Further Information about the Parishes

Ayot St. Peter is a very rural, well-dispersed, hamlet with a population of 140 It is located one mile south west of Welwyn.

2. COMMUNITY

Welwyn
Due to its favourable location the size of the village has steadily increased during this century. There is only one large employer and the residents mainly work within a 15 mile radius or commute to London. Approximately 85% of the housing is privately owned and the rest is council owned. There is no dominant age group.
The benefice is in the area covered by the Welwyn and Hatfield District Council but the village is administered by the Welwyn Parish Council who have provided a Civic Centre. The church is normally open all day and is available for all parish needs and occasionally provides special services for the local community.
There is a village JMI church school. There are 2 hospitals in the village where the incumbent is hospital chaplain. Services are held regularly by the ministerial team and several members of the pastoral support team also visit weekly.

Woolmer Green
Recently there has been some housing development. Most people work outside the village. The village is administered by the newly formed Woolmer Green Parish Council. There is a full range of age groups. There is a village JMI church school. The Church is involved with the School, the Youth Club and the Senior Citizens Centre. There is a large new village hall. The church is kept locked apart from services.

Ayot St. Peter
90% of the housing is privately owned with some 10% belonging to the Brocket Estate and tenanted. Although the dominant age group is the over 60s, 35% are aged between 30-59 and are either self-employed locally or commute to London daily. The church is kept locked apart from the Sunday service at 11.15am. and the occasional evensong.

Nursery and Junior School age children are well provided for within the Benefice both within the state and private sector. For senior school the choice is very wide in both the state and private sectors and children attend schools in Welwyn Garden City, St. Albans, Ware, Hertford, Hatfield, Harpenden, Hitchin, Stevenage, and Potters Bar.

There are five schools within the benefice. One small private school which includes a senior and a junior school, Two JMI Church Aided Schools, a large school in Welwyn and a smaller school in Woolmer Green. There is another JMI in Oaklands and a Nursery School in Welwyn.

There is a close link between the Church and the two church aided schools. The Rector and Curate take regular services in the schools and are on the governing bodies. The curate is involved in some classroom work in Woolmer Green School. Several members of the congregation also serve on the governing bodies of these two schools and the head teachers are keen to maintain this link and are supportive of our work with children in the parish. The clergy are invited into the other schools for special / occasional services

The villages are in easy reach of Hatfield for the University of Hertfordshire Oaklands College in Welwyn Garden City runs a comprehensive range of education and leisure courses, both day and evening as does Stevenage College. There are active branches of the Workers Educational Association in the district.

There are many clubs and organisations in the villages including e.g.:-

Art, Conservation, Craft, Drama, Educational, Film, Gardening & Floral, History, Music, Senior Citizens, Kiwanis, Round Table, Anglo-French Twinning and Women's Institute. Sporting activities include Badminton, Bowls, Cricket, Football and Tennis and the Gosling Sports Park in Welwyn Garden City provides major sporting facilities of a very high standard. There is a particularly good amateur theatre in Welwyn Garden City, three miles away, and many other clubs and societies.

5. WORSHIP

	Times of services (all at St. Mary's unless otherwise stated)	Service	Average Attendance
Sunday	8.00am	Holy Communion	15
	9.30am	Parish Communion	200
	11.15am	Parish Communion (St. Michael's)	50
	11.15am	Matins & Holy Communion (Ayot St. Peter)	35
	6.30pm	Evensong	25
Monday	9.00am	Matins	2
Tuesday	5.00pm	Evensong (St. Michael's)	8
	7.15pm	Holy Communion	5
Wednesday	9.30am	Holy Communion	15
	2.00pm	Pram service (once a month)	20
	5.00pm	Evensong	4
	7-8pm	Prayers for Healing	5
Thursday	7.30am	Holy Communion	5
	5.00pm	Evensong	3
Friday	11.00am	Holy Communion (St. Michael's)	8
	5.00pm	Evensong	3
Saturday	6.00pm	Evensong	3

Communion is taken regularly to the sick and housebound by the Clergy and authorised Readers. There are approximately 60 funerals per year taken by the clergy or readers. The local crematorium is just past Knebworth three miles to the North.
Approximately 10 Lent groups, following the same course of study, take place and includes some Roman Catholics living locally.

St. Mary's

• Services are taken from Common Worship with the new lectionary apart from evensong, which is BCP. There is a choral evensong once a month.
• St. Mary's has reserved sacrament in the St Nicolas Chapel.
• Hymns are mostly taken from the New English Hymnal but supplemented with modern material printed on the weekly pew sheet (notice sheet).
• Age range of attendees is very wide, ranging from a few months old to people in their 90s. 5 Sunday school groups run during the 9.30am service for the age ranges of 1 to 13. The average number of children in each group is 12 - 15. In addition on average 15 teenagers aged 14 upwards attend this service and there is a youth group for them which is run on a Sunday evening after evensong.
• Lay participation in worship is high. Two lay people read the lessons and alternate weeks a lay person leads the intercessions.
• Three servers are on duty every Sunday as well as a lay person acting as Sub-deacon and one of the Readers or the Curate as Deacon and there is administration of the Chalice.
• The place of prayer is given high priority, with several prayer groups and a weekly 'prayers for healing.'
• A number of special services take place throughout the year including Christingle Service, Crib Service, Carol Services, Midnight Mass, Epiphany, Candlemas, Remembrance for 'loved ones', Ash Wednesday, Mothering Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Ascension Day, Harvest, Remembrance Sunday, Patronal Festival, Youth Services, All Souls and All Saints, Compline during Lent and Advent. There is a monthly family service (9.30 Sunday communion).
• 40 baptisms a year take place, usually once a month at the main Sunday Eucharist, although it is sometimes necessary to hold extra baptism services on Sunday afternoons.
• A Confirmation service takes place once a year.
• Approximately 30 weddings take place in St. Mary's each year.
• St. Mary's has an able choir consisting of 20 - 25 people and uses the RSCM schemes. The musical tradition is strong; anthems are regularly sung with full choral evensong monthly.
• There is also a strong liturgical tradition at St. Mary's. Incense is used for festivals and other major occasions.
• Vestments are worn for Holy Communion Services. Surplice and scarf are worn for evensong.
• St Mary's band ring the bells for the 9.30 and 6.30 services throughout the year and on many special occasions. They practice once a week on Tuesdays at 8.00pm.
• There is a sacristan who prepares for the main services and a verger for weddings and funerals.

• Services are generally taken from Common Worship and a Family service is held once a month.
• The new Lectionary is used. Hymns are mostly from the New English Hymnal.
• Wide age range of attendees, from 5 - 89 years. Approximately 15 children each week between ages of 5 and 8 years. Junior Church takes place during part of the service.
• There is lay involvement with reading the lessons and with the intercessions.
• The priest is assisted by a server and a lay administrator for the Chalice.
• Baptisms - approximately ten take place each year.
• One or two weddings are held in St. Michael's each year.
• A number of special services take place throughout the year including Christingle Service, Carol Service, Crib Service, Midnight Mass, Mothering Sunday, Harvest, Remembrance Sunday, Patronal Festival.
• There is a choir of ten people - 7 adults and 3 children.
• Vestments are worn for Holy Communion Services.
• St Michael's has reserved sacrament next to the altar.

• The Sunday morning service is taken from the BCP, with sung canticles.
• The new Lectionary is used. Hymns are taken from Ancient and Modern (revised)
• Attendees are aged between 1 - 87years.
• One lay person helps to administer at communion.
• Sacristan duties are carried out by 8/9 of the regular attenders working in pairs on a rota system. These duties include reading the lessons and preparing the church.
• Special services are held Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Patronal Festival, Harvest, Remembrance Sunday and a Carol Service.
• Approximately 3 Baptisms take place annually, always during the Sunday morning service.
• Candidates for Confirmation join with the benefice.
• Approximately 3 Weddings take place annually.

6. PASTORAL AND ECUMENICAL

St. Mary's and St. Michael's

There are trained teams within the congregations for: -

• Baptism Preparation
• Marriage Preparation and Marriage Encounter events,
• Bereavement Counselling and Annual Memorial Service,
• Welcome Team and care for newcomers to the villages,
• Pastoral Care for members of the congregations.

Social Services regularly refer local residents to the Pastoral and Bereavement Team.

St. Mary's has a Church Women's Fellowship and St. Michael's has a Mother's Union.

There is much support from members of the congregation who look after delivery of Christmas and Easter cards and deliver information about the church to newcomers. This service covers the whole of Welwyn and Woolmer Green villages.

In Welwyn there are two other churches; the Evangelical Church and the Ebeneezer Baptist Chapel. Whilst there are no ecumenical links with either of these Churches, members of the congregations know each other socially. There are no other churches in the benefice. There are very few members of other Christian denominations who worship in St. Mary's regularly.

The Rector and the Curate.

Four Readers who take a full and active role in the ministry of the benefice. This includes preaching, leading evensong and matins and assisting with funerals. Two regularly take reserved sacrament for a service at the local hospitals and to the sick and housebound. There is one Emeritus Reader also within the parish.

Members of the congregations are encouraged to consider public ministry and one person is currently in training for the ordained ministry.

St. Mary's 293
St. Michael's 62
Ayot St Peter 60

St. Mary's and St. Michael's

24 members made up of 2 Clergy, 3 Churchwardens, 5 Readers

2 Deanery Synod Reps, 1 Secretary, 2 Treasurers,

1 Youth Rep. (serves for one year only) with the remainder serving a three year term.

All PCC members are also on an action group. Other action group members are appointed from members of the congregations based on their individual expertise.

2 Churchwardens, 1 Secretary, 8 members drawn from the congregation plus 2 Clergy.

Small committees are drawn from both the members of PCC and from the congregation, or even from non-regular attenders where specific expert knowledge is deemed essential.

The original church dates from the Norman period but only an arch in the chancel is evidence of this. The structure has been much altered during its life and from the 13^th century onwards alterations and extensions were carried out each century. The church has had four towers and suffered a serious fire, which destroyed the Chancel roof and east window in 1952. The present church dates substantially from the rebuilding and refurbishment, which took place from 1909 and 1911.

There is a continuous programme of planned maintenance, repair and improvement for which the Fabric Action Group is responsible. The only major repair, which is outstanding from the Quinquennial report, is the re-leading of the north aisle roof. A sinking fund is accumulating for this to be carried out in 2001.

Recent projects completed include a sound system, floodlighting for the millennium and replacement of the Boothby window. Recently the interior of the church was redecorated and the porch enclosed behind glazed doors. There are plans to establish a church office in the the area formely used as Baptistery.

The churchyard is maintained by Welwyn Parish Council. A tree survey was conducted in 1999 and a ten-year tree maintenance programme was established. A Church committee raised funds and had constructed a memorial Garden on the east side of the churchyard in 1999.

A 15^th century listed timber-framed building adjoining the churchyard, which is used as a meeting place. It has two rooms and a kitchen on the ground floor and a one bed flat above let to a member of the church. It is maintained by the Church House committee who generate their own funding. Repairs and fire precaution work totalling over £10,000 have recently been completed.

St Michael's Woolmer Green

Completed in 1900, the church has recently had a Quinquennial inspection and small defects were noted and have been dealt with. Redecoration of the interior was carried out in 1999.

The Fabric Action Group is responsible for repairs and maintenance, which include care of the churchyard.

 St Michael's House

A detached house adjoining the church currently occupied by the Curate. It was redecorated and modernised in 1997 and a much needed office was added in 2000.

Ayot St. Peter is an exceptionally complete example of an "Arts and Crafts" church built in 1875. The parish had three previous churches on a different site half a mile away, and the Rectors go back to 1291. The church is quite an exotic sight with its polychromed brickwork and mosaic clock. This is even more surprising in view of its rural location, among winding country lanes, fields and woodland. The interior is all contemporary, circa 1875, by J.P.Seddon (1827-1906). He was not only the architect but also designed the pulpit, font, tiles, Byzantine painted ceiling and much of the stained glass. There is a ceramic chancel arch by the Martin brothers and much work in mosaic by Jesse Rust.

A great deal of maintenance and renovation has been carried out over the past 15 years. A substantial part of the work involved dealing with masonry bees and associated damage to the brickwork. Funds were also raised for automatic winding gear for the church clock, remedial work to the bells, the stained glass windows and general redecoration to the interior of the church. Woodworm has been treated, tiles replaced, the organ totally refurbished, the original banner replicated, guttering replaced, electrical circuits renewed, heating pipes and interior lighting improved, the paths and churchyard brought up to a high standard and a memorial garden established.

There is a monthly parish magazine produced by a committee of parishioners covering the benefice and with a circulation of just over 1000.
A Christmas and Easter card, listing seasonal services, is delivered to every house in the parish.
The weekly service sheet, including notices, is distributed at all 3 churches and remains available for the following week. It is also posted on the parish web site and remains there for approximately a year.
A parish web site, maintained by a member of the parish is at http://www.welwyn.org.uk and carries, amongst other material (including this information page) the weekly service sheet and notices and the Magazine - with the many photographs it contains in full colour.