Annual Review of 2020 - St Mary's Church, Wimbledon

Annual Review of 2020
Team Rector’s Report

2020 was dominated by the Covid 19 pandemic. Our lives were turned upside down, public worship was
banned in our church buildings from 23rd March until June. Alongside this a general lockdown meant that most
people were confined to their homes for most of the time; schools, non essential shops, pubs and all other
social situations were banned for months on end and we only saw those who we lived with for much of the
year. While there were some positives about the year, the dominant experience was of loss. As a community
we lost a number of members of the congregation directly to Covid 19 as well as others who may well have
had their lives shortened indirectly by the impact of the virus.
St Mary’s has maintained public worship in some form throughout the year. We ceased public worship in
church on the 23rd March and streamed our first service live from Church on Facebook. Later that week the
Church of England required all churches to be closed and we moved to streaming services from the studies of
the clergy either live or pre-recorded. The clergy had to learn many new IT skills this year. We have greatly
appreciated the support of the lay members of the church in doing this. We decided that we would produce
two online services every Sunday for St Mary’s congregation while the building was closed: a morning service
at 10am which aimed to cater for the congregations who would normally come to the 9.30am and 11.15am
Sunday services and Choral Evensong at 6.30pm for those who preferred Prayer Book services.
The Director of Music, Assistant Director of Music, Choir and Organists produced an invaluable range of
recordings, many of outstanding quality to edit into pre-recorded services and later to use in Zoom services.
We also grew a team of lay volunteers skilled in hosting Zoom services which freed the clergy to concentrate
on leading worship and leave the technical side of streaming to others; for which we were very grateful.

We have managed to maintain a regular attendance at live services which was about half of the number of
people we would have had in Church, other people watched recordings of services later during the week on
YouTube and Facebook. We also discovered that we had new worshippers who were joining us for online
services from distant and disparate places. These were often people who had previously worshipped at St
Mary’s and then moved away. Some contacted us to say how comforting it was to have this contact with home
when they were far away and isolated by the virus.
As well as using new technology to offer public worship we also wrote regularly to those members of the
congregation who had difficulty accessing online services and information. Once we were on Zoom we were
able to offer them access by telephone. We also kept them up to date with the opening of services in church,
when possible.
Christmas was a particularly challenging time. As the pandemic became worse and with the Kent variant
circulating locally, planning was extremely complex.
We had initially hoped to offer a good number of live and online services, but in the end we had to stream
nearly all the services with only the 8am Eucharist on Christmas Day having a congregation in church.
We wanted to make communion available to as many people as possible on Christmas Day so while we
decided to hold most of the services online only for public safety, we did administer communion after the
service to anyone who came up to church. This was not taken up by very many people, but it was good to
have made this provision as administering the sacraments to the parish is fundamental to the work of the
church.
It was particularly difficult to maintain our ministry to children and young people over the past year.
Lockdowns were stressful for families because the schools were not open to most and education took place at
home. Providing engaging ministry online was difficult when children were already spending far more time than
usual interacting with screens. The Christmas Crib and Candlemas Christingle online services were effective
and much appreciated.
We have had to make major adaptations to our pastoral care to respond to both the needs of the
congregation and the restrictions of the pandemic. At the beginning of the pandemic we set up a buddy
scheme to link volunteers with those who were struggling to manage with the restrictions or socially isolating.
We had a huge response from the congregation to this with 76 volunteers coming forward. Those who
needed help were far fewer and we only had 15 people who asked for help. Many of our older folk were
already very well supported by family and home helps.
There was however a general sense of isolation and loneliness. We all missed the social contact of worship
and other church activities. The investment in Church Suite paid significant dividends in responding to this. The
clergy team worked hard to send out regular emails throughout lock down and afterwards. These ranged in
content from news and updates on Church and worship, to spiritual inspiration and prayer suggestion. We
also included jokes, amusing videos and secular inspirational material. We had a number of series which helped
build up the church community including ‘Wimbledon Treasures’, ‘St Mary’s at Work’ and the Advent
Calendar.
The St Mary’s community produced a Cookbook to commemorate the Pandemic and to raise money for the
food bank. This project not only provided several ‘recipes of the week’ online, it also brought the whole
church community together. Nearly 500 books were sold, and it has proved not only a powerful record of the
time, but also a very useful and versatile recipe book that is regularly used by members of the congregation.
St Mary’s has achieved a great deal over the last year albeit that little of it is what we would have predicted at
the end of 2019. Part of the vision we had for our Mission Action Plan was to be ‘a community growing in
faith, hope and love.’
I think we have done this despite everything else that happened in 2020 and I look forward to seeing the fruits
of that as the restrictions associated with the pandemic are removed.
We have done good work caring for the lost, the lonely and the vulnerable and we have continued to glorify
God as best we can through our worship. We started the year seeking God’s purposes for transforming the
world with Lent groups that looked at the Christian response to the Environmental Crisis. These had to be
abandoned because of lock down, but I expect that in the year to come we will once again be turning to God’s
call to be part of his transforming work in the world as we can begin to venture away from our homes again.
Mandy Hodgson

Church Committee
                                  Officer’s Reports
Churchwardens’ Property Report for 2020
As Churchwardens we are responsible for the maintenance of the “Fabric, Goods and Ornaments” of St
Mary’s. We could not do this without the help of the many volunteers who give so much time to the church.
In particular, we would like to thank all those who have been involved during this most extraordinary year of
the global pandemic due to Covid 19. We have had to close the church, run services remotely and re-open
the church with social distancing measures in place and restrictions on numbers and singing. Throughout this
time, there has been a mass of volunteers from the congregation who have continued to work both front of
house and behind the scenes to look after the church and to enable services to go ahead. We thank you all.
Church
Following the Quinquennial survey issued in April 2017, the church wardens instructed our architect Daniel
Benson of Ablett Architects to draw up a specification for the work needed to the outside of the church.
Much of the structural work on the outside was completed in 2019. Having effected the external repairs we
have had to allow the internal walls to dry out before attempting to make these good. The architects have
drawn up a specification for the re-plastering work that is required in the church most notably to the south
west corner of the gallery and also in and around the south porch and we expect to be able to take this
forward in 2021 following an application to the Diocesan Advisory Committee (DAC) which is underway.
As part of the structural work, the corner stone at the south east corner of the chancel was replaced with a
piece of shaped stone as shown in this photograph (the other, original, corner stones are carved). A project
was proposed which would have allowed members of the community to bid for the opportunity to design a
carving for this new stone.
Ultimately it has been decided that it would be better for the church to identify a suitable subject and, once
agreed by the DAC, to have this carved into the stone.

Damp in vestry toilet and drainage
This still requires some more detailed analysis of the possible solutions. The level of the clergy vestry and
toilet is lower than the ground outside and the walls on the east side have been damp for many years.
Following the investigation of the drainage system, it is clear that the damp is probably caused by the lack of

adequate drainage for the rainwater coming down from the roof of the church. The soakaways for rainwater
are either inadequately sized or partially silted or both. It has not been possible to find the chambers for all
the soakaways and these are not functioning at all. Water coming down the drainpipe outside the vestry door
is flooding down the path leading to Arthur Road. The drainage on the east side of the church is not being
carried away and so is saturating the ground here. Some major work is needed to ensure that this rainwater
drains away from the church. Our architect has presented a number of possible solutions, but some further
advice on the most cost-effective way of solving this problem is needed. This will not be easy because of the
presence of trees and graves. There could be an opportunity to combine these works with those being
undertaken on 3 Arthur Road.
Other Minor works
The Chancel carpet: following an application for a faculty so that the worn carpet in the choir stalls could be
replaced and delays caused by possible damp problems, a new, breathable carpet was identified which satisfied
the DAC. This has now been installed in a way that allows it to be easily removed if necessary.
It seems a property report would not be complete without a mention of the clock in the tower which has
continued to cause problems. It seems as though another issue arises as soon as one is fixed. However, at the
time of writing, it is behaving reasonably well and we will continue to persevere.
Churchyard
During lockdown a number of volunteer gardeners have been hard at work
ensuring that the Churchyard looks better than ever before. Particular thanks are due to Robert MacDonald
Watson, Richard Pelly, Ulla Yangopoulos, Tom Moulton and to everyone else who has made the most of
lockdown to get some fresh air and spend time working on the leaves, weeds, grass and more major items.
The fencing around the field has been repaired and the stretch at the road end of the new churchyard has
been replaced with pales that match the existing fence.
Parish Office
We are most grateful to Jane Johnston, our Parish Operations Manager, for
running the office and for managing the many property issues which arise.
Whilst there has been less administration for weddings, funerals and hall bookings, we are extremely grateful
to all those who help out and support with these
administrative duties. We can now look forward to the frequency of all these events picking up again.
Fellowship House
Fellowship House is used from Monday morning until Friday lunchtime by Oak Tree Pre-School Nursery
providing a very useful contribution to our income. Although the nursery has been impacted by the lockdown,
they managed to resume operations in June, albeit at a reduced level.
The Fellowship House roof had been leaking in heavy rain and Total Roofing had carried out minor repairs; it
had been hoped that this would solve the problem. However, a torrential downpour earlier this year showed
that there were still some areas of weakness and further work is being arranged.
A drainage problem with waste water from Fellowship House caused by roots growing into the pipes was the
subject of an insurance claim and has now been
resolved.
Garden Hall
Garden Hall has been little used from March 2020 onwards due to the national lockdown and the restrictions
of the tier system although, amongst other activities, protective mask fabrication was carried out there and it
was used for an innovative project to see whether it would be possible for a jury to be situated remotely from
the court where a legal trial was being held.
A replacement range cooker is being sourced for the kitchen and improvements to the other fittings are being
considered. The large glass sliding door remains
unusable and a lock has been fitted so that it cannot be opened. There is a danger that it could become stuck
in the open position. Our architect, Marcus Beale, has been consulted on this and other issues such as wear
occurring to the Portland stone cladding, the kitchen refit and acoustics in the hall, and his report is awaited.
Nick Long and Mike Leeson

Treasurers Report
It has been an extraordinary year, but at the end of it and with some respite from the Pandemic, we are still
standing. In the trade, the mantra is “Cash is King”, and I think that to understand what happened in 2020, it is
best to look at the movement in cash. During 2020 our cash and cash deposits fell by £51,000, a not
insignificant sum. The bulk of this shortfall fell predictably on our General Fund. With social distancing and a
ban on any form of gathering, our Hall Income was £44,000 lower than 2019. The Tennis Championship was
cancelled meaning that we lost £45,000 of expected income. Collections were down by £15,000. The good
news was that our basic income stream from gift aided donations held up and came in just ahead of last year at
£190,000, and our investments did well, better than expected, £12,000 ahead of last year.
Our problem in the budgeting is that our expenditure is very largely fixed, and with staff commitments. We
were helped considerably by the Governments furlough scheme, giving us £17,000, and savings on repairs and
maintenance including utilities of £19,000, but we made a decision in Autumn of 2020 to honour our Diocesan
Pledge of £200,000 reduced as it was from 2019 by £40,000. The Diocesan Pledge is a voluntary donation to
the work of the Diocese of Southwark a registered charity, but it funds the Stipends of the Priests and
Ministers plus their housing costs, and due to our status as one of the largest Churches in the Diocese, to
make a contribution to those Churches less well off than ourselves.
The uncertainty of the Pandemic meant that we did not feel confident enough to make any Charitable
donations in 2020. However we have now approved a list of donations to be made amounting to £16,500, and
this will be expended shortly unless there are any objections.
Finally on last year to the tricky stuff. I have stated that we lost £51,000 in cash last year, but our General Fund
has ended up with a deficit of £15,000. This is due to the performance of our investments which have created
an unrealised profit of £25,000, and to the write back of £10,000 of Hall deposits which were found to be over
2 years old. We are required by law to show our investments at fair value, but there is a risk that values can
go down as well as up so we are wary of that pitfall.
Our activities on restricted funds was low during the year. Expenditure allocated to restricted funds is listed in
the accounts.
I would like to make some comments about were St Mary’s stands in financial terms and the future.
I started by noting that cash is king. As of the end of 2020, St Mary’s is sat on a cash pile of £545,000. Some of
this is tidied up in Restricted funds, but the General fund starts 2021 with a balance of £267,000, and that is a
comfortable cushion against the vagaries of this coming year. Top of these will be the outcome of the Tennis
Tournament. We have budgeted for £35,000 to come from this event, and if it does not, we will be looking at
a deficit for 2021 of around £50,000. Given the very nature of our cost base, a mission based plan of
expenditure, the only way in which St Mary’s can find a financial balance and to honour and restore our
previous Diocesan contribution, without eroding our cash reserves, is for the bedrock income from personal
donations to rise, and to rise by some 40%. That is a tall order, but one I hope you will rise to the challenge of
achieving. Neal Harvey

Planned Giving and Gift Aid Report—2020
Summary
Donations to St Mary’s from regular donors for unrestricted use in 2020 were similar to 2019. This is despite
the much-reduced level of donations in envelopes because of the restriction on services due to the pandemic.
Many of these regular donors have sent donations in other ways and these are very much appreciated.
However, the value of donations to restricted funds and one-off donations has
decreased significantly from 2019. This is mainly due to the pandemic and larger one off donations in 2019.
2020 In more detail
Unrestricted Donations from Regular Donors
During 2020 unrestricted planned giving receipts totalled £232,023 (2019: £234,352). This is made up of
donations received by standing orders, weekly
envelopes and the occasional donations made by donors sending cheques and bank transfers, through Charities
Aid Fund and Charities Trust, together with the tax recoverable under Gift Aid, where relevant, and are set
out on the next page:

The Gift Aid tax relief on loose collections allows a maximum claim of £2,000 for each tax year ended 5 April.
Two claims are included in the 2019 comparative above.
Sadly we lost a number of our long-standing regular donors last year. Although some were replaced by new
donors, the regular donations from older parishioners are not being replaced at the same level by new donors
and our regular income is expected to decline in 2021.
For 2020 regular unrestricted donations were supplemented by additional
donations from both those who would normally donate in envelopes during church services and from regular
standing order donors in response to an appeal so that overall St Mary’s was fortunate to maintain
unrestricted receipts from regular donors for 2020 at a similar amount to 2019.

Website Donations
In 2020 we set up an additional system for donations to be made through a “Donate” button on our website
which may be accessed directly or via a QR code. The amounts received are included in the amounts above.
This method of donation comes with a cost of almost 2% per £1 donated. The level and number of these
donations has varied in the six months it has been available. St Mary’s received 75 donations via this method of
£3,008 in total, after fees deducted of £60 (excluding the Gift Aid recoverable).
We want to encourage anyone visiting St Mary’s to donate and I hope this will increase one-off visitor
donations in 2021 as more normal life returns. For regular members of the congregation I encourage any
additional donations to be made by a bank transfer so that St Mary’s costs per £1 donated are kept as low as
possible and Gift Aid is more easily recovered when appropriate.
Donations for Other Funds and One-off Receipts
In addition to the unrestricted donations from regular donors shown above, the total for donations to specific
funds and other one-off donations has fallen from £51,085 for 2019 to £24,097 in 2020, including Gift Aid tax
recoverable.
Contributions from regular giving to the restricted use Development Fund
amounted to £11,204 (2019: £12,798) and £1,406 was received in relation to
Baptisms (2019: £3,750), inclusive of tax recoverable. The other receipts in 2020 also included one-off
donations and donations towards specific costs of £11,487 (2019: £34,537).
The above figures do not fully reflect the impact of the pandemic. General cash donations during services are
not included and these have reduced significantly due to the pandemic as has St Mary’s other income. The
Treasurer’s Report, shows the full effect on total income including donations which, after deducting expenses,
resulted in the deficit for 2020.
The significant impact of Gift Aid is clear in the amounts above. I would encourage anyone who pays tax in the
UK to ensure that the gift aid declaration available on our website is completed and sent to me.

I want to thank Margaret Swain for her work as my Deputy. Margaret and I alone are privy to the names of
donors and the amounts they give.
Also thank you to Donald Broad, Peter Stevens, Una Whicheloe and Margaret, for carrying out the banking of
Sunday collections including the envelope donations when services have been possible.
Finally, thank you all very much for your donations.
Jane Moss
Church Committee Secretary’s Report
The Church Committee has met via Zoom five times in the past year and two of those meetings have taken
place since the ACM in October 2020. We have
discussed issues arising as a result of the pandemic such as worship and services during and after periods of
lockdown. We have also discussed the budget for 2021, the Parish Support Fund pledge, governance, the
reserves policy, and aspects of the Mission Action Plan. We have had regular reports on safeguarding, planned
giving, finance, property and the business of Deanery and Diocesan synod. We have also been updated and
consulted on the Parish Housing Project.
Laura Campbell
Electoral Roll Report
The new total number of people on the Roll is 506 (which comes from the 2020 figure of 507 plus 8 additions
less 9 deletions ie a net decrease of 1).
Anthony Gubbins
Safeguarding Report
DBS process:
During 2020 we further improved the DBS procedure and workflow in ChurchSuite (CS). The follow up on
DBS applications that were started but not finished by the applicant remains a recurring issue; applicant
situations may change for example. Due to the lack of reporting systems those applications were difficult to
track as the DBS agency tool does not register those applications. The DBS checking agency recently started
deleting applicant data after 3 months, because of GDPR regulations. ChurchSuite is now being set up to
reflect those applications, with Nils and Pauline fine tuning these processes to an efficient and workable flow.
Other changes and additions include DBS approved First Aiders are noted in CS, letters and reference
documents to applicants have been updated in CS, to reflect new GDPR regulations and ID verification is done
virtually during the pandemic.
Currently, a total of 105 approved DBS applications are held on ChurchSuite, up by 43 from the last annual
report. These numbers include the (newly elected) PCC members that require a DBS disclosure since
Safeguarding is ultimately the responsibility of the PCC.
The Diocese Safeguarding Training onsite, that was planned for late spring/early summer 2020, remains
postponed until safely allowed.
Safeguarding Incidents and Past Cases Review:
During 2020, 4 new, serious, safeguarding concerns were reported and multiple minor concerns relating to
maintenance, venue hire or the nursery.
St. Mary’s choir members were supported by the authorities and the Cathedral immediately after they
witnessed a young person commit suicide at St. Paul’s Cathedral in April 2019.
Following this we contacted the Diocese and offered further support to those choir members involved.
Individual cases have been offered pastoral support, reported to the Diocese Safeguarding Team or relevant
authorities. An ongoing or recurring concern is rough sleeping on Church Grounds, which on occasion
escalates.
In December 2019 we received a request from the Diocese for a past cases review (PCR2) for all past and
ongoing cases from 2007, to be submitted by 14.2.2020. Pauline was appointed PSO in 2016. To gain access to
previous information we consulted our previous PSO as well as our previous Rector Mary Bide prior to
submitting our PCR2 data of past and ongoing cases and concerns to the Diocese.
Other safeguarding related development throughout 2020:
In March usually we receive a request from the Diocese for an annual Safeguarding Audit. To date we have not
received a request yet for the 2019 Audit.

April 2019 saw the new Diocesan Serious Incidents Reporting Resolution pass our PCC approval.
New promotional safeguarding material was published by the Diocese during the second half of 2019.
ChurchSuite has been set up with a workflow for the parish office to post a welcome letter and safeguarding
booklet once an applicant becomes a DBS approved volunteer.
Following the public enquiry into Child Sex Abuse in Churches we made further updates to displaying
Safeguarding information on our website, as advised by the Diocese.
Catherine Linsley has been helping volunteer group leaders with the further implementation of activity risk
assessments. Awareness of the need for risk assessments has improved and we have received copies of risk
assessments from several group leaders.
Pauline Bakker
Deanery Synod Report
We appointed two new Deanery Synod representatives In April of 2020, Helen Surana and Tim Wheeler. I
remain a member of the Standing Committee. It is most unfortunate that the pandemic has destroyed their
first year of service. However Merton Deanery Synod meet 3 times since my last report. All meetings where
via Zoom. We meet on 9th July, the 5th October, and the 19th January 21.
At the July meeting we were informed that Rev David Ruddick and FrDavid Pennells had been appointed
Assistant Area Deans, and that Julie Ashbee had taken over as Deanery Secretary. Most of the evening was
dedicated to breakout rooms discussing and sharing experiences of Church in Lockdown. The meeting closed
with Compline. In October we received the accounts. The Deanery received a grant from the Diocese, and
that had made the need for Parish support unnecessary, with funds available of £8985. Jay Colwill presented his
take on “Being Church and reaching out within Covid guidelines”, with the objective of amplifying those things
which had been of value. Our last meeting in January 21 adopted the Diocesan Model Rules for Deaneries.
Diocesan Synod
Since April 2020, I have continued to serve as a Diocesan Synod Representative as elections were postponed
due to the Pandemic. I have continued as a deanery representative on the Lambeth Pastoral Working Group,
and the Diocesan Board of Patronage. I remain as a member of the vacancy in See committee.
Diocesan Synod meet three times since April last year, all by Zoom. In July 20 we were informed of a new
Diocesan Safeguarding officer, Stephen Roberts, and licensing of 18 new curates. The 2019 report was
approved, with a financial surplus of £4.3m. Model Rules for Deanery Synod were presented and adopted. In
December a meeting which had been delayed, we received the Annual Objectives review for 2020 and the
objectives and budget for 2021. The budget for 2021 of expenditure of £25.3m and income of £22.6m was
approved. The number of seats available for the forthcoming Diocesan Synod elections was confirmed. Merton
is allocated 6 lay seats and 6 Clergy seats. The Rev Jay Colwill under the title of Growing Faith, posed the
question “how could we change our thinking and actions in the roles we hold, so that it becomes second
nature to look at all life decisions, through the lens of what it means for our children, young people, and
households.”
The latest meeting was on the 13th March. This meeting coincided with the 10 th anniversary of Bishop’s
Christopher’s tenure. He reminded us of the charge he had been handed by Archbishop Rowan Williams in
2011. Part of this was an explicit command to ensure involvement of black and ethnic minority people in every
aspect of Diocesan life. It was therefore apt that the main business included the adoption of the Southwark
Anti Racism Charter. Andrew Denby the retiring Director of Finance, confirmed that Pledge income had
reached 96% for 2020, and that with capital receipts the Diocese would show a surplus, a vastly better
position than had been anticipated in July 2020. The meeting also received a presentation of “Living in Love and
Faith”, the Church’s official approach to resolving the issue of same sex marriage. Feed back is expected by the
Autumn of this year, with decisions at General Synod level due in 2022. A presentation on Eco Church made
the long term suggestion that gas boilers could be replaced by electric heating.
Neal Harvey

Pastoral Care
Pastoral Care
During this time of lockdown pastoral care has looked very different, having been predominantly by telephone
rather than physical visits in order to keep everyone safe.
We set up the Buddy system which was inundated with volunteers to help but a far fewer number people who
actually required practical assistance. Which one surmises was a good thing. The lockdown brought out the
best in many people not just church members and there were many local helping schemes initiated.
The biggest difficulty has been the enforced isolation of people, which has resulted in some people struggling
with loneliness and lack of any contact with others.
Many members of the congregation have been excellent at keeping in contact by telephone and making
deliveries of cards and flowers to those who might be in this situation.
In the initial stages the members of the St Mary’s staff made contact with many people particularly those who
were living on their own.
This included informing them of the new online worship provision and how to access the services via the
telephone.
Revd Nils Bersweden
St Mary’s Pastoral Assistants (StMPAs)
As reported last year the process for recruiting, training and commissioning of new Pastoral Assistants for St
Mary’s is now under way. After advertising through three sermons and ChurchSuite emails, people were
invited to a workshop (which attracted 24 participants). After explaining what being a St MPA would involve,
they were invited to have further conversations with myself, Shara Leonard or Selina Master who have been
planning this. As a result four people were interviewed and have begun training (on Zoom). Others have
decided to wait another year before putting themselves forward. The initial training has begun and is due to be
completed mid-July. The new StMPAs will then be commissioned at a Sunday service to extend and
complement the pastoral work done by the clergy and Shara, our Southwark Pastoral Auxiliary.
Revd Nils Bersweden
Home Communions
Over this year we have sadly lost some of those who used to receive regular home communion.
There are currently only five people unable to get to church who receive communion at home on a regular
basis.
Anyone who would like to receive communion at home because they are unable to leave their home are
encouraged to contact me (Nils 0203 665 8746) or the Rector.
Regular visits to Lee House Care Home, and to the Heathlands Court Nursing Home, ceased during
lockdown, though occasional contact was made as requested and if possible.
Contact has now been re-made to begin the regular monthly services of home communion.
Revd Nils Bersweden

Soulscape

‘Soulscape Wimbledon’ which is a Team venture began in September 2019 to provide a new regular act of
contemplative worship within the Parish. This last 12 months it has only been able to take place a few times at
St Matthew’s Church. Instead due to covid it has been online this year most months. These videorecordings,
which offer a slightly different experience, can still be seen online on the St Mary’s You-tube channel (see
https://www.youtube.com/user/stmarysfestival/videos ).
The Rev’d Nils Bersweden
Youth and Families Worker Report
I have been furloughed or partially furloughed since April 2020 and so all my activities have been in abeyance
since then. It's been a difficult year and I'm looking forward to groups and activities beginning to restart as the
lockdown measures continue to ease.
Toddler Praise did resume briefly in September and October and we had a nativity service in December.
These sessions took place in Garden Hall, with households sitting socially distanced on picnic rugs. We had
recorded music for dancing and the sessions were well attended with covid-safe measures in place.
Rafters also met during September and October in Garden Hall with everyone socially distanced and wearing
masks. It was good to see the young people and the sessions went well though the context felt quite difficult.
I have missed the interaction with the children, young people and their families and I think the coming year will
be full of opportunities and challenges as we seek to rebuild and grow our groups and sessions.
Catherine Linsley
Fountain Group
During the past year, in accordance with Covid Restrictions and Guidelines,
Fountain Group has continued to meet in groups no larger than six outside, weather permiting. Members
have commented on their delight in seeing one
another and having the opportunity to relax and talk in as 'near normal' a situation as possible. Members of
the group support one another and I keep in touch by telephone and email newsletters.
Shara Leonard

                                      Sunday Worship
Music
One of the ways in which we have felt starved in the last year has been the lack of congregational singing.
Singing favourite hymns brings the St Mary's community together; music enlivens worship, and adds a welcome
participatory dimension to services. It is good if the last year has allowed us to appreciate anew the power of
live music.
Restricting the singing to just a few has, at times, felt unfair and unnecessary. When it becomes possible, I am
excited by the idea of a Songs of Praise-styleservice, reminding us of the best the New English Hymnal has to
offer.

Despite possible feelings of musical starvation, the last year has illuminated the church choir's togetherness and
eagerness to try out new things. Since this report is designed to tell you what has been achieved over the last
year, I am going to tell you briefly about a choir year with many twists and turns.
At the beginning of the first lockdown, 'virtual choir' videos became the fashion – singers individually recording
themselves singing their part to an accompaniment, before all thirty videos were stitched together. Thanks to
the creative and technical brilliance of Anna, several high-quality (and in one case highly entertaining) St Mary's
Choir videos were produced. Recording yourself singing alone can be a frightening experience, but the choir
took to the challenge courageously. As videos of the whole choir proved time-consuming to produce, we
moved onto individuals singing hymn verses, and these recordings allowed the congregation to sing along
during services at home. Anthea Richardson’s piano-playing delighted the Zoom congregation regularly, as did
contributions from current and former choral/organ scholars Harriet Downer, Hector Revill, Jason Ching,
Bethy Reeves, Hugo Williams and Lizzie Robbings.
                                                      As Lockdown One ended and the weather remained fine,
                                                      the new Rule of Six
                                                      allowed us to meet to sing in small groups. Anthea
                                                      Richardson, Iris Ronayne,
                                                      Susan Mayo, Andrew and Sheila Lenon, Sonia Elkin, and
                                                      Andy and Alethea Evans, whose gardens we sang in, were
                                                      wonderful hosts.
                                                      As well as giving forty singers of all ages a convivial
                                                      experience on Friday nights, we explored vocal music
                                                      suited to small groups from the Elizabethan Madrigal to
                                                      the 19th Century part-song – secular music not
                                                      commonly sung by a church choir but which felt apt in the
                                                      context. We had to get used to being 2m about from our
                                                      fellow singers – not easy, but good discipline, because of
                                                      the need to listen more carefully.
                                                      It was a great joy when groups of six singers were finally
                                                      allowed to sing in church again. The singing seemed to be
                                                      welcomed, even if it also highlighted the
                                                      congregation’s enforced silence.
                                                       The choir's Autumn Term Friday night activities were
                                                       characterised by the novelty of the full choir singing all
                                                       spread-out in the Nave. As restrictions became tighter
                                                       towards November, this required regular tweaking so that
we could remain on the “right side of the line”, as far as regulations were concerned. Pleasingly, we realised
that the acoustics of the nave provide a good/resonant choral sound. Before the November Lockdown set in
we gave one Friday Night Choral Meditation to a small congregation sitting in the gallery. The final chord of
Stanford's Nunc Dimittis in A evaporated in the church to lively and enthusiastic applause from the twenty
listeners upstairs, suggesting that the experience of hearing a large choir again for the first time had been a
joyful one.
We were given a few days' warning about the November Lockdown which allowed the choir to record a large
amount of choral music for November services, Advent and Christmas. As so often in the last year, the
singers’ readiness to adapt was impressive, and the ability to record so much so quickly has been impressive.
Christmas Carol services without a congregation, with a socially-distanced choir in the nave, were not like the
real thing, though enjoyable for those who were
allowed to sing. I did feel for those unable to join us in church, and very much hope that December 2021 will
be a different story.
During the first months of 2021 live singing has again been extremely
restricted. There has, though, been a silver lining. Three weeks after the pandemic began we were supposed to
be giving the premiere of Seven Last Words from the Cross – seven choral pieces written by a mixture of
established and up-and-coming choral composers in a variety of styles – commissioned by St Mary’s Choir
thanks to the enormous generosity of Sarah Colley, who also assembled a beautiful set of texts to be set to
music. Of course, this performance has still been unable to take place.

Friday night rehearsals have had to take place on Zoom, and this has enabled us to ‘meet’ virtually all seven
composers and to hear them talk about their works, the process of composing, and their lives. These sessions
have been inspiring and enriching .
The “Seven Last Words” project feels like a fine wine maturing gradually. We hope that when we do
eventually perform these varied and demanding works, the time will feel right. The Seven Last Words, Christ’s
last utterances on the Cross, invoke thoughts of dying and life-after-death. Perhaps, then, they will fit well into
a Service of Remembrance to commemorate those lost in the recent past, a service which we hope to be able
to put on at the end of October this year.
The choir as a whole deserve a big well-done and thank-you. As always, I have been indebted to Anna Lush,
Andrew Lenon and Sarah Colley. It is exciting to watch Anna skilfully develop the choristers. The adult choir
too is fortunate to benefit from Anna’s organisational and technical skill. Sarah is a wonderful problem-solver
as well as the most dedicated and efficient librarian; Andrew a superb assistant organist and inspiring
lieutenant. They are an excellent team. We the musicians are grateful to Alastair Neilson for his outstanding
work with livestreaming, and more recently to Neal Harvey and Lawrence Davies for huge dedication. Finally,
thank you to Robert Evans and David Marsden for great practical support at choir events and George Coates,
the choir quizmaster, for helping us through lockdown.
Max Barley
Chorister Annual Report
Last April, past and present St Mary’s choristers embraced what was then a new trend and is now the standard
method of performance – the virtual choir. The choristers enjoyed recording themselves singing the “Lean
Forwards, Lean Backwards” warm up (with actions!) and once edited together, their performance lifted the
spirits of the congregation during the first lockdown.
Over the summer we focussed on recruitment, and in early September we hosted the first Chorister Taster
Session. This took place on the St Mary’s field and was extremely well attended. The current and prospective
choristers enjoyed a morning of singing and musicianship, followed by outdoor games, with chorister football
being enthusiastically led by Max Barley and Jason Ching.
We recruited 12 new choristers as a result of the taster session, and our numbers have continued to grow
throughout the year. We now have a thriving team of 20 committed choristers.
Despite the covid restrictions and disruptions, we managed almost one full term of in person rehearsing
between September and Christmas.
We quickly settled into the routine of productive and enjoyable Friday rehearsals, and sang at one 11:15
service, which was our new choristers’ first (and very successful) experience of singing in the church. The
smooth running of our Friday rehearsals and Sunday services was made possible by the chorister parents
generously giving up their time to help supervise, so I would like to thank them. I would also like to thank
Sarah Colley for her ongoing support with the choristers.
It has been a pleasure to welcome Max Heaton and Harry Appleby-Taylor to the chorister staff team. Max and
Harry are our theory teachers, and when we
rehearse in person, choristers leave the rehearsal to have a short individual theory lesson with either Max or
Harry, using the Royal School of Church Music Voice for Life books. This focus on theory has helped
supplement the skills choristers learn during the rehearsals.
When the news came that we would be entering another lockdown in November, the choristers rallied and
gathered together to produce some excellent recordings of music to be used during Advent and Christmas. In
the end, we were lucky to be able to sing in person at the Carol Service. The choristers were extremely
professional, giving a polished and poised performance of “An Unfinished Story” by Philip Godfrey. Theo’s
excellent Once in Royal David’s City solo was also a
highlight of the Carol Service.
Since Christmas, we have been rehearsing online, which has worked well, and we’ve also made the most of the
opportunity to do some dedicated theory work. Each chorister has been having a weekly zoom theory lesson
in pairs since the start of the term, and all the choristers have made fantastic progress with their theory. We
are hugely grateful to Max and Harry for their expertise and flexibility with online teaching. We all look
forward to being able to sing together again.
Anna Lush

Bell Ringing
Since Covid restrictions were introduced Sunday service ringing on the tower bells has only taken place from
30th August to 1st November. At other times handbells have been rung in the churchyard when restrictions
allowed. Also a single bell was chimed or tolled for the anniversary of the Grenfell fire, the VJ day service, the
anniversary of the start of the first lockdown and following the death of the Duke of Edinburgh. Tower bell
practices have not taken place since early in 2020, but when permitted handbell ringing in the churchyard and
(when it got darker and colder) in Garden Hall allowed several of the ringers to progress further than they
would have thought possible. A very enjoyable BBQ was held on the August Bank Holiday in a brief period
when a reasonable number of people were allowed to gather in a garden. For the many periods when meeting
together was not possible, a Zoom gathering has taken place on practice nights which has allowed many of the
ringers to keep in touch. Several weeks had fairly imaginative themes, with quizzes filling in the rest. On many
Mondays when any form of “real” ringing was not possible, the web-based “Ringing Room” has allowed a few
hardy ringers to revise their methods.
The introduction of computer-generated ringers (called Wheatley) to fill in ringing handbells again for services
on Easter Day and hope to restart tower bell ringing for services in May.
Flower Arrangers
Due to the enforced closure of the Church for most of the year there is very little to report.. We managed to
do a modest amount to mark Harvest Festival, but sadly few people were able to enjoy it due to the Covid
restrictions limiting the numbers able to attend services in the building. Christmas was an “artificial” one in
floral terms, but with the greenery culled from the Churchyard and generously donated by the members of the
congregation we were able to raid our boxes of poinsettias and carnations and support the lights of the
Christmas tree with some colour. We were also able to relieve the somewhat bleak and virtually empty
Church for a few funerals with a single arrangement.
We are looking forward very eagerly to opportunities which we hope will present in the year 2021-2022.
Carolyn Ritchie
Church Linen
All services in Church use linen. A Eucharist requires a lavabo towel, a purificator and a corporal, even when
the Chalice is only used by one person. There are linens for the credence tables, towels used for baptisms,
and the altar cloths for the three altars.
The team was temporarily slimmed down to two, to ensure that even with intermittent services, clean supply
was always available.
Mary Ann Turnbull
Silver Cleaning
We are a small group who look after the church silver. Our weekly duties are the washing, polishing as
necessary, and preparing of the Communion silver for the Eucharist on Tuesdays and Thursdays and on
Sundays at 8am and 9.30am.
The wafers have to be very carefully counted out because the celebrant relies on the number being accurate
so that the correct number of wafers are consecrated. We also fill the wine decanters and put out the
appropriate clean linen. Occasional duties include polishing the High Altar cross and candlesticks, the Warrior
Chapel cross and candlesticks, the processional cross and candle holders, the brass alms dishes and book rest.
The churchwarden’s wands need to be polished if there is to be a visit from the Bishop. Our duties ceased
while there were no services in church but they have continued on a more limited basis once church services
resumed. Thank you in particular to Rebecca Mackenzie, Laura Camerer Cuss, and Denise Barnett.
Alison Neilson
Church Cleaning
As this has been a very unusual year due to Covid 19 our church cleaning activities have been less regular than
in normal times. However, we have kept up our regular weekly Friday cleaning sessions when possible while
keeping to safe distancing etc.
The teams did an “extra special” clean over September and October 2020 which made a difference. The plan is
to do this about every six months.
We are very grateful to the other volunteers who cleaned the pews etc after each service.

The church has bought us a Vax battery vacuum cleaner which is very light and flexible. We use it to vacuum
the pew floors. This is now stored in the Parish office.
The cleaning teams have done a great job this year “carrying on regardless” and I am most grateful to them for
all their hard work.
Anita Wilson
Churchyard Gardening
Due to the pandemic, the gardening team have not been meeting regularly apart from Robert Macdonald
Watson, Nick Long, Ulla Yangopoulos, Benedicte Long, Tom Moulton, Richard Pelly, Robert Fookes, Anna
(and Daisy the dog), and Kate.
We have been concentrating on the extension graveyard, which has been
painstakingly slow, but as you can see from results, much improved. Ulla has been instrumental in this effort.
New fence has been erected to the extension graveyard along with a new gate. Robert and Honor Macdonald
Watson have done great work in clearing the excess waste, which was situated behind the church.
I have updated the distribution list, so all names remaining are current.
We also carried out a risk assessment, which is low, due to the gardening being an outdoor activity.
It would be good to be able to restock on some of the garden tools for the coming year, but this can be
discussed later in the year, when things are back to normal and more people are involved.
Alan Duncan

                                 Social Responsibility
Merton Winter Night Shelter
As anticipated, the 2020-21 season’s night shelter was a very different experience for all concerned. The
Merton Winter Night Shelter was one of only a handful in London, which opened in November 2020 to offer
support and accommodation to those who found themselves homeless.
St Mary’s volunteers were keen to help in whatever way was possible under the Covid-19 health restrictions.
We were able to provide financial and catering support and also onsite volunteer support in a Covid safe
manner.
At the outset both funding and facilities were very much an unknown element. Following government
instructions that a rotational night shelter was not to be permitted this season, an alternative needed to be
found. This entailed starting the entire process from scratch.
St Mary’s together with all the night shelter groups were involved from the outset in looking at ways the
shelter might operate under Covid restrictions. First to be secured was static accommodation. The
Wimbledon Methodist Church put forward an offer for use of one of their flats . This would support 5 guests
in their own rooms at any one time.
The project team (Rebecca Stockman, Nicki Zisman and the YMCA Housing Officer, Harry McKeown)
working together with the support and guidance of Public Health England put together a plan that ensured the
safety of all involved.
Funding was secured from a variety of sources; individuals donated a considerable figure privately, also the sum
of £10,572.95 was raised via Virgin Money.
Funding applications were made successfully through Merton Council accessing government initiatives such as
the Cold Weather fund, the Protect Programme (priority for clinically vulnerable rough sleepers) and local
welfare assistance
funding.
The shelter worked alongside other organisations, such as Faith in Action, Housing Justice, and Merton
Council to support people experiencing rough sleeping within the Merton area.
The shelter has helped 13 people off the street since November 2020. There has been positive move ons, with
guests returning to live with family and moving into private rented accommodation. A couple of guests found
they were unable to manage life in the shelter and so left. Currently there are eight guests in the shelter and
the team is working closely with them to help them move on into more secure accommodation.

The project is now running until the end of May instead of the end of March. There are currently six staff
members as well as volunteers working alongside each other. The faith groups continue to provide hot evening
meals each night.
As the shelter moves forward a proposed funding bid has been made to the London Borough of Merton to
include:
• A Housing First service
• An all year round Merton Emergency Winter Accommodation Project,
       or Move on Project. This would be situated at the current Wimbledon Methodist flat that is being used
       with the option to expand into an
       adjacent flat.
• Continuation of the shelter Project Phase 2 where guests are booked into hotel accommodation
These plans are yet to be confirmed and depend greatly on securing government funding. We await the
government’s response for Winter 21/22.
A huge thank you to all St Mary’s volunteers for their significant contributions in all capacities. It has been
highly appreciated and valued by all guests who have used the shelter facilities.
Jane Bush
The Environment
Operation Noah produced a 5 part study course entitled “Climate Change and the Purposes of God”. This
was used by the church Lent groups and much appreciated. On the first Sunday in Lent people were invited to
make pledges to reduce their carbon footprint.
Pray and Fast for the Climate continued on a regular basis on the 1 st day of each month.
Unfortunately much of the year was affected by lockdown due to the Covid pandemic.
Fellowship House’s energy contract came up for renewal in June and was switched to Octopus Energy who
supply from a renewable source at a competitive price. Hopefully this will be repeated as other contracts
expire at St Mary’s.
In November, Judith Bersweden helped Juliet submit an environmental Christian contribution to the online
Inter Faith week service organised by the Hindu temple.
We gained a further new member, Una Whicheloe, and she hosted a zoom meeting of the group in
December.
Juliet Boyd
Christian Aid Week
2019 (omitted last year)
The week began with the annual car boot sale. This is a popular community event and was well-supported by
St Mary’s Church congregation. It raised £1117. The house-to-house collection, together with envelopes in
church, raised a further £3702.
2020
We were unable to organise fund-raising as usual, due to Covid. We are very grateful to Mandy for including
daily mention of Christian Aid during the week on Church Suite.
Juliet Boyd and Lizzie Farrow
Hall hire
The Hall hires during 2020 dropped like a stone from the moment that the first lockdown was announced.
Confirmed hirers were happy for us to keep already paid deposits until it became obvious that no further
entertaining was going to be allowed. Some bookings rescheduled for later in the year but as further
lockdowns were announced these too were cancelled.
Camilla Peters
Wimbledon Foodbank Report
Members of the St Mary's congregation have continued to support the Wimbledon Foodbank. Since the
pandemic started the need for donations has increased greatly and the Foodbank is very grateful for our

support. There has been a switch over the last year to more people donating online or at Waitrose stores
although we have continued to make a monthly donation of food when the church has been open for services.
Helen Dean
Traidcraft
Traidcraft’s mission is to fight poverty through trade, practising and promoting approaches to trade that help
poor people in developing countries transform their lives. To support this mission I am a Fair Trader and stock
a range of fairly traded items. I hope to be able to restart running a Traidcraft stall on Sunday mornings in the
not too distant future. In the meantime Traidcraft fairtrade products can be obtained directly from me. Please
look at https://www.traidcraftshop.co.uk/ to see what goods are available and contact Lawrence Davies on
07505 900905 or
familydavies@care4free.net to arrange collection or delivery of items.
Tennis parking
Preparations for another year of Tennis Parking in the Church Field were well underway in March last year
when the first Lockdown was announced. It soon became clear that, amongst many things, the Wimbledon
Tennis Championships would have to be postponed or cancelled.
In the end, the All England Club took the decision to cancel the 2020
Championships and benefitted from pandemic insurance to cover some of the resultant costs.
Our preparations were therefore halted and we did approach the All England to see if there was any chance of
an indemnity for the resultant loss of income. They were sympathetic to our significant drop in income but,
understandably, did not consider us a vital supplier.
We also had to forego some additional parking income which would have been earned from the All England
for making spaces available to their members for a period before and after the Championships.
The original 2020 budget for Parking income was £45,000 (10% of the total
forecast unrestricted income in a normal year) and the fact that, for reasons
beyond our control, we received no parking income was a major contributor to the deficit in the Church
finances in 2020.
Plans for 2021
Things are looking more promising for this year as the All England have announced that the Championships
will go ahead although it is not yet clear how many spectators will be allowed to attend and there will be
certainly be significant restrictions on numbers. Nevertheless, we believe that there will be demand for parking
and so plans are being put in place again our usual high-class service.
Our Day Manager volunteers have already confirmed their availability and we are exploring an online rota
management system for our extraordinary army of volunteers who make this fund-raising activity possible
The move towards cash-less payments is underway and the contact-less card machines will be used as much as
possible.
We have also changed the on-line booking service provider to Eventbrite and this is already set up with a
much lower level of commission, which will be charged to the parking customer.
Additional income will also come from the arrangement with the All England for up to 50 of their members to
park in The Field for the three weeks prior to and after the Championships.
Richard Pelly

                                     Communication
ChurchSuite
We are now in our third year of use of the ChurchSuite Data Management system which safely and securely
stores all our Church Members contact data.
ChurchSuite has been a blessing during lockdown enabling us to keep in contact with individuals and with the
whole congregation via regular emails. This has served not only to update people of what is happening in
Church and with our online worship but has also served as a regular (sometimes daily) contact with those who
might otherwise have felt isolated. We believe this had helped to foster a sense of continuing community even
during lockdown. The particular way ChurchSuite works has made this simple. Below are a few statistics that I

hope you will find interesting. I will endeavour to monitor and expand this table over the coming years to give
an idea of our constantly changing membership.
As I said last year the system is only as good as the data that we put into it, and we are still updating the
original data that we began with. There are some people who are still in the system who have moved away
from Wimbledon and stopped being members of St Mary’s some time ago and we are still discovering them, so
the figures will decrease.

However there are a constant number of people joining as well. For the last year people have been able to sign
up to being members of St Mary’s by signing up on the website. So even during lockdown when we have not
been meeting people face to face, we have had 66 people join us.
As time goes by this information will become more interesting and will help to better understand the nature of
our church community.
Revd Nils Bersweden
Parish Office and Administration
Well, what a year indeed! Despite the Pandemic, the Parish Office has continued to function in various forms
despite the restrictions. With Mandy and Nils working from their various homes and only meeting on zoom
we were, as we were meant to be, in our own bubbles. Some of the staff were on furlough and the way of
‘doing’ things changed with every Government update. For a short time towards the end of the year I was on
half day furlough which was rather nice!
Pandemic or no pandemic, maintenance had to be undertaken, bins collected, cleaning done and so forth. It
was important to have someone on the property to keep an eye on things so the parish office continued to be
at the centre of the action. We had some strange occurrences in the churchyard (might write a book some
day!).