The Fromeside  Partnership

September 2008

Breaking news!!

The service to formalise the complete Fromeside Partnership will
take place at 19:30 on 14th October 2008. 
The service will be be held at St Saviours Church, Coalpit Heath and will be presided over by Bishop Lee of Swindon, supported by the Area Dean, the Reverend David Adams, and the Archdeacon of Kingswood & South Gloucestershire, the Venerable Alan F. Hawker. 

During this Eucharistic service, the licences of five priests will be extended to cover the four participating parishes.  At the same event, the licences of appointed Lay Readers will be extended to operate within the Partnership.

At Evensong on 31st August, Martin Clacker led the St Peter's congregation in worship. At the end of the service, he was somewhat taken aback to find himself the recipient in an informal presentation.  John Alexander, one of the church wardens, had assembled an album containing series of photographs from July 13th Licensing service, interleaved with extracts from the published order of service, as a souvenir of his appointment as our priest-in-charge.  Was that speck of dust that got caught up in our Martin's eye?

Some say that the Fromeside Partnership came into being on the 13th July 2008, others take the view that it only begins to exist when St Saviour's Church joins with the other three churches.  All we know is that something very important changed for us on that special day, on 13th July at St Peter's, when our interregnum ended and we were blessed with having Martin, Jane, Mark and Malcolm authorised to lead us in our worship.

At another special service, to be held on later this year, probably in St Saviour's church, any doubt will be removed and the the Fromeside Partnership will exist. At that service the Partnership will be extended to include Coalpit Heath St Saviour and will then comprise four parishes.

Please watch the "For your Diary " page, or the parish newsletter, for the announcement of the date then come along, join with the congregations of our four parishes and representatives of our ecumenical partners.  Witness the creation of this new challenging concept, experience the licensing of the larger team of priests, pray for their guidance, commit to following their lead and joining the band who try to present the Christian way to our friends, neighbours and all people at large in South Gloucestershire.

The story so far:
 

On Sunday 13th July, the Bishop of Swindon, the Right Reverend Dr Lee Rayfield, supported by the Area Dean, the Reverend David Adams, and the Archdeacon of Kingswood & South Gloucestershire, the Venerable Alan F. Hawker, conducted a Licensing Service at St Peter's church, Frampton Cotterell. This significant event was attended by the combined congregations of the parishes of  Frampton Cotterell St Peter, Winterbourne Down All Saints and  Winterbourne St Michael, together with representatives from Coalpit Heath St Saviour and our local ecumenical partners.

During the service, Bishop Lee Rayfield licensed the Reverend Martin Alexander Clacker as Priest-In-Charge of the parishes of St Michael the Archangel, Winterbourne, St Peter's, Frampton Cotterell and All Saints, Winterbourne Down.  At the same service, the Reverends Jane Dorothy Tailby, Mark Roland John Evans and Malcolm Strange were licensed as Associate Priests to serve in all three parishes.  All deeds and licences are effective from 1^st July.
 

It was a true joy to see and hear the church of St Peter full to almost overflowing and everyone attending understood that a new phase in the history of the three parishes had begun. The Fromeside partnership is a bold and new approach to the appointment of clergy to serve in more than one parish.  Martin Clacker already refers to Jane, Mark and Malcolm as "his Team" and we understand that their ministry in the three parishes will be regularised on a firm basis of collaborative ministry.

As can be seen from the Way Ahead page, this is the first of two sets of appointments.  A second licensing service, to be held later this year, will see the integration of St Saviour's, Coalpit Heath into the Fromeside Partnership with a further series of  license extensions.

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During his address, Bishop Lee demonstrated how impossible it was for anyone to be a "Class A Priest" trying to live out the role of priest and up to the demands and the expectations of all their parishioners. Instead he gave both the priests awaiting their licenses and the congregations, awaiting appointment of the Fromeside Partnership Team, permission to be "Class X" clergy and laity jointly striving together to follow the Christian way in our dealings with each other and within the greater community who live inside and beyond our parish boundaries.