As 2010 approached it was decided to celebrate both the 40th anniversary of the rebuilding of the church and the centenary of the Mothers’ Union branch. The PCC members were soon busily involved in planning events. together with the two churchwardens Margaret Symonds and Richard Spurgeon. At the APCM in April Dick Handy replaced Margaret Symonds as Church Warden. It was decided to appoint two churchwardens’ assistants to spread the work load a little. In this year Jane and Tony decided to stand down from running the youth club which they had done for 15 years assisted in the most recent years by Jane Cook and Sandra Hewett. The role was taken over by Timon Singh for a short period and thereafter by The Rev Mike Sheffield running it under the title of Team Ascalon.
On Easter Sunday the whole congregation was photographed around the altar of the church followed afterwards by cake and wine in the church hall. In May the Mothers’ Union organised a successful Fun Day for the children of the parish with Roly the Clown (Rev Roly Bain) as the star attraction. Fortunately the sun shone and everybody enjoyed his antics on the trapeze wire.
On July 15 Bishop Godfrey Ashby confirmed eleven members of the congregation. Their names were Nerys Barlow, Marian Haughton, Jacob Clark, Fiona Jones, Catherine Emery, Elizabeth Emery, Gabrielle Read, Katherine Shepherd, Melanie Rogers, Courtney Sherwin and Yolanda Muzando.
On one of the hottest days of the summer, the Parish Outing was to Westminster Abbey where Canon Jane Hedges met the coach. After a relaxing picnic in the welcome shade of the Abbey gardens Jane and the vicar gave us a guided tour of the Abbey and then at 3 p.m. we all attended Evensong in the choir where the vicar (Rev Mike Sheffield) had the honour of preaching the sermon. Afterwards we walked down to Westminster Pier in time to catch a boat trip to Greenwich. This proved ideal relaxation in the heat wave conditions. Once at Greenwich there was time for a stroll by the river and a leisurely drink before we met the coach for the journey home. An excellent outing.
