All Staff meeting, 27th September 2023

A group of St Paul's Cathedral staff gathered on the steps of the Cathedral.

All Staff meeting

27th September 2023

Welcome 

From Emily MacKenzie, COO. Emily welcomed everyone to the meeting and passed on Andrew, the Dean’s, apologies. She acknowledged the following successes from the last three months, thanking all those involved:

  • Adult Learning event with Rowan Williams on 26th September, at which over 700 attended.
  • Three new girl probationers have joined since the start of term.
  • The Dean’s Reception, which saw over 150 supporters attending.
  • Reaching Certificate 1 of the Cathedrals Measure; we are on track to become a registered charity in December.
  • The light installation ‘Aura’ by Pablo Valbuena as part of London Design Week.
  • Bandaloop performances as part of St Bartholomew’s Fair and Greenwich and Docklands International Festival.
  • The sell-out performance by RY-X hosted by Fabric.
  • Canon Chancellor Paula Gooder winning book of the year from the Christian Resources Together Awards for her book ‘Lydia’.
  • The Cathedral becoming members of the Cathedrals Workshop Fellowship, joining 12 other English Cathedrals to support the training of heritage craftspeople.
  • Sandra Lynes-Timbrell becoming Chair of the Charles Dickens Museum.
  • The School and Family learning Team winning a prestigious Sandford Award.
  • Later in the meeting Emily also noted that the Whispering Gallery is now open and thanked all those who had been involved in the works, fundraising for it, and in welcoming and facilitating visitors in the space.

Continuing the recovery updates

Dan Graham provided a financial update, reminding staff that we are year four into a five year plan, Dan signalled that we are ahead of budget and on track to make a surplus this year. The focus for 2024 will be consolidating the recovery, rebuilding reserves and investing in the building.

Sandra Lynes-Timbrell paid tribute to the team and shared that as of Tuesday 19th September we exceeded the 2023 visitor number and income budgets, with 602,319 visitors and £7,937,252 in visitor income. The Cathedral is mirroring other major visitor attractions in running slightly behind 2019 figures. The Chinese tourist market is likely to return in force in 2024.

Pauline Sy explained how the Virger team count worshipper numbers and how this assists with future planning. 2023 worshipper numbers are slightly down on 2019, but well ahead of 2022. During 22 days of Advent there will be 16 special services!
 

Keeping us all safe

Safeguarding

Louise Wilcox was pleased to report nearly 100% compliance with staff training and thanked everyone for their participation. The Cathedral will undergo a safeguarding audit with the Diocese in September 2025. On 17th November this year, we will be running a table top training exercise. 

Fire safety

Mike O’Mahony briefly summarised the progress made towards creating a fire safety management system to ensure safety and compliance. In-person fire training has been rolled out over the last two weeks, with dozens now trained.

Security

Adrian Wells, Head of Security and Resilience passed on positive feedback from the City of London Police on partnership working with our team, which assisted in the recent arrests of three males. Adrian detailed the sterling work of the Bag Search Team, including some of the items confiscated.

Health and safety

Sam Dove, standing in for Sharon Raynham, shared some interesting slides with our accident statistics. Our rate of accidents is thankfully very low in relation to the high visitor numbers.

St Paul's Cathedral staff gathered in a group waving to the camera.
looking up at the dome

Introducing Rebecca Thompson, Director of Property

Canon Neil Evans interviewed Rebecca, and during the interview Rebecca shared the following:

  • Her early career was in commercial construction as a building surveyor. After leading a team of archaeologists, Rebecca went back to univerisity to study archaeology and conservation management before joining York Minster as Superintendent of the Works, subsequently setting up her own heritage consultancy and then joining English Heritage as the North of England Senior Estate Manager.
  • Since joining St Paul's, Rebecca has been impressed by how the staff team here all work together.
  • For Rebecca the act of conserving the building is in harmony with the Cathedral as a place of worship and she is motivated by this.
  • Her three immediate priorities are: spending time with the Works team, meeting the wider team across Cathedral functions and implementing a CAFM system (a facilities and maintenance system). Longer term she will create a 25 year plan for the conservation of the building.
  • What really excites Rebecca is enabling the Cathedral space to be the best it can be, so that it is welcome and accessible and able to be used for worship and all Cathedral activities. She hopes to share her passion for conservation with the next generation of craftspeople.
  • Rebecca feels strongly that heritage craft skills are as relevant today as ever. The building is unique and full of character that is best maintained through personal attention.

Finally, there were a few 'this or that' questions!

  • Tea or coffee? Tea (a Yorkshire lass!)
  • Film or book? Book
  • Sweet or savoury? Sweet!
  • Autumn or Spring? Spring
  • iPhone or Android? iPhone
  • Time travel or magic wand? Magic wand
  • Cat or dog? Dog
  • Country or city? Both!
  • Chocolate or wine? Wine every time!

 

Association of English Cathedrals (AEC) Peer Review

From 25th to 26th October, we will be participating in the Association of English Cathedrals (AEC) Peer Review. This is not an inspection or audit, but a top-line peer-led review focussing on governance, leadership, and financial management within the context of the mission and ministry of the Cathedral . Three reviewers from the Cathedral community will undertake a series of meetings with departments across the two days.

Image of Quire and mosaics at St Paul's

Pay review

Mel Barker, Head of HR, shared that Chapter has approved a pay award of 5.7% for all staff to be implemented from 1st November. Letters will be sent out confirming this.

Starters and leavers

Emily welcomed all the staff who have recently started and those starting later this year, and also shared the names of those who have recently left St Paul’s and those leaving in the next few months, thanking them for their service.

Starters

  • Matthew O'Sullivan, Casual Sales Assistant
  • Revd Tessa Bosworth, Assistant Curate
  • Rebecca Thompson, Director of Property
  • Anna James, Librarian
  • Judith Fremont-Barnes, Head of Cathedral School
  • Alexander Knight, Organ Scholar
  • Jeremiah Stephenson, Organ Education Lead
  • Beverley Ryan, Senior Chaperone to the Choristers
  • Joshua House, Chaperone to the Choristers
  • Daniel Conway, Virger
  • Suraj Gill, Sunday Galleries VEA
  • Julia Halasy, Sunday Galleries VEA
  • Valeriia Lavronenko, Sunday Galleries VEA

Starting soon

  • Chloe Washford-Bent, Casual Administrative Assistant
  • Will Bruce, Artistic Director of Choral Partnerships
  • Caroline Graham, Director of Development
  • Peter Aiers, Alison Gowan, Morag Ellis, Mervyn McCulloch, Non-Executive Directors - Chapter

Internal promotions

  • Simon Hamilton, Sunday Galleries Team Leader

Leavers

  • Naomi Richards, Community Development Worker
  • Tom Daggett, OBE Organ Outreach Fellow
  • Oliver Salmon, Plumber
  • Ryan McKiernan, Senior Corporate Giving Manager
  • Tim Covington, Mason
  • Michael Stephens-Jones, Organ Scholar
  • Simon Larter-Evans, Head of Cathedral School
  • Martin Fletcher, Clerk of the Works
  • Jack O'Riordan, Security Officer