So what happens in a typical month (say, October 2009)? A craftsman worked at a design to use the Aumbrey (mediaeval alcove) in the south aisle of St Nicolas’ as the place in which to reserve consecrated bread and wine. An architect worked on a design to stop water getting into St Michael’s from occasional overflows in the valley gutter between the nave and south aisle. Our Team Rector gave substantial time helping develop a project to use a significant amount of Government money to tackle the issue of low educational aspiration in the areas served by Whitgift School, and our Team Vicar gave half her time to chaplaincy at our local Hospice. On one Wednesday when none of our clergy were available, one of our Readers took both the mid-week service at St Michael’s and a Funeral at the Crematorium.
On one Sunday when none of their clergy were available, our clergy took the main service and Baptisms at both St Francis’, Cleethorpes and St Martin’s, Nunsthorpe.The church-owned Littlecoates Community Centre continued to struggle along just beneath the level of financial viability, but also became the base both for a weekly session of local Councillor sponsored youth work and for the work of someone sentenced to Community Pay Back. For the second time in the year £400 was transferred to our link parish in Zimbabwe, and £340 was raised at St Michael’s Harvest Supper ready for the next time we do this, while the gifts from St Nicolas’ Harvest went to a local charity for the homeless. And these are only the first dozen examples of what we are really about as a parish.