Annual Parochial Church Meeting – 19:30 on Monday 29 April 2024
All are welcome to our APCM coming up soon – and there will even be refreshments! The meeting has two parts.
The first and relatively short part is the annual meeting of parishioners for the election of two churchwardens for the coming year. You can download a nomination form here – the nominee needs to agree to nomination, and the nominator and seconder need to sign the form too. To vote in this election you need to be on the church electoral roll, or to be resident in the parish and on the civil electoral roll. Churchwardens are elected by parishioners, and appointed by the Diocesan Bishop, and are admitted into office at a special visitation service conducted by the Archdeacon. Since 2020 we have only elected one churchwarden in our parish. If you would like to know more about this role in the church, please ask Jill or Stephen.
The second part is the APCM proper. The agenda and papers will be published soon, and the main items on that agenda will be to elect four members of the parochial church council, to receive the various annual reports and accounts for 2023, and there will be an opportunity to ask questions and pray for the worship, mission and service of St Peter’s in our community. PCC members are charity trustees and form the governing body of the church. The PCC is chaired by the Priest-in-charge, Jill, who is solely responsible for worship, and the PCC supports and co-operates with her in this, as well as exercising stewardship of the finances and buildings/assets of the church. To vote at the APCM or to be nominated for the PCC you need to be on the church electoral roll, and you can download the PCC nomination form here.
Following the APCM, the first meeting of the PCC will be held on Monday 13 May 2024, when among other items the agenda will include the appointment of various church officers: PCC Vice chairman, Health & Safety Officer, PCC Treasurer, Sacristan, PCC Secretary, Gift Aid secretary, Parish Safeguarding Officer, sidespeople.
Do be praying about who to invite on to the electoral roll, or who to be nominating for churchwarden or for membership of the parochial church council. Pray, too, about who the PCC might appoint to the other “officer” roles within our church, as we look forward to the next year of worship, witness and mission in our community!
Farewell to ARK Eastleigh!
During the past few years we have been privileged to host, and support the work of, ARK Eastleigh in our creche room at St Peter’s. ARK Eastleigh is a registered charity set up by Churches Together in Eastleigh to serve the vulnerable and excluded in our community through practical acts of kindness, befriending, and informal advocacy. The Trustees have taken the difficult decision to close the charity after many years of valuable service and mission in our community – you can read more about this on their website ARK Eastleigh. We thank God for ARK Eastleigh, their trustees, and staff (Julie Sisley) and volunteers, and pray that the vulnerable and excluded in our community will be blessed by God in new ways going forward.
We have appointed our new Church Administrator!
We are delighted to announce that following our interviews earlier this month Mrs Lauren Woodmore has been appointed as our new Church Administrator. Lauren will start her employment with us on Monday 27 November, working on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.
Safeguarding telephone number
Katie Arnett, our recently-appointed Parish Safeguarding Officer, now has a dedicated mobile phone (provided by the PCC) for us to call her on with any safeguarding concerns. As we all know, keeping each other safe, and particularly children and vulnerable adults, is a responsibility which each of us carries – and should you have a safeguarding concern whether within the church community or not, please refer it to Katie on this number: 07513 377094. Katie has access to the Diocesan Safeguarding Manager and her team, giving us confidence that any referrals we make to Katie will be dealt with effectively and appropriately.