An update from Theresa Morton, our Assistant Curate who has survived her first few weeks… At the time of writing, it’s my first day back after a week’s leave. When Canon Janet first suggested I might be ready for a break after a month in my new role I was a bit sceptical, but she was absolutely right. I think it’s perhaps battling with the rotas that’s taken it out of me! The weeks have passed very quickly, and although I still have yet to meet most of you in person it’s been lovely getting to know faces on Zoom and voices on Conference Call. Alongside participating in services, I’ve attended a funeral and a Thanksgiving for the Gift of a Child via Zoom, and a burial of ashes in the churchyard. I’m excited at the prospect of leading these kind of services myself soon. I’ve also been starting to meet local stakeholders, so I can understand the joys and needs of the wider community better. The biggest challenge so far is the recordings I’ve been doing for Rise and Shine. Who would have ever imagined that a Curate’s most important piece of kit is a tripod! I’m delighted to have now received details of my ordination. All being well, it will take place at the Cathedral on Saturday 19th September at 4.30pm. Unfortunately, in line with Covid-19 rules, we are being ordained in small groups with only four guests each. Canon Janet is also invited; it will be wonderful having her there to represent all at St Laurence. The service will be live-streamed and recorded to be watched online later, and it would feel really special having your presence with us, albeit remotely. Details will be circulated once available. I, my fellow ordinands, and those being priested the following day, would be very grateful for your prayers that the ordinations will be able to go ahead this time around. Thank you (The nearly-Revd) Theresa (pronounced T – ray – sa) Just so you know…. those you have been receiving the weekly e-notices will have seen that Theresa’s husband Roger is on the prayer list. Roger was diagnosed with cancer of the brain a couple of years ago and has had treatment which has stabilised things. Church Annual Meetings These should have been held on 29th March 2020. Guidance on how we can now conduct it was received this week so ……. they will be held on Sunday 18th October at 9.30am within our service of Holy Communion in church and on Zoom too (entirely on Zoom if lockdown resumes.) We did revise the Church Electoral Roll in time for the March meeting but now have to repeat the process. Most of you receiving this pack will be on the Electoral Roll but if you are not and would like to join please contact the Parish Office asap as your form will need to be returned by end of September. At the meetings we need to elect 2 Church Wardens. Back in March Roy Pouncett & Sandra Reynolds had been nominated. This is the year when we need to elect 4 Deanery Synod Representatives (usually 3 meetings a year) who also sit on the Parochial Church Council (PCC). This was for a 3 year term of office. For the PCC we had 4 vacancies of 3 year term plus 3 vacancies for 1 year only. Terms are now reduced by the length of the delay of the meeting! The Annual Reports have all been compiled and are on the Church Web Site under ‘Contact/PCC’ They form a substantial document but paper copies can be ordered through the Parish Office and collected by arrangement. Parish Office – stlaurence@btconnect.com 0121 475 1518 You would not believe how complex it is! The PCC meeting on Tuesday 18th August was mainly spent discussing how to take services forward into the autumn. We considered a good number of options against a whole range of factors put together in a spread sheet and scored so you could compare and contrast. It was like doing a 5D puzzle by Zoom! We are aware that we won’t be able to please all the people all the time so apologies if the changes mean you will be disappointed but we’ve tried to keep us all together as much as possible whilst enabling some to worship in church – and bearing in mind that another lock-down may well occur. Enclosed is an orange leaflet which lists the services and how to access them in person or by zoom or by telephone. In simple terms, from Sunday 13th September at 9.30am we will be holding our main Holy Communion service in church with a limited number of people present and zooming it out to everyone else. At the moment the technology we are using to do this is very basic but it worked in test! Wednesday HC and Compline will remain as they are. For HC we are moving away from Conference Call to Zoom-phone as we are struggling to get enough volunteers to run CC and it is somewhat ‘mind-blowing’ for those leading and preaching hearing themselves in out-of-step stereo on both Zoom and CC. Rise and Shine will become monthly with a simple Sunday School service in the Pastoral Centre on other weeks. We have just produced our 22nd Rise and Shine service and are indebted to Alan Green for putting them together but the workload around it is becoming unsustainable, especially as we go into the new school term. £££ THANK YOU £££ Elaine Clements, our treasurer, together with Lorraine in the ‘office from home’ are keeping track of our finances. We have just received the final Gift Aid payment for 2019 which takes the amount we have been able to reclaim to over £10k. Like many organisations we are heading towards a deficit for the year on our everyday ‘ins and outs.’ Thankfully we do have a reserves strategy! We are very grateful to the many people who have found ways to get their giving to the church bank account one way or another! We also understand that for some (or their nearest and dearest) times are increasingly tough so if you need to adjust your giving downwards, then please do not feel embarrassed to do so. The easiest, Covid-safe and most financially efficient way support church is by BACS transfer Account Name St Laurence PCC Sort Code 40-52-40 Account Number 00095606 Ref Ideally your Name but if you are not able to come to church and would prefer to do it another way please contact Elaine after 7th September steeclem@blueyonder.co.uk 0121 244 2493 She also has Gift Aid forms if you need one.