St Andrew’s, Cotterstock
PCC annual report 2024
This report covers the activity of the PCC during 2024. Previously reports to the APCM have covered
the period of time between APCMs but this year we are aligning with the calendar year to cover the
same period as the financial accounts.
This year has been a year of interregnum with the focus for the PCC being to continue the life of St
Andrew’s and to improve the engagement of the village and the benefice with services and
activities. The second focus was to put our energies into the search for a new vicar, which we are
happy to confirm has been successful with the appointment of the Rev. Annie Goldthorp at the end
of the year. It has been an extremely busy year for the PCC!
The farewell tea was held for Rev. Donald McFadyen in January and after that the PCC continued
services supported by a range of retired and cathedral clergy to whom we would like to record our
grateful thanks; Rev. Canon Tim Alban Jones, Ven. Alison Booker, Ven. Fiona Windsor, Rev. Eddie
Smith, Rev. Maria Coulter, Rev. Ray Hemingray and Lay Reader Charles Wide. We consider ourselves
very fortunate to have had such strong and valued support during this period.
As the PCC we have continued to take it in turns to organise and prepare for the services at St
Andrew’s. We were pleased to welcome people from across the benefice to our services, and to
continue to expand the group of readers involved in our services.
There were no services held at Cotterstock over Easter, with all services held at Fotheringhay. A
lovely Harvest Festival service was taken by Ven. Fiona Windsor and this was held jointly with St
Mary’s Tansor though with quite small representation. The church was beautifully decorated by the
village on the Saturday and a good collection of dried goods was given to the Oundle Food bank.
The Remembrance service was held with a colour party and led by Charles Wide who gave a
fascinating account of his father’s service which gave everyone present the encouragement to
reflect on the meaning of this important annual service. As always we remembered the fallen from
Cotterstock by name with children from the village placing crosses at the altar. £250.01 was
collected from the village by Jake Vowles through the door to door sale of poppies. The collection
was given to the Royal British Legion.
The St Andrew’s day service was kindly taken by Rev. Canon Tim Alban Jones with the same piper
from Corby who came in 2023. Despite the pouring rain the piper piped everyone into the service
and played for us. The Crosbys kindly donated the fee for the piper for which we record thanks
here. We are also pleased to record that the request to Bishop Debbie to take our St Andrew’s day
service (in a nod to her Scottish roots) has been agreed for the St Andrew’s day service 2025. This
will be a benefice service to be held at St Andrew’s and we look forward to welcoming her.
As recorded in our last report the PCC considered how we might develop a more popular carol
service for 2024. We are pleased to record here that the 2024 carol service was held on Monday 23
December and was attended by 97 villagers, family and friends. The service was a traditional lessons
and carols put together with help from Rev. Canon Tim Alban Jones who kindly took the service.
There was some superb singing from talented villagers, beautiful readings for the six lessons and
some of the smallest villagers acted as Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus during a lovely rendition of
Away in a Manger by our village singers. Drinks and canapes were served afterwards and there was
a great deal of positive feedback reflecting what a very happy and successful village occasion it was.
Sue Fitton has continued as safeguarding officer to update the PCC at each meeting. We are
confident that we are complying with our legal duty. In addition everyone continues to look out for
and support vulnerable adults, children and members of the congregation dealing with
bereavement, illness or other issues. We record here our grateful thanks to Sue for her very hard
work in ensuring that we maintain high safeguarding standards.
Jake Vowles was re-elected to continue as the liaison between the PCC and the Village Hall
committee ensuring dates and activities are discussed. Plans were put in place in 2024 for a joint
fundraising ‘Plants, Cakes and Books’ sale in 2025, and we received very helpful support for many
church activities and publicity from the VHC throughout the year.
The two main fundraising events of the year both went very well. The Ride and Stride coffee
morning was a lovely village occasion as always and raised £543.20 of which half was returned to St
Andrew’s and the remainder went to the Northamptonshire Historic Churches Trust. The
fundraising talk given by Rev. Canon Tim Alban Jones on 13 June on ‘The Life and Music of Katharine
of Aragon’ with live music from Katherine Fitton, Simon Brown and a seven strong local recorder
group was also a wonderful success and a lovely social occasion.
The building and the churchyard continue to occupy much time, particularly in working through the
issues highlighted in the quinquennial inspection and the ongoing need to restore certain
headstones in the churchyard. We’re pleased to report that the work to the pews and replacing the
downpipe in the chancel has been completed and funded by the NHCT, with a VAT rebate. A
donation was received from some parishioners which funded the new pew cushions throughout the
church. These are a great success and have added considerably to our comfort during services.
The first stage of the restoration work to headstones in the churchyard was completed by Maynards,
with plans for stage two in the pipeline for 2025. Thanks are due to all the volunteers who turned
out on 11 May to achieve minor quinquennial tasks and churchyard tidying, as well as to those who
clean at the annual spring and summer cleaning. Particular thanks are due to Roger and Sue Fitton
for their significant work in keeping the churchyard looking so lovely, and to James Rowlett for his
help and advice.
The other significant activity in 2024 was the substantial work which took place to support the
recruitment of a new vicar. The updating of the website, the development of the profile, the
marketing of the role and the recruitment meetings and process itself took up a great deal of PCC
time, alongside treasurer discussions about the parish share and other benefice financial discussions.
Everyone is delighted that this investment of time and effort has come to a successful conclusion,
and looks forward to the life of St Andrew’s moving to a new era.
We would like to record our thanks to the Warmington tower bell ringers. They ring at all the
regular services and the special services and now have their own key which is helpful both for
services and for ringing practices and visiting ringers. We are grateful for their reliability and their
wonderful ringing. They are an integral part of our village services
A final thanks goes to Monica as our organist. We know we are very fortunate to have someone
prepared to practice and to play for us, and we never underestimate the importance of her vital
contribution to the life of our church.
In conclusion 2024 was an unusual and very busy year of interregnum but with many happy and
successful services and other church occasions. As a group we feel it was a demanding but
successful year.