ACCESS STATEMENT
Introduction
We welcome everyone to our Church and include anyone who is disabled for whatever reason, their families and friends. We are a thriving and expanding congregation and the Church and its facilities form a focal point of the local community. This statement is intended to cover both the Church, the Parish Room and kitchen/toilet extension. It is intended to help you to know what can be expected of our buildings and practices.
Church Access
Church Services are held every Sunday at 11.15am. There is also a Communion Service at 10.30am each Thursday. Services are also held on special religious days.
Activities include, the Art Group, the Community Club, Tiddlywinks ( parent and toddler group), Police local liaison meetings and it is also used for Electoral voting days. Surestart also hire our Parish Room one Tuesday every month . Church events include Coffee Mornings, Spring and Autumn fairs. Events are advertised on our web site, Facebook and posters or banners outside church. Tea, coffee and refreshments are also served in the Parish Room after the 11am service on Sundays and also after the Thursday morning service, to which all are invited.
The Parish Room is in use on most days or evenings during the week.
If any member of the public wishes to view the Church or use it for private prayer, at any time outside the normal opening times, arrangements can be made with the Priest-in-Charge.
There is no Church car park but there is ample free and unrestricted parking in adjacent streets off Green Lane and Manchester Road. There are two gates to reach the two Church entrance doors, both are on Manchester Road at the front of Church. In front of the entrance doors, there are two stone steps whose edges are clearly marked and each one has handrails to assist access. Each access point into the church consists of two doors that make up the entrance. They open inwards and are always open when services are held. A Sides person will be in attendance, to accommodate wheelchair or pushchair access. The area inside the doors is clear and readily accessible.
There is also a disabled ramp and entrance on the right hand (south side) footpath. This is clearly marked and is constructed of tarmac and stone with a metal handrail. Again, there is a Sides person in attendance and available to assist if required.
The seating in the nave of the Church itself is of Victorian wooden pews. The main aisle is of sufficient width to allow wheelchairs to be placed at the end of a row of pews. Plans are being prepared for Disabled Toilet facilities to be installed as soon as finance is available.
At various times during services the presiding minister will invite the congregation to stand. You are most welcome to remain seated if this is more comfortable for you or is necessary in your circumstances. There are two steps up to the main altar and they have handrails fitted to both sides. There is no edge marking. Someone who may find this difficult to see may find an escort useful. A Sides person will be pleased to assist. It is our practice to bring the bread and wine of Holy Communion to anyone who may prefer this because of difficulty in climbing the chancel steps or for other practical reasons. Please let a Sides person know if this would be useful to you
Parish Room Letting
Any application to use the Parish Room facility for Community Groups or private family events must be made in writing via the Application Form to the Vicar and is subject to the Terms and Conditions and restrictions of the St. John’s Letting Policy, which can be obtained from the Vicar or Parish Church Council. The Church retains the right to refuse such application, if for example, it is a political party with extremist views, or its use would not be appropriate in a place of worship.
A charge of £20 per hour for the hire of the Parish Room is made for non-church run organizations. No charge is made for church groups use of the facility.
We hope that you will have found this statement to be of help.
Any future changes to this Statement will result in a new Statement being published.
We would welcome practical solutions for improvement both to the Church and Parish Room.
Please contact either the Priest-in-Charge or the Parish Church Council for any further information.
St. John’s, Hopwood
Your personal data – what is it?
Personal data relates to a living individual who can be identified from that data. Identification can be by the information alone or in conjunction with any other information in the data controller’s possession or likely to come into such possession. The processing of personal data is governed by [the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (the “GDPR”)1].
1 At the time of going to press the new Data Protection Bill, which incorporates the GDPR into national law, has started its journey through parliament. The final form of this legislation is not yet known, we have therefore referred to the GDPR as the relevant legislation.
Who are we?
St. John’s, Hopwood is the data controller (contact details below). This means it decides how your personal data is processed and for what purposes.
How do we process your personal data?
St. John’s, Hopwood complies with its obligations under [the GDPR] by keeping personal data up to date; by storing and destroying it securely; by not collecting or retaining excessive amounts of data; by protecting personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access and disclosure and by ensuring that appropriate technical measures are in place to protect personal data.
We use your personal data for the following purposes: –
- To provide pastoral care to my parishioners;
- To enable us to provide a voluntary service for the benefit of the public in a particular geographical area as specified in our constitution;
- To administer membership records;
- To fundraise and promote the interests of the charity;
- To manage our employees and volunteers;
- To maintain our own accounts and records.
- To operate the John’s, Hopwood web site and deliver the services that individuals have requested.
- To inform individuals of news, events, activities or services running at John’s, Hopwood
- To share your contact details with the diocesan office so they can keep you informed about news, events, activities and services that will be occurring in the diocese and which are relevant to the role you are undertaking.
- To process gift aid applications.
- To contact individuals via surveys to conduct research about their opinions of current services or of potential new services that may be offered.
What is the legal basis for processing your personal data?
Sharing your personal data
Your personal data will be treated as strictly confidential and will be shared only with the Incumbent of St. John’s church at that time. We will only share your data with third parties outside of the parish with your consent.
How long do we keep your personal data2?
We keep your personal data for no longer than reasonably necessary for a period of six years as required by the Diocese.
Your rights and your personal data
Unless subject to an exemption, you have the following rights with respect to your personal data: –
- The right to request a copy of your personal data which the Norman Collinson, PCC Chair holds about you;
- The right to request that Norman Collinson PCC Chair corrects any personal data if it is found to be inaccurate or out of date;
- The right to request your personal data is erased where it is no longer necessary for Norman Collinson PCC Chair to retain such data;
- The right to withdraw your consent to the processing at any time.
- The right to request that the data controller provide the data subject with his/her personal data and where possible, to transmit that data directly to another data controller, (known as the right to data portability)
- The right, where there is a dispute in relation to the accuracy or processing of your personal data, to request a restriction is placed on further processing;
- The right to object to the processing of personal data, (where applicable)
- The right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioners Office.
Further processing
If we wish to use your personal data for a new purpose, not covered by this Data Protection Notice, then we will provide you with a new notice explaining this new use prior to commencing the processing and setting out the relevant purposes and processing conditions. Where and whenever necessary, we will seek your prior consent to the new processing.
Contact Details
To exercise all relevant rights, queries of complaints please in the first instance contact the PCC Secretary / Parish Administrator at that time or via our website: stjohnshopwood.org
You can contact the Information Commissioners Office on 0303 123 1113 or via email https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/email/ or at the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire. SK9 5AF.
St. Johns Data Protection consent form is available from Norman Collinson PCC Chair on collinson1@sky.com
On behalf of St. Johns church
Norman Collinson CC Chair
June 2018
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