Dear Parishioner,

After a long period of interregnum, we are very much looking forward to Liz Devall starting as our new vicar on Wednesday, 25th September, when there will be a service of welcome at 7.30 pm.  Liz will take her first service here on Sunday, 29th September. You may know that Liz is currently vicar of St Anne in Royton and will continue to be so when she becomes our vicar. 

St Anne's has one Sunday morning service, and it will not be possible, for practical reasons, for our parish to continue with two Sunday services. 

Our Parochial Church Council has met with Liz and following this has considered what is feasible for us and for Liz.

The PCC has considered the times and type of services we currently have and has taken the decision that our service will be at 9.00 am and will be a sung Holy Communion. Our new service time of 9:00 am will start on Sunday, 1st September. Therefore, the last date that we will have two services on a Sunday morning will be Sunday, 25th August.

In making this decision we wanted to balance out that for some of our congregation an early service suits them and for others singing is important.

Also, Liz wants to spend time after a Sunday morning service chatting to people and the start time of our service will enable her to do this before leaving for St Anne's to prepare for their service which will be at 11.00 am.

Change is not always an easy thing to deal with and the PCC understands that this news will be disappointing for some but we hope that we can all work together to become a thriving Sunday congregation welcoming those people we don't yet know or know well and being ready to welcome newcomers into our worshipping family.

Yours in faith

Helen and Margaret

Churchwardens on behalf of the PCC