A year in the life of St. Mary Magdalen, Sheet

Stewardship
Jeannine Davies (Chairperson)

The committee has met twice during this past year and we are due to meet again shortly. We are a small committee and meet only when necessary to discuss certain financial issues, such as the accounts, budgets, and salary increases.

Amongst other items on the agenda at our meeting in October, we discussed the plans for the toilet facilities and the cost of the Architect’s fees. A suggested amount has been set aside in readiness for his invoice.

Finally, I would like to thank Nigel Wells for his work on this Committee and I look forward to working with his successor.

Members:
Daphne Clark (Secretary), Jeannine Davies (Chair), Claire Milner-Smith, Felicity Poulter, Nigel Wells (Treasurer), Nigel Williams.

Parish Administration
Helen Morris

Although I am no longer in the post of Parish Administrator, Dave has asked me to give a brief resume of the year until the end of January.

The function of the Parish Office is to facilitate the day to day running of the church and provide support to the hundred and one people who organise services, music, children’s and youth groups, social functions, cleaning, coffee mornings. As life within the St Mary’s community becomes busier, so too does the Parish Office. The Office aims to keep the congregation informed of all the goings on in St Mary’s: it is there to serve your needs, so don’t hesitate to ask if there is a task you think could best be administered by the Office.

Life in the Parish Office carried on at a hectic pace during 2004. The volume of work correlates with the ebb and flow of the church year and is frantic just before Christmas and Easter. This year life was made even harder for everyone by the Administrator going on holiday the week before Christmas, and thanks go to everyone for getting their requests in in good time.

The computer system was given a good overhaul by Charlie Smith who also set up a wireless link between the Vicar’s office and the Parish Office, allowing us both to use Broadband to access the Internet. It has greatly improved the efficiency of communication between the two offices – many thanks Charlie! The number of people willing to receive rotas and other communications by email has increased throughout the year, saving on printing & paper costs and also saving Administrator time! That said, the office is always willing to provide paper copies of anything that is circulated by email.

I enjoyed my 2½ years in the job, and having resigned, was looking forward to getting involved in other community projects in Petersfield and spending more time behind the scenes at the Unity Bookshop. But, as so often happens, God’s timing is immaculate, and no sooner had I finished in the Office at the end of January than my husband announced that he had been offered a job in Moscow. So I have a few months to learn Russian before joining him there in the autumn. We will be keeping a base in Petersfield, so I will be popping in from time to time.

Dave Dowdeswell (Parish Administrator)

When I took over as Parish Administrator in February 2005, my first thought was; -
“How did Helen manage to remember everything that needs to be done?”
The answer is of course “experience”.

Lacking her experience I am sure that I’ve made mistakes and I have no doubt that I have taken longer to do things because I haven’t approached them in the best way. Well given time I trust I will improve.

Like any “new broom” I have changed things. This is not because they were done wrong in the past; it’s just that I wanted to stamp my own style on things. Doesn’t everyone? I started by looking at three aspects of the job.

Firstly, I was unfamiliar with the computer software used to create the Sheet Sheet so I used one that I was familiar with and in the process changed the look of the Sheet. Having produced the Sheet for a couple of months, it is clear to me that we are trying to put too much information on a single sheet of paper and as a result, have to reduce the size of the print. I am therefore currently discussing with Rob ways to address this problem.

Secondly, as the coordination of the Sunday Service Rotas falls within my brief, I undertook a review of these, with the aim of updating and clarifying who was prepared to do what, and when. By the time you read this it will have been completed and the results will enable me to spread the loads evenly over the year between those who are available.

Thirdly, I am in the process of establishing a new church database. In fact Rob asked me to look at this, before I became the Administrator, as one of our Kairos objectives, so watch and listen out for more on this in the next few months.

When I moved to Petersfield 3 years ago, and joined St Mary’s, I was concerned that there would not be an opportunity for me to use the administrative skills that God has given me. I was impatient, but God has answered my prayers and I am thrilled to be able to serve Him and you as your Administrator.