The Parish of St Peter, Formby

In The Deanery of Sefton
In The Archdeaconry and
Diocese of Liverpool
PATRON
The Rector of Walton
ADDRESS
Green Lane
Freshfield
Formby
Liverpool
L37 7DL
ST PETER’S, FORMBY
An ancient chapelry where God is for all – yesterday, today and tomorrow.
A Church with a Difference:
St Peter’s, Formby is something different. A brick built Georgian nave from the
mid eighteenth century, with large clear glass windows providing a light and airy
interior, coupled with a Victorian Gothic chancel and side chapel which can easily
create the illusion of being in two separate buildings. Together it works, giving the
church a warm and welcoming feel. St Peter’s is a part of the very fabric of
Formby, cherished by its congregation and held in great affection beyond its parish
boundaries. This is a large and busy parish, and continuing to provide an effective
ministry will always be a great but satisfying challenge.
Looking to the future we would seek to:

Develop plans to make services more appealing to young families and
children whilst maintaining the liturgical and musical traditions of St Peter’s.

Encourage lay ministry and identify candidates for Reader training.

Continue to develop strong links with Trinity St Peter’s Primary School.

Promote the charm of the church and its setting to reach out to the wider
community making it known that we are always there for everyone.

Continue to build on current initiatives for the Parade Services and for
mid-week children’s services.

Play a full part in Christian witness activities along with the other Formby
parishes and through ‘Churches Together’.
Contents:
We have tried to give a good description of St Peter’s
parish, its place in the wider community and how we
would like to see future development. We hope that it
will be of value and assistance to all prospective
applicants.
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The Priest we would like
About the Parish
About Our Church and its People
About the Wider Context
Appendix A: A word from our Area Dean
Appendix B: St Peter’s Parish Boundaries
Appendix C: How to contact us
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THE PRIEST WE WOULD LIKE
Someone who:

Will respect and maintain the tradition of St Peter’s both in liturgy
and music, with the vision to develop our worship appropriately
for all age groups.

Is a good parish priest with proven pastoral skills, placing pastoral
ministry high on the agenda and providing spiritual leadership to
all.

Will be enthusiastic in developing close ties with young people,
working with the uniformed organisations and pre-schools ,and
taking a leading role in the Christian life and development of
Trinity St Peter’s Primary School.

Is a good people manager with the ‘common touch’ and a sense of
humour.

Can get the best out of the congregation and bring out their
talents – both the committed and the less committed.

Is a preacher who can engage creatively with today’s issues.

Is a sound administrator with good planning and time
management skills.
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ABOUT THE PARISH
Formby (population c.25,000) lies on the coast between Liverpool and
Southport. The Parish of St Peter’s is at the Freshfield (northern) side of
Formby and has about 10,500 residents. Although some 6 square miles
in area, about 4 square miles of the parish is taken up by Ministry of
Defence property (including RAF Woodvale airfield), farmland and the
unoccupied coastal strip. (See Appendix B – Parish boundaries).
The Parish is very much a residential and commuter area with a largely
settled population and with many families having been resident for
generations.
All ages and sections of society are represented within the parish;
although there is a general air of prosperity, the problems of debt and
unemployment are by no means unknown. The majority of the
residents are from European ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
Trinity St Peter’s Church of England (Aided) Primary School is located
close to the church. This is a popular school on the site of the original St
Peter’s School and was re-opened as Trinity St Peter’s when Holy Trinity
C of E School was closed in 2005. The Vicar currently serves as Chair of
Governors, and the vicars of both Holy Trinity and St Peter’s are exofficio governors.
Also located within the parish are Freshfield Primary School and the
highly regarded Formby High School. According to OFSTED the quality of
education they provide is outstanding. Clarence High School, part of
Nugent Care, is also situated within the parish.
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The coastal strip to the western edge of the parish is National Trust and
Natural England land and is famed for its pinewoods, beach and red
squirrel population, under threat a couple of years ago, but now fighting
back.
Formby has an attractive centre, with a bustling air, good shopping and
a growing café culture. There are excellent public transport links to
Liverpool, Southport and Preston.
The ‘best’ pub in Formby, The Freshfield Hotel, is within the parish and
is a most popular hostelry where there is a choice of over a dozen cask
ales and good quality pub meals. It is regularly used for fellowship and
pastoral outreach.
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ABOUT OUR CHURCH
St Peter’s and its People
St Peter's Church - or The Ancient Chapelry of Formby, its historic title has been a centre of Christian worship, mission and pastoral service
within the community since 1747 and is the oldest and largest of the
three Anglican parishes by population.
The style of worship has a Liberal Catholic tradition with emphasis on the
Sacraments and its liturgies use both Common Worship and the Book of
Common Prayer.
The services are ordered, thoughtful, innovative and
imaginative, and music in many forms, provided by a
committed director and robed choir, plays an
important part.
The congregation, particularly at the 10.00am
service, covers all age groups including young
families, older children and octogenarians.
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Our Current Services

Sunday: 8.00am Holy Communion (1662) attendance 15-20

10.00am Parish Eucharist - regular attendance about 110 . This is
substantially higher on Festival and Parade Sundays.

6.30pm Choral Evensong (1662) - attendance 20-25.

Wednesday: 11.00am said Eucharist – attendance about 25. This is a
service popular with the more elderly members of the parish with
very sociable refreshments and chat afterwards.

Friday: 6.30pm said Eucharist—attendance 5 – 10.

Morning Prayer is said on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
at 9.00am.

Worship on Wednesday (WOW). A monthly afternoon service for pre
-school children and parents/carers is held in church. Around 55
children and 25 adults regularly attend, including the Foundation
stage from Trinity St Peter’s school.

Baptisms are usually held on the 1st Sunday of the month.

Special 10.00am Eucharistic Parade services at which the uniformed
youth organisations feature prominently are held regularly
throughout the year including Mothering Sunday, Pentecost, Harvest
and Remembrance Sunday.
Additional special services include: significant days in the
church calendar that do not fall on a Sunday, a Requiem
service in November, a Service of Nine Lessons and Carols,
and three (yes, three!) Christingle services on Christmas Eve.
We are proud to say that over 5 services last Christmas
attendance was about 1,000.
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We pride ourselves at St Peter’s on being a friendly and welcoming
church, with a dedicated team of sidesmen and women committed to
ensuring that every-one, newcomers and regulars alike, is made to feel
welcome and included.
Refreshments served after the 10.00am service enhance the fellowship.
St Peter’s is also blessed with a huge array of talents within its
congregation which provides a strong base of support for the clergy.
The uniformed organisations are a real success story – very popular and
often with waiting lists. The leaders and their helpers work tirelessly on
creative activities and links with the church are very strong. Our
greatest challenge is to find ways to involve young people more closely
in the Church’s worship and work; the regular Parade services are very
successful in this regard.
In 2013 St Peter’s achieved the diocesan ‘Child Friendly Church’ award.
As a high priority we would be looking to our new priest to continue
work recently started to tailor the 10.00am Parish Eucharist on the 1st
Sunday of each month to a more family friendly style in order to appeal
more readily to families with younger children. It is hoped that the
school would be closely involved in any new developments.
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St Peter’s and its Community
Occasional offices taking place in 2012 were as follows:

Baptisms - 49

Marriages – 13

Funerals - 41
The parish has been recognised as a good training ground for Assistant
Curates and a new vicar may wish to continue the tradition. A curate’s
house is available.
A number of groups and organisations meet regularly within the parish,
either in the Church Hall or in the Bier House depending on numbers.
Current groups include:

Mothers’ Union

Brownies/Guides

Beavers/Cub Scouts/Scouts/Explorers/Scout Network

Paradise Lane (St Peter’s) Pre-school

Ecumenical Meditation Group

Toast Club – for pre-school children and their parents/ carers
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Social Events
The Social Committee organise events each year designed to appeal to
all age groups. Events in the last year included a Garden Party, a
barbecue after the ‘Back to Church Sunday’ service, Barn Dance (with
live band), a Shakespeare Gala Dinner and a Parish day out to Lyme Park
incorporating 2 led walks for the energetic. After the Advent Carol
service and Nine Lessons and Carols, refreshments are served in church,
encouraging visitors to stay and talk.
Amadeus Concert
Jubilee Street Party
Back to Church Sunday BBQ
Annual Parish Walk
Annual Garden Party
Leaf Rake
Burns Night Supper
Shakespeare Night setting up
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A new Electoral Roll was drawn up in 2013 comprising 175 members, of
whom 53 are not resident in the parish.
St Peter’s (Formby) Educational Trust is a charity of which the vicar and
churchwardens are trustees. Chaired by the vicar, it meets 3 times a
year to consider applications from Trinity St Peter’s school and other
Formby schools for items, services or facilities outside the scope of the
local authority. It can also consider requests for recreational facilities
for young people resident in Formby, and most notably provided funds
to purchase a minibus and van for use by local Scouting groups.
Other Links
A strong pastoral link has been forged with St Joseph’s Nursing Home,
which provides residential and day-care for adults with learning
disabilities. There are also links with the Freshfield Cheshire Home and
Halcyon House Nursing Home where a number of our church
community now live.
The Vicar serves as
Chaplain both to RAF
Woodvale (including
the associated ATC
squadron) and to the
local branch of the RAFA.
The Roman Catholic Church (St Anne’s), the United Reformed Church
and Formby Christian Fellowship are located within the parish.
Relations with these churches, as with all other churches in Formby, are
good. St Peter’s is an active participant within ‘Churches Together in
Formby, Altcar and Hightown’ and is closely involved in ecumenical
activities.
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St Peter’s and its Buildings
The Parish Church of St Peter, consecrated in 1747, is a small, Grade II
listed, mainly Georgian building seating around 250 persons. The
chancel, sanctuary, and Formby Chapel are a later Victorian Gothic
addition, with a choir vestry and toilets being a further addition during
the last century.
The building is well maintained and is in a good state of repair, with all
work arising from the last quinquennial inspection having been
completed. The church is surrounded by an extensive graveyard which
is now closed apart from interments in existing graves, and there is a
Garden of Remembrance for the burial of ashes. Work is currently
underway to make safe some of the headstones. Most of the
maintenance in the graveyard is carried out by a team provided by
‘Community Pay-back’ and by volunteers from the congregation.
The Bier House, in the church
grounds, was converted into a
meeting room in 1992 and is used
regularly for fellowship, PCC and
Formby Parish Council meetings and
by other small community groups.
The Church Hall, which is owned by
The Educational Trust, is situated
close by and, with its surrounding open areas, is used by larger groups
including the uniformed organisations. It is leased to St Peter’s Preschool during the week in term times and is available for party lettings.
It is also the home of the Parish Office.
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Other properties owned by the parish are Victoria Hall, in Timms Lane,
and a ‘curate’s’ house in Kenton Close, both of which are currently
commercially let, providing additional income to the church.
Following a Stewardship Renewal campaign in 2010, the parish finances
are on a sound footing, and a large proportion of the planned giving is
Gift Aided. The parish has been able to meet all of its financial
commitments, including Parish Share, and each year donates a full 10%
of donated income to charity and missions both at home and overseas,
as well as regularly supporting three charities seasonally during the
year. The nave was re-roofed in 2010 and plans are in progress to
re-roof the chancel, Formby Chapel and sacristy in August/September
2013 at a projected cost of £27,000. The whole parish is currently
involved in wide-ranging fund-raising projects to help finance this work.
Following an initiative by the diocese, in the last year a ‘Wills and
Legacy’ policy has been agreed by the PCC and leaflets about this are
now available in the church pews.
We can never be complacent regarding our finances and are aware that
many members of the St Peter’s stewardship scheme are well into
retirement and when their donations cease it may be difficult to
maintain our current income level.
It is therefore vital that we continue to find ways of building our church
congregation in order to secure our future.
Copies of the church accounts and the Educational Trust accounts for
2012 are available on request.
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ABOUT THE WIDER CONTEXT
We are part of the Northern Cluster of Sefton Deanery, the other
churches being Formby Holy Trinity with St Michael and All Angels,
Altcar, Formby St Luke and St Stephen’s, Hightown, .
In January 2012 the Deanery agreed that each of the three Formby
parishes would continue to have a full-time stipendiary vicar, and there
are no plans for this to change. It is anticipated that the parishes will
work closely together and be mutually supportive. There are a number
of retired clergy living in and around Formby who are willing both to
preside and preach, thereby providing invaluable support to the vicar.
We presently have two licensed Readers and we would envisage that
our new priest would work actively towards promoting increased lay
ministry within St Peter’s.
We enjoy the services of a part-time family worker employed by the
Deanery. She has done excellent work, particularly by developing the
WOW services, participating in the Christingle services, forging links with
Trinity St Peter’s School and helping us to achieve the Diocesan Child
Friendly Church Award.
The PCC has 4 employees – the organist/director of music, the deputy
organist, the parish administrator and the church hall cleaner.
The vicarage is a modern 4 bedroomed house (built 1980s) standing in
extensive grounds and this will be home to the new priest. It is within a
two minute walk of the church. The diocese has taken the decision to
suspend the living for a temporary period in order to allow them to
consider whether or not some development or reconfiguration of the
vicarage and its grounds would be desirable and necessary. There are
no precise plans at this stage, but the suspension will be lifted as soon as
changes are agreed and implemented.
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The church website (www.stpetersformby.org) is well established and
our webmaster and other contributors keep it up to date on a regular
basis. We regard this increasingly as a most important means of
communication, not only for the local community but for a much wider
audience and it will continue to be improved and enhanced.
The church magazine is published monthly in A5
booklet format. Most of the content is sourced
locally and the entire production of 250 copies
each month is compiled, edited and printed
in-house. It is a vibrant publication that sells
well and, together with associated advertising
revenue, makes a healthy profit.
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Gethsemane Garden
Choir
Choir singing in Tesco at Christmas
Making Christingles
Church Parade
Harvest Festival
Woodvale ATC - Passing Out Parade
BBQ for Back to Church Sunday
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APPENDIX A
A Word from our Area Dean
“Sefton Deanery is small and enjoys good working
relationships across its 2 clusters based on Formby in
the north and Crosby in the south.
Ministerial
Development Reviews are offered annually and clergy
are always welcome to make suggestions as to what
they would like to see on the agenda of chapter
meetings. We hold an annual joint meeting with the
Readers. We would welcome someone who will
participate in deanery and cluster life to further
mission.”
Revd Canon Pete Spiers
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APPENDIX B
RA
F
Wo
odv
ale
Parish Boundaries of St Peter’s, Formby
1
2
3
4
1
St Peter
2
Holy Trinity
3
St Luke
4
St Michael and All Angels
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APPENDIX C
How to contact us:
Parish Office Address:
(open Mon - Fri 9.30am - 11.30am)
St Peter's Parish Office
St Peter’s Church Hall
Paradise Lane
Formby
Liverpool
L37 7EH
Tel: 01704 871171
e-mail: chapelry@btconnect.com
Website:
www.stpetersformby.org
Charity Registration Number 1128383
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