Cirencester Unitarian Fellowship Annual Report

Cirencester Unitarian Fellowship Annual Report 2016

We started the year knowing that our Minister Don Phillips was to retire in May. Don prepared a useful paper to help us to think through our options. In the event the Cotswold Group of congregations agreed that they would seek another Minister. Following Don’s retirement Helen Parsons offered to take on the role of pulpit supply. Services were taken by Alison Thursfield and twice by Kath Forder as well as by our member John Wilkinson. By the autumn a ministerial student, Rob Whiteman, candidated for the role of Minister to the Cotswold Group, and several of our members joined others from the Group in Cheltenham in July to meet him. Rob began his ministry with us at the beginning of October, giving the address at our Cirencester Service which was led by Richard Gaines. Since then Rob has given us some thought provoking, carefully researched Services. Sadly, however, Rob’s circumstances changed and at the end of February he told us that he was regretfully resigning.

In the course of this year our Chair, Richard Gaines, has given notice of his intention to step down at the Annual General Meeting. We are grateful to him for steering our discussions over several months leading up to and following on from Don’s retirement. Together with Kath Ryder he was involved with a number of meetings of the Cotswold Group as congregations discussed the options open to them. Kath also represented the Fellowship at the General Assembly meetings in Birmingham.

Despite the ministerial changes, and the time and energy taken up in managing them, the congregation has continued to hold monthly Services in Cirencester. Swindon meetings have continued to be held on the third Sunday in the month, with a short reflection led by one of our members. The reflection is followed either by a discussion of a pre-arranged topic introduced by another of our members, or a contributory meeting on a pre-arranged theme. Several of our meetings this year have taken as their starting point one of the chapters from Rev David Usher’s book Life Spirit. At one meeting we watched the Unitarian DVD From Vision to Action. Another topic was the increasing number of people who describe themselves as having no religion – the ‘nones’, a discussion based on a report of a talk to the Sea of Faith Network by Professor Denise Cush. On one occasion this year Swindon members were unexpectedly joined by a Unitarian from Hertfordshire who happened to be passing through.

The Fellowship maintains a Website, and we are grateful to Richard Gaines for keeping this updated. This year the website enabled a newcomer to find us and join a Cirencester Service.

In July a number of us took to the water on the good barge Perseverance. Our thanks to John Wilkinson for arranging another enjoyable day for us.

We have continued to make donations to the Students’ Ministry Fund, to Unitarian College Manchester, to the Send a Child to Hucklow Fund and to the Red Cross Clara Barton appeal.

Jane Howarth

Hon Secretary