Annual Meetings 2008

Annual Parish Meeting and Annual Parochial Church Meeting

Annual Parish Meeting

These two meetings were held on Wednesday 2^nd April at 7.30pm in the Vicarage School Room, the 80^th that the Rector has had to chair in his 33-year ordained ministry. It was attended by 31 people.

At the first meeting, the Annual Parish Meeting, the Rector thanked the Churchwardens for their hard work and dedication and then the meeting re-elected Philip Gray and Mary Sargent for a further one-year term.

Annual Parochial Church Meeting

Rector's address

Moving on to the Annual Parochial Church Meeting, the Rector then gave another of his challenging addresses based around Acts 5: 17 – 21. A full text will be included in the APCM minutes, but to quote some of his final words:-

So as each Eucharist ends with “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord

so we must embrace God’s call to go out and live our faith. Walk with Christ on the road as He did with the first disciples to Emmaus,

know Him in the Breaking of the Bread,

and then do all we can to ensure that we are broken bread for the world, through which our families, our friends and acquaintances will come to know Him too.

This calls for a new kind of Church, a church which has new priorities. Back to the genius of the first century Christians, who met together in faith sharing communities, whose members broke bread together (made Eucharist) and shared fully with one another. These early Christians evoked the admiration and response of non-Christians: “See how they love one another.” This we must do, so that people say of us “See how they love one another”.

Elections and reports

The Parochial Church Council for the year 2008-2009 was then elected, namely: Richard Arnold, Steve Butler, David Bryan, Richard Clarke, Teresa Goatham, Jo Hall, Jeff Nash, Sylvia Perrin, Mike Sargent, Jean Walklett and John Wiles – this is just one short of our entitlement. Caroline Barrow and Margaret Porter were elected Deanery Synod representatives, again one short of our entitlement and finally twenty-two people were elected as sidespersons.

The PCC Annual Report and Finance Report were received; also the new Electoral Roll was revised with 167 on the Roll. The Audited Accounts for 2007 were adopted. All reports were presented in booklet form and were available at the meeting; copies may be obtained from the bookstall in church.

PCC Appointments and Committees

Appointments

At the meeting of the council held on Tuesday 8th April 2008 the following appointments were made:-

Vice-Chairman: Mr Jeff Nash
Deputy Churchwardens: Mr Richard Arnold and Mr Jeff Nash
PCC Secretary: Mr Michael Sargent
Treasurer: Mr David Bryan
Electoral Roll Officer: Mrs Carole Blackmore
Churches Together Representatives: Dr. Hilary Clarke, Very Rev. David Frayne and Dr. Teresa Goatham

Committees

The following committees were formed:-

Standing Committee: Incumbent, Churchwardens, Treasurer and Mr Steve Butler
Housekeeping and Finance: Incumbent, Churchwardens, Treasurer, Mr Jeff Nash, Mr Alan Norman (co-opted) and Mr Michael Sargent (Sec)
Worship and Christian Confidence: Incumbent, Mr Richard Arnold, Mrs Caroline Barrow, Mr Steve Butler and Mrs Joanne Hall
Christian Action: Mr Richard Clarke, Dr Teresa Goatham and Mrs Margaret Porter
Social and Fund Raising: Mrs Caroline Barrow, Mrs Sylvia Perrin, Mrs Jean Walklett, and Mr John Wiles