Annual Report 2024

Administrative Information

The Church of St. Thomas is situated in St. Thomas’ Circle, Werneth, Oldham OL8 1SF. The correspondence address is St. Paul’s Vicarage, 55 Belgrave Road, Oldham OL8 1LU.

The parish is part of:

• the United Benefice of Oldham and Werneth.
• a Mission Partnership with the parish of St. Thomas, Werneth.
• a Mission Community with the parishes below.
• the Deanery of Oldham and Ashton.
• the Diocese of Manchester.

The Parochial Church Council (PCC) is a charity excepted from registration with the Charity Commission.

The Parish Bank Account is with NatWest. The Insurers of the Parish are EIG.

St. Paul, Oldham

Christ Church & St. Saviour's, Chadderton

Holy Trinity, Coldhurst

St. John, Failsworth

Oldham Parish Church

St. Mary, Balderstone

St Stephen & All Martyrs, Oldham

The Parish

The parish contains a variety of property which includes owner occupier, rented, council houses, apartments and sheltered housing. There are terraced houses, a legacy of the cotton industry, and a mix of semi and detached houses. New homes have been built in the parish.

Deprivation

The population of the parish is 6,070.
It ranks 235th out of 12382 parishes for overall deprivation, where 1 is the most deprived parish.
It is among the 1.9% most deprived parishes in England.

It is significant that the ranking of the parish for pensioner poverty is strikingly high - 20th out of the 12382 parishes - i.e. among the 0.2% most deprived for Pensioner Poverty.

The parish is straddled by 4 "Lower Super Output Areas".

A "Lower Super Output Area" is the smallest geographical unit for which demographic data is produced:

We make the following observations:
~ These LSOAs are in the 3.3%, 3.9%, 8.6%, and 17.5% most deprived LSOAs in the country.
~ Those LSOAs to the North of the Parish (i.e. closer to Oldham Town Centre) are the more deprived, while those going down the hill towards the motorway are the least deprived.

Diversity

There is a disproportionate mix of religious and ethnic communities in the parish: British, Asian, Black African, and Eastern European. The parish is rated as having the highest ethnic diversity (i.e. highest proportion who are not White British) within the Diocese of Manchester at 88%. Many of these are South Asian. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that many people of African and Eastern European origin are moving into the parish. The proportion of South Asian residents is slowly reducing.

Schools

There are a number of schools in the Parish: St. Thomas, Werneth (CE) Primary School, St. Patrick's (RC) Primary School, Werneth Primary School, as well as Hulme Kindergarten.

Index of Multiple Deprivation

PCC Object

The Parochial Church Council has the responsibility, according to law:

To cooperate with the minister in promoting in the parish the whole mission of the church, pastoral, evangelistic, social, and ecumenical.

PCC (Powers) Measure 1956

PCC Structure & Governance

The method of appointment of PCC members is broadly as set out in the Church Representation Rules, with one exception: Church Wardens may be elected for an unlimited number of consecutive periods of office. The Hon. Assistant Priest is also an ex-officio member of the PCC.

Thus the PCC currently consists of 9 elected members, depending on numbers on the Electoral Roll. Thus 4 were elected in 2012 (when there were more numbers on the role); 3 each year. In addition, there are ex officio members: 2 Deanery Synod Representatives; 2 Church Wardens, the Vicar, and Curates.

All who attend Church are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and stand for election to the PCC.

Church Representation Rules

PCC Membership

October Church Sunday Attendance

Due to difficulties in collecting data during the COVID-19 pandemic, no attendance data was collected for October 2019 across the Diocese.

These figures are the figures from our October Attendance Census, but rounded to the nearest whole number.

St. Thomas' Primary School generally has a Weekly act of worship in church, attended by about 500 children and about 25 adults.

Electoral Roll

Vicar's Report

This has been a challenging year.

Church

Firstly, there have been a number of deaths among our most faithful, long-established congregation members. Some are no longer able to attend church. They will be missed.

Secondly, our key grant application for repointing and stonework was not successful. The building has now been assessed as vulnerable to going on the at risk register. This may make grant applications more likely to be successful going forward.

Thirdly, we suspended the Sunday School right at the end of 2024. Things are currently paused, and we hope to restart at some point, having offered training to a new generation of leaders. It may well be that some of the older young people decide, either to continue worshipping in the main Sunday Service, or to help as Sunday School leaders---and this will be a positive way forward.

Fourthly, the numbers attending on a Sunday morning have dropped. We often have around 16 adults and 8 young people attending. However, our congregation is comparatively, very young, and very diverse. These are real strengths. The small congregation size also allows some of our young people to take the lead in running services in a variety of ways. We also know, of course, that around 450 children and 25 adults attend our school service on a Thursday morning.

Community

Use of the church continues to grow, steadily.

However, we know that we continue to scratch the surface: we continue to look for partners to run activities, and to develop our capacity to host one-off events. Our timetable is by no means full.

Conclusion

Many pictures have been drawn this year in church services: a lot of thought has gone into them; and we know that the ideas and pictures, and the young people who draw them are cherished congregation members.

Many people have become more confident in their new roles in church.

Food has been shared. Prayers have been said.

Lots of little steps have been made as we move forward as a Parish into the future that God holds for us.

Finally, I would like to express my thanks and appreciation to you all for all that you do in the life of the church, and to express the joy and privilege of being Vicar here at St. Thomas'.

Revd. Nick Andrewes

Mission Action Plan

Warden's Report

I had hoped to start this report outlining progress made with repairs to the exterior of our Church. Sadly I cannot do that as our expectation of success with grant applications did not occur and without this external funding repairs cannot begin. Additionally I would have liked to report increases in our congregation and again regretfully I cannot and need to report the loss of a number of our congregation who had supported our Church over many decades and who will be greatly missed.

However if we put our trust in God we will see that this is how it has to be and the path we have to follow is not of our choosing but has unwanted and unexpected twists and turns that can help us move forward and some of these I can happily report.

As a consequence of our grant failures and in discussion with our architect we applied to Heritage North West for the Church building to be placed on the “At Risk” register. After visits and discussions the Church building was not deemed to be at risk but was classified as “Vulnerable”. This classification may help when grants are allocated as it is apparent that there are more grants applied for than money available to fund them and stopping a “Vulnerable” church from becoming “at risk” is money well spent.

There has also been discussion with the Diocese regarding parish share for the next three years. These discussions went well and an agreement as to the amount we need to pay was reached covering the next three years. Although funding these and other necessary cost will not be easy our ability to rent out the Church to appropriate outside groups helps in covering these and other costs.

Over the last year we have been able to stop water ingress due to lead slippage, repaint all the external doors and improve draught prevention and repair ceiling plaster falls specifically in the south aisle and baptistery roofs. The ceilings in these areas have also been repainted as have the walls in the back toilet. Replacement of our gates is still ongoing and although we now have quotes the costs will need to be covered from external grants.

It is pleasing to report that a number of our asylum seekers have over the last twelve months been granted leave to remain. This, unfortunately, often means they are forced to move away to find work but hopefully our loss is a gain for another church. Again during the year a number of the asylum seekers have been baptised and confirmed.

We have also benefitted by having our three “curates” whose contribution to the Church (in addition to their input into our services) has included the Farsi eucharist services, Experience Christmas (which brought over three hundred pupils from local junior schools into Church) and recently an Exploring Christianity course’

With regards to spiritual growth it has been a pleasure to witness the increasing involvement of our younger Church members with our regular services. Finally can I thank all our congregation for their input into the running of the Church, often not seen, but always appreciated.

Graham Lees

PCC Secretary's Report

Quite a few issues are ongoing but we have moved forward in our discussions and implementations too.

We have decided that we value the use of High Altar for Eucharist at Festivals but also value gathering in a circle on other occasions.

There have been a few adult baptisms and christenings of children.

Linda Ogbewi is helping us enormously as she keeps our church clean and tidy. Thank you Linda.

Discussion about whether to use a contactless payment machine continues..

Christmas Experience took place in church from 9th to 12th December and was appreciated by local schools who visited and by the church on 15th December. Thanks to Richard and the team.

In January, we received news that the church building is “vulnerable” and in danger of being on the “at risk” register. This might help in grant applications.

As ever, we look to the Lord in gratitude and in our need.

Kathy Lees

PCC Treasurer's Report, including Gift Aid

RECEIPTS

Our Direct giving in 2024 was down by £3,238 compared to 2023. Tax recovered from Gift Aid was obviously down by £674 compared to 2023. Sadly, we lost a few of our congregation and this is why the direct giving is down.

Room hire is down £2,240 on 2023 (we did have £1,050 outstanding). One of our regular users cut their use down session a week in 2024.

PAYMENTS

Parish share for 2024 was £8,817 which we paid in full, we did get a reduction on 2023 with our new agreement with the diocese.

Running expenses electricity, gas, water rates and insurance were up on 2023.

Overall, we do finish with a deficit of £4,114. This is due to our church running expenses being higher and lower receipts.

Ordinary Parish Expenditure was down £2,000 on 2023 which is good considering we spent on decorating and repairing some of the ceiling.

I would like to thank everyone who has set up standing orders to donate on a regular basis to church and also encourage anyone else if they would wish to use the envelope scheme that I have plenty of spare envelopes.

GIFT AID

We have 15 regular Gift Aid donors and we can also reclaim gift aid from loose collections and anyone who uses the envelopes but does not pay tax themselves.

In 2024 we recovered £4,122 in tax, this really does help our finances.

Janet Campbell

Financial Report

Eco Church Report

Last year, St. Thomas' gained the Bronze Eco Church award. This is a certification scheme that encourages us to take small practical steps in our care for God's earth, and towards reducing our carbon footprint. An example of this was the Sunday School producing a large joint Christmas card for congregation members to sign and reduce the paper used in giving cards to one another.

Four of the different areas are now Bronze, and we are working towards silver:

The PCC has committed to reducing the Parish's carbon footprint year on year by 10% - using the 2022 figure, below, as a baseline.

We have completed the Energy Footprint Tool this year:

Our carbon footprint is up this year due to increased community use of the building.

Thanks to Graham for organising draft-proofing of the porch and vestry doors.

At the time of writing, the snowdrops and crocuses in the Church Grounds are again looking lovely.

The PCC will consider our next steps over the coming year. For the sake of our Common Home, we need to continue to strive to reduce our negative impact on the planet.

Gina Andrewes

Sunday School

This year has been a time of transition as our children mature and experience different aspects of church life.

As Easter approached, we looked at and sketched the beautiful "Stations of the Cross" images from the Benedictine sisters of Turvey Abbey. We learnt lessons from the lives of past and present Olympians such as Eric Liddell and Adam Peaty about what Christ meant to them. We sprinted and threw discus in the church grounds. At Pentecost, we worked on a collage of meeting hands to illustrate 1 Corinthians 12 – one body and many parts.

From the start of 2025, the young people no longer have their own Sunday School session but have played a greater role in church services. They have assisted with tech, and with Bible reading, leading and intercessions. They are confidently taking up these roles. Sketch books are still used to illustrate sermons.

We pray for God's good hand to be on them all as they mature and develop in their lives.

Kathy Lees

Safeguarding

St. Thomas Werneth Church remains steadfast in its commitment to safeguarding to ensuring a safe environment for all, particularly children, young people, and vulnerable adults. I thank all those who have contributed to safeguarding efforts throughout the year.

This report reflects our ongoing dedication to maintaining a safe and welcoming environment for all as we strived to continuously adhere to the safeguarding policy set out by the Church of England, ensuring compliance with national and diocesan guidelines through enhanced procedures for reporting concerns; updated contact details for safeguarding officer and encouraged training requirements for all volunteers and staff working with vulnerable groups.

Currently, the Sunday school for children service is not active and children are present in church under supervision of their respective guardians or named responsible adults. However, the church will continue to work according to the House of Bishop policy for a safer church to protect the vulnerable adults, children and young people.

Mercy Ekhoesuehi

Safeguarding Policy

Deanery Synod

The Deanery Synod is a meeting of representatives from individual parishes in Oldham and Ashton Deanery. It is, among other things, a means by which local churches can raise concerns that may need consideration by the Diocese. It is also a means by which they may discuss, and vote on, issues of concern to the diocese and national Church.

Both clergy and lay people from each parish attend. Meetings are now taking place in person. However, we currently have no reps from the parish. Please volunteer if you would be interested in attending.

Perhaps the most significant matter on the table this year has been the emerging Diocesan Strategy.

• Growing Younger
• Church Planting and Revitalisation
• Developing Missional Leaders
• Parish Renewal.

Revd. Nick Andrewes

Pastoral Care

Care home visits take place with Nick, Zahra, Darren and Richard presiding at services of Holy Communion across both the parishes of St Paul and the St Thomas. We also provide cover at Nursing Homes in the parishes of St Mark Glodwick and others where congregation members live.

The care homes include

• The Coppice,
• Tree Tops,
• Chamber Mount,
• Park House, and
• Dry Clough Manor.

Likewise holy communion at home is available to those unable to attend a service in church due to infirmity.

Thanks to Norah for supporting the clergy with funerals and after care and to all who maintain regular contact with those who can no longer come to church.

Megan Locklin

Children's Society

First, I want to thank everybody for their support during this year. Your kind donations and involvement in events have been extremely beneficial to our cause. As your Safeguarding Officer, it is my responsibility to ensure that all members of the Parish in our care feel safe and secure. Therefore, I am glad to inform you that there have been no safeguarding incidents reported in the Parish this year.

We have continued with the housebox programme this year, which was successful this year and for that, the Children’s Society is grateful. Resources are clearly indicated around the church for one-off donations, but if interested, please see me to sign up for a housebox. These will be collected after Christingle each year. Even £5 can help project workers to reach a struggling child.

Finally, we are committed to ensuring wellbeing for all Parish members and creating a protective environment. If you have any concerns about your or someone else’s wellbeing, do not hesitate to contact me.

Mercy Ekhoesuehi