home communions. The Council are extremely appreciative of the work done by the Revd. John Copping who has taken the vast bulk of the services during this period. His willingness to cover most of the services has meant that the church wardens have not had to find other clergy to cover services. On the rare occasions when John Copping has not been available other clergy have also assisted and we are equally grateful to them. Perhaps the most important role taken by members of the Council was the interviewing potential incumbents. This was a nervous time for both those being interviewed as well as the interviews and observers! The quinquennial inspection produced its own physical workload with inspections and arranging for investigatory work to be completed. The churchwardens shouldered most of this work. The St Michael’s website continues to thrive with queries from all over the world from people trying to trace their ancestors in Bray as well as the more usual ones concerning births, marriages and deaths.

During this year we said good bye to two good and faithful servants. George Repath is enjoying a well deserved retirement after twenty two years ministry at St Michael’s. Less happily we said goodbye to John Bettley our long time organist tragically killed in a car accident. His funeral in St Michael’s was attended by parishioners, boys and staff from Bristol Cathedral School and Windsor Boys School.

On the social scene, parishioners visited Rouen and the gardens in the area. After the service of Nine lessons and Carols, mince pies and mulled wine were served in St Michael’s Hall.

The Young Church is an important part of life at St Michael’s run by an enthusiastic team. As a supplement to this report there is a report on their activities

V. Webster

Deputy Chairman

Report of the Fabric, Properties, Goods and Ornaments, March 2008

INTRODUCTION

An interregnum year; dominated, not just by the activities associated with the vacancy but also by the urgent nature of the work found necessary in the quinquennial inspection report. The inspection was carried out on the 16/17th April 2007.

Information from the inspection was coupled with that obtained during the defrassing of the tower (removal of loose stonework) in the autumn of 2006. This process was necessary due to the level of erosion in the clunch facings, which in turn, resulted in an unacceptably high level of ‘chalk’ fall from the tower. Our visiting architect used this opportunity to inspect and photograph the facings while the high-lift platform was in place and included comments and photographs in the final report.

There were two other areas of concern in the report, apart from the tower, that warranted further inspection. Firstly the stonework on the north and northwest walls showed signs of ‘bulging’ and some retention of moisture due, partly at least, to the use of cement, rather than lime, mixes in past repairs. Secondly some of the stained glass windows were reported to be ‘bowing’ and the advice, again, was to seek further expert advice.

In the case of the stonework; a meeting was held that included our architect, Philip Tilbury, Claire Charlesworth from English Heritage and David Kitching a structural engineer from the company, ‘Stress UK’. The meeting was held on the 10 th January and all agreed that further investigative work should be carried out. This work was commissioned on the 4 th February, by letter, and will be carried out by David Kitching, together with the Cliveden Stonemasons.

The problems with the windows proved to be of a far more urgent nature. On the 23rd August Chapel Studio were asked to carry out a survey of the glass and found that the general condition of most of our windows was poor; however three of them were considered ‘unlikely to last another winter’.
An application was made for an emergency faculty, relating solely to these windows, and this was received on the 13th November from the Diocesan Advisory Committee. Work started on the removal of these windows on the 14th January and should be completed by the second week in April. A condition of the granting of the emergency faculty was that a full application should be made within 21days; this was done and the full acceptance was received on the 12th March.

All the work associated with the tower, the walls and the remaining windows will be addressed as soon as possible. Applications for funding will be made to English Heritage this year; however their decision for all applications is not made until November 2008 which prevents any work on the tower and walls from starting before spring 2009. The use of the appropriate lime mortars for this work restricts us to the summer months only as low temperatures must be avoided.

Final installation of the sound system was completed in the church. The induction loop is yet to be connected and tested.

Touchen End churchyard. Mr Geoff Sharp, garden contractor and nurseryman, has agreed to cut the grass in the churchyard as and when necessary.

Surface water down pipes and hoppers on the church were cleared (by a member of the fabric committee)

April 16/17 Quinquennial inspection

One of the Clerestory windows was damaged in the strong winds in April. This was removed for repair and reinstalled.

The plaque on the south wall of the Sanctuary, having become detached from its mountings and fallen off, was removed for repair and refitted.

Boiler servicing was carried out to both the church and hall units. Further maintenance was required and completed on the hall boiler. The heating system was checked and found satisfactory.

The fire extinguishers were checked. Further CO2 units added together with bases and wall labels. A new fire blanket was positioned in the hall kitchen.

Organ tuning and servicing was carried out three times in the year. The organ failed on Christmas day, just over a year after it last failed us! A transformer/rectifier was installed to replace a very ‘tired’ old dynamo and, so far, that particular problem appears to have been solved. Several organ builders have been asked to quote for the possible replacement of the existing organ and two have so far come forward with plans for consideration.

A toilet cistern was renewed in one of the ladies toilets. The main drain from the toilet block was cleared after a blockage.

The removal, restoration and replacement of three large windows; the ‘Salvator Mundi, the Resurrection and the Four Evangelists. The report stated that “the lead matrix is weak and the waterproofing cement is friable. Copper ties have broken free of the bar supports causing the windows to bulge which is beginning to crack the glass. The paintwork is sound”.

Maintenance to the Lych Gate cottage included repair of the rear gate and replacement of the bath, taps and floor covering in the bathroom.

The churchyard trees have undergone necessary surgery with the approval of the local tree conservation officers. We are grateful to the considerable donation made by Mr Dudley Good for this project and also for the time taken in organising the work.

Sunday School Report

THE YOUNG CHURCH

Sunday school at St Michael’s is a fun way to spend Sunday mornings, so if the sermons are too much do come and join us! You’ll find a wide age, from 8 months - ok Percy really doesn’t do much! - to 21 again!!! (well you didn’t think I was going to tell you my age did you?!) The number varies from week to week with a high of 15 or so, with a core group of 4 – yes they are all mine!

We spend most of our time on lessons based on the reading you’ll hear in church. So if for example the Gospel reading is taken from The Gospel according to John, Chapter 1 verses 29 to 42. Where Jesus is recognised and pointed out by John to be God’s chosen one. We would play a finding game with our partner. Where our partners would remain silent and we had to watch their faces for clues as to where their card was hidden. The first pair to have both matching cards was the winner! We would then talk about how Jesus and the disciples shared good news like we share good news with our friends. Before making friendship chains of people to help us to be a good friend. We then have a quite moment with God as we said our prayer for the week - Jesus, I want my friend………,

To meet you and find out how
good it is to live in your company.
Amen.

In case you didn’t know and I’m sure you all did, this particular lesson was from the Second Sunday of Epiphany.

We also study the basic principles of Christianity such as Baptism when the occasion arises (When Percy was christened) as well as the Lords prayer and the 12 disciples, to name a few. It has been know for us to spend the morning eating chocolate, all in the name of furthering our Christian knowledge and understanding, while remembering that if its fun we’ll learn better!!!!

Natasha Teeder

Treasurer's Report

Year Ended 31 December 2007