HOLY TRINITY, STRATFORD

Taranaki Daily News, 29 April 1931, Page 3

HOLY TRINITY, STRATFORD

SUCCESSFUL YEAR REVIEWED INCREASE IN ATTENDANCES. I REPORTS OF EXECUTIVE OFFICERS Despite the depression which has had its effects on the attendances at services and the subscriptions to various church funds, the general tenor of the reports submitted to the annual meeting last night of the parishioners of Holy Trinity Church, Stratford, indicates that a successful year has been experienced and that the church has strengthened its influence as well as having enlarged its sphere of operations. The Rev. G. T. Beale presided over a good attendance. "The development and progress of God's kingdom in this parish are the personal responsibility of both vicar and people alike,” read the vicar’s report. He continued: It is our aim, therefore, to let every one know what is going on, for knowledge leads ’ to interest, aizi interest leads to development and progress. I am pleased to be . able to report that the attendances at services have increased during the year. This is especially the case at the parish church. Services have been held regularly in all parts of the. parish. This has only been possible through the willing help given by the lay-readers, who are always ready to take services, sometimes at very short notice. A monthly service was started at Pembroke Road ha IL The attendance has been most encouraging, averaging 20. Unfortunately the monthly service at Bird Road has been, discontinued, due to the fact that several church families have left the district. Until more lay-readers are available, I should like, to see those parishioners who .have cars in the country use them more often for church services, giving others who do not possess cars an opportunity to attend church at the centres where services are held. Visiting has been . carried on systematically throughout the year. Occasional work has made considerable inroads into my time, but this is easily understood when it is realised that during the year there ■were 41 baptisms, 23 funerals,' 14 weddings and 35 candidates prepared for confirmation. FORMATION OF PARISH. . . . The churchwardens, Messrs. E. H. Young and N, B. Fletcher, stated that as the result of the discussion and decision of' the last annual meeting, application was made to synod, which sat In Hamilton last July, to form the parochial district into a parish. The bill establishing the parish was passed by synod, the°title now being “The Parish of Holy Trinity, Stratford.” Very successful sales of work had been conducted by the ladies’ guilds of Stratford, Midhirst, Toko-Huinga and Cardiff. The handsome contributions from those centres had been appreciated by the vestry. It would be remembered, that proposals for placing the finances of the parish on a firmer and sounder basis were discussed at the last annual meeting, and such proposals had been carried into effect. Local committees had been established in the country centres of Midhirst, Toko-Huinga and Cardiff, and good work had been done by the committees, particularly in view of the very difficult period through, which the Dominion was passing. Cardiff had contributed the full amount' Of its assessment, and although the other centres, including Stratford, were not quite able to contribute their quotas as assessed, they did very well, arid it was anticipated they would, during the coming year, exceed the contributions of last year, which was the first year of the new system of finance. The year has been a- successful one, reported Mrs. E, M. Chadwick for the ladies’ guild. Meetings were held weekly, a fair attendance being kept up throughout.. The year commenced' with a general social afternoon, the proceeds of which were used to provide’articles fori the use of the guild workers. The kettle and crockery have been -most useful. This afternoon was followed monthly by' other’ card afternoons, and those proceeds were used to supply material for‘the various stalls. Both the bazaar and garden party were very successful. Circulars were sent,out to find out just what form of entertainment was most liked, but owing to very .few replies, card afternoons were adopted and were most enjoyable. There were 34 members on the guild list. WORK OF SUNDAY SCHOOLS. The Sunday School report submitted by the superintendent ' (Mr,' W'. D. Young) stated that although, the number of children on the rolls was not as <yreat as it should be, the attendance had been very regular, and most satisfactory to the teachers. The vicar has been very helpful in holding regular weekly classes for-teachers, as well as beinrr present at Sunday school on a number of Sundays. The Sunday school commenced at 10.15 a.m., and at 10.55 a.m. the children were taken into church 'for the first twenty minutes -of- 'the mornino- service. This was of material benefit°to the children, and the report trusted that parents would co-operate in asking their children to remain for this service, because at the present time a number of them asked leave to' return home earlier. ■ • • ■ The concert given by the children at the end of the year was very successful, and the standard displayed by them was good, reflecting credit on the careful training of the teachers arid others who assisted in the work. The school recently lost a very valuable teacher and helper in Miss D. Mclnnes (now Mrs. H. Henderson). The children and teachers combined in giving her a small present in appreciation of her work. The present teaching staff consists of Mr. W. D. Young (superintendent), Miss Middleton, Mrs. Cutfield, Misses J. Whitmill, D. Pearce and .E.. Irving. The kindergarten pupils are in the capable hands of Mrs. Hickson and her-willing helpers. The work .which she has done is evident in the upper Sunday school. Reports on the work of the district committees disclosed that the Midhirst committee did not meet during the year, but every member had worked well on behalf of the church. .The. balance-sheet showed that the district had done its best to reach its assessment under the financial scheme. The result of the canvass undertaken by Mr. Hunt, the people’s warden, was most encouraging and augured well for the future. Midhirst had now its own envelope system, which Mr. Hunt was looking after. Services had been held every Sunday and had been well attended. The number of communions made was about the same as last year, about 197. Mrs.. Dill andthe Misses Graham, Bunning and Hunt had done excellent work amongst the children in the Sunday school. The ladies’ guild had worked hard during the year, and the financial condition of the district wag largely due to their self-sacrificing efforts. Cardiff was the smallest district in the parish, yet it had a very energetic committee,' which was keen to do its share in the work of the parish. The services, especially Holy Communion on the second Sunday of the month, were very

well attended. The committee had succeeded in reaching its assessment of £25, and much credit was- diie -to .'the v ’ district for that attainment. The Toko and Huinga district was a large one, many parishioners having to come some distance to the services, but fortunately cars helped to overcome that drawback. It was hoped that the afternoon service held at Toko on the second Sunday of the .month -would be made more use of by those living near than was at present the case. The other services were usually well attended and were very encouraging. The committee met several times during the year, and although the amount contributed towards the assessment -was . below that of previous years, there was every hope that when the canvass of the district had been completed more financial support would be forthcoming. Great credit was due to the. ladies for their splendid work in connection with their bazaar. The result in these hard times was a cause for much thankfulness and is an indication of the splendid co-operation which existed in the district. . KINDERGARTEN SCHOOL. Reporting on the w’ork of the kindergarten department, Mrs. U. J. Hickson said the year commenced with a roll number of 30. That number steadily increased and at‘the end of the year there were 58 on the roll. The attendance on most fine- Sundays was fairly wood. On wet days, of. course, it Was only enthusiastic pupils or those .with enthusiastic parents who attended. Mrs. Hickson wished the car.-b wiring parents would bring the children on wetw Sundays. She was very fortunate in that she started the year with three very good helpers —Miss Femmel, Miss N. Carryer and Mr. G. Carryer. Early in the year Miss Childs joined and in October Miss C. Wlritinill .came into the work.

The boys’ Bible class was affiliated with the New Zealand Anglican Bible Class Union on June 11, 1930. Since then meetings of half an hour had been held every Wednesday evening, reported the secretary, Mr. J. Keller, There, was a roll number of ten, compared with twelve when the class was started. The attendance had been -good in fine weather, but not so good in wet weather; owing to the distance some of the boys had to walk. With a few exceptions, however, the average attendance per. member had Deen good. The girls’ guild has had a most successful year, both socially- and financially. At the beginning of the year-it 'was asked’ to’undertake the hoop-la stall and bran tub for the annual church bazaar, and work for this was carried on all through the winter and the guild was able to hand over £l2 to the ladies’ guild and still keep a substantial sum to commence work for the coming year. The real aim was to bring the girls together socially, and this the guild was able to do, thanks to Mrs. Cresswell’s generosity in placing her house at the guild’s disposal for meetings. Mrs, J. Fredric had acted as secretary. Mothers’. Union .meetings Were held bi-monthly throughout the year, -except durino- the holidays, in October eleven mcmlEers .attended the “quiet day’’ held at Fitzroy, which was conducted by the Rev. J. Adams, vicar of Okato, and at ■which all branches in Taranaki' were represented, reported Sirs. Beale, The annual meeting was held on March 13. Sirs. Fletcher was elected secretary, and a committee consisting of the enrolling member, the secretary, Sirs. E. H. Young and Sirs. Bottcher was appointed. Flowers and magazines have been distributed weekly at the hospital.

THE FINANCIAL POSITION.

The statement of receipts and. payments disclosed that the year began with a balance of £23 13s lOd and finished with £6 3s 2d, but the mortgage account had been reduced by £5O and a number of non-recurring expenses such as the parish hall ( £l7 6s) and repairs (£lO 15s) had been undertaken. Chief items of receipts were: Offertories, Stratford (including Bird and Pembroke Roads) .£231 < 12s lid, Midhirst £l9 7s 6d, Huinga £25 13s 3d, Cardiff £l2 2s 7d, Toko £l5 16s, total £304 12s 3d. Subscriptions from these centres totalled £Bl ss, while the ladies’ guild, Stratford, contributed £lO5, Midhirst £27 and Toko and Huinga £39. Hiring of the parish hall realised £52 19s? and the rent of the church cottage £7B. Payments included tho vicar’s stipend £350,. organist £lB, secretary £l3.- Interest on the parish hall mortgage was £2B, while insurance, rates? cleaning, light, heating,. license,' painting, repairs and piano tuning cost £99 Bs. Upkeep of the cottage cost £l2 12s 2d. Expenses connected with the church maintenance were £36 9s 7d, vicarage £l9 Is lOd, motor-car allowance £52, motor expenses £23, printing and advertising, etc., £l2 16s 9d. ° - Statements of accounts were also submitted from the No. 2 account dealing chiefly with mission work, the ladies’ guild, Stratford, the Sunday school, the 111 Saints’ Ladies’ Guild, and All Saints’ Sunday School. The balance-sheet showed a balance of assets over liabilities of £244 14s Id The principal item of assets was the parish hall and cottage, £650, against which there was a mortgage of £425. The special funds account, plus accrued interest, totalled £l6l <s,sd, as compared with the organ account, and interest £125 10s Bd. There was £l7 16s owing in rent from the hall and cottage. The report and balance-sheet were adopted. ' - Officers elected were: —Vicars warden, Mr. E. H. Young; people’s warden, Mr. H. C. Johnson; vestry, Messrs. W. E. Williams (Cardiff)', G. Were (Toko), A. Marfell (Huinga), A. Graham (Midhirst and Tuna), country members; Messrs. J. Fredric, N. B. Fletcher, J. W. Crowe, E. C. Middleton, E. Cutfield and E. S. Walker, town members;’auditor ,Mr. W. Power. . The chairman suggested that after the dedication festival on; May 31 a breakfast should be held in the hall. The idea, though perhaps novel in Stratford, had received support in the Hawera and Palmerston North parishes. Personally he could see nothing against, and everything in favour of; the. scheme, as it should be instrumental in bringing a large gathering of parishioners together. Mr. E. H. Young said the proposal was new to.-him, and he was inclined ; to give it a trial. ■ ? Seeing the chairman favoured the idea he had no doubt it was a good one and he would lend it support, said Mr. W. H. H. Young. Other members intimated that . the scheme was novel to them but indicated they were prepared to support it. Mr. D. Young thought it would mean a large amount of work for the ladies apart° from the fact that parishioners, especially in the country, would have trouble in finding the requisite leisure at that time of the day. The preparatory work could be done on the Saturday night, said Mrs. E. H. Young. She had attended 3. similar function and had found an inspiration behind the corporate act which was most - impressive, The suggestion was adopted.