Fellow Travellers Retiring rector’s ‘fantastic privilege’
Alan at the Hulme
The Revd Alan Hulme has been appointed director of the diocesan Parish Development and Evangelism (PD&E) team. For the past five years he has been rector of the Ely Team Ministry and during 22 years of parish work has served in both urban and rural environments, in large and small churches and in three different dioceses - although never in Guildford. His wife, Jane, is also ordained and they have served alongside each other in parish ministry. Before ordination he worked in the chemical industry.
Barry and Kathryn with his giant retirement card
The Revd Barry Grimster has retired as rector of St Peter’s, Old Woking after more than 23 years. He said he had “mixed emotions” as he retired but highlighted the “fantastic privilege” to serve for so long in Old Woking. More than 250 people – including friends, family, the mayor of Woking Cllr Michael Smith and local MP Jonathan Lord – packed into St Peter’s at the end of January for a special service, led by Canon Peter Thompson, to bid Barry farewell and give thanks for his ministry. For his final sermon as rector, Barry preached on Revelations 3:14–22, the last letter of Christ to his church. Following the service, churchwardens Geoff Pugh and Peter Clifford presented Barry and his wife Kathryn with retirement gifts on behalf of the congregation of a laptop, a hotel break in Devon, vouchers for John Lewis, a reading lamp, flowers and
some unique bunting made by the children of Sunday School. Geoff paid tribute to Barry as “that steady presence in south Woking who has touched so many of our families over pretty well a complete generation. You will be remembered in all our prayers, by all here today and by the south Woking community, for your work, your faith, your love and your steadfastness of hope.” According to church records, Barry is only the 46th minister to hold the position of vicar of Woking since the 13th century and is the seventh longest-serving at St Peter’s. He was originally ordained into ministry at Southwark Cathedral in 1974. Barry said: “It has been a fantastic privilege to be in Old Woking for over 20 years. I’m looking forward to a rest and the new things that I know God is calling me to in retirement.”
The Revd Alan Hulme (left) was licensed by the Bishop of Dorking, the Rt Revd Ian Brackley in the Lady Chapel at Guildford Cathedral in March
Commenting on his appointment Alan said: “I believe that local churches are the key element of God’s salvation plan for his world and I look forward to seeing how the PD&E team can continue to support the parishes of Guildford Diocese in their mission. My first three weeks here have shown me that we have excellent people in the team who are committed to serving the Lord with their gifts and a high level of expertise. For me growth is an expectation - healthy churches are the aim. I will be spending a lot of time
listening to church leaders in the coming months so that we can target our resources, support and training to fit the needs we identify.” The re-shaped core team now includes the children and youth advisors as well as local mission and stewardship advisors. In addition there are specialists in overseas mission, sports ministry, healing ministry and tourism, enabling the team to offer parishes a multi-disciplinary consultancy.
LMP students celebrate
Members of the LMP team are shown alongside their smiling students (l-r back row) Dr Martin Groves; The Revd Dr Steve Summers; Marcus Bateman, BA (Hons); Marion Thorpe, BA (Hons); The Revd Barbara Steele-Perkins; The Revd Peter Hewson FdA; The Revd Andy Spence; (l-r front row) The Revd Ruth Kidd, FdA; Ruth Foxcroft, FdA; The Revd Pippa Ross-McCabe; The Revd Barbara McDonald, FdA; Joan Davies, Certificate; The Revd David Jenkins, Certificate.
There is none like you, O Lord, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
1Ch 17:20 (ESV)
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The Wey May 2013
There were eight good reasons to be cheerful when the academic achievements of eight Local Ministry Programme (LMP) students were celebrated at a special choral evensong at Guildford Cathedral, during which they were presented with their LMP certificates by the head of department of history, philosophy and religion at Oxford Brookes University, Dr Martin Groves. Two students gained a Certificate in Ministry Studies; four gained a Foundation Degree in Ministry (FdA - two with distinction) and two their BA (Hons)
in Ministry Studies. Particular commendation goes to Marion Thorpe, who as well as gaining a First also won the ‘Student of the Year’ award. Course principal Steve Summers commented: “Training for ministry is a challenging but rewarding process; it is a mixture of academic and vocational learning. We are very proud of these students’ achievements – they have worked incredibly hard to gain these awards. We hope they continue to be an asset to their parishes.”