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Our Annual Church Meeting took place after the Parish Communion on 25th April. This was preceded by the meeting to elect Churchwardens, at which both Peter Gee and Irena Lowe were re-elected for another year. In Peter's case, this means he is serving a fifth successive year as warden and so it must be his last. At the main meeting, there were elections to fill four vacancies on the Parochial Church Council. Veronica Edmonds was elected to serve the remaining year of Valerie Burch's term, following her resignation on moving to Loudwater. The other vacancies were for full three-year terms and Pam Helmers-Olsen was elected to one of these. Adam Twist and Ursula Bootes had both put themselves forward for nomination, but could not stand for election because they had not been on the Electoral Roll for the requisite six months. Instead, it was put to the meeting that the PCC could co-opt them for 2010 and that they could stand for election next year. This was agreed.
At our Parish Communion on Sunday 21st February we were delighted to welcome the 26-strong choir from Bredaryd Parish Church in our Swedish partner diocese of Växjö. We even provided a sprinkling of snow to remind them of the 20cm of snow that their home town was experiencing. The choir were taking time out from a long weekend in Oxford to enrich our worship by singing the service in Swedish (with repeats in English in some cases) and joining in to boost our own tiny choir for the hymns. The highlight came at the end with a rendition of a blessing that came from straight from their hearts to touch ours. Thank you to our friends from Bredaryd (photo above) your singing was heavenly!
The 2009 Christmas Fair took place in the Church Hall on Saturday 21st November and raised a record total of £1604.02 for the church's repair and renewal fund. Karen Puddephatt was there with her camera - thanks to her for the pictures.
Although the tall tower of our church is prominently placed, and is clearly visible from some angles, it has been a long-standing problem that it is not easy to spot if you are driving along the Amersham Road. Now visitors will find us more easily because we have a sign pointing to the church from outside Archie's Stores - see picture above. Another improvement to make us more visible was the relocation of the main notice board so that it is angled towards the traffic heading towards Wycombe town centre. It is also more obvious to pedestrians passing by - see picture above. This work was carried out by a small working party on 10th October - see the picture on the Contacts page.
Our Harvest collection this year was for Send a Cow, a charity that runs sustainable agricultural programmes in seven African countries to help small-scale farmers. In addition, we collected foodstuffs, toiletries, good used towels and clothing for the Whitechapel Mission. Thanks to all who brought contributions to the Parish Communion.
Matthew Edmonds jumped from an aeroplane over two miles above the Cambridgeshire fens on Saturday 25th July (see picture above) and landed safely under the guidance of his experienced tandem parachutist. This was his first jump and he found it an exhilarating experience - although the first thirty seconds of free-fall were somewhat alarming... He did the jump with sponsorship to raise money for the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation. With generous help from his friends at St Francis, and with the addition of Gift Aid, Matt has reached a total of over £800. You can see more pictures by visiting Matthew's page at the Just Giving website.
This year's Faiths Fair took place at the Reggie Goves Centre on Friday 3rd and Saturday 4th July with the theme of "Health and Healing". Our church had a stand, jointly with All Saints (see the picture above, with David Picken and Jackie Lock of All Saints) focusing on sacramental healing and it included a photographic display taken after our Healing service on 28th June. Thanks to Sandra Dickinson, Irena Lowe and Brenda Matthews for all their help - Irena took the picture.
The provision of six armchairs in church, to help those with mobility problems, reached fruition on 31 May. Hugh Scriven, of Bucks New University, who designed and made the chairs, formally presented them during the Pentecost Parish Communion service. They have been beautifully and thoughtfully designed so that they complement the existing seating. Hugh is seen in the picture above after the service with members of the congregation testing the new chairs, which were on display at the front of the nave.
On 1st March we welcomed two representatives from the Bible Reading Fellowship: Richard Fisher, the Chief Executive Officer, and Jane Butcher, one of the Barnabas children's ministry team (see the report in the news archive if you missed it). This was to launch our fund-raising 2009 Lent Project, of which the BRF is the beneficiary.
They returned on 17th May when, after the Parish Communion, church warden Irena Lowe presented Richard with a cheque for £1,907.09. In thanking for our efforts and generosity, Richard told us that this represented the largest single donation from an individual church in the history of the BRF. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this record total.