SECRETARY'S ANNUAL REPORT CANTON UNITING CHURCH 2008/2009

Yet another busy year for Canton Uniting Church! Our mission work, centred on the Treganna Family Centre, is continuing to change as our now ex-partner Spurgeons Childcare moves to a consultancy role. Alison Walker will be giving us a more detailed report on the Centre later tonight.

With regard to the future of these buildings we continue to rely on the professional skills of Siarlys Evans. At our last Church meeting Siarlys outlined the situation following his discussions with our architect, Ian Standen, he explained that in order to keep current activities going we have to consider building the new halls before disposing of the 1890 Hall. The Church Meeting agreed the following phasing:

• Phase 1 Refurbish 1934 hall so that a new home for AA is created on the Theobald Road side and a new kitchen and toilets are provided.
• Phase 2 Move TFC office into the 1890 hall, demolish the TFC area and begin construction of the new two storey hall linking the sanctuary and the 1934 hall.
• Phase 3 Sell 1890 hall (i.e south of large wooden divider) and use the cash to finish refurbishing the 1934 hall.

In the meantime we have to maintain the existing buildings and among other jobs Rod Faulkner arranged for the external white walls on the new building to be re-painted.

In 2008 we received a request to sell the freehold of 69 Llandaff Road, which we didn’t even know we owned! Because it is held in trust on our behalf by the Baptist Union Corporation it had to be sold according to the precise procedures set out in the Charity Act. It was valued at £100 but as the valuer’s fee is £300 and the BU’s Solicitor’s £500 so the real price will be £900. The BUC’s solicitor is now writing to all concerned. There will be further resolutions proposed tonight for the Baptist members to approve the sale at this price and from all the Church approving the payment of the fees.

There continues to be lots of different events and activities by the Church and in the Church. Thanks to Toni Edwards, Barbara Ball and others we continue to play an active role in the Canton & Riverside Churches Together. We have participated in joint services and helped to organise the Lenten Study Groups, which were very well attended. We also shared a number of evening services with Llanederyn Christchurch. Other particular events were the 125th Anniversary of the Boys Brigade celebrated in October, One World Week coffee morning also in October, and “United by Lights” in November. The Silent Film night organised by Andrew in December was another success and raised £420 for Treganna Family Centre. Our three Epiphany talks on Challenges to Faith were all excellent and included “Living in a pluralistic society” “The scientific argument about God” and finally “Medical science and dying – End of Life Issues” by our own Dr. Jackie Hermann-Smith. They were well attended including people from other churches. We thank Paul Ballard for organising them and the speakers for responding so well.

The Bible study group is also organised by Paul Ballard and continues to meet on alternate Wednesday nights, they are well worth attending. In 2008 the Church Meeting authorised Bible Study as part of the worship life of the Church.

Our annual Agape Supper was held on Shrove Tuesday which revealed how much we knew about saints (not a lot in my case!). The “Cameo” social evening on the 7th March 2009 used the musical talents within our fellowship to provide entertainment and it was delightful; we are very fortunate to have such talents. We all particularly enjoyed Andrew blowing the soprano saxophone and thus providing inspiration for all of us to try new things; our thanks to Hugh Morgans, Trudi and Rod Faulkner and Andrew Wilson-Dickson for organising the event and providing refreshments. The next church event is a summer trip to Maesyronnen and Hay-on-Wye. Maesyronnen is a URC grade 1 listed Church building near Hay and of course Hay has more bookshops per square foot than anywhere else on earth.

Under the new Charity Act churches have to apply for charity status (formerly they were exempt) and the first churches required to do so are those with annual incomes greater than £100,000. Based on our income for the first nine months of 2008 our total income for 2008/09 is projected to be about £65,000 which puts us well below the Charity Commissioners’ threshold for applying for Charity Status this year. There are a number of pressures on the Church to “regularise” our arrangements with the other organisations that use our buildings. Charitable status will require us to define who we are and what we do; the URC (Wales) Trust requires formal leasing agreements with co-occupiers and we need clarity over insurance cover, legal compliances and other responsibilities. The deacons are looking at how we can have a clear and mutually understood relationship with those who use our building that will support our future charitable status and meet contemporary legal expectations, but without adversely affecting any group’s activities;

Lowri Mepham, Katie Lauren Shannon Thompson and Esmat Esmail were baptised and there was a service of blessing for Korede Kassim in October. We celebrated the wedding of Sue McDiamond and David Roberts and that of that of Liz Neal and Robert David.

The number of people attending our congregation has generally been maintained although there was a fall in numbers during the cold winter. Our membership has remained at 97, possibly 98 by the end of this evening; deaths and changes in membership have been balanced by new members.

Five of our oldest and longest serving members have died since the last AGM - Stan Hill, Myra Moorcroft, Ted Guard, Grace Howells and Margaret Dennis-Jones. We gained ten new members - Eva Elliott, Clive Curtis, Constantino Dumangane, Taio and Laidi Kassim, Esmat Esmail. Sheena Carlise-Gaye, Sam Adams, and Lee and Kaye Taylor. Sheena was also confirmed.

The next twelve months looks like being even busier. The work of Treganna Family Centre is growing and changing and we need to start planning fund raising for our new building.

Peter Wilkinson
Church Secretary