Meeting of Parishioners 2001

2. Notice Convening Meeting
After opening the meeting the Chairman informed those present that the notice convening the meeting had been on view in church and was available for inspection.

3. Minutes
The Minutes of the 2000 meeting previously circulated to all those on the Electoral Roll were taken as read. It was proposed by Peter Firth, and seconded by Paul Roocroft, and unanimously agreed, that the Minutes be accepted and signed.

4. Election of Churchwardens
The Chairman announced that Hal Whitaker had now completed four years as Churchwarden and would be standing down, however Linda Moore was happy to stand for re-election as Church Warden. Peter Owen, who had been acting as Deputy Churchwarden, had sent a letter from Canada to say that he was happy to accept nomination for Churchwarden and would be willing to serve if elected. As there were no further nominations for Churchwarden it was therefore proposed by John Morris, seconded by Margaret Davey and unanimously agreed that both Linda and Peter be appointed as Churchwardens.

The Chairman expressed his warm appreciation to Hal and Linda for all that they have done over the past year in their role as Church Wardens.

At the last PCC meeting the question of appointing an Assistant Warden was raised. The PCC are recommending to the APCM that Sandra Tickle be appointed Assistant Churchwarden. It was proposed by Christa Trollope and seconded by Alan Reeves that Sandra Tickle be duly appointed Assistant Churchwarden. This was unanimously agreed.

5. Vote of Thanks
Linda Moore began by mentioning the retirement of Frances Briscoe as Area Dean and thanked her for all her hard work and commitment over the years. It was a great pleasure to welcome Alison Woodhouse as the new Area Dean. She welcomed Peter Owen as Churchwarden and Sandra Tickle as the Deputy Churchwarden.

Both she and Hal wanted to express their thanks to all sidespeople for their work during tile year and gave thanks to those who are retiring as sidespeople and welcomed the new sidespeople who are now joining the rota, and hoped that they would attend the visitation service to be held at Holy Trinity, Formby, on Tuesday 8 March at 7:30pm.

Linda went on to mention, with gratitude, those acting as vergers, namely Audrey Hull and Jan Sumner; also Joyce Wade who is always ready to support and help people beyond the call of duty and all of Joyce's colleagues who help in the office; also the team who count and bank the collection each week and not forgetting Eric Linford for all his work on the Finance Team.

Thanks were extended to May and Alf Pilkington who, after many years preparing the altar table for Easter, have now retired. Our prayers are with them at this time.

Many more people help out in the background and unfortunately it is not possible to thank everyone individually so heartfelt thanks went to all who assist in the running of St Luke's.

On a personal note Linda also thanked all her friends at St Luke's who have uplifted her in prayer through a recent difficult time.

Finally Linda gave special thanks to a man she had the greatest respect for, and who had been a good friend and support to her over the last threes years, namely Hal Whitaker. Behind every good man is a good woman so thanks went to Edna for all that she has done over the years to support Hal.

Linda closed her vote of thanks by reading a passage from a book by Eddie Askew which can be summarised by saying "God loves us even though we are imperfect and we should love each other".