That's Democracy for You

Churches normally hold their Annual Parochial Church Meetings in March or April; this year, not surprisingly, the deadline has been extended to October. What to do at Swanvale Halt? The election of churchwardens is technically open to any resident of the parish, not just those congregation members whose names are entered on the church roll, so that can't be done remotely. Holding the meeting partly in person and partly by remote means was beyond us, and consequently we had to take our lives in our hands and do everything that legally needed to be done in a real-life gathering (allowed according to the rules). This grand event took place on Saturday, and we managed to get through all the business in a little over half an hour. Our Secretary is still very reluctant to join in corporate activities for health reasons so I took notes as well as chairing the meeting, and of course without guidance got several things wrong. But it is done!

Nobody ever wants to be Treasurer, not just of a church but of any voluntary organisation, so we are extraordinarily lucky that we have one who is both good at it and willing to carry on apparently ad infinitum. Church representative on the Deanery Synod is another office which it seems very hard to persuade anyone to do. It took our curate Marion to remind me that the reason Deanery Synod hasn't met even remotely is that churches haven't met to elect their reps. We failed yesterday, despite the clear delights afforded by travelling to various churches in the vicinity three times a year to hear reports about Diocesan Synod and accounts presented by someone you are very unlikely to know. I will have to apply thumbscrews and other persuasive mechanisms available to incumbents by Canon Law.