The Parish of Saint Mary, South Ruislip, HA4 0SP

Parish Profile

1. Overview Our parish sits firmly in the modern catholic tradition of the Church of England. Geographically within the Willesden Episcopal Area, we are under the oversight of the Bishop of Fulham while remaining part of the Archdeaconry of Northolt.

Our Mission Statement is that S Mary seeks to be a beacon of light where we share our love, hope and faith with each other and the wider community. Together we worship God and hear his word through his Son Jesus Christ.

The PCC has requested, on grounds of theological conviction, that arrangements be made for the parish by the Diocesan Bishop in accordance with the House of Bishops' Declaration on the Ministry of Bishops and Priests.

Link to St. Mary’s website http://www.stmarychurchruislip.co.uk/

Find us on Facebook too: https://www.facebook.com/groups/186351338054163/

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2. Spiritual Life of St. Mary's - Worship and Mission

Description of Worship

The weekly sung Mass is the central pillar of our collective worship. The worship tradition is modern catholic and includes hymns that are sung from New English Hymnal and Mission Praise. A small dedicated choir leads the singing; psalms and anthems are regularly sung. A small group of servers assists the clergy during the liturgy. A number of the congregation actively lead parts of the Service through a variety of ministries, including reading scripture and intercessions, administering the chalice and welcoming everyone to church as sides-people. Our average Sunday worship attendance is 75.

Our weekly services are as follows:-

Sunday 10.00 am Parish Mass with Sunday School – followed by refreshments in St. Mary’s Hall.

Tuesday 6.30 pm

Tuesday 7.00 pm

Evening prayer

Mass

Wednesday 9.00 am

Wednesday 9.30 am

Morning prayer

Mass – followed by refreshments in St. Mary’s Hall.

Thursday 9.00 am

Thursday 9.30 am

Morning prayer

Mass – followed by refreshments in St. Mary’s Hall.

Friday 6.15 pm

Friday 6.45 pm

Evening prayer

Mass

Our Sunday school, JIGSAW, which stands for Jesus is Great, Super and Wonderful, meets every Sunday during term time. Sessions include reading the Gospel passages, followed by discussion and craft activity relating to the theme of the day. The children are encouraged to show the congregation their work towards the end of the Mass in church. We currently have children between the ages of 3 and 10. Attendance varies and we are currently seeking ways to recruit more children and helpers.

Mass is regularly said at S Mary’s four days during the week in our Holy Family Chapel.

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A prayer group gathers on a monthly basis in our Holy Family Chapel, where we meet and pray together using the petitions on our prayer board.

A Healing Mass is held on a Tuesday evening at 7pm. This important event in the life our parish is bi-monthly with anointing and laying on of hands and a short homily.

A bereavement Service is held quarterly on Tuesday evenings at 8pm, where all families in the parish can come to a simple Service with prayer and the opportunity to light a candle for their departed loved-ones.

Pilgrimages and visits

Members of the congregation take part in an annual weekend pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, giving the opportunity to spend a relaxed weekend journeying together and enriching our spiritual life. Day and weekend retreats are also organised to Alton Abbey in Hampshire. Prayer pilgrimages to Westminster Abbey are also well attended by people of all ages. Day trips to cathedral cities have also been arranged.

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Outreach and Supporting others

S Mary’s has supported the work of Orchyd, a local registered charity, which provides an annual residential holiday in August for children with disabilities. The aim is to produce an unforgettable ten days in August for twenty children from around the UK. Members of the congregation help by raising money and awareness of Orchyd and volunteer in staffing the annual holiday.

Our church also has long established links with S Mary’s Convent in Chiswick, West London where Anglican sisters and nursing staff provide care for elderly residents. Our church arranges an annual Christmas party for the convent and donates harvest gifts to support its work and mission.

S Mary’s hosts a foodbank collection point, which is located in the baptistery which our Sunday School helped to set up in 2014. Non-perishable foods can be left at our foodbank; they are passed to the Trussell Trust Foodbank Charity in Uxbridge, where the food is taken for distribution to local people, who are in emergency or crisis situations.

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Messy Church

S Mary’s launched Messy Church during Advent 2015 and held a second one on Good Friday morning in 2016. We had over 30 children in addition to their families, who stayed to enjoy the craft activities, storytelling, food and fellowship. On both occasions, the majority of those who attended were not regular church goers. Getting Messy Church up and running was challenging but now we have hosted two of these events it is our hope to continue to run them in the future. It was a joy to see how well received Messy Church was by those who attended and also those who volunteered to help. It is a wonderful way of outreach to families and an opportunity for them to hear about God’s Kingdom in a relaxed and fun environment.

Children and families come together to enjoy Messy crafts and activities

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Sharing our Faith

In recent years we have held an Alpha course. We had around fifty attendees who enjoyed the fellowship and teaching during the seven week course. We held Fan the Flame which was a week of spiritual activity which took place across the parish led by two experienced priests from outside our Deanery. Members of our congregation still talk about how inspirational and enlightening this was. We enjoyed a week of prayer where we joined with members from another local church and were led throughout the week and given the opportunity to try different styles of praying. We were also designated a prayer partner to help discuss anything which arose and to guide us during the week. We held a flower festival to commemorate the Centenary of World War I. It attracted many visitors. Flower arrangers throughout the Hillingdon Deanery were invited to take part and their displays were dedicated to the memory of loved-ones. We are only too keen to hold similar events in the future.

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Bible Study Sessions – Various years

Bible study courses have been arranged during Lent and at other times of the year, to give the opportunity to read and discuss Holy Scripture. Recently approximately ten to twelve members of our congregation joined members of the local Roman Catholic Church S Gregory’s to study the Gospel according to Matthew. A visiting priest Father Peter Burrows led the sessions which proved both enjoyable and challenging. In recent years, during Lent, our Parish Priest led a group which studied the Gospel according to S John. This was well attended by approximately twelve to fifteen members of our congregation.

Church Magazine

A small church magazine has recently been developed and sold among church members on a quarterly basis. Content includes a range of church topics and subjects of general interest. The magazine was considered to be a means of interacting with the wider parish community to help raise awareness of the mission and activity of our church life. We hope to extend the readership in the future.

Links with local churches

Several other churches are situated within the parish; these include Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran and Roman Catholic churches. Members from these churches have met together for the Women’s World Day of Prayer in March. S Mary’s has a close relationship with the local Roman Catholic church, S Gregory’s. Members from both churches have recently met for study groups held on mid-week evenings and enjoyed a Quiz Evening together.

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Social Events

S Mary’s church has a dedicated Social Committee, which organises events throughout the year. These include Quiz Nights, Bingo, Race Night, parish lunches and Saturday brunches.

We have also developed a link with the Harrow Concert Band, which holds three Saturday evening performances each year. All the concerts have been very well attended and are fantastic missional opportunities. These events also raise valuable income for our church.

Harrow Concert band perform Last Night of the Proms

Fr. Michael judging the winning entry of our annual Easter bake off.

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Annual Animal Service

The annual Animal Service is popular, both with members of our own congregation and the wider community who bring their pets to S Mary’s for a blessing. The service includes some hymns where it is always enjoyable to hear some of our furry friends joining in. It is not only the children who delight in taking their pets up for a blessing, people of all ages are visibly pleased to be able to bring their pets to be blessed. It is amazing how well behaved they all are! It is outreach like this, something a little bit different, which we are keen to do more of.

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Christingle Service

Our annual Christingle always proves popular with families of all ages and a Christmas party for the children traditionally follows this Service.

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Our local schools Christmas Carol service

3. The Buildings

The Church

The Church was designed by Laurence King. It was built in the late 1950s and consecrated in 1959. It is structurally sound and carefully maintained. Major work was recently carried out on the roof, which was leaking. This problem has now been resolved.

The most recent Quinquennial Report on the church buildings was completed in 2014 and has identified further remedial work to be carried out on the church. Some

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of the items have been identified as ‘urgent’. The Fabric Committee and the PCC are attending to these actions.

There is a fine organ, which is a Walker, with two manuals and a pedal keyboard, which was overhauled and enhanced in the mid-1990s.

Church Hall

The Church Hall was decorated in 2008 and the floor was resurfaced in 2015. It has a fully functional kitchen, a toilet for the disabled and baby-changing facilities. It produces a valuable source of income through regular lettings to outside groups and private functions. We have a Parent & Toddler Group, Guides, Brownies and Rainbows which use the hall for their meetings. A branch of the Townswomen’s Guild and the Residents’ Association also use the hall for their monthly and quarterly functions.

Vicarage

The Vicarage is situated next door to the church. It was built at the same time as the church. The Vicarage has a study, large living room, a kitchen which has recently been updated and a dining room. There are four upstairs bedrooms. A garage is situated adjacent to the vicarage. Street parking is available. The garden is secluded. The church and Vicarage back onto a small park.

4. Description of the Parish & Local Area

Location

Please click on the link below to take you to information regarding S Mary’s on A Church Near You Website, which includes details of our parish boundary.

https://www.achurchnearyou.com/st-mary-south-ruislip/

Population

According to a recent survey carried out by the Church Urban Fund, our parish has a population of 14,165 and ranks 9,607 out of 12,599 where 1 is the most deprived parish.

Transport - The church is a five-minute walk from South Ruislip Underground Station, which is on the Central Line and also National Rail Chiltern Line, giving fast and easy access to Central London.

The A40 is very close by; Junction 1 of the M40 and Junction 16 of the M25 are a short ten-minute journey from the church and Central London is a twenty-five-minute car ride (outside the rush hour).

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The parish is in the heart of a suburban residential area. A well known landmark of South Ruislip is the Polish War Memorial which stands next to the A40 adjacent to RAF Northolt and is dedicated to the memory of the Polish airmen who fought with the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. There is a youth community centre nearby and a library which is within walking distance. There is an exciting new complex being built nearby on the Old Dairy Site, which includes two supermarkets, a cinema and other shops in addition to new social housing which will fall within the parish boundary. As a church we are looking forward to engaging with this new community within our parish and the exciting challenges it will bring. Full details of the new development can be found here http://www.citygrovesouthruislip.com/

Shops – A Sainsbury’s supermarket is situated very close by, which is seen by many as a landmark of South Ruislip. A retail park is located within the parish, which includes outlets for Wickes, Currys and Argos among others. There are also a number of local shops within walking distance.

Schools - Five very well regarded primary schools are within easy reach. Ruislip High and Queensmead are two local comprehensive schools with outstanding Ofsted reports and Bishop Ramsey is a Church of England Academy, a short bus- ride away. It has an excellent reputation and has been judged by Ofsted as ‘Outstanding’. This Church school has proved very popular with S. Mary’s families over the years.

Medical facilities – There are a number of good GP practices locally and the nearest hospital is Hillingdon Hospital, which is some five miles from the church. Mount Vernon Hospital in Northwood has a very good Minor Injuries Unit.

Leisure – There are two Leisure Centres with first-rate swimming pools including an outdoor pool, within three miles from the church. There are a number of parks nearby and Ruislip Lido, which is three miles away, is a wonderful open air space and very popular with families and those who enjoy local wildlife. The Chiltern Hills and neighbouring countryside are easily accessible either by car or train. All that Central London has to offer is also easily accessible.

Job Opportunities - For applicants with family members looking for employment, job opportunities are varied and reasonably plentiful, both locally and in London, to suit all skills ages and experience.

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5. FinanceThe PCC is debt free with a sizeable contingency fund set up to meet any unexpected costs and expenses.

This Fund was set up to finance any major works which may be needed following the sale of a house previously owned by the parish in the early 1980’s.

The PCC has agreed to increase its Common Fund contribution in 2017 and has regularly paid its contribution on time by monthly Standing Order.

Our Income from regular church hall lettings is key to our being able to meet our Common Fund obligations to the Diocese of London.

A new and substantial income stream from a BT phone mast will support our current levels of expenditure and could fund future mission projects.

Major work to the roof and church hall was completed in 2015 to resolve the issue of rainwater ingress above the church organ.

A stewardship scheme is in place; previous campaigns have been made to raise awareness regarding planned giving to church. Further campaigns will need to be planned to support increased giving to the Common Fund.

Income is generated from our regular social events.

The PCC is committed to meeting all the Incumbent’s appropriate expenses.

A copy of our latest accounts can be found along with the Parish Profile on our website http://www.stmarychurchruislip.co.uk/

6. Our TeamWe are very fortunate to have a long-standing assistant priest Father Michael Bedford and a retired priest Father Derek West, who also worships at S Mary’s and assists Father Michael as the need arises.

To support the Parish Priest we have two commissioned Lay Ministers: Sandy Fitzgerald (Baptisms, Pastoral Care, Fabric) and Paul Faithfull (Children’s Champion, Youth and Sunday School). We also have a commissioned Lay Pastoral Assistant Cheryl Faithfull (Healing and Prayer Ministry, Pastoral Care). Other key people include: Brian Gilham (Bereavement), Ann Mutukisna (PCC Secretary), Rosemary Herbage (Safeguarding Officer, DBS Evidence Checker), Steve Denbigh (DBS Evidence Checker), Alwyn Abrams (Organist), Eric Lofty (Deputy Church Warden) and Diana Tuttle (Deputy Church Warden, Treasurer).

The PCC presently numbers fourteen members and meets quarterly. Three representatives have been elected to represent the parish at Hillingdon Deanery

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Synod, which meets three times per year. In addition to the above, a number of the laity also support the Parish Priest in many ways, for example, our organist, our serving team, our choir, our flower arrangers, our sides-people, intercessors, florists and catering team.

7. What the members of PCC are looking for in a new Incumbent

Church growth is the biggest challenge we face at S Marys, in the light of that we are looking for:-

A priest who is pastorally sensitive, who is prayerful and has a clear heart for mission and evangelism and who also enjoys meeting people.

Someone who embraces the modern catholic tradition within the Church of England and the ability to use modern technology and social media to further advance our mission and outreach.

Our ideal candidate will be a natural leader who is also entrepreneurial and has excellent organisational skills.

He will be willing to delegate and encourage people to become actively involved in the life of the church and its activities in the parish, thereby utilising the various gifts which our church members have to offer.

The candidate will need to be visible and have the skill and passion for engagement with the local community. It is hoped that the new priest will want to be active throughout the parish, building on existing relationships and developing new relationships with local schools, shops and businesses.

RAF Northolt is located on the edge of the parish. Our previous priest was Chaplain to the local RAF Cadet Squadron.

We very much look forward to supporting our new incumbent as we strive to rebuild our numbers again.

8. Summary - Strengths and Challenges Strengths

A dedicated and very friendly congregation keen to move forwards as a church community bearing witness to Christ's love.

PCC is debt free. The church and grounds are well maintained and looked after. S Mary’s has established good links with the local Roman Catholic church and

is keen to foster closer links with other churches in the local area.

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Regular worship takes place throughout the week. Our hall is popular with local groups, thus enabling opportunities of engagement with the wider community.

Challenges

To increase our numbers through mission and church growth. More engagement with local schools, businesses and the local community. To engage more effectively with the youth to help increase our Sunday School

with the aim of appealing to, and drawing in, youngsters of all ages. To attract and appeal to new families. To work towards increasing our Common Fund contribution. The Church is situated within a residential road, making it challenging to raise

the profile of S Mary’s.

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Aerial view of S Mary’s showing the Church building, Church hall and car park to the right and Vicarage and garden to the left.

Thank you for reading our Parish Profile. Please feel free to contact either of our Lay Minsters or the Deputy Church Warden if you would like any further information or you would like to arrange an exploratory visit.

Paul Faithfull 07710780102 Paul.faithfull@ccameron.co.uk

Sandy Fitzgerald 07712 651565 Sandtel@talktalk.net

Eric Lofty 07725 328523 ericlofty24@yahoo.co.uk

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