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May’s letter from Canon Brenda Tipping
In common with most organisations each parish in the Church of England is required to have an Annual Meeting. In this case called an Annual Parochial Church Meeting, which as well as being the gathering to elect committees and officers, is an opportunity to review the previous year.
The meetings for both parishes were held in April. Looking back, 2011 was a very busy year. The year had barely begun when we discovered a major leak in the under floor pipes feeding the heating system at St. Margaret’s. For quite a while we shivered our way through services with a few electric heaters: too many and the electric went off! It was eventually mended, with the result that we have a nice warm church, attractive grids in the floor and a few other repairs and improvements too. The wardens worked very hard to achieve this and the annual meeting gave us the opportunity to thank them.
At St Giles Church the long awaited kitchen and toilet and more accessible entrance were finally achieved, despite a few setbacks along the way. We’re all pleased with the final outcome. The back of the church looks lighter and more modern and yet fits perfectly into the ancient building. Again we owe the wardens, and a small group of people who worked very hard throughout, a great deal of gratitude.
When I sat down before each meeting to think about the year, I was really quite surprised at how much had happened. Many people say you should never look back, but I think it’s important that we all do sometimes, to review what has happened, to take stock, learn from our mistakes and reconsider our goals. The season of Easter, which this year continues until Ascension Tide, is a good time, particularly for Christians, to look back on the past, but also to look forward with hope as celebrate the resurrection and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Canon Brenda
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