All three parishes in the Benefice have had their annual meetings this week.

In Steeple Aston, we thanked Malcolm Hensher for his service as church warden over the last decade. Malcolm has stepped down due to ill health; he has been a terrific servant to the church, and we pray for his speedy recovery. Rebecca Hoare has been elected to take on this role alongside Graham Clifton.

We also discussed the continuing building project, and the meeting was happy to support the PCC in the direction of travel towards achieving the current plans. 

In North Aston, there were no personnel changes, but the projects there were also fairly central. Jane McArdle is doing some fundraising work, and we very much hope that the first of the three-projects-within-one of "St Mary's For Everyone", our window renovation, will be able to take place later this year.

In Tackley, Sue Lygo stood down as warden and was thanked for her service with a small presentation. She has now been elected to PCC and will become our next PCC Secretary, a role she knows very well. 

We also discussed 54 Nethercote Road, and it was explained that our architect is taking the plans forward for tendering, and at that point we will be able to see if the PCC is able to go ahead with its desire to develop the site or not.

In all there parishes, a new prayer card was handed out: Your Kingdom Come. These cards are for everyone to have as a reminder to pray, for Rector Marcus Green reminded everyone that a church can do no more than it prays for. The Lord's Prayer is on each card, reminding us that we begin with worship, that we pray for God's will to be done (not our own), that we pray for our needs (not always our wants), and that the first time we put ourselves first is when we ask for forgiveness - we ask that our sins be forgiven before we remember others' failings, which we then forgive. We pray for help at all times, with the reminder that even when things look helpless, the kingdom the power and the glory belong to God.