September 2012

Dear Friends,

It was nice to welcome Keith and Norma Justice and a party of their parishioners from Manchester to coffee in the church recently. Keith was the Vicar here towards the end of the 1990s and showed an obvious talent for getting things moving (better than me, I think!). He has just officially retired but, like me, is carrying on for a while in a semi-voluntary capacity. Anyway, we wish them both well as they move towards retirement.

Did you hear a church bell at 8.12 a.m. on the first morning of the Olympics? Everyone was asked to ring any sort of bell then and, thanks to Vicky Hunton, our church wasn't left out. It's a truism by now that this great sporting festival, together with the Jubilee, has encouraged a marked feeling of patriotism and 'togetherness' in the country. All the Jonahs are already saying, 'But it won't last'. Maybe so. But let's hope that a little of that cast of mind which looks for the best rather than the worst will linger.

I'd like to thank Matthew Wiles for his enthusiastic participation in the preparations for the church's 135th anniversary service last month. As many of you will know, he is now the face of the Old Church and so naturally has a great interest in the history of this parish. It was him who chose the anthem which the choir sang so well on the day (and which we think will suit harvest too). And it will have been obvious that many of the documents put on display came from Roy Young, to whom I am also very grateful. Most of the others came from the dim and dusty corners of the church vestry. It's amazing what is lurking there (anyone lost a churchwarden recently?!).

We have finally managed to sort out access to the Old Church key and services have been held there each Sunday in August. The early communion has been fine, but attendance at evensong has been disappointing. One has to put a question mark over repeating those services again next year. Indeed, evensong in general is fading away and I shall be asking the church council to discuss whether or not it should be continued. If you have an opinion, please have a word. Better still, if you want a service at that time, come!

I was at a meeting recently where the following figures were given for church attendance and what are called occasional offices (baptisms etc.) for the deanery of Wath in 2010. The population of this extensive area is 112,880. The average weekly attendance (or AWA) for all Anglican churches was 1609. There are 18 parishes (rather more churches) so the average AWA is just over 89. For our parish in the same year it was about 100, quite a bit higher. Looking at it another way, just 1.43% of the population of the deanery come to church on a regular basis. Around 2000 people live in Harley and Wentworth so, if people came precisely in line with population, our attendance would be only 28 or 29. Comparing the expected outcome with both average AWA and population, we are above average and on the second (population) markedly so.

You can do the same calculations for the number of churches, of which there are 26. The average AWA per church would be nearly 62. Wentworth's and Harley's, independently, are 89 and 12, somewhat above and considerably below average. But Harley isn't that far short on a population basis.

As is my wont, I don't wish simply to present a picture of 'success'. Two things struck me which people have said to me recently. “As long as the Prayer Book lasts my time, that'll do me.” And “If you didn't have us oldsters, you'd be in a mess.” The church of God is not ours to mould in our image, and never mind the next generation. And it is perfectly true, a very high proportion of us are – to be frank – old (as I am). This is less true for Harley, by the way. The issue here is sheer numbers (or lack of) rather than age distribution. We really do need to pray and work for a time when this is no longer the case. If we don't, yes, the church may more-or-less last us out, but it won't be there for coming generations who, surely, need God's love as much as we have done. I'm not really passing the buck to say that I hope my successor, who will be younger, will be able to begin such as process of change.

The numbers of baptisms, confirmations, funerals and weddings in the deanery was, respectively, 547, 41, 612 and 149. Each of the 18 parishes should, on average, get 30 baptisms, just over two confirmations, 34 funerals and eight weddings. We had, in the same order, 38, seven, 23 and (again) 23 such ceremonies. Baptisms are a bit higher, confirmations a lot better (which is particularly encouraging), funerals naturally less because not many people live here, and weddings much higher. This year marriages have gone up to about 45!! I find it quite surprising how some people want to run down younger generations and say, 'Well, they don't bother about marriage nowadays'. I'm sure not all do, but many evidently want to make their relationship permanent. Maybe later rather than earlier, sometimes after rather than before having a child, but a wedding – and a Christian one at that – is what a great many couples aim for. And it is a real benefit to Holy Trinity to have so many of them worshipping with us.

Perhaps it may not be too much of surprise to learn that I once did a university course on statistics! And though I'm no expert (and someone who can add up may like to write in and tell me where I've got the figures wrong!), but I do like the way figures bring things out. For example, on a per church basis, Holy Trinity's attendance is 43% above the average and our parish confirmation numbers are way above the norm. There is a lot to be encouraged about in the life of our two churches. And this is down to a great deal of hard work by a lot of people. Sylvia and I may do most of the confirmation preparation, but people wouldn't get that far without two essentials – first, a church which is treated by its 'regulars' as a place of prayer and, second, a congregation ready to make newcomers welcome. A large number of people work really hard to make wedding days special for all our couples. A smaller team make baptisms run smoothly (well, maybe not, they can be pretty chaotic with all those children). Redz in particular is a great help where funerals are concerned. It is all a team effort, but it is nice to know that it's working. And Harley, though small, wouldn't exist at all without strong commitment to it by, for example, Sheila and the two Sunday School teachers, Corinne and Emily. Thank you all.

With best wishes,

Richard