Our Four Churches
and an introduction to the Parish of Dunstable
The Dunstable Team Ministry was established in 1978,
and consists of
St
Augustine’s (1959)
St
Fremund’s (1968)
St
Katherine’s (URC/Anglican LEP, established 1998) and
The
Priory Church of St Peter (1131).
Each of the Anglican Churches has its own Team Vicar,
and the Team Rector is also Team Vicar at St Peter’s. There is an Assistant Curate (with the Team Rector as the
training incumbent) and a Parish Reader. There is also a part-time Parish
Administrator, and a Parish Office close to the town centre. The churches of the Team worship together
for certain festivals, and a major joint service is held at Pentecost each
year.
The
Team structure provides for central organisation led by the Team Rector working
with the Parochial Church Council. Each
church has a designated area of the town with responsibility for pastoral
oversight. A Team Vicar working with a
District Church Council (DCC) serves each of these Districts. The Team Rector has certain legal
responsibilities to discharge, but, in reality, with his colleagues he is the
first among equals. The PCC is the
legally responsible body but delegates many of its duties and responsibilities
to the DCCs.
St Augustine’s District is the southernmost with the
A5 running through the middle. St Fremund’s District is the North West quarter
of the Town. It has very mixed housing,
a certain amount of small unit industry as well as the offices of the District
Council. St Katherine’s District is rather cut off from the rest of the Town by
the disused railway line and large areas of industrial/commercial
premises. Its housing straddles the
main Luton/Dunstable road, and it has a major geriatric and psycho-geriatric
unit. St Peter’s District is focused on
the town centre, but also includes residential areas. The Priory Church exercises a civic function for the town.
A broad mix of people live in Dunstable, some in very
expensive housing, some in victorian terraced roads where the housing used to
be occupied by the elderly but is now increasingly bought by younger families,
there are estates that were once all local authority owned and new estates of
modern commercial housing. In addition
there are several units of sheltered flats for the elderly, as well as
residential and nursing homes.
Over the years, industry has diminished to near
extinction in the town. Most people
work away from Dunstable, commuting to nearby towns, working in white-collar
professions. Those who work in the
town are principally in the service or commerce industries.
The
Town has three upper schools, four middle schools, and ten lower schools. Included in these is a C of E V.A. school at
each level. There are also three
special schools, a private school and an F.E. college.
The
main shopping area for the town is located in the town centre, together with
most of the civic buildings, the Town and District Council Offices, the Police
Station, the Library and the Leisure Centre.
However the Town was built with shopping units in each of the principal
estates and all our churches are situated near to one of these.
There is a healthy spread of voluntary community organisations, including the Citizens' Advice Bureau, Beacon House (community mental health), and Cordova House (Dunstable Old Peoples' Welfare Association).