Minutes of the PCC Meeting
Held on Monday 13th April 2026
| Action | ||
| 1 | The meeting opened at 19.07 with a message of encouragement based on Jeremiah 1:6-8. | |
| 2 | Attendance | |
| · Dawn Airey (Chair), Fiona Clarke (PCC Secretary), Matt Ellson (Vice Chair), Melanie Hartung, Ben Haughton-Scales, Livvi Haughton-Scales, David Meleleu, Alan Palmer, David Wells, Ruth Wium.
· Apologies: Chiaz Alozie, Sam Carew. |
||
| 3 | Previous Minutes | |
| The Minutes of the Meetings held on 2nd February 2026 were approved by all who had been at that meeting, and were signed off by DA. | ||
| 4 | Matters Arising | |
| · The shed has been cleared and the keys handed over to Redwell School.
· Lay PCC meeting was held re Vicar moving on. A further meeting has been scheduled for Thursday 14th May to meet with Archdeacon Richard. · ME/ BH-S/ LH-S to chase John re Face to Face “Raising awareness of Domestic Abuse” training. · New Church signage is now in place. · Communion table has been commissioned. · Church Laptop has been set up and is in use by LH-S and BH-S. |
ME/BH-S/ LH-S
|
|
| 5 | Update on Key Priorities – See Annual Reports (Appendix) | |
| 1. Discipleship (DA)
· No decisions to be made and no comments. 2. Under 18s (DA-Under 11s/ BH-S- Youth) · No decisions to be made and no comments. 3. Wholeness in Jesus/ Wellbeing (DA); Prayer (JBC). · No decisions to be made and no comments. |
||
| 6 | Annual Reports – See Appendix | |
| · The only question was regarding Under 18s and whether years six and seven would remain as a combined group on Sundays. This will be monitored and discussed regarding the broad age range covered. There is no immediate plan to separate them due to lack of helpers at present but they may be separated again if more helpers become available
· There were no other questions or concerns.
Proposal – To agree the Annual Reports for APCM subject to minor grammatical changes identified. Proposer: DA. Seconder: ME. All were in favour. |
|
|
| 7 | Electoral Roll Officer | |
| · Marion is stepping down from the role at APCM.
· All PCC members were asked to consider whether they could take on these duties as someone will need to be appointed at the PCC meeting immediately after APCM. |
ALL
|
|
| 8 | Moving the Church Printer | |
| · Wi-Fi in the School remains a problem.
· Dan Parker, PDET rep, is liaising with the computer team to try to resolve this. · It is not possible to use the School’s Wi-Fi due to security and firewalls. · The ultimate aim is to move the printer from the Vicarage to the Church Office within the School. However, as the Wi-Fi is not currently available, it will need to be moved to the Curates’ house to be available whilst DA is on sabbatical, and it will be moved to the school as soon as Wi-Fi for church use is in place. · The initial move is planned for 30th April. · The cost to move and connect the printer is about £300.
Proposal: To move the printer to the curates’ house using funds from the Building account. Proposer: DA. Seconder: FC. All were in favour except one who abstained.. |
||
| 9 | Parish Update | |
| · Nothing this time. | ||
| 10 | Approving New Groups/ Activities | |
| · Nothing this time. | ||
| 11 | Safeguarding Report – See Annual Reports (Appendix) | |
| No comments or actions. | ||
| 12 | Dates of next meetings: | |
| PCC meetings:
· APCM Sunday 26th April 2026 as part of the service, followed by a short PCC meeting. · Monday 6th July 2026 at 19.00. · Monday 14th September 2026 at 19.00. · Monday 9th November 2026 at 19.00. · Monday 18th January 2027 at 19.00. · Monday 1st March 2027 at 19.00. · Monday 19th April 2027 at 19.00 – To approve reports for APCM. · APCM Sunday 23rd May 2027 as part of the service, followed by a short PCC meeting. |
||
| 13 | The meeting closed with prayers from AP at 19.45 |
Appendix
Registered Charity No 1172631
| “Connecting with Jesus,
with each other, with the community”
|
ANNUAL REPORT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025
FOR NORTH WELLINGBOROUGH ANGLICAN CHURCH,
WELLINGBOROUGH, PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL
REPORTS OF CHURCH MINISTRY AND MISSION
Church attendance
The total of Church members on the Electoral Roll for 2026 is 78 with 13 having left and 15 added. This is a slight increase of 2 from last year’s total of 76.
Marion Darker – Electoral Roll Officer.
Report on the work of the PCC.
Membership
The PCC is made up of the following – ex officio members, who are the clergy (currently including the Incumbent (Vicar), and our two Curates (Ben and Livvy Haughton-Scales)), the churchwardens, and Deanery Synod representatives. The other members of the PCC (lay PCC members) are elected at the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM):
- Deanery Synod representatives fulfil a three-year term, but new rules since 2020 enable them to stand for two terms before standing down for at least one term.
- Churchwardens are elected every year. They can be re-elected but can only serve up to six consecutive years and then have a break of at least one year before standing for re-election.
- Elected PCC members may remain on the PCC for up to three years and stand again after a one year wait.
Elizabeth Holbrook stepped down from Churchwarden, and only one person applied for the role, at the APCM in May 2025.
Louise Harrison stepped down from lay PCC at the APCM, and three new people were elected, which made eight lay members in total. The total number of lay PCC members allowed is currently nine, calculated from the number of people on the electoral roll. Therefore, one lay PCC member position remained vacant.
Helen Cracknell stepped down from Deanery Synod at the APCM in 2025 and no-one applied for the role.
With Clergy and Churchwardens (ex-officio members) this made 12 PCC members in total.
Two lay PCC members are due to step down at the 2026 APCM having fulfilled their three year term, and Sam Carew will also be stepping down at this year’s APCM..
There is, therefore, allowance for election of an additional four lay PCC members, two Churchwardens and two Deanery Synod representative at the APCM (2026).
The PCC is empowered to co-opt two additional members after the APCM for a particular purpose, regardless of vacancies, but only until the next APCM and then they would need to be elected.
Legalities
The PCC is required to have a Standing Committee, its membership comprises the Incumbent, Curates, Churchwardens and Treasurer.
As North Wellingborough Anglican Church is a registered charity, members of the PCC are registered with the Charity Commission as trustees. The responsibilities of the trustees are detailed in the Trustees’ Report.
Responsibilities
At every meeting the PCC considers reports from those who cover areas of the three priorities highlighted in the Church Vision, together with reports from Deanery Synod and Safeguarding. The Treasurer also presents regular reports on the church finances. All are responsible to the PCC and report back to it regularly. Their reports are received by the full PCC and discussed, as needed.
Attendance
The PCC would have met seven times but two were cancelled due to illness. They, therefore, met five times during 2025, including a short meeting after the APCM, with an average attendance of 78%.
Fiona Clarke – PCC Secretary.
Vicar’s Report
“Connecting: with Jesus, with each other, with the wider community”
I would like to start in my usual way by thanking our churchwardens Elizabeth (who stepped back due to moving away) and Matt Ellson. Matt has been the only churchwarden for the last year. I also give thanks for the PCC, Connect Group facilitators and to our staff team – Amanda Allen (Parish Administrator), our Curates Ben & Livvi Haughton-Scales and Chiaz, who joined us as our Intern in September. This is a really hard working team and I so appreciate the wisdom and generosity from each individual and am privileged to work alongside them.
The major news of 2025
In previous years the parish boundaries were re-drawn so that Glenvale Park became part of our parish and as a result we changed our name to North Wellingborough Anglican Church. The next and final phase of transition happened in 2025 when we decided to make Glenvale Church of England School our new home and, after 35 years of worshipping at Redwell School, we moved to Glenvale in March! This was a huge change for the church and has taken time to get used to but I believe we are now settled and very much enjoying the new facilities. This move also meant the church could have, for the first time, its own parish office based in the school.
Since we moved to Glenvale School we see new people dipping their toes in with us just about every single Sunday. That is so exciting and now some are beginning to put their all in with us, really becoming part of the church community.
What else has been good in 2025?
- The number of children and young people has increased.
- Easter events and outreach.
- Summer community days.
- Christmas events and outreach.
- Toddler group at the care home.
- Creations Craft Group.
- Starting a second prayer time, now on Sunday mornings, as well as midweek.
- Midweek Care Home Service.
- Connect groups (Livvi has started a new monthly one for those who struggle at other times).
- Summer drink stop at Glenvale.
- Continued schools work in both primary schools.
- Start of the youth band.
Looking ahead
As we move forward there are things that still need resolving with the building, for example, sorting the shed at Redwell School, the Wi-Fi, getting the wooden communion table installed, moving the printer to the office once the Wi-Fi is sorted and working out how best to use the parish office. A new Incumbent will need to re-visit the lease with the school to iron out our wider use of the facility, such as at festival times of year, etc. A new church sign has now also been put up on the school wall, a clear marker of our permanence!
A dynamic we did not anticipate in our move to Glenvale School was that many of the new people who have come on a Sunday morning have a church back in the place they have moved from. This is usually close enough to drive back to and so we are finding that many are only coming occasionally. I hope that in time some will decide that worshipping where they live, and perhaps where their children spend most of their time, will be worth making the move to their local church, to be part of both the ministry and mission of God in this place.
There are a couple of things, that became very evident in 2025, that in my view are really important as the church looks forward:
- Firstly, while we have a very large fringe, our core has grown smaller. This is partly as a result of the dynamic I outlined above, which means that there are less people fully committed and therefore less committed to serving and giving.
- Secondly, the impact of Covid/cost of living crisis continues to have a significant effect, largely that there is less capacity/willingness to use our gifts for the ministry and mission of the church, or to take responsibility for particular ministry areas. This has had a profound impact in 2025. A number of groups and the more pioneering work has had to stop. For the church to go forward, it has to now address this honestly, asking itself, what does Church now look like and what are our priorities. If this is not addressed fairly swiftly, it could have a negative impact.
Moving on:
It has been an immense privilege being called to serve alongside you – thank you for journeying together. I believe I have done what I was asked to do when I came – to re-open the church post pandemic, to create a new vision, to grow the church younger, to resolve where the church’s permanent home should be and to re-shape the parish (in terms of its boundaries).
The church entered a very different phase in 2025, some of which I’ve alluded to above, and needs someone who can support and encourage the church in this next phase. But I hope I leave you with this – whoever we are, whatever stage of life we are, the Lord simply calls us to be faithful to what He has given us, to respond to where He is taking us and more importantly than anything else, to know more deeply than before that we are sons and daughters of the King of Kings…..everything flows from this place.
We are this parish’s glimpse of heaven and I have loved being part of it!
Revd. Dawn Airey – Vicar.
Churchwardens’ Fabric Report
With effect from 2 Mar 2025 North Wellingborough Anglican Church have worshipped at Glenvale Church of England School. All equipment is stored within the school (either in the Hub/ Parish office or the PE cupboard) anything not required to operate at Glenvale has remained at Redwell School being stored in the shed. All equipment is in good state of repair with minimal financial outlays throughout 2025. We are grateful to Helen Cracknell and David Wells for the purchase of new mugs for use after services.
The parish still owns land in the Redhill Farm area of the parish, in conjunction with the Diocese. There are no plans regarding this at the present time.
I would like to acknowledge and thank all of those who volunteer and work tirelessly throughout the year covering off the duties and jobs which aid in the smooth running of weekly services.
Matthew Ellson – Churchwarden.
Sung Worship Team
Team: Alex Palmer, Ben Haughton-Scales, Dan Hulland, Ezra Airey, Jasmin Childs, Kendra Okelola, Louise Harrison, Mel Hartung, Noah Hartung, Olivia Okelola, Ore Alo, Ruth Wium, Seb Goss, Steph Gledhill & Steven Follows.
I’d like to start with a huge thank you to all those who have led and facilitated our musical worship over the last year. The process of planning worship, preparing music, learning new songs, and gathering during the week and early on Sundays to practice is not without sacrifice and we are grateful for the way these people’s gifts enrich our gathered worship. In addition to the team, we are also hugely grateful to Sally Wilkins, who diligently compiles the PowerPoint slides, to those who manage the visuals week to week, and to the sound team, who have served the church so faithfully in this area and have also overseen the transition of our PA setup to our new venue at The Glenvale CofE Primary School, including the purchase of new equipment.
We have sadly said goodbye to some of the team over the past year, with Louise Harrison and Steph Gledhill having moved on to pastures new, and at times others have needed to step back temporarily. Mel and Ruth attended the New Wine Worship Leaders Retreat in March 2025 and returned with some really good ideas for us to explore and implement as a team over the year. The new youth band comprising several of the church’s young people also led musical worship for the first time at the August 2025 cafe service. They have done this every month since then and it’s been great to see them grow and develop as lead worshippers! Noah Hartung has unfortunately been unable to continue with the youth band due to his increased school workload – we wish him well with his upcoming GCSE exams.
Looking Ahead
In early 2026 we have welcomed Kayleigh Bellamy, Amy and Matthew George, Victoria Hoy and Joshua Wium to the team, and are excited to see them grow in using their musical gifts in worship over the coming months. If you are reading this, harbouring a musical gift, and are interested in exploring how you might use that to serve God and his church, please do speak to me.
Revd. Ben Haughton-Scales – Curate.
Financial Review for 2025
At the beginning of 2025 the bank account balance was £61,334, divided £63,746 in restricted funds and £(2,412) in general funds. At the end of the year following there was £79,202 in the account divided £81,776 in restricted and £(2,574) in general funds. Our restricted funds have grown during the year largely due to Children in Youth funds and funding for the MES intern.
Our Parish Share was set by the Diocese as £70,207; this was not paid in full this year and unfortunately we paid less than last year; the shortfall was £14,207. We continued to support our many Mission Partners this year.
The net income over the year was £17,868, some of this is linked to grants for the youth worker and the MES Intern. The main source of our funding still comes from the congregation, this comes into the bank account through the weekly plate, online giving, Parish Giving Scheme and the card machine.
The accounts were examined by Denton Tavara Limited and no issues were reported.
My thanks go to Helen Cracknell for starting the year as Treasurer until I took over in the summer.
We thank God for his generous provision during 2025 which enabled us to sustain ministry. We pray that this will continue.
Dale Gilbert – Treasurer – On behalf of the Finance Team.
Key Vision Areas:
Discipleship
Being a disciple of Jesus means being an ‘apprentice’, it’s a life-long, whole-life process of being with Jesus, becoming like Him and doing the things He did. (John Mark Comer).
As a church we try to encourage and enable this through regular personal prayer and devotional time, through our Sunday morning gatherings, our midweek Connect Groups, through our giving and our serving (both the church and the mission of the church).
- Personal Prayer & devotion:
At least once a year we suggest a new daily prayer resource but on the church website there is a dedicated ‘reading resource’ area.
- Worship & Sunday morning gatherings:
Encountering God’s presence in worship and prayer continues to be fundamental and I believe we need to continue pressing into this much more than we have to date. There have been some key changes for us on Sunday mornings, not least the change of venue to Glenvale Church of England School!
- Connect Groups:
Throughout 2025 the groups changed a little and there are now 4 connect groups. It is hoped that these provide a place of love, friendship, care, biblical study, shared use of gifts/skills and ministry to one another. Thank you so much to the Connect Group Facilitators who meet together bi-monthly and have continued to work tirelessly.
Our four groups are:
- Monday afternoon (Carol Maycock).
- Wednesday evening (Ruth Wium).
- Thursday morning (Alan Palmer).
- 1st Sunday in the month (Revd. Livvi Haughton-Scales – Curate).
We recognized last year that most of our families have not yet made it into a connect group. This prompted Livvi to start a monthly connect group which takes place after the café style services. It is very early days but we are hopeful it will gain greater traction in the coming months.
- Giving and Serving One Another:
A basic and important part of our discipleship is using the gifts and skills the Lord has put within us to love one another and to serve as part of His mission to the parish, and the wider world. Of course this takes many forms and includes the whole of our lives, not just at church. But during 2025 it has become increasingly more difficult to enable people to serve both in our church and missionally, within our parish. There may be lots of reasons for this, good reasons even, but it has had quite an impact on what we are able to do as a church. For example, groups have had to stop and some of our more pioneering work has also stopped. Interestingly, our financial giving has also gone down year by year and last year saw the biggest yearly drop in the last 6 years.
- Moving forward
The PCC are currently thinking through what the priorities of the church are and will be as we move forward to a time when the curates will move on and there will be just one full time clergy person. In a recent extra ordinary meeting on Monday 19th Jan, one of the things identified was that more thought is needed around our connect groups and their purpose.
More thought is also being given to what it means to be a loving community of God’s people. We know that the early church spent much time and energy on both caring for one another and on the Holy Spirit ministry of signs/wonders/healings. As they sought to be God’s distinctive community, both of these things made them stand out from the world. There seems to be a recognition in PCC that we need to ‘get back’ to this…..
Revd. Dawn Airey – Vicar.
- Care home Services
Leaders: Ben, Livvi, Dawn, Sandi, Jackie, Mel, Chiaz.
The care home services have continued to run every Tuesday at 14.30. We have been visiting Glenvale Park Care home for a number of years now and have built good relationships with the residents, residents’ families and the staff. Every week, we do a short half-hour service that follows simple liturgy and includes a few songs. This is often via video, but Ben also sometimes brings his guitar to play, which is well-appreciated. We have tried to bring in more child-friendly, Sunday school elements to the service, including familiar Sunday school songs, as a way of connecting with the long-term memory of the residents. Research has shown this to be beneficial for those experiencing Alzheimer’s or other types of dementia. This has been well-received.
Sandi and Mel have taken the leadership for services when Ben, Livvi and Dawn are not able to take the service and Sandi has taken steps to collect resources for putting the services together, in order to provide a way for the services to continue regardless of the change in leadership of the church.
Overall, this ministry has proven to be consistent and fruitful. We do not always know exactly how the services are being received, but the relationships built with those who attend have been really heartwarming and we trust that the Holy Spirit is working in powerful ways beyond what we can see ourselves.
Revd. Livvi Haughton-Scales – Curate.
- Alpha
Following a successful Alpha in 2024, we were able to run another in the summer of 2025, this time welcoming 3 guests. Mel Hartung and myself co-led the sessions, with meal preparation support from Livvi Haughton-Scales. I was initially unsure whether such a small group would work, but it was really fantastic to journey together as we met weekly for an extended period of time. The guests all encountered Jesus in significant ways and took major steps along their journeys of faith in him. One highlight was our Alpha Day, which we were able to hold at Launde Abbey in Leicestershire. The venue provided such lovely surroundings in which to spend time with each other and with God, and we were able to enjoy the prayerful, meditative environment together.
- Looking Ahead
Following on from the 2025 Alpha, 2 of the guests renewed their baptismal vows by full immersion at our recent baptism service in March 2026. This was a fantastic day for our church family, and I know we’re all really excited to continue journeying with them in faith in Jesus. Experience has taught me that Alpha tends to work best when you start with a core group who are committed to taking part in the sessions, then publicise the course more widely to welcome additional guests. With that in mind, if you or anyone you know would be keen to take part in Alpha (or an alternative enquirers’ course), please do speak to me to register your interest and we’ll look to form a new group at the earliest opportunity.
Revd. Ben Haughton-Scales – Curate.
Under 18’s Ministry
We take the research seriously that tells us that churches who invest in under 18s ministry grow, and those that don’t decline. The national church has a vision to see 30,000 children’s and youth workers in an attempt to double the number of children and young people in church on a Sunday morning by 2030!
But ‘growing younger’ was also what I was asked to do when I was interviewed and appointed to be Vicar here, it has therefore been a key priority for me. It is a delight to see how many families we now have as part of the church. In my first year here there were on average 5 under 16s on a Sunday morning with a maximum possible of 7. As of the end of 2025 we now have an average of 17 on a Sunday with a possible maximum of over 32 (every Sunday it seems we are blessed with new people so it’s a little hard to be as accurate now, so it’s at least 32).
We have raised just over £53,000 to employ a part time children’s and youth worker, and £2,317 was raised through the ‘100 for 100’ project in 2025. Unfortunately, we have not been able to appoint anyone as yet but it is so pleasing that the Lord has released this money to us…let’s keep praying for a creative solution for the right person.
All under 18s groups continue to use the Energize resource.
Last summer a number of the parents of our under 18s completed the relevant safeguarding procedures enabling them to support the under 18s ministry on Sunday mornings. I am delighted and it is very welcome.
However, we continue to struggle to support the teen ministry on Sunday mornings. We have more teenagers than children and in September we spilt the group into two groups (yr 6/7 and yr 8+). Both groups meet twice in the month. This continues to work very well:
- Chiaz leads yr 6/7 group and has 2 people who help support where they can. However, sometimes there have been gaps and we have needed to ask someone from the children’s team to move groups at the last minute.
- We also seem to be getting more creche aged children and so moving one of the children’s workers might begin to prove difficult and so we need to find others who can support the yr 6/7 group on a more regular basis.
- At the moment we only have Jackie BC leading the year 8 and above group once a month. She no longer has someone to support her and you would have heard me recently let the church know this and ask for others to volunteer. There have been 2 people who have offered to support where they can, but they are already committed in other ministry areas.
- Rayo who is a young person herself, continues to lead the yr 8 and above group once a month. She is doing a fantastic job!
- Under 11s ministry
Sunday mornings
The under 11s continue to use the Hub room on Sunday mornings for their group. A huge thanks to everyone who leads and supports this age group and for their willingness to guide the children in their individual journeys with the Lord.
Outreach – Glenvale Park toddler group
We began this group Easter 2024. Glenvale Care home provides a beautiful room, toy storage and refreshments for this group. Some of the residents join the group also. We have around 50 families now on the register and anywhere between 7 and 16 households can turn up on any given week! This continues to be the case.
Outreach – primary aged children
PCC is aware that we did not restart Ignite after October 2025 half term due to both the rent increasing and the numbers of children attending decreasing. We were making a loss of around £40 a week during that half term and despite Livvi’s best efforts, we could not increase the numbers.
It is hoped that in the near future, particularly if we appoint a children’s and youth worker, that something new will be imagined.
School’s work
Being present in our two primary schools is a very significant part of how we serve our housing estates and the mission of the church. It is largely ministry unseen by the church but plays a huge part in what I would describe as ‘oiling’ the rest of ministry.
We continue to have a very good relationship with Redwell School which means between Ben, Livvi and I we are present on a regular basis, either through assemblies, collective worship, new parent intake evenings, Narnia prayers spaces, year 6 transition sessions, well-being groups, parent evenings and the various fayre’s and school productions.
Glenvale Church of England School continues to grow and it is anticipated it will take around 10 years for it to be fully open. I am now part of the governing body which is now called The Schools Forum and has quite a different role.
Revd. Dawn Airey – Vicar.
Ignite
Up until October 2025, the leaders for Ignite were: Livvi Haughton-Scales, Ruth Gilbert, Alan Palmer, Chiaz Alozie.
Dawn Airey came at the beginning of most sessions to help with the register or speak with parents.
Ben Haughton-Scales has helped on some weeks when needed.
- Firstly, a huge thank you to everyone who has put their time and energy into continuing this group. Since April last year, we have had many good moments. We recorded an Easter film with the children last year, which we showed to their parents on the last session before Easter. This was hugely popular, a lot of parents came and many were very touched by the film that was made. We then had a chance to speak more with parents afterwards, which appeared to be a helpful time to make further connections.
- We also found through conversation with the children that came to Ignite that a few had started to pray and seen God answer their prayers, and remembered well the bible stories that had been told to them.
- Unfortunately, the numbers declined sharply after Easter term. During Easter term (January – April 2025), we regularly had 25-35 children, but the number went down to less than 20 every week after Easter term (May 2025 onwards). After the summer, we had another big push to get more children to come along with school assemblies and increased advertising, but the group continued to decline until we had less than ten children coming each week. In parallel to this, the rent doubled in cost over the academic year 2024/2025. We increased the cost to £3 after the summer to try to supplement this, but this may have resulted in the decrease in numbers.
We do not know fully what resulted in the numbers decreasing, but we know from conversations that many had started to go to sport or other activity groups at that time instead. It seems clear the need for the group in the community was not the same as it once was. As a result of the decrease in numbers, we were losing up to £40 each week, which is unsustainable for us as a church.
- In October 2025, the leadership team in the church made some difficult decisions regarding Ignite. None of these decisions have been made lightly and we were grieved to think of this group ending, as it has been so impactful for so long. Through prayer and reflection, though, we came to the conclusion that God was directing us to end this group after October Half Term 2025. Although there is sadness in this, there is also hope for the future, as the Holy Spirit may be taking us in a different direction to continue to reach the children and families in all areas of our parish, including Redwell Primary School. One thought we considered is how groups we start could have a clear purpose of teaching about Christianity and the bible, as we can see the rise in interest in the Christian faith in the population. This gives us the opportunity to be more overt in our intention to teach children and families about this.
Revd. Livvi Haughton-Scales – Curate.
Sunday Mornings
When all the young people are there, we now have around 18 young people on a Sunday morning. That’s really fantastic news! I have given more detail at the start of the section ”Under 18s Ministry”.
2025 has been a year of consolidation and embedding in the youth ministry at NWAC:
Sunday Youth – This is the group that meets during Sunday services on 2nd and 4th Sundays in the month. During these times there is in-depth Bible teaching and discussion. We currently do not have enough leaders to run Sunday youth on 3rd and 5th Sundays in the month and have been seeking to use these as ‘Serving Sundays’, encouraging the young people to help with various aspects of the morning service (such as assisting with children’s groups, playing in the worship band, serving tea and coffee, and washing up). The new youth band comprising several of the church’s young people led musical worship for the first time at the August 2025 cafe service. They have done this on 1st Sundays every month since then and it’s been great to see them grow and develop as lead worshippers! We’ll continue to explore other serving opportunities for the young people and are open to ideas church members might have. From September 2025, to accommodate the significant number of church young people in years 6 and 7 at school, Sunday Youth was split into two groups – one for years 6 and 7, and one for years 8 and above. We are really grateful to all those in the church who stepped up to lead and help with these groups to enable this to happen. I especially want to highlight Aderayo Adeliyi, a young person in year 11 at school, who took on the role of leading her peers in year 8 and above once a month (with support from her mother Racheal in preparing the sessions). The number of young people attending on Sunday mornings varies from week to week.
Connect Youth
This is a discipleship group which runs fortnightly on Sunday afternoons. We begin with a game and snacks, then have a time of worship, Bible teaching/discussion and prayer. 21 young people have attended the group this year, with an average attendance of 9. Most of the young people are connected with church, but we have started to see them inviting friends from outside the group to build friendships and explore faith in Jesus.
We have been following a series on Christian Lifestyle using the church’s Energize resource and have run sessions on topics including holiness, perseverance, contentment and prayer. We have continued to hold half-termly social evenings to facilitate friendship-building among the group, including games nights and an outdoor summer social.
It is a huge joy and privilege to have such a fantastic group of young people within our church family. Helping them grow as followers of Jesus is a responsibility for the whole church family, so please do take every opportunity you can to encourage them in their journeys of faith. Our prayer is that they all build really solid friendships with one another that can sustain them in their faith in Jesus throughout their teenage years and beyond. The Energize online children’s and youth work resource by Urban Saints continues to be an excellent tool for all our children’s and youth volunteers to assist with planning and preparing sessions.
During the school summer holidays, 6 young people attended the Satellites summer youth festival at the Bath & West Showground from 6th-11th August 2025, with Dawn and Ben as the leaders for the trip, and Tola Okelola and Chris Airey very kindly assisting with transport and caravan setup/pack down. This was a fantastic time away for the young people; the range of activities provided was excellent and the young people all had stories of encountering Jesus in new and significant ways.
Team
The church’s youth ministry is completely a team effort and would not happen without all those who support the discipleship of our young people in so many different ways: Aderayo Adeliyi, Ben Haughton-Scales, Chiaz Alozie, Dawn Airey, Ihuoma Alozie, Jackie Brooks Cheesman, Jasmin Childs and Livvi Haughton-Scales. Thank you all!
Looking Ahead
In early 2026 we ran baptism preparation sessions for 2 young people, who were then baptised by full immersion during the morning service on 15th March. What a joy it was to celebrate with them! We have needed to re-merge the year 6/7 and year 8+ Sunday Youth groups back into one group, largely due to a reduction in leader/helper availability. The main challenge for 2026 is to ensure that the church’s youth ministry can run sustainably into the future. If you feel God may be nudging you to support our young people in any way, please do speak with me and I’d love to explore this with you further.
Revd. Ben Haughton-Scales – Curate and Youth Team Leader.
Wholeness in Jesus/ Wellbeing.
- Bereavement Support Group.
Throughout 2025 we continued to have our bereavement Facebook group which has 87 people in it but we had to close the group that was meeting in person due to lack of attendance.
In recent years we’ve moved away from the language of pastoral care and more towards Christian friendship which I think has been helpful. The main way of supporting one another continues to be via Connect Groups. There is recognition that many families (in particular) have not made their way into Connect Groups and the PCC are currently thinking about this. There is also a desire from the PCC that as a church we think about what it means to be part of a loving community and how we can do this better.
Revd. Dawn Airey – Vicar.
- Creations Craft Group.
The Creations Craft group was formed in December 2024 and meets every Monday in the dining area of the ‘Ock ’N’ Dough from 10:00 to 11:30.
The membership has remained steady, although we have one new member since the last report.
The participants carry out various crafts, including knitting, crocheting, colouring, cross-stitch and many other interesting crafts.
Last October 6th, the group was given an informal lesson in making an embroidered card for Christmas. This proved to be popular, with some trying embroidery for the first time. We hope to try something else new this year.
We are, again, knitting animals for the Christmas Nativity, and painting rocks for the Easter rock hunt this year.
The group share their expertise with each other and have encouraged people to either try new things or update their skills, which is wonderful.
We hope to have a sale of work this year at church.
Sandi Rance.
- Prayer Ministry Report
- Prayer ministry continued to be offered during and after services throughout the year, with varying amounts of people coming forward to seek prayer for their needs, on average 1-2 per service.
- With the departure of Chris and Steph Gledhill we sadly lost 2 of our most committed prayer ministry members. I thank God for their ministry and wish them every blessing in their new setting, and know they will continue to be a blessing to others.
- Towards the end of 2025 it was decided to instruct PCC members in the best practices of prayer ministry and safeguarding so that they can also help with prayer during and after services. It is quite often the case that prayer ministry team members are involved in other duties such as children’s groups, worship, preaching, refreshments etc., so having extra help is very important. This training has now been implemented.
Prayer Chain
- To make the prayer chain more accessible and faster in its response times, it was decided to create a WhatsApp group as this is faster than the usual email route of communication. This has been a successful initiative, with faster responses. More members have joined since the group started.
- We now have 16 members on the prayer chain, 14 of whom are in the WhatsApp group and 2 who prefer to be contacted via email.
Prayer Events
- For Maundy Thursday, it was decided to combine a simple meal with prayer activities, to encourage a higher attendance. Commitment to attend was secured via a small charge for food. This proved successful, with a much higher attendance than previous years, and the prayer activities were well received and utilised.
- The prayer activities for the Glenvale summer activity days focused on simple ways to pray, thinking about God’s creation and our place within it. Again these were well received by church and non-church members.
Weekly prayer pointers
- With the departure of Chris Gledhill in the summer, the weekly prayer email has ended for the time being until we can work out a way to start this again or replace it with another initiative which is effective.
As always, my sincere and heartfelt thanks to everyone who volunteers to pray with and for others. This is such a vital ministry and it can be tiring on a spiritual level, so I am thankful to our prayer warriors for all of their commitment to take time out of their day to pray for others.
Jackie Brooks-Cheesman.
Safeguarding Report
At North Wellingborough Anglican Church, safeguarding is treated with the seriousness it deserves. We have lots of members who give their time supporting children and vulnerable adults; DBSs, Safer Recruiting and Safeguarding Training are all important elements that back-up the work of volunteers.
Safeguarding information is displayed on the church noticeboard, website and weekly email news bulletin.
Within the deanery, there is now a safeguarding hub which enables relevant issues to be discussed.
Although I have not managed to get to either of the meetings so far, I have contributed in advance and picked up useful advice from the minutes.
During 2025:
- 6 new people received DBSs.
- 9 DBSs were renewed.
- 13 people did the Basic Awareness and Foundation training courses,
- 8 did the Raising Awareness of Domestic Abuse course (this is a new addition to the portfolio of 3 courses that volunteers are requested to do).
Thank you to everyone who volunteers at church and has done the forms and training – this certainly makes my role more straightforward.
John Gilyead – Parish Safeguarding Officer.
Deanery Synod Report
The Deanery Synod met 5 times in 2025 and heard contributions on a range of themes including:
- Emerging Mission – New housing developments in the Deanery (Various Contributors)
- Prison Chaplaincy (Revd Canon Helen Dearnley)
- Discovering Your Spirituality (Revd Dr Judy Craig-Peck)
- Good News from the Archdeaconry (Archdeacon Richard Ormston)
- Discussing the Diocesan Year of Prayer (Various Contributors)
Regular updates on Finance and Safeguarding were given at each meeting.
Additional Deanery events and meetings have included regular Treasurers’ Meet-Ups, Safeguarding Hub meetings for Parish Safeguarding Officers (PSOs), and various choral services and concerts.
Looking Ahead
The church can have up to two Deanery Synod Representatives but currently does not have any. It is hoped that these vacancies will be filled at this year’s APCM.
Revd. Ben Haughton-Scales – Curate.
Approved by the PCC 13th April 2026
Signed: Dawn Airey (Vicar) Date
