Dear All,

Unbelievably St Paul’s Shop is ten years old! This seems like a miracle to me, as does the fact that we have a shop in the first place. The story of how it came to be goes like this: in 2013 the bishop and I had a very bad conversation. It was meant to be encouraging, but it really wasn’t. It left me feeling like all my plans for the parish had run out of steam. So, I was in a low mood when I came home. I wondered if I’d come to the end of the road with Ryhope.

But around then I got a phone call from Rev’d David Goodacre, who was the vicar of Ryhope during the 1970s. I told him all about it, and he wondered how long I’d been in the parish. Was it about seven years, he wondered. ‘Yes, seven years exactly,’

I said. ‘Well, it seems to me that these things happen at seven years,’ he said, ‘you come to the end of one cycle, and then another one starts. It

doesn’t mean you should leave. It just means you need to make a new beginning.’ David’s words resonated, and seemed true, though I wasn’t sure

what was coming next. Things became clearer after I spoke to another

friend, also called David. This was the Rev’d David Kennedy, former vicar of Christchurch, Seaham but then was living in Bradford. He enjoyed my story,

because it was the sort of thing that happened to him. But then he said to me, ‘Have you thought about opening a shop?’ And he went on to explain to me how a shop had been opened in his parish, and how it had become a great focal point for the

community, as well as bringing in much needed funds. As he was speaking, I could feel a connection.

Somehow, I knew that this was the thing that we needed to do. Also, we had the right people in the church who could make it happen. Within a matter of months, we were holding consultation talks in the parish (called ‘Talking Shop’ meetings), a property was acquired, and St Paul’s Shop was suddenly open. I still can’t believe that it happened so quickly or even that we have a shop at all. But for ten years now that’s been the reality.

During those ten years we’ve been served by a great number of volunteers, all of whom have given their time for free. It’s this generosity that’s enabled us to continue. Our longest serving manager was Margaret Barkess who worked alongside Linda Woolley as her deputy for many years. These days we don’t have a manager as such, and the jobs are shared out between the volunteers. Our volunteers throughout 2024 have been Joan Amer, Mary Cobon, Avril Collins, June Davis, Sue Davis, Betty Dawson, Chris Dunn, Norma Hibbert, John Lucas, Trish Martin, Sylvia Nicholson, Pamela Surtees, Sharon Surtees, and Sheila Vincent. You can see their smiling faces next time you come to see us!

I hope that having our shop has enabled the parish to weather some storms. Through it we’ve been able to offer assistance to people affected by Covid as well as during the Cost of Living Crisis. It’s still the best place to go for a bargain. But best of all is the

community that has developed around it. Customers have become friends, and some have become volunteers. We’ve even had people start to come along to church.

My favourite story, though, is about a wedding. One customer loved a wedding dress in our window, bought it and took it home to show her partner. ‘Well, I suppose I’d better marry you now,’ he said. It was a privilege for me to take the service a few months later.

People sometimes ask me what St Paul’s S.H.O.P stands for. If you look closely at the sign above the door, you’ll see: Supporting and Helping Our Parish. That’s been abundantly true for the last ten years. Only God knows what the next ten will bring. But we look forward to finding out.

Your friend and vicar,
David.

A Message from Our Volunteers:

The volunteers of St Paul’s Charity Shop would like to say a special thank you to all our customers, for your custom, donations of cleaning items, refreshments, biscuits, sweets. They are very much appreciated. Thank you from us all.