Holy Trinity Parish
Church
ROEHAMPTON ECUMENICAL PARISH
Parish Overview
2011
BROAD DESCRIPTION OF THE PARISH AREA
AND ITS DEMOGRAPHICS; NUMBERS RESIDENT
IN THE PARISH/ BUSINESSES ETC
Roehampton was originally an ordinary Surrey village
until the Sixteenth Century when Henry VIII cleared the
farmsteads to the west of the village, across from Beverly
Brook, and evicted their tenants. This was to make way for
the enclosure which became Richmond Park. From then until
the post Second World War era, Roehampton was an
immensely wealthy and very exclusive outer London retreat
for the political elite of the country. Four Prime Ministers and
one future King made their homes here.
After the Second World War, the Roehampton council
estates were put up in the grounds of the great mansions to
house those made homeless or in temporary accommodation
as a result of enemy bombing or slum clearance. The estates
account for about 10,000 people.
The rest of the parish is very similar to neighbouring
parishes consisting pre-dominantly of middle class semidetached or detached houses and flat conversions. There is a
great deal of building taking place at the moment with
developments at the old Queen Mary’s Hospital site, the old
nurses home at Arton Wilson House, and a number of other
brown field sites for smaller-scale housing. These make up
another 6,000 of the population.
In terms of population there is the university to
consider as well. About 3,000 students live on campus, with
another 6,000 living around the local area. About half of
these live in Roehampton in the old council accommodation,
but refitted by private landlords who now pack in six to eight
individuals in flats that were designed for three to five people.
Many migrant labourers live in this accommodation also.
Thus it is very difficult to give a precise figure for our
population, but around 20,000 would not be far off the mark.
The post war estates were a very successful piece of
social engineering. Community spirit flourished: Scouts,
Guides, the Boys Brigade, all had long waiting lists. Amateur
dramatics and all sorts of associations thrived. However, a
decline began to emerge in the early 1990s which has
accelerated since. Tenants’ right to buy, and the obligation of
local authorities to house the homeless, meant that there
was a significant shift in the way in which housing was
allocated. The flats bought by their tenants were eventually
sold off to the private landlords mentioned above.
Those flats still under local Authority control were
allocated on the ‘points system’. The families with most
points tended to be lone parent, two or more children,
unemployed and usually a health problem with one or more
members of the family. Over time this has had a devastating
effect on the estates. We now have a highly atomised
community with no role models, high unemployment and low
expectations. The other group which scores high points are
the families of asylum seekers. We now have a large Somali
community and Sudanese community.
Roehampton has the highest child deprivation,
unemployment and ill health indices in Wandsworth
Borough, and the lowest economic activity index. The only
mass employer is ASDA, although Queen Mary’s Hospital
does employ a few locals in service roles.
ELECTORAL ROLL / MEMBERSHIP MAKEUP
 Total and ethnic breakdown
White British 70%, African 25%, Others 5%
 Approximate age break-down
Over 60yrs: 50%, 40yrs – 60yrs: 30%, 0-40yrs: 20%
 Agreed membership figures
60 – Electoral roll - 90
 Average Sunday attendance in autumn 2010 –
Communicants c50, Global: 70
 Nos of baptisms, weddings and funerals in 2010
Baptisms: 20, Weddings :12, Funerals: 70
 Easter and Christmas attendance and
communions in 2010
Easter: Communicants – 60, Attendance – 80
Christmas: Communicants - 65, Attendance - 100
 Theological outlook of Church members/Parish
on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 Conservative 5 Liberal)?
3 This is a mid-point between two emphases. In terms
of doctrine the congregation would see themselves as
traditional/orthodox, taking a traditional line on the
Resurrection, the Trinity, the Virgin Birth etc. There
would be a non literalist approach to Scripture and a
Liberal approach to Social Ethics.
 Social outlook of Church members / Parish on a
scale of 1 to 5 (1 Conservative 5 Liberal)?
4 This is a guess. We are too disparate to have a
consensual party political outlook. Also we have a
number of members of the congregation who would
have a conservative political outlook, but a much more
liberal outlook in terms of individual rights.
 What presenting issues within Church life would
most concern Church members?
Paying the Quota
Ecumenical Issues, particularly with regard to Anglican Methodist relations: strong desire to reach visible unity.
Justice Issues: Race, Gender and Sexual Orientation
Equality, Disability and Financial Inclusion
 What presenting issues in community / political /
national life would most concern church
members?
Marginalisation of Estates as in Roehampton
Concern for young people and access to housing
Dementia and health issues amongst the elderly,
particularly with regard to access to health services
 Attitude to women in ministry / women bishops
and gay clergy
Very much in favour of both. We have had a number of
women clergy serve here, and both our most recent
curates were gay.
CHURCH BUILDINGS AND PLANT
Holy Trinity Church
used for religious services, concerts, bazaars and community
meetings.
Roehampton Parish Hall ‘The Cornerstone’
at present used by ‘Chapel Street Family Hub’ a Christian
Social Enterprise, principally a Nursery School. But also
occasionally used as a Wedding Reception or Celebration
venue.
Minstead Gardens Methodist Church/Hall
used for religious services by a number of groups. Also used
by Regenerate RISE, a charity for the housebound elderly,
and by Regenerate.Com a young people’s Charity. Also used
by other groups on an occasional basis.
also
Roehampton Church School adjacent to the Church
available for use by the church and community groups.
STAFFING
One Vicar – paid,
One Methodist Urban Missioner – paid,
One Honourary Assistant Priest – unpaid
One Organist/Director of Music – paid
FUNERALS – who does them?
The Vicar and Urban Missioner. Occasionally services
are conducted by the Licensed Reader who is accredited.
LAY INVOLVEMENT
Lay members direct and organise concerts, bazaars and
almost all our many social events. They also organise server
rotas, cars to church rotas, readers’ rotas, coffee rotas,
sidespersons’ rotas and everything musical. Also we have lay
administrators of communion for church and home.
CLERGY ORGANISATION
The Vicar shares Sunday worship leadership with Keith
Rowbottom, the Methodist Urban Missioner on about five
occasions per quarter. The Vicar will be in the Methodist
circuit about once a month, and will lead the rest of the
worship by himself. It is hoped that Daniel Eshun, the
University chaplain will be able to rejoin the team after a very
serious illness.
FOR HOLY TRINITY; WORKING IN PRACTICE OF
ECUMENICAL PARISH
This works very well contributing enormously to the
combined ethos of the two churches. Constantly it throws
into relief the particularity (and peculiarity) of Church of
England practice. With regard to Holy Trinity, this means
that we are able to retain our Anglo Catholic heritage along
with a robust questioning of that heritage. This would be
seen in our slightly anarchic modus vivendi with almost a
suspicion for authority and its trappings.
WEEKLY SERVICES
 Usual pattern / CW order
Sundays: 10.00am Parish Eucharist (CW)
12.00noon Holy Communion (BCP)
3.00pm Afternoon Service at Methodist Ch
Saints’ Days: occasional 6.00pm Holy Communion (CW)
Daily: Morning Prayer at 7.15am
Lent and Holy Week: special programme
 Sunday school
Meets during 10.00am service in its own special Sunday
School Corner in Church
 Lay involvement in reading, serving etc
At each service we have lay administrators of
communion, congregational readers and intercessors
and servers. Every role open to the laity is taken on by a
lay person.
 Music provision We have a permanent organist and
extremely loyal choir.
PATTERN OF WEEKLY ACTIVITIES AND
SIGNIFICANT REGULAR ANNUAL EVENTS
Morning Prayer is said virtually every day at 7.15am. We
have a contemplative Prayer group which fortnightly at
2.00pm. Our Joint Church Council meets on a weekday
evening once every two months. Its venue alternates
between Holy Trinity and Minstead Gardens Methodist
Church. Other meetings are held during the daytime and
occur every two months.
We hold about four concerts a year, with the next one
taking place at Holy Trinity on February 13th: ‘Ceud Mile
Failte’ a celebration of Celtic music and song. All are
welcome.
During Lent we have weekly devotional services and
talks on spiritual or Lenten themes. We have a full Holy
Week programme culminating in our Walk of Witness with
the Methodist Church and St Joseph’s which then draws to a
close with the full Triduum at St Jospeh’s. This has been very
important in our ecumenical development, and sometimes
we have significant numbers of people from all around
London to take part in this unique event.
REGULAR / SEASONAL STUDY OR HOUSE
GROUPS
As above
CHRISTIAN INITIATION: BAPTISMAL
POLICY/ADMISSION OF CHILDREN TO
COMMUNION BEFORE CONFIRMATION
PRACTICE/USUAL CONFIRMATION PRACTICE
We have an open Baptismal policy, and we often have
small baptismal services on Sunday afternoons as well as at
the main services. We have had a mixture of policies in the
area of children’s reception of communion, but currently
children have to wait until they are confirmed before
receiving the sacrament (unless they have been receiving at a
previous church)
Confirmation provides us with our most difficult
practical issues as an ecumenical parish. Everyone who is
confirmed here is confirmed into both the Church of England
and the Methodist Church. The CofE confirms using bishops;
in the Methodist Church it is the local minister who confirms.
The main problem comes with Deanery confirmations where
there needs to be some deft choreography.
PCC AND COMMITTEE STRUCTURE /
MEMBERSHIP NUMBERS/PATTERN OF
MEETINGS
Our main church council is the JCC – Joint Church
Council, comprising the PCC and Methodist Church Council.
This is our supreme decision making body. We have varying
subcommittees depending on the priorities of the time. At
present we are preoccupied with buildings and so our
principal subcommittee is the Churchwarden’s Buildings
Committee. We also have a Parish Hall Committee.
YOUTH WORK AND CHILDREN’S WORK
This is focussed on our Sunday School which is going
through a period of transition. Up until recently our main
recruitment vehicle has been the Church School. Since 1996
the proportion of indigenous children attending the School
has been falling. It is now around 20%. The rest of the school
comes from communities for whom English is a second
language, and whose culture and religious background is very
different. The school is now over 50% Muslim. (Church of
England schools are very popular with Muslims because the
parents do not want their children to attend ‘godless’
schools.) Of the rest, although Christian, the children usually
attend their own ethnic minority churches – principally
Nigerian. Our potential for recruitment from the school has
dropped therefore by 75%.
Most of our children are toddlers, and therefore need a
different kind of managing. We have two dedicated teachers
and some of the mums help out too.
FINANCE
 Annual diocesan quota (and whether it is up-todate)
Our Quota has just been halved from £38,000 to
£19,000pa. We owe £26,000 from 2010. For several
years now we have been Quota, way above what has
been fair, and we have had to pay out from our capital
assets which have all but been exhausted.
 Church giving income lettings income;
investment income – FOR 2009
Our Spire Appeal has distorted our Giving Figures, but
in general terms we raise about £35,000 from the
congregation.
 Running costs
Over and above Quota these are about £22,000
 Reserves - What??????
QUINQUENNIAL SURVEY SUMMARY FINDINGS
These were all to do with our Spire, and have all been
fulfilled.
CHURCH SCHOOLS; admissions policies; parish and
clergy involvement / relationship with the churches
etc
We have one Church School – Roehampton Church
School. The Vicar is Chair of Governors and does one
assembly in church every week with help from the Urban
Missioner. It has a complicated admissions policy targeting a)
‘looked after’ children, b) siblings, c) Anglican churchgoers, d)
other churchgoers e) other faiths and then non church
families all within our three parishes.
RELATIONSHIP WITH LOCAL SCHOOLS / CARE
HOMES / SHELTERED HOUSING / COMMUNITY
GROUPS ETC
Usually we have a couple of visits per term from classes
belonging to the other schools in the parish: Heathmere,
Alton, Ibstock Place and very occasionally from Granard.
There is little involvement with Care Homes or
sheltered housing, unless one of our members moves in.
Usually we have a home communion visit, once a month, to
Pocklington Court, the local home for the blind for a handful
of residents.
We have had a close involvement with the Heathside
Centre for people with learning difficulties in the past, but
that is due to close because of the Cuts. We hope to come
to some arrangement with the members there to make use
of either Minstead Gardens or Holy Trinity itself.
There are two local semi-representative local amenity
groups which each meet once every two months to which
church members belong and both of which the Vicar is Chair:
the Roehampton Forum and the Roehampton Partnership.
The latter qualifies him to be a member of the Wandsworth
Local Strategic Partnership, which has led him to be Chair of
the Wandsworth Community Empowerment Network.
As Vicar of the parish he is ex-officio a Governor of
Whitelands College, Roehampton University.
There has been a long involvement between Holy
Trinity and Queen Mary’s Hospital over many decades. This
continues with three members of the congregation who form
part of the chaplaincy team at the hospital. The previous
chaplain, Domini Lucas was a member of our fellowship.
MISSION STATEMENT (IF ANY)
We do not have one. Our broad emphasis, however,
would be to create and maintain a quality of personal
interaction: friendliness, respect, caring, honesty and good
cheer, amongst the congregation which we would hope
reflects the love of God as seen in Jesus. This might be called
a ‘taster’ for the Kingdom of God. The emphasis then is to
invite others into this sphere whereby they may be
encouraged, challenged and embraced.
A constant theme in our preaching and reflection is the
utter difference in the values of the Kingdom compared to
the spirit of the age. The path of the individual is the
perennial negotiation between the demands of the World
whilst being open to the call of the Other.
MISSION PRIORITIES
We want to find ways to make greater use of Holy
Trinity building – opening it more often and inviting people
in. In many ways it is our greatest evangelistic asset.
RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER CHURCHES
We get on very well with each other and with St
Joseph’s. We think that the new covenant for Churches
Together in Putney and Roehampton offers wonderful
opportunity for deeper friendship with more churches.
WHAT ARE THE MAIN PROBLEMS FACING THE
CLERGY?
Without doubt, the major problem for the Vicar is the
lack of secretarial help. Various ways of attempting to
address this issue have been tried, but have come to nothing.
Instead we have invested in a really fantastic printer which
has done a lot of good.