Membership: There are 35 church members (one of whom is a Baptist only member) and a further 15 people come regularly. The average weekly congregation is 35 plus 7 children. Throughout the year there have been five Infant Baptisms, one adult baptism and 3 Thanksgivings. Services of recognition for four new members have been held also throughout the year.

Events in the life of the church for 2008-9:  

Some of more significant events have been: Revd Nigel Uden, Moderator of the URC Southern Synod, came to preach and lead the service in February. The church hosted the Deanery Synod and one of our members addressed the Synod to talk about his recent visit to Peru to visit his daughter who works for SAMS there. After this talk there was a spontaneous financial response from the Synod members, who gave a £75 donation. A church coffee morning added to the amount we were able to send for the work of SAMS being achieved by Brian’s daughter. 

The Easter Sunrise service was held as usual with members from other Gillingham churches attending. During the Lent period people had been saving spare change for Water Aid and the total was sent as the Easter Offering. 

Two members attended the Fresh Visions Day in Ashford (April 08) and were able to share thoughts with Church Council from this day. Other conferences of note attended by various members have been: ‘Encouraging Small Churches’ ( Sept 08) and ‘Gaining Charitable Trust Status’(Sept 08) and ‘LEP Churches’. Some 12 people attended the Marilyn Baker Quiet Day at Twydall in November. Refresher courses organised by the Diocese have been attended re. Child Protection. 

The whole church membership was invited to share a meal after an adult and family baptism and new members were welcomed into the church in June. We were able to join a family 60^th birthday celebration in October when several members took part in the entertainment. 

Bernie Pinner went to Uganda for three weeks in November to take out some laptops and give specific IT training and to work in the Food for the Hungry Office. Three groups of people now sponsor individual children for their schooling in Bufakhula. 

There was a welcome for Glen and Irene McWatt in July and John and Judith Saunders joined the church for a lunch as part of their farewell event. Some members attended the Licensing service for John Saunders at Newton Longville in November.

In October the focus for the month was Mission, when invited speakers came to talk about MAF, GYFC, PYFC and SAMS as part of the service.  

Members of the church together with the Salvation Army went carol singing round the island and groups of parents from the school joined as we moved round the island.  Some 100 Christmas ‘Hope’ booklets were handed out to residents. An Advent study guide was used by many church members as part of a whole church focus for the preparation for Christmas and this was incorporated into the worship/ services. 

Life and Work of the church:  

The regular events are: the ladies coffee group (fortnightly), Women’s Open Worship – including a bible study focus (monthly). Church members are involved in leading morning worship in the school once a term (every 6 weeks) and there is now a regular commitment to joining the school staff for prayer at 8.20 a.m. on the first Monday of each month. The music group continues to hold weekly practices. The very successful café style Family services on the 4th Sunday of the month continue and are planned by a team (Chris Pinner, John Bloor and Carol Ward).This is beginning to impact on the work with young people and we are beginning to build up a core of families who come to these services. We now have a Youth Work co-ordinator (Carol Ward) and a team of 6 people working with children on a rota basis. Some 19 children have been attending across the year – although not all on the same Sunday unfortunately!! John Bloor is now working in school with The King’s Squad (weekly). 

The prayer triplets continue and at a recent ‘Hopes and Dreams’ session for the Church Council prayer was deemed to be the main priority focus this year. 

Glenn (and Irene) McWatt attend services on the third Sunday each month and Glenn preaches at or leads some of these services. Baptisms are planned to coincide with the third Sunday in the month, when Glenn officiates. 

We continue to develop our outreach work through: Work with overseas students at the Greenwich campus in Dock Road (we supplied 50 Welcome Packs in September for the induction days), support of three children under the Toybox scheme, support for people in Bufakhula and Kumi financially, in person (Chris and Bernie) and as individuals - via Food for the Hungry International. During Lent we supported the charity ‘Water Aid’ we continue to give monthly donations to GFYC and the Peninsular Youth for Christ and give regularly to Caring Hands (as well as members working for Caring Hands each week). We give our usual donation via St Mark’s PCC to the school as recognition of the wear, tear and use of utilities in the building.

There are some 12 members of the church involved with the school on a regular basis either as volunteers in the school, governors or paid members of the staff team. We are actively encouraging the school to join with special services throughout the year and continually explore ways of developing our links with the school. The next initiative will be via a parent survey that Glenn has been instrumental in devising. 

Leadership 

The support for our leadership team is widening. We still await the finalisation of the re- Licensing of John Bloor, who already enhances the dimension of the leadership team. Glenn McWatt attends the fortnightly leadership team meetings when there is time for a short bible study before the life and work of the church is discussed and then brought forward for prayer. The church is supporting Martin Ferris as he continues his URC foundation training course and the team of three supporters from the church have completed Martin’s first (successful) appraisal. Due to the workload the church council agreed to support Martin by releasing him from some of his leadership commitments and this was endorsed at a church meeting.

The recent ‘Hopes and Dreams’ session has helped the Church Council re - focus on the life and work of the church re. ‘Where are we going?’ The outcome of this time together will be the basis of our life and work in the future.

At the January meeting of the church council, it was decided to spend a morning considering the hopes and dreams of St Mary’s Island Church.  On Saturday 7 March, the council met at the Old Vicarage.  

Four hopes and dreams were identified: 

1. That the church should pray together

2. That the church should examine its growth and grounding

3. That the church should find or re-find ways of communicating to the Island

4. That the council should examine its own area of leadership

It was decided by council that these should be prioritized and it was agreed by all that the first essential was in church prayer.  

Church Prayer 

Church council considered that the church would not move forward spiritually nor toward effective outreach until we had put the first priority of prayer in place. Essentially the church must pray together. Proposals for the church prayer meeting have been considered as follows: 

The other prayer proposal concerns prayer within the church services: 

Communication

Although church prayer is to be given priority, the council has also considered the future of communication within its hopes and dreams. Brian Watson and Chris Green have been considering this to include ways of improving the web site, encouraging contributions to the web site and promoting activities in local journals such as the Peninsular Times. 

Other hopes and dreams 

The other hopes and dreams identified are no less important but council decided to take one step at a time. Prayer is the first step and the council anticipates that growth and grounding will form a second step. Ideas were promoted to form cell groups with the purpose of deepening our understanding of our faith. The council will consider this further with a second Saturday morning session later in the year.  

The council is also to consider its own position in the leadership of the church but it is possible that this will be answered quite naturally as we address the other hopes and dreams identified. 

Pastoral Team – Jacqui Green, Janet Adkin, Janet Haskell and Neil Hughes 

To begin with I would like to thank Tracy Maloney for her contribution to the team over the past 2 years. Tracy has stepped down from the team in March this year to concentrate on her professional and personal life. 

The aim of the team over the past year has been to pray and remain in contact with members of the church, who may be experiencing some difficulties. 

I believe that in many cases the prayers of the team for individuals and their families have really been answered and we give thanks to God for that.

The team have also kept in contact with individuals by telephone or writing cards and visiting people in their homes to pray and chat, help with shopping or drop off a small gift. 

Prayer triplets began just over a year ago now.

A small number of groups have met together on a regular basis to pray and work through teachings.

Others have agreed to pray for each others needs and have met up together when they are all available to do so due to professional demands. 

I would like to express a sincere thank you to all the team for their attitude of confidentiality and dedication of care to others and for all the work completed by each one of the team behind the scenes. 

It is a privilege to be part of such a caring church community.

The group has continued to meet over the last year and has kept the meeting time to 9 a.m. on the first Monday in the month. (This follows the prayer time with the school staff). 

We meet in the Community Centre for about an hour and a half and commence with the welcome cup of tea or coffee organised and made by Sylvia. 

We miss having Tracy Maloney as the leader of this group but her working commitments increased and changed, which now make it impossible for her to join the group. Janet Adkin has taken over the leadership but would be delighted to hear if anyone else feels called to take on this role. 

We have lost two other members of the group also, which means the group has diminished in size – but not quality! I am pleased to say other church members join us when they are able i.e. not at work/ on holiday, which is greatly appreciated. 

Over the past year we have found it helpful to follow study guides for Lent and Advent. Although these guides have been intended for a set number of weeks on a weekly basis we have used them as a focus for each month – so our periods of Lent and Advent last for 6 months! 

In 2008 we used the Lent study course ‘Cover to Cover – Meeting Jesus’ and due to the success of this used the same published series with the title ‘The Time Has Come’ this year. The Advent study book was ‘Joy to the World’. All study guides have required time for personal study before attending the meeting, preparing some answers to questions set in the study book and then sharing our thoughts together or just reflecting on the focus for that week whilst listening to music. Prayer time and ‘setting the scene’ are also part of the focus. We have ‘dipped in’ to ‘Women of the New Testament’ in between the other studies. 

The group remains loyal to this meeting and averages between 5 -7 people. If you feel you would like to come and just listen or join in with the group please do come along. Each study is an entity in itself and does not lead on from the previous month so if you could not attend on a regular basis it would not matter. You might even catch up with news of happenings on the island and in the church! 

We receive monthly prayer sheets on line with news of GYFC and daily prayer points for that month. Our prayer support is much appreciated.  

GYFC continue to be involved with assemblies at New Brompton College as well as becoming involved with some Primary Schools – Skinner Street – Christian Unions, Lunch Club and the 133 Drop In Centre. 

Malcolm is working on his MA Course, Ben is nearing the completion of his MA dissertation, Dave is preparing for his wedding in August and is flat hunting in Gillingham, with Laurie. Phil has been on training and Jess and Phil have been on their mid-year retreat. 

Changes to the children's work at Mary's Island Church were made last year with the introduction of a weekly 'Sunday Club' for primary school children that started in October 2008.  

The crèche for younger children (up to school age)is still provided within the main service area but younger children, especially those with older siblings, are very welcome to join in with the main group (with the help of their parents). 

Children join with the main service until the end of the first song, when they leave to attend their own dedicated session. Quite often the children will return to the main service for the last song when they will also give a brief report on the day's activities. 

The children's team is lead by Carol Ward who relies completely on the rest of the team (Janet Adkin, John Bloor, Jean Cameron, Val Rumble, Marilyn Watson & Andy Ward) to make the mornings session a success. A huge thank you to the team for their commitment and dedication to this initiative.  

Since Sunday Club started, there have been between 2 and 8 children who have attended on a regular basis although we have about 20 children on the register. 

The main aim of Sunday Club is to spread the Good News to our children and young people in a way that they can identify with and that above all is fun! Activities at Sunday Club have included games, video teaching, music, and a whole range of different activities. The children also contribute to the Family/All Age Worship Service by preparing the props needed for the sketches and taking part when ever possible. They produced their own Nativity Service last Christmas and they have also written and said prayers in the main service. 

Recently we have started a new programme based on well known stories of the Old Testament so that the children have a better understanding of this part of the bible and can see how scripture can be used in every day situations. 

I am pleased to report that St. Mary’s Island Primary School has had another successful year in terms of progress and academic achievement, there are now 363 pupils on roll and we will reach two form capacity by September 2009. 

We are ‘on course for excellence’ as borne out by our most recent visit by the Schools’ Improvement Partner. I am delighted, as are the Governors of the school that we are continuing to improve, raise standards and provide the children with a good education. Our growing reputation and success is not down to individuals but a partnership between home and school; parents, children and staff. 

The Year 6 SAT’s tests for 2008 show the third successive year of improvement and I am delighted with the Value Added these results show, which is a measure of the progress children make from Reception to Year 6. 

In English 94% of pupils achieved L4+ and 32% achieved L5

In Maths 88% of pupils achieved L4+ and 52% achieved L5 with 26% of our Gifted and Talented mathematicians achieving L6. Which is Key Stage 3 standard! In addition, 100% of the Year 6 pupils achieved L4+ in reading.

We aim to develop the potential of all children whatever their ability but continue to be successful in the number of children gaining places at Grammar school. This year fourteen children are going to Grammar School. 

We continue to be involved in significant activities in Medway and the Rochester Diocese. Taking part in the Annual Diocesan Festivals during Lent and Christmas, and this year in the Cathedral’s ‘Sing Up!’ Project. The school has taken part in Heritage Events at the Historic Dockyard, with Royal Engineers Museum, and for the next four years we are participating in Medway’s 2012 Project which is very exciting !Sports achievements have included Exceptional Provision of PE in a Primary School and Activemark for 2008. Our table tennis and football teams came 4^th and 2^nd respectively in recent competitions. Our pupils are always commended on their good behaviour, smart appearance, enthusiasm and sportsmanship when representing the school in the community. 

At the end of this month, Mrs Julia Davies, our Assistant Headteacher leaves to take up her own Headship in Dartford, we congratulate her and wish her every success for the future. Julia has been at the school from the start and is an original teacher in every sense of the word! We were pleased to welcome Naomi Clark back from her missionary work in the Philippines in September and hear of her wonderful work with children in a large city orphanage. 

We especially value the contribution made by members of the Church of St. Mary’s Island to the spiritual life of the school, participating in RE days with great enthusiasm in Acts of Worship, drama and storytelling. Our new Chaplain, Glenn McWatt has got to know us well and we thank him for his pastoral care and support. 

After a very long and valued association with the St. Mary’s Island Primary, John Saunders relinquished not only his position as Chair of Governors but as a friend and advocate of the school. His presence is sadly missed.