Churchwarden’s report for May 2024

Lent finished at the end of March with services on Maundy Thursday, Good

Friday and Easter Day along with the beginning of Summer Time. The

weather remains somewhat patchy.

The normal pattern of services at St. Mary’s will be broken on the third

Sunday in May, 19th, when there will be no morning service at 10.30:

instead there will be a service of Choral Evensong at 6.30pm with the

Deanery Choir conducted by Peter Spooner: it has been some time since

they last came to Rostherne. It is a lovely service too little held nowadays. It

is hoped that as many as possible will feel able to attend what should be a

wonderful occasion and a fitting end to the weekend.

The Rostherne with Bollington PCC at its meeting in March decided that

recipients of printed copies of the parish magazine should pay a subscription

of £10 per year if they wished to continue to receive a monthly copy: this is

to enable the cost of paper and ink to be recovered so far as possible:

notices to that effect have been sent out to recipients in the parish of loose

copies; notices to those receiving by post have yet to be notified.

The Annual Parochial Church Council Meeting for Rostherne with Bollington

took place on 16th April at which the Annual Report and Accounts for the

year ended 31st December 2023 were tabled.

Sunday afternoon church sitting at St. Mary’s. It is hoped that it will be

possible to open the church for visitors during the coming months but in

order to do so it is necessary to have two people able and willing to preside.

If you wish to volunteer please let me know and hopefully we can make a

better success of it than last year.

Bishop Sam has been in touch as regards progress towards a possible end

of the current interregnum. The pastoral reorganisation involving the three

parishes of Over Tabley, Dunham Massey and Rostherne with Bollington is

currently with the Church Commissioners and the hope is that by late May/

early June advertisement and interviewing will have been completed in time

for a summer start. There is some optimism as to there being at least one

suitable applicant for the post.

Let us hope so but given that nothing is certain it would be wise to continue

seeking cover for services for the latter half of the year.

Since then a notice has been issued, a copy of which appears in this edition

of the magazine, concerning the draft pastoral scheme which has been

prepared : anyone may make representations to the Church Commissioners

for or against all or any part or parts of the draft scheme no later than 22nd

May: details of how to do so are set out in the notice.

Christopher Tetlow